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1. 5 05005282052 United States Patent 1 Patent Number 5 282 052 Johnson et al 4 Date of Patent Jan 25 1994 54 TECHNIQUES FOR AUTOMATIC FORM 62 272751 11 1987 Japan HOAN 1 32 CREATION BY COMBINING PARTIAL 63 95578 4 1988 Japan GOGF 15 40 OPERATIONS 63 242060 10 1988 Japan HO4N 1 21 75 Inventors Walter A 1 Johnson Santa Clara OTHER PUBLICATIONS Stuart K Card Los Altos Martin F DoveFax Installation and User s Manual Dove Com N Cooper Fremont all of Calif puter Corporation Sep 1990 73 Assignee Xerox Corporation Stamford Conn Primary Examiner Stephen Brinich 21 Appl No 856 107 Assistant Examiner Scott A Rogers 22 Filed Mar 20 1992 57 ABSTRACT 51 Int HO4N 1 32 HO4N 1 387 automatically created form includes a field for re G06K 9 20 questing a combined operation A processor creates the 8217 U S CL tectis 358 402 358 407 form in response to another form that includes fields 358 440 358 468 358 450 382 61 that are marked to indicate a sequence of partial opera 58 Field of Search 358 402 440 407 468 tions The partial operations together constitute the 358 452 450 448 382 61 combined operation The combined operation can for 56 References Cited example be a facsimile transmission in which case the partial operation fields can specify the digits of a fax U S PATENT DOCUMENTS machine s telephone numb2. 588 Verify Action Verify Completion Fig 8 5 282 052 5 282 052 1 TECHNIQUES FOR AUTOMATIC FORM CREATION BY COMBINING PARTIAL OPERATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to forms from which a system obtains information for use in controlling subse quent operations of the system Johnson et al U S Pat No 5 060 980 describe a form on which a user can impart or modify markings representing data As shown and described in relation to FIG 1 the markings are located so that a form inter preter can be instructed where to look for data to be read The form can include printing such as an outline of field regions to be filled in borders titles and in structions The form also includes encoded information representing a structural description of the form includ ing a description of the locations of fields on the form and a description of the types of fields The encoded information can also include instructions for specific processing of selected data dialing instructions to a facsimile machine network addresses for routing se lected data data to be processed etc A system for processing such a form is shown and described in rela tion to FIG 3 and a techniques for generating such a form are shown and described in relation to FIGS 4 and 5 The user can view an image of the form select or create fields and other items on the form specify opera tions to be performed on co
3. 50 55 60 65 12 ate on data defining the image of the form to obtain identifying data identifying the form Form identifying information could be encoded and included in the image in the manner described in copending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 560 514 now continued as application Ser No 07 931 554 entitled Self clock ing Glyph Shape Coes incorporated herein by refer _ ence The Job Set action is also created by the Batch action as described above The Job Set action has a readyproc that determines that it is ready when there are no pages in the batch whose type remains unknown meaning that all Page actions for the batch have been completed In accordance with FIG 5 a job is created in job data base 324 for each job in the batch Each job is also added to an activity log that lists all jobs transactions and transmissions If a job includes only a single blank Sheet the Job Set action converts an initial form called the Starter Form to the fax card format and creates a Retrieve action to transmit the converted Starter Form as discussed in greater detail below If a job begins with a form a Form action is created for the job The Form action is created by the Job Set action as described above The Form action uses the data identi fying the form from the page entry as stored by the Page action to access the form s definition from infor mation database 322 The Form action then uses
4. exist as electromagnetic or other transmitted signals or as signals stored in electronic magnetic or other form Circuitry or a circuit is any arrangement of mat ter that can respond to first data at one location or time by providing second data at another location or time A data storage medium or storage medium is a physical medium that can store data Examples of data storage media include magnetic media such as floppy disks optical media such as CD ROMs and semicon ductor media such as semiconductor ROMs and RAMs As used herein storage medium covers one or more distinct units of a medium that together store a body of data For example a set of floppy disks storing a single body of data would be a storage medium A storage medium access device is a device with circuitry that can access data on a data storage medium Examples include floppy disk drives and CD ROM readers Memory is any component combination of compo nents circuitry or system that can store data and may include local and remote memory and input output devices An example of memory is a storage medium access device with a data storage medium that it can access A data processing system is a system that processes data A data processor or processor is any compo nent or system that can process data and may include one or more central processing units or other process ing components A processor performs an operation or a f
5. 192 has been filled in with a name for the new group When the completed form 170 is received form 220 in FIG 4D is automatically created Fields 222 224 226 230 232 234 236 240 and 242 have the same respective functions as fields 172 174 176 182 184 186 190 and 192 in FIG 4C Fields 244 and 246 have been added so that the user can request the new group of recipients with a single mark in field 244 with field 246 containing an image obtained from field 192 in FIG Each of the forms shown in FIGS 4A 4D can be followed by a document to be transmitted to the indi cated recipient or recipients In each case the user only needs to check a few boxes with a pencil and if appro priate write in a name or other mnemonic identifier in order to program the speed dial operation The pro grammed information could be stored for access by multiple fax machines any of which could then respond to each form The simple technique illustrated in FIGS 4A 4D could be extended in various ways For example as each new recipient is added to the form the list of recip ients could be ordered based on frequency of transmis sion or some other criterion Similarly when the form becomes full a second form could be created with the overflow or a recipient could be deleted to make room for a new recipient based on frequency or recency of transmission or some other criterion C Implementation The general features described above could be
6. 282 052 7 As indicated by the dashed line leading to the act in box 46 the user may then optionally mark the second form so that the complete operation field is marked to indicate the complete operation If so the act in box 48 responds by performing the sequence of partial opera tions that constitutes the complete operation FIG 3 shows software product 60 an article of man ufacture that can be used in a system that includes com ponents like those shown in FIG 3 Software product 60 includes data storage medium 62 that can be accessed by storage medium access device 64 Data storage me dium 62 could for example be a magnetic medium such as a set of one or more floppy disks an optical medium such as a set of one or more CD ROMs or any other appropriate medium for storing data Data storage medium 62 stores data that storage me dium access device 64 can provide to processor 66 Processor 66 is connected for receiving data defining images from image input circuitry 70 The data could be Obtained from facsimile fax machine 72 from scanner 74 from editor 76 which could be a forms editor or other interactive image editor controlled by user input devices such as a keyboard and mouse or a pen or stylus based input device or from network 78 which could be a local area network or other network capable of transmitting data defining an image Processor 66 is also connected for providing data defining images to image output circu
7. an image of a second form the second form including a complete operation field the complete operation field being for indicating a request for the complete operation when the input image data define a second image set that shows the second form and the complete oper ation field is marked to indicate a request for the complete operation execution of the response in structions causing the processor to perform the sequence of partial operations that constitutes the complete operation
