System and method for remote fax interconnect

Abstract

Systems and methods for the virtualization, aggregation, enhancement, and distributed processing of facsimile communications. The Remote FAX Interconnect known as etherFAX® is a system and method that allows for the reception and delivery of information to or from one or more facsimile systems using Internet/web based communication protocols such as HTTP(S) as the transport between a cooperating facsimile capable application or hardware and the remotely accessible etherFAX® services.

1 . In a virtualized facsimile environment for use with communications processing logic that processes electronic items and exchanges the electronic items over at least one digital network, the virtualized facsimile environment being configured to communicate with at least one cooperating facsimile system configured to receive an electronic item that is exchanged via the virtualized facsimile environment, a method comprising;
 receiving an electronic item to be communicated to the at least one cooperating facsimile system;   requesting an extended feature and/or enhanced level of service when communicating the electronic item to the at least one cooperating facsimile system based on at least one of configuration information, extended information, and additional attributes, the requested extended feature and/or enhanced level of service allowing for the transference of any of plural data formats;   the plural data formats enabling the virtual facsimile environment to select at least one of the plural data formats based on the requested extended feature and/or enhanced level of service, and communicate the electronic item to the at least one cooperating facsimile system in the selected at least one of the plural data formats and thereby enhance the utility of the information being communicated.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising transcoding the electronic item to the selected at least one of the plural data formats for communication to and use by the cooperating facsimile system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises a non-image based data file format. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises a video format. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises an audio format. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises a pdf format. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises a high resolution image format. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises a document format. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected at least one of the plural data formats comprises an encrypted format. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further including not transcoding the electronic item into the selected at least one of the plural data formats. 
     
     
         11 . A virtualized facsimile environment comprising:
 communications processing logic configured to exchange electronic items over a digital network with at least one cooperating facsimile system; and   a processor configured to register the at least one cooperating facsimile system as being capable of receiving specified data formats, thereby enabling transference of an electronic item to the at least one cooperating facsimile system in a format other than facsimile Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) format, and to select a format for sending the electronic item to the at least one cooperating facsimile system.   
     
     
         12 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises a video format. 
     
     
         13 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises an audio format. 
     
     
         14 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises a pdf format. 
     
     
         15 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises a high resolution image format. 
     
     
         16 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises a document format. 
     
     
         17 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the selected format comprises an encrypted format. 
     
     
         18 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  further including transcoding the electronic item into the selected format. 
     
     
         19 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the communication processing logic is configured to use extended peer endpoint addressing. 
     
     
         20 . The virtualized facsimile environment of  claim 11  wherein the processor is further configured to register at least one of route, FID, status, public key, encryption algorithms, and other payload information.