Patent ID: 8711857

Claim:
A method of facsimile transcoding by a border element, the method comprising: receiving, from a unified messaging platform in response to an error message from a gateway indicating an inability of the gateway to transmit according to a T.38 standard protocol, an invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol and an indication of a transcoding policy comprising direct digital-to-digital conversion from a first codec according to a G.711 standard protocol to a second codec according to the T.38 standard protocol, wherein the indication of the transcoding policy is in a header of a session description protocol of the invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol; determining that the invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol contains the indication of the transcoding policy in the header of the session description protocol of the invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol; transmitting to the gateway, in response to the determining and in accordance with the transcoding policy, an invitation to transmit according to a G.711 standard protocol in response to receiving the invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol, the invitation to transmit according to the G.711 standard protocol comprising the invitation to transmit according to the T.38 standard protocol with the indication of the transcoding policy in the header of the session description protocol of the invitation removed and an indication of transmission according to the T.38 standard protocol replaced with an indication of transmission according to the G.711 standard protocol; receiving information coded according to the G.711 protocol from the gateway; transcoding, in accordance with the transcoding policy, the information received from the gateway into information coded according to the T.38 standard protocol; and transmitting the information coded according to the T.38 standard protocol to the unified messaging platform.