8. cated on the form such as a telephone number of a fax machine If none is indicated the Form action uses the telephone number in the current event file indicating the fax machine from which the Retrieve action was requested If none the Form action leaves the destina tion blank As discussed in greater detail below for certain cases the form s definition can indicate that a new form a cover sheet or another image should be automatically created in which case the Form action obtains data defining the new form cover sheet or other image If a new form is created it is added to a special category called Forms 5 282 052 13 The Store action can be created by the Form action as described above in response to a Store form that preccedes a set of one or more data pages The Store action obtains a system identifier such as a file location of the data pages stores the system identifier in any categories indicated in check boxes on the form and even if no categories are indicated stores the system identifier in a special category called Documents The Store action can also associate data defining an identifying image from the Store form with the system identifier in the manner described in copending coas Signed U S patent application Ser No 07 855 987 entitled Method and System for Labeling a Document for Storage Manipulation and Retrieval incorpo rated herein by reference The Delete action can be
9. fax server fea tures described above can be used to implement the invention FIG 7 illustrates schematically how a user can obtain automatic creation of a form showing a new recipient FIG 8 shows general acts performed by the fax server in automatically creating the form Network 500 in FIG 7 includes requester s fax ma chine 502 fax server 504 and recipient s fax machine 506 Fax server 504 is running software like that de 5 282 052 15 scribed above in relation to FIGS 5 6 As shown the requester uses fax machine 502 to transmit data defining images of forms 510 and 512 to fax server 504 Forms 510 and 512 could be transmitted as part of a single batch or in separate batches In response fax server 504 5 transmits data defining an image of document A 520 to recipient s fax machine 506 and transmits data defining an image of form 522 to requester s fax machine 502 Form 510 in FIG 7 is a form that includes a Send section for requesting facsimile transmission of docu ments to recipients Form 510 like the other forms shown includes logo 530 for use in registration and to determine that it is a form Form 510 also includes ma chine readable form identifying information illustra tively in a distinct field 532 The form identifying infor mation could be encoded in the manner described in copending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 560 514 now continued as application Ser No 07 931 554 entitled Self cl
10. imple mented in numerous ways on various machines cur rent implementation runs on an IBM PC compatible machine a with at least an 80386 microproces sor The PC is equipped with a fax card meaning a combination of a board and software that enables the PC to transmit and receive facsimile images in a stan dard format such as CCITT Group 3 The fax card could for example be SatisFAXtion TM from Intel Corporation The Complete Communicator TM or The Complete Fax TM from The Complete PC Inc or proFAX TM from Charter Electronics Industries Pte Ltd Because the current implementation is closely linked to a fax card it is referred to herein as a fax server 1 General Fax Server Software Features FIG 5 shows general software components of the current implementation FIG 6 illustrates the organiza tion of a batch that is set up in response to a request from a user FIG 5 shows general software components and some of the communication paths between components Fax server software 300 includes instructions executed by a 5 282 052 9 processor that is executing DOS instructions 302 In the current implementation the processor is also exec ting at least the 3 0 version of Microsoft R Windows shown as windows instructions 304 The communication path between fax server soft ware 300 and the fax card goes through two DOS resi dent components fax card terminate and stay resident instructions 306 and
11. includes a field with a rect angular outline permitting a user to write a cover note for an automatically created cover sheet Automatic creation of a cover sheet including such a note is de scribed in copending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 855 388 entitled Using an Image from a Form in Automatic Creation of a Form or Sheet in corporated herein by reference In creating a form fax server 504 also produces an identifier of the form and creates a definition of the form The identifier of the form is used to produce machine readable form identifying information and is also included in a list of forms in information database 322 A definition of each form is also stored such that each form s identifier can be used to obtain its defini tion The form definitions could be implemented in many ways In the current implementation the form defini 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 18 tion indicates the type of each segment of the form such as Send Retrieve List Delete and Store Each type of form section has a respective set of segments and the form description also indicates the type location size and contents of each segment Each segment can in turn contain a set of smaller segments and the form description indicates for each smaller segment its type its location its size and its contents The types of sec tions of a form and of their segments are also used to determine how to retriev
12. input circuitry the first input image data defining a first image set the first image set showing a first form the first form including plural partial operation fields the partial operation fields being marked to indicate together a sequence of partial operations that constitutes a complete Operation operating the processor to use the first input image data to automatically produce created form data and to provide the created form data to the image output circuitry the created form data defining a second image set the second image set showing a second form the second form including an opera tion request field the operation request field being for indicating a request for the complete operation operating the processor to receive second input image data from the image input circuitry the second input image data defining a third image set the third image set showing the second form with the complete operation field being marked to indi cate a request for the complete operation and in response to the second input image data operating the processor to perform the sequence of partial operations that constitutes the complete operation 2 The method of claim 1 in which the first form further includes a form request field indicating a request for the second form the act of operating the processor to use the first input image data being performed in response to the form request field 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising t
13. of claim 1 in which the image output circuitry is connected to provide a facsimile transmis sion the first form further including a second number requesting field indicating a telephone number to which a facsimile transmission of data defining the second form is requested the act of operating the processor to use the first input image data to automatically produce created form data and to provide the created form data to the form output circuitry comprising the act of pro viding the created form data for facsimile transmission to the telephone number indicated by the number re questing field 7 system comprising image input circuitry for obtaining data defining im ages as input image output circuitry for providing data defining images as output memory for storing data and a processor connected for receiving data defining images from the image input circuitry and for pro viding data defining images to the image output circuitry the processor further being connected for accessing the memory the data stored in the memory comprising image receiving instruction data indicating input instructions the processor can execute to receive input image data from the image input circuitry the input image data defining an image set and operation performing instruction data indicating response instructions the processor can execute to perform operations in response to input image data when the input image data define a first i
14. the function includes data in the page entry indicating a single page batch the func tion also creates a Job Set action The function also creates a Cleanup action The Page action is created by a Batch action as de scribed above Each Page action has a respective page entry for storing data relating to the respective page If the page is a single page batch the Page action s function calls image processing instructions 314 to de termine whether the page is blank Techniques for de tecting a blank page are described in copending coas signed U S patent application Ser No 07 855 375 entitled Identificaiton of a Blank Page in an Image Processing System incorporated herein by reference If the page is not blank or if the batch has more than one page the function calls image processing instructions 314 to determine whether the page is a form or a data non form page Data indicating whether the page form or a data page is stored in the page entry if the page is a form data identifying the form is also obtained from the image and stored in the page entry If every form includes a distinctive registration mark such as a logo image processing instructions 314 could first search for the logo and determine whether the page is a form using the result of the search Then if each form includes machine readable identifying informa tion the image processing instructions 314 could oper 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
15. tracting specified types of regions producing a copy of the document producing a cover sheet describing the document and so forth The invention could also be applied to set up copier jobs in response to a form For example the first time a user requests a complex copier job the user would mark a form to indicate a sequence of partial operations that make up the job including for example whether the copies should be on one or two sides whether the cop ies should be stapled and so forth In response the copier could produce a burst sheet for the job This Sheet can include machine readable information indicat ing the sequence of partial operations The burst sheet can be a form that includes a check box for requesting the same job set up or a field for specifying a number of copies to be made The burst sheet can also include a human readable summary of the specified partial opera tions and an identifier of the copied document such as a reduced version of an image of the first page These other application of the invention could in clude extensions of the implementations described above For example in the above description a sequence of partial operations is indicated by checking a sequence of telephone numbers Another way would be to write a sequence of numbers in which each number indicates an operation such as by writing the digits of a telephone 19 number Yet another way would be to write a number next to a name of e
16. 24 therefore includes data indicating any pending batches jobs actions and pages as described more fully below As can be understood from FIG 5 fax server appli cation instructions 312 can receive requests from a user through the user interface provided by windows in structions 304 based on a display and a user input de vice such as a keyboard and mouse In the current im plementation these requests are received as a data structure indicating contents of a form Fax server ap plication instructions 312 can also receive user requests on forms in facsimile transmissions received by the fax card Fax server application instructions 312 can re spond to a request from either user interface by setting up a batch in job database 324 FIG 6 shows batch 350 which includes a series of m jobs each of which includes data defining one or more images The images are illustratively pages such as pages of a facsimile transmission Job 0 includes n pages with pages 352 and 354 being the first and last respec tively Job 1 includes p pages with the first page 360 defining a form and with pages 362 and 364 being the second and last respectively Similarly the following jobs each begin with a form as illustrated by the last job with q pages beginning with page 370 defining a form and with pages 372 and 374 being the second and last respectively FIG 6 illustrates several general features in the oper ation of job database 324 in the cur
17. 74 76 78 Image Receiving Instructions Response Instructions Automatically Create Provide Form Perform Partial Operations image input Circuitry 66 Storage Medium Access Device 80 Image Output Circuitry U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 3 of 10 5 282 052 Speed Dial Form Check Recipient 122 New Fax Recipient 12 Name Sum Buddy JL AL O Fig 4A U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 4 of 10 5 282 052 Speed Dial Form Check Recipient s 152 11 15 0 142 New Fax Recipient 144 160 Check 5 If Recipients A New Group 162 Fig 4B U S Patent 25 1994 Sheet 5 of 10 5 282 052 Speed Dial Form Check Recipient s 182 186 184 Know Buddy 72 New Fax Recipient won O Ui i wn 190 Check If Recipients Are A New Group 192 Group Good Buddies Fig 4C U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 6 of 10 5 282 052 Speed Dial Form Check Recipient s Sum Buddy Know Buddy Good Buddies 222 New Fax Recipient Name 240 ea If Recipients Are A New Group 242 220 Fig 4D Sheet 7 of 10 5 282 052 Jan 25 1994 U S Patent EE ET S bly SUOI INAYSU SMOpUIM suoninansuj soa RUD eum Umm ME 44 01 suononajsui Duisse oag suononasu 451 suo
18. FIG 8 illustrates acts performed by fax server 504 in producing new form 522 Each act is an action of one of the types described above The act in box 580 is a Form action that responds to form 510 by modifying the recipient index in informa tion database 322 As shown the recipient index is mod ified so that it can be used to retrieve the recipients bitmap identifier from field 534 in form 510 and the recipient s fax number from field 540 in form 510 These items can be accessible as described in copending coas signed U S patent application Ser No 07 855 987 enti tled Method and System for Labeling a Document for Storage Manipulation and Retrieval incorporated herein by reference As a result a system identifier is set up that can be used to access one or both of the recipi ent s bitmap identifier and the recipient s fax number This system identifier is included in the special category Recipients i in the recipient index The act in box 582 is another Form action that re sponds to form 512 by automatically creating form 522 with a Send section that includes a listing of the con tents of the All Recipients category This Form action also creates Pre Retrieve action The act in box 584 is the Pre Retrieve action created by the Form action in box 582 The Pre Retrieve action converts the automatically created form to the appro priate format for the fax card being used The Pre Retrieve action also creates a Retr
19. S 4A 4D are schematic diagrams of a series of fax control forms automatically produced by the tech niques of FIGS 1 3 FIG 5 is a schematic block diagram showing soft ware components of a system that can automatically create a form with a field for requesting a combined operation FIG 6 is a schematic diagram showing a batch that can be handled by the components in FIG 5 FIG 7 is a schematic diagram showing input forms and a created form produced by a system that includes a fax server executing software like that in FIG 5 FIG 8 is a flow chart showing acts in automatically creating a form with a field for requesting a combined operation in FIG 7 5 282 052 3 DETAILED DESCRIPT ION Conceptual Framework The following conceptual framework is helpful in understanding the broad scope of the invention and the terms defined below have the indicated meanings throughout this application including the claims The term data refers herein to signals that indicate or include information When an item of data can indi cate one of a number of possible alternatives the item of data has one of a number of values For example a binary item of data also referred to as a bit has one of two values such as 0 and 1 or ON and OFF The term data includes data existing in any physi cal form and includes data that are transitory or are being stored or transmitted For example data could
20. ach partial operation the numbers indicating the sequence in which the partial operations are to be performed this technique could be imple mented by including in each field a box for writing a number and a description or identifier of the field s respective operation Also in the above description a user could write a name of a recipient in a field in which case an image of the name would appear on the automatically created form in a field for requesting a combined operation If the combined operation is not a transmission to a recipi ent the user could write another type of identifier such as words describing the combined operation E Miscellaneous The invention has been described mainly in relation to implementations in which a form is produced re questing a facsimile transmission The invention might also be implemented to produce various other types of forms The invention is not limited to forms related to fax machines although it is especially useful for such forms The invention has been described mainly in relation to implementations that transmit images of forms on paper sheets The invention might also be implemented with forms on media other than paper and with forms that are not on sheets as such but on other types of marking media For example the invention might be implemented with a form on a marking surface on which a user can make marks that are electronically scanned The invention has been described in re
21. actions such as mouse and keyboard clicks by modify ing data defining an image of the form so that it includes features that would be interpreted as marks An image shows the contents of a field that has been marked when the image shows the set of features that would be perceptible as marks in the field if the image were presented to a user An image is from a form when the image shows a part of the form or the form as a whole For example an image showing the contents of a field of a form is from the form A version of a first image is a second image pro duced using data defining the first image The second image may be identical to the first image or it may be modified by loss of resolution by changing the data defining the first image or by other processes that result in a modified version An operation creates a page such as a page of a form or a sheet when the operation produces data de fining the page An operation transmits a page when the operation transmits data defining the page B General Features FIGS 1 D illustrate general features of the inven tion FIG 1 is a schematic flow diagram showing how a first form specifying partial operations can be used to automatically produce a second form specifying a com bined operation FIG 2 is a flow chart showing general acts in automatically producing a form as in FIG 1 FIG 3is a schematic block diagram showing a software product that can be acces
22. activity log before completing The Cleanup action can be created by the Batch action as described above The Cleanup action has a readyproc that determines that it is ready to be per formed only when all other actions associated with the Batch action that created it are completed The Cleanup action deletes any temporary files created by the other actions associated with the Batch action Each cycle of the basic scheduling operation selects an appropriate action to be performed next For exam ple if the only actions that are ready are a Batch action and its Cleanup action the Batch action is selected and performed In addition to selecting an action to be performed next each cycle of the basic scheduling operation branches based on whether a user interface action is waiting from the user interface provided by windows instructions 304 If so a waiting user interface action is performed It would be straightforward to extend the current implementation to handle forms that request more than one type of operation or to handle a special form indi cating a new recipient but not requesting a Send action Similarly it would be straightforward to extend the current implementation so that all the facsimile trans missions to a single destination from a single batch would be combined into a single continuous transmis sion rather than being transmitted independently 2 Automatic Form Creation New Recipient FIGS 7 and 8 show how the general
23. ata base 324 A user can interact with fax server application instructions 312 through windows instructions 304 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 In the current implementation database instructions 320 include the instructions of db Vista TM a commer cial database product from Raima Corporation Infor mation database 322 and job database 324 are both im plemented using db Vista Information database 322 includes two lists a list of distribution lists and a list of categories of documents and forms Each list appears as a top level container within the user interface provided by windows instruc tions 304 and the user can set up new distribution lists and categories through the user interface Each distri bution list includes information about a set of recipients including data identifying recipients and telephone numbers of their fax machines one distribution list named Recipients includes all of the recipients Each category of documents and forms includes a set of items each of which is either a document or a form For each document the category includes a pointer to the name of the DOS file in which data defining the docu ment is stored For each form the category includes a pointer to the name of the DOS file in which the defini tion or description of the form is stored Job database 324 on the other hand acts as an auto matic scheduler for processing a series of images Job database 3
24. be an instance of the digit itself or could be a mark in a check box that indicates the digit A field indicates a telephone number when the marks in the field are sufficient to identify the operations that constitute signalling the telephone number An image shows a page such as a page of a form or a sheet when the image is an image of the page An image set shows a page when the image set includes one or more images that separately or in combination show the page Data define a page when the data define an image set that shows the page Data define an image that shows a field that has been marked or a field that is marked or a being marked when the data define an image of the field that includes features that would be interpreted as one or more marks in the field if the defined image were inter preted according to a definition of a form that includes 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 the field Data define an image set that shows a form that has been marked or a form that is marked when the data define an image of the form that shows at least one field that has been marked Therefore data defining an image set that shows a form that has been marked can be produced in a number of ways For example a form on a marking medium can be marked by hand or by typing and then the form can be scanned or facsimile transmitted or editing software can respond to user
25. cratching actions Common exam ples of marking media include sheets of paper and plas tic although humans can produce patterns of marks on an enormous variety of media As used herein mark 5 282 052 5 ing medium covers one or more distinct units of a medium on which together a human has produced a pattern of related marks For example a set of paper pages that form a handwritten letter would be a single marking medium Also as used herein marking me dium includes a marking surface of an electronic de vice that can sense marks A user marks a marking medium or makes a mark on a marking medium by performing any action that produces or modifies marks on the marking medium a user may mark a marking medium for example with marking erasing wiping or scratching actions The term mark includes a single mark and also plural marks that together form a pattern of marks The terms form and field are related A marking medium may be an instance of a form in which case the marking medium has a set of fields each of which can be marked in an appropriate way to indicate infor mation A field may also include information indicating how it should be marked or indicating how a mark in the field is interpreted For example a field may include a check box indicating a region within which a check like mark should be made A field may include one or more fields within it In addition to its
26. created by the Form action as described above in response to a Delete form that includes check boxes indicating a set of one or more documents The Delete action deletes entries in infor mation database 322 for the indicated documents and also deletes the files in which the pages of the docu ments are stored The Pre Send action can be created by the Form action as described above in response to a Send form that includes check boxes indicating a request to pro vide a facsimile transmission to a set of one or more indicated recipients The Pre Send action converts the items to be transmitted such as forms cover sheets and documents from the fax server s format to the appropri ate format for the fax card being used and stores each converted item in a respective DOS file Conversion techniques are described in copending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 856 000 entitled System and Method for Storing Received Facsimile Image Data in Computer Memory incorporated herein by reference For each indicated recipient the Pre Send action obtains data indicating a transmission path such as a fax machine s telephone number If the recipient is a new recipient the Send form includes check boxes indicating the recipient s transmis sion path If the Send form also includes a check box requesting that the recipient be added to the recipient index the Pre Send action adds data indicating the recipient s transmission path to i
27. device for accessing a me dium that stores data and a processor connected for receiving data defining images from the image input circuitry and for pro viding data defining images to the image output circuitry the processor further being connected for receiving data from the storage medium access device the article comprising a data storage medium that can be accessed by the storage medium access device when the article is used in the system and data stored by the data storage medium so that the storage medium access device can provide the stored data to the processor when the article is used in the system the stored data comprising image receiving instruction data indicating input instructions the processor can execute to receive input image data from the image input circuitry the input image data defining an image set and operation performing instruction data indicating response instructions the processor can execute to perform operations in response to input image data when the input image data define a first image set that shows a first form that includes plural partial oper ation fields that are marked to indicate together a sequence of partial operations that constitutes a complete operation execution of the response in structions causing the processor to use the input image data to automatically produce created form data and to provide the created form data to the image output circuitry the created form data defin ing
28. e dium such as a floppy disk or a CD ROM and data stored by the medium The stored data can indicate input instructions and response instructions as described above A closely related aspect of the invention is based on the recognition that a user may require some flexibility in obtaining an automatically created form In the case where the user desires a form with a number of recipi ents for example the user may desire to add several recipients then obtain a new form that lists all the added recipients This problem can be solved if one form specifies the partial operations that constitute the complete opera tion and another form requests the automatically cre ated form for requesting the complete operation This allows the user to obtain the automatically created form after adding a number of recipients for example The following description the drawings and the claims further set forth these and other aspects objects features and advantages of the invention BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a schematic flow diagram showing how a first form specifying partial operations can be used to automatically produce a second form with a field for requesting a combined operation FIG 2 is a flow chart showing general acts in auto matically producing a form as in FIG 1 FIG 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a soft ware product that can be accessed by a system to auto matically produce forms as in FIG 2 FIG
29. e and operate on the forms contents When a form is automatically created it can be trans mitted to the requested fax number The fax number could be modified if necessary as described in copend ing coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 856 005 now issued as U S Pat No 5 241 589 enti tled A System and Method for Implementing Tele phone Dialing Rules incorporated herein by refer ence D Applications The invention could be applied in many other ways other than in a system that performs facsimile transmis sions In general the invention could be applied to any system in which images of forms can be transmitted such as a system that includes a scanner and a printer The invention could be applied to document filing in which a sequence of partial operations to access a direc tory pathway could be combined into a single request field on an automatically created form The invention could be applied to routing of docu ments within an electronic mail system or other net work For instance a sequence of partial operations to send a document to a particular location could be com bined into a single request field on an automatically created form The invention could also be applied to image process ing operations For instance a sequence of partial oper ations on a document could be combined into a single request field on an automatically created form includ ing such operations as removing noise deskewing ex
30. e the Pre Send action the Pre Retrieve action con verts the items to be transmitted to the appropriate format for the fax card being used and stores each converted item in a respective DOS file Then the Pre Retrieve action creates a Retrieve action The Retrieve action can be created by the Pre Retrieve action as described above The Retrieve action obtains data indicating a transmission path as obtained by the Form action either from a return address section on the form or from the data defining the received transmission If the Form action did not obtain a desti nation the Retrieve action fails The Retrieve action orders the DOS files containing items to be transmitted to the destination into a single queue The Retrieve action submits a request to TSR 310 to send the DOS files in the queue to the destination Like the Send ac tion the Retrieve action creates a Verify action The Verify action can be created by the Send action or the Retrieve action as described above The Verify action submits a request to TSR 310 for data indicating the status of the facsimile transmission that resulted from the Send action or Retrieve action that created the Verify action If the facsimile transmission has not yet completed the Verify action resets its start time so that it will be performed again later The fax card will redial according to its configuration and if the fax card re ports a failure the Verify action reports the failure to the
31. eld can be implemented for detection as described in co pending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 855 984 entitled Mark Sensing on a Form incor porated herein by reference A write in recipient segment includes fields similar to fields in form 510 A field with a rectangular outline like field 534 permits a user to write a name or other identi fying mnemonic of a new recipient A field like field 536 includes a box that can be checked to request that the new recipient be added to the recipient index as de scribed above A field like field 540 includes boxes that can be checked to indicate the new recipient s fax num ber together with instructions and a small scale exam ple A document segment includes a set of fields like field 562 in form 522 each including a box that can be checked to indicate a document and an identifier of the document These fields can be arranged in a number of columns across an image and the check boxes can be implemented for detection as described above options segment similarly includes set of fields each including a box that can be checked to indicate an optional operation For example a user can request a copy of a transmitted document be sent to the user s in basket that the transmission be done at a prespecified time such as a time when telephone rates are cheaper or that a cover sheet showing all recipients be automati cally created and transmitted The cover note segment
32. er The automatically created 4 542 378 9 1985 Suganuma et al 382 61 form can then include a single check box next to the 4 893 333 1 1990 Baran et al 379 100 name of the recipient When the check box is marked 5 001 769 3 1991 Reid Green et al 382 61 the processor responds to the form by performing the ST mi 38200 sequence of partal operations The procesor 5 099 340 3 1992 Kamada et al 358 403 cute input instructions to receive data defining the 5 134 669 7 1992 Keogh et al e 382 61 of each form and can execute response instruc tions to respond to each form FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 354703A2 2 1990 European Pat Off HO4M 1 274 10 Claims 10 Drawing Sheets Response Instructions 92 too 1 ______ Automatically Create 7 77777 Provide Form image Input Circuitry Perform Partial Operations 66 80 Image Output U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 1 of 10 5 282 052 10 20 B C JU Form10 Form 20 Fig 1 Receive First Form 40 Indicating Sequence Of Partial Operations 42 Automatically Create Second Form With Complete Operation Field Provide Second Form 46 Receive Second Form Indicating Complete Operation Fig 2 Perform Sequence of Partial Operations U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 2 of 10 5 282 052 60 72
