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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 22, 1996
Melissa L Monty, Poway, CA (US);
Paul Albitz, San Diego, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A facsimile machine is provided with only two receive modes: 'Auto Answer' and as 'Manual'. In the Auto Answer mode the device will automatically receive incoming facsimiles and in the Manual mode it will not. The Auto Answer mode allows the user to automatically receive facsimile calls on either a dedicated facsimile line or a line shared with any other receiving device such as a telephone or answering machine. Since several receive modes have been collapsed into a single mode that may be used for all configurations, the user simply controls the behavior he desires by turning Auto Answer mode ON or OFF (i.e., Auto Answer mode must be ON for the facsimile to eavesdrop, or to answer the call when nothing else answers), with Auto Answer OFF being equivalent to Manual mode ON, and vice versa. In Auto Answer mode, 'eavesdropping' for a CNG sequence is enabled for all incoming calls answered by another device, and 'silent detection' is enabled for at least those devices which are connected in series with ('downstream' from) the facsimile. In order to support users who are accustomed to change the receive mode setting each time they receive a facsimile, the facsimile device is preferably provided with a dedicated button on the front panel that requires only a single press to switch the device between Auto Answer mode and to Manual mode and an LED or other indicator device to alert the user when the unit is set to Auto Answer mode.