System and method for measuring a fax converted into electronic format

Abstract

A fax conversion system for determining a measure of the number of pages transmitted by fax to or from a plurality of users, comprising: means for converting the transmitted pages into a format that can be output electronically rather than in hardcopy, means for counting the number of pages within an individual fax transmission, means for associating said fax transmission with a respective one of said plurality of users, and means for determining a measure of the total number of pages transmitted by fax to or from each of said plurality of users. The system may determine a measure of an equivalent number of trees saved, or the number of carbon credits gained, by not producing hardcopies of transmitted pages.

1 - 40 . (canceled) 
     
     
         41 . A computerized method for authenticating a user for sending a fax, the method comprising:
 receiving an email, being a request for sending a fax, from the user, the e ail including a message to be transmitted as a fax and a source email address;   parsing the source email address to determine a domain name part of the source email address; and   comparing the determined domain name part with an authorized domain name, wherein the authorized domain name refers to an account that is authorized to send faxes.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising determining that the domain name part matches the authorized domain name and in response authenticating the user. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising allowing the user access to a service in response to authenticating the user. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising converting the email message to a fax and transmitting the fax using a fax protocol, in response to authenticating the user. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , further comprising storing a detail of the fax transmission within the account associated with the authorized domain name. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the detail includes the source email address, a destination fax number, a number of pages, and a time stamp. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the detail is used to determine a total number of pages of authorized fax transmissions made for the account. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising determining a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the email; and comparing the determined source IP address to an authorized IP address. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , wherein the authorized IP address is specific to the authorized domain name. 
     
     
         50 . A system for authenticating a user, comprising:
 an email server adapted to receive an email from the user and determine a domain name part of a source email address in the email;   a database containing an account, the account including an authorized domain name; and   a verification module executed by a computer processer, the verification module being coupled to the database and adapted to receive the domain name part from the email server and compare the domain name part with the authorized domain name.   
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 50 , further comprising a conversion server adapted to receive the email from the email server and convert the email to a fax. 
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the conversion server is further adapted to transmit the fax using a fax protocol. 
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the conversion server is coupled to the database and is further adapted to store a detail of the fax within the account. 
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 53 , wherein the detail include at least one of the source email address, a destination fax number, a number of pages, and a time stamp. 
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 53 , wherein the detail is used to determine a total number of pages transmitted by fax for the account. 
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the verification module is further adapted to determine a match between the domain name part and the authorized domain name, and authenticate the user in response to determining the match. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 56 , wherein the email is processed in response to authenticating the user. 
     
     
         58 . The system of  claim 57 , wherein processing the email comprises converting the email to a fax and transmitting the fax using a fax protocol. 
     
     
         59 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the email server is further adapted to determine a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the email, and the verification module is further adapted to receive the source IP address from the email server and compare the source IP address to an authorized IP address of the account.