33. ew fax recipient is being programmed Field 124 is filled in with a name for the new fax recipient Numerical grid 126 is filled in to indicate the new fax recipient s telephone number When the completed form 120 is received form 140 in FIG 4B is automatically created Fields 142 144 and 146 have the same respective functions as fields 122 124 and 126 in FIG 4A and have been filled in to re quest programming of another new fax recipient In addition field 150 allows a user to request the previous fax recipient with a single mark and field 152 contains an image obtained from field 124 in FIG 4A If more 15 20 25 4C 30 35 45 55 65 8 than one recipient were checked fields 160 and 162 could be completed to request a new group When the completed form 140 is received form 170 in FIG 4C is automatically created Fields 172 174 and 176 have the same respective functions as fields 122 125 and 126 in FIG 4A but have been left blank Field 180 has the same respective function as field 150 in FIG 4B with field 182 containing the image from field 124 and field 184 has been added allowing the user to re quest the previous fax recipient with a single mark field 186 containing an image obtained from field 144 in FIG 4B Fields 190 and 192 have the same respective func tion as fields 160 and 162 in FIG 4B but fields 180 184 and 190 have been checked to indicate that a new group should be formed and field
34. fax server terminate and stay resi dent instructions TSR 310 For most fax cards fax card terminate and stay resi dent instructions 306 can be installed when the fax card is installed For each of these fax cards fax server soft ware 300 includes a respective TSR 310 that can be loaded when the user installs fax server software 300 in response to a signal from the user indicating the type of fax card Some fax cards such as proFax have a separate driver for programming In these cases the fax card is installed and TSR 310 is loaded during installation of fax server software 300 Fax card terminate and stay resident instructions 306 and TSR 310 communicate to receive and send facsim ile transmissions When a facsimile transmission is received the fax card automatically stores the received data in a direc tory in the DOS filing system When TSR 310 next polls fax card terminate and stay resident instructions 306 TSR 310 receives data indicating that a received trans mission is in a file in the directory In response TSR 310 assigns an event number to the file and creates an event file The event file includes the event number and other information such as the DOS file name of the received file and the telephone number of the sending fax ma chine or an empty identifier if a telephone number is not available When fax server application instructions 312 next poll TSR 310 TSR responds with the event number of the next unproce
35. fields a form can include additional information such as ma chine readable or human readable information identify ing the form A mark in a field indicates an attribute when the presence or shape of the mark depends on the existence of the attribute or on a measure of the attribute A field is for indicating an attribute when one or more appro priate marks in the field would indicate the attribute A field indicates an attribute when one or more marks in the field indicate the attribute One type of attribute that can be indicated by a mark in a field is a request for an operation in which case presence of the mark indicates an action by a user in tended to cause performance of the operation For ex ample the field could include a check box for the mark and could also include information identifying the oper ation An operation is performed response to a field when the field is for indicating a request for the opera tion and a mark in the field indicating a request causes the operation to be performed Presence of a mark in a field could also indicate an action by a user intended to indicate an operation with out indicating a request for the operation For example a mark could indicate an operation of signalling a digit of a telephone number where signalling the digit is one of a sequence of operations that together perform the operation of obtaining a connection to a fax machine The mark could
36. he act of operating the processor to receive third input image data from the image input circuitry the third input image data defining a fourth image set the fourth image set showing a third form the third form including a form request field that is marked to indicate a request for the second form the act of operating the processor to use the first input image data being performed in response to the form request field 4 The method of claim 1 in which the first form is further marked to indicate a request to perform the sequence of partial operations the method further com prising in response to the first input image data the act of operating the processor to perform the sequence of partial operations 5 The method of claim 1 in which the image output circuitry is connected to provide a facsimile transmis 5 282 052 21 sion the plural partial operation fields of the first form being marked to indicate a telephone number of a recip ient to which a facsimile transmission can be made the complete operation field of the second form including a check box and an identifier of the recipient the second input image data defining the second form s image with the check box being marked the act of operating the processor to perform the sequence of partial operations comprising the act of providing data defining an image for facsimile transmission to the telephone number indi cated by the plural partial operation fields 6 The method
37. ieve action The act in box 586 is the Retrieve action created by the Pre Retrieve action in box 584 The Retrieve action submits a request to TSR 310 to send the converted form to the destination indicated in field 556 of form 512 The Retrieve action also creates a Verify action 5 282 052 17 The act in box 588 is the Verify action created by the Retrieve action in box 586 The Verify action verifies successful completion of facsimile transmission of the converted form to the destination A form like form 522 in FIG 7 could be created in many ways In the current implementation each auto matically created form has an upper segment with a logo a title and machine readable form identifying information Below this portion an automatically cre ated form with a Send section can include a recipient listing segment a write in recipient segment an options segment and a cover note segment Alternatively it could include a write in recipient segment a documents segment an options segment and a cover note segment At the bottom of each automatically created form is a segment with the user s name and a date recipient listing segment includes a set of fields like field 560 in form 522 each including a box that can be checked to request transmission to a distribution list or recipient and an identifier of the distribution list or recipient These fields can be arranged in a number of columns across an image The check box in each fi
38. includes a logo and machine readable form identifying information and can also include other ma chine and human readable information A user can mark the boxes in fields 560 and 562 to specify a requested operation The user can mark the box in field 560 to specify that facsimile transmission should be made to the recipient identified in field 534 in form 510 To assist the user in interpreting form 522 field 560 can also include a ver sion of the image from field 534 identifying the recipi ent In response to a mark in the box in field 560 fax server 504 can retrieve the identified recipient s fax number and use it to establish connection with recipi ent s fax machine 506 The user can mark the box in field 562 to specify a document to be included in the fax transmission to the recipient In response to a mark in the box in field 562 fax server 504 can retrieve and transmit data defining an image of the specified document from its DOS file as illustrated by document A 520 thus completing the requested operation For simplicity of illustration new form 522 includes only one field for selecting a recipient field 560 and only one field for selecting a document field 562 In general an automatically produced form could include as many fields as will fit within the space available If a request for automatic form creation exceeds the space available fax server 504 can create one or more addi tional new forms for the overflow
