The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 09, 1996
Filed:
Oct. 01, 1993
Gary W Sommer, Skokie, IL (US);
U.S. Robotics, Inc., Skokie, IL (US);
Abstract
A method for allowing data communication equipment, such as a facsimile modem, to communicate in a more reliable manner with a facsimile machine. The data communication equipment is interconnected to data terminal equipment, such as a personal computer. The data terminal equipment may include an interrupt driver or controller that only periodically directs the data terminal equipment to retrieve message data from memory and forward it, via a serial port, to the data communication equipment. If the interruption in the transmission of characters to the data communication equipment is too long, no data may be sent to the facsimile machine, which may interpret the absence of data as an indication that the communication link has been disconnected and, thus, abort the call. The method includes the steps of monitoring the message data sent to the data communication equipment for an end of line sequence. If no end of line sequence is detected, the line segment of the message data is not transmitted, and a buffering signal, such as string of binary zeros, is sent to the facsimile machine. The buffering signal effectively advises the receiving facsimile machine that the call has not been terminated, even though additional message information is not being sent. When an end of line sequence is eventually detected in the message data from the computer, the line segment of message data may be sent to the facsimile machine.