39. itry 80 The data could in turn be provided to fax machine 82 to printer 84 to display 86 or to network 88 In addition to data storage medium 62 software prod uct 60 includes data stored by storage medium 62 The stored data include data indicating image receiving instructions 90 which can be executed to perform the acts in boxes 40 and 46 in FIG 2 The stored data also include data indicating response instructions which can be executed both to automatically create and transmit a form as in boxes 42 and 44 in FIG 2 and also to perform a complete operation by performing a sequence of par tial operations as in box 48 FIGS 4A 4D show images of forms resulting from an application of the invention to a fax machine Some current fax machines have speed dialing buttons A user can program a speed dialing button by providing a phone number to be associated with the button After the button s programmed activation of the button causes the fax machine to dial the associated number and transmit Use of speed dialing buttons is limited however because a large number of steps are necessary to program a button and because the programming once completed is limited to a single machine The technique illustrated in FIGS 4A 4D provides a func tion similar to speed dialing that can be programmed through a small number of steps and that can be used on multiple fax machines In form 120 in FIG 4A field 122 is marked to indi cate that a n
40. lation to soft ware implementations but the invention might be im plemented with specialized hardware The invention has been described in relation to a software product that can be run on a personal com puter with a fax card to provide fax services In addition to the specific personal computer described the inven tion could be implemented on any other personal com puter workstation fax machine or other system with suitable processing capabilities In addition to the spe cific fax cards described the current implementation could be extended to support other fax cards that can run in the Microsoft Windows environment and that have programmable interface In addition the inven tion could be implemented with any other fax card or similar device for receiving and transmitting images provided it has suitable processing capabilities The invention could also be implemented in a dedicated server that provides fax services The invention has been described in relation to an implementation that also includes a user interface with a display and user input device such as a keyboard with a mouse The user interface could be used to edit an auto matically created form or to personalize a user profile to provide parameters used during automatic form cre ation For example a user could personalize the profile to indicate how fields appear within the segments of the automatically created form The invention has bcen described in relation t
41. mage set that shows a first form that includes plural partial oper ation fields that are marked to indicate together a sequence of partial operations that constitutes a complete operation execution of the response in structions causing the processor to use the input image data to automatically produce created form data and to provide the created form data to the image output circuitry the created form data defin ing an image of a second form the second form including a complete operation field the complete operation field being for indicating a request for the complete operation when the input image data define a second image set that shows the second form and the complete oper ation field is marked to indicate a request for the complete operation execution of the response in 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 22 structions causing the processor to perform the sequence of partial operations that constitutes the complete operation 8 The system of claim 7 in which the image input circuitry is connected for receiving facsimile transmis sions 9 The system of claim 7 in which the image output circuitry is connected for providing facsimile transmis sions 10 An article of manufacture for use in a system that includes image input circuitry for obtaining data defining im ages of forms as input image output circuitry for providing data defining images of forms as output a storage medium access
42. n is performed when no other action is ready based on a readyproc that checks whether other actions are ready Therefore job database 324 always includes an Input action The Input action s function polls TSR 310 to obtain data indicating whether or not a facsimile trans mission has been received If so the function obtains an event file for the newly received images sets up a new batch in job database 324 and creates a Batch action The Batch action is created by an Input action as described above The Batch action s function calls a converter procedure that is appropriate for the fax card being used as indicated by the user at the time fax server software 300 is installed the converter proce dures convert a received file from the fax card s format to a DOS file in fax server format the DOS file name can be based on an integer identifier to facilitate com munication between windows instructions 304 and TSR 310 Conversion can be performed by calls to modules that can be independently modified and extended Con version techniques are described in copending coas signed U S patent application Ser No 07 856 000 entitled System and Method for Storing Received Facsimile Image Data in Computer Memory incorpo rated herein by reference The Batch action s function also creates for each page in the received file a page entry and a Page action to be performed on that page in job database 324 if only single page is received
43. ndicated distribution lists in information database 322 and in any event to a special distribution list called Recipients The Pre Send action can also associate data defining an identifying image from the Send form with the recipi ent s transmission path in the manner described in co pending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 855 987 entitled Method and System for Labeling a Document for Storage Manipulation and Retrieval incorporated herein by reference If the recipient is indicated by a check box the Pre Send action retrieves the recipient s transmission path data from information database 322 Similarly if all recipients in a distribution list are indicated by a check box the Pre Send action retrieves each recipient s transmission path data In either case the Pre Send action creates a Send action for each recipient The Send action can be created by the Pre Send action as described above The Send action orders the DOS files containing items to be transmitted to the specified recipient into a single queue The Send action submits a request to TSR 310 to send the DOS files in the queue to the specified recipient The Send action concludes by creating a Verify action 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 The Pre Retrieve action can be created by the Form action as described above in response to any request for a facsimile transmission other than a Send form Lik
44. nonassu ANS e UON ddy vLE pue T pue ajeurmuay Jansas xe4 suononasu eseqeyeq 90 01 5 i l I l t l l l 51103 00 1 suoipy sjaquinN sjuaiday eds ZZE sis uonngiasig qor uonewojuj Sheet 8 of 10 5 282 052 Jan 25 1994 U S Patent gorf L OLE 9 big L d 1 9 gor L L 09 lt 0 gaor CSE 0 0 abeg U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 9 of 10 5 282 052 510 512 522 M 1 e ID List Contents Send 550 560 4 v Recipients v A Buddy ir 552 562 SA Add M Documents RV send iv ase send Send 534 Document A Fig 7 U S Patent Jan 25 1994 Sheet 10 of 10 580 Form Action Bitmap Identifier Recipient s Fax No to Recipient Index 582 Form Action Automatically Create Form With Send Section 584 Pre Retrieve Action Convert to Fax Card Format 586 Retrieve Action Request to Send Form
45. ntents of a field and enter operations and data independent of the contents of any field SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One aspect of the invention deals with a basic ineffi ciency in the use of control sheets and other forms used to control machine operations Such a form often in cludes a set of fields that can be used together to request an operation with each field specifying a partial opera tion For example a telephone number to which a fac simile is transmitted can be specified with a series of fields in each of which a user inserts a digit Each time the same operation is requested a number of fields must be completed This aspect is further based on the discovery of a technique that alleviates this problem When a user specifies a sequence of partial operations on a form the technique can automatically produce a new form with a single field to request a complete operation that in cludes the sequence of partial operations This technique can be implemented in a system that includes image input circuitry image output circuitry and a processor connected for receiving data defining images from the image input circuitry and for providing data defining images to the image output circuitry The image input circuitry could be connected to receive facsimile transmissions and the image output circuitry could be connected to provide facsimile transmissions The processor can receive first input image data de fining an image of a fi
46. o imple mentations in which a user can request automatic form creation using one or two forms larger number of forms could be used to indicate a sequence of partial operations that constitute a complete operation and to request automatic form creation The invention has been described in relation to check boxes that are rectangular or two sided but any other 5 282 052 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 65 20 appropriate type of marking field could be defined on a form including a field defined by parentheses a field defined by shading and a field of any appropriate shape Although the invention has been described in relation to various implementations together with modifica tions variations and extensions thereof other imple mentations modifications variations and extensions are within the scope of the invention The invention is therefore not limited by the description contained herein or by the drawings but only by the claims What is claimed 1 A method of operating a system that includes image input circuitry for obtaining data defining im ages as input image output circuitry for providing data defining images as output processor connected for receiving data defining images from the image input circuitry and for pro viding data defining images to the image output circuitry the method comprising operating the processor to receive first input image data from the image
47. ocking Glyph Shape Codes incorporated herein by reference Each form shown has its own unique identifying information and this information can be generated at the time the form is created based on a function of an identifier of the soft ware installation that creates the form In addition to the fields shown each form can also have human read able name data and time of creation and other informa tion A user can write a name or other mnemonic identifier of a recipient in field 534 in form 510 When a marked version of form 510 is received data defining the con tents of field 534 such as a bitmap can be stored in information database 322 for subsequent use in perform ing the requested Send action and in automatic form creation Copending coassigned U S patent application Ser No 07 855 987 entitled Method and System for Labeling a Document for Storage Manipulation and Retrieval incorporated herein by reference describes ways of handling such bitmap images A user can mark boxes in fields 536 538 and 540 in form 510 to further specify the requested operation The box in field 536 is marked to specify that the recipient identified in field 534 should be added to the recipient index in information database 322 The box in field 538 is marked to specify that Document A should be sent to the recipient Boxes in field 540 are marked to specify the recipient s fax number Form 512 in FIG 7 is a form that includes a Lis
48. pends on the existence of the attribute or on a measure of the attribute For example an item of data may indicate a set of instructions a pro cessor can execute An item of data includes information indicating an attribute if data indicating the attribute can be obtained 5 by operating on the item of data An array of data or data array or array is a combination of items of data that can be mapped into an array A two dimensional array is a data array whose items of data can be mapped into an array having two 20 dimensions 25 30 35 40 45 55 60 65 An item of data defines an array when it includes information sufficient to obtain or produce the array For example an item of data defining array may include the defined array itself a compressed or en coded form of the defined a pointer to the defined array a pointer to a part of another array from which the defined array can be obtained or pointers to a set of smaller arrays from which the defined array can be obtained To obtain or produce an item of data is to per form any combination of operations that begins without the item of data and that results in the item of data An item of data can be obtained or produced by any operations that result in the item of data An item of data can be obtained from or produced from other items of data by operations that obtain or prod
49. rent implementation A batch includes one or more jobs Each job includes one or more pages The first job in a batch may not begin with a form but every job after the first begins with a form which may be followed by a set of pages Each job thus includes one of the following a single blank sheet a number of non form pages also referred to as a document a single form a single form followed by a document The basic scheduling operation is a cycling operation that on each cycle selects an action to be performed from those currently existing in job database 324 The current implementation has a number of different types of actions many of which may be used to handle a received facsimile transmission An action of a given 5 282 052 11 type may be created meaning that an instance of the type is set up in job database 324 An action in job database 324 includes various items of information including data indicating the action s function and data that can be used in scheduling perfor mance or execution of the action s function The sched uling data includes the action s state whether ready or done the earliest time to start performing the action s function a priority to ensure that a retrieve function will be completed before a send function and option ally a special function called a readyproc to determine whether the action is ready for performance of its func tion The Input action is a default action whose functio
50. rst form with a number of fields that are marked so that they together indicate a se quence of partial operations The indicated sequence constitutes a complete operation The processor can use the data to automatically produce created form data defining an image of a second form that includes a field for indicating a request for the complete operation The processor can provide the created form data to the image output circuitry Then the processor can receive 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 second input image data defining an image of the second form that is marked to indicate a request for the com plete operation In response the processor can perform the sequence of partial operations that constitutes the complete operation machine implementing the invention can include stored in memory input instructions for receiving data defining an input form s image and response instructions for responding to an input form In response to the first input image data the processor can execute the re sponse instructions to automatically produce the cre ated form data In response to the second input image data the processor can execute the response instruc tions to perform the sequence of partial operations The invention can also be implemented by an article of manufacture for use in a system that includes a stor age medium access device such as a floppy disk drive or a CD drive The article can include a data storage m
51. sed by a system to automati cally produce forms as in FIG 2 FIGS 4A 4D are schematic diagrams of a series of fax control forms automatically produced by the techniques of FIGS 1 3 Form 10 in FIG 1 includes three partial operation fields each for indicating a respective partial operation Field 12 is for indicating partial operation A field 14 partial operation B and field 16 partial operation C As shown a user has inserted check marks in fields 12 and 16 to indicate a sequence that includes partial operations A and C In response to form 10 form 20 is automati cally produced Like form 10 form 20 illustratively includes partial operation fields 22 24 and 26 respec tively for indicating partial operations A B and C But form 20 also includes complete operation field 28 for indicating the complete operation constituted by the sequence of partial operations A and C As a result a user can more efficiently request the complete opera tion The act in box 40 in FIG 2 receives data defining an image showing a first form in which partial operation fields are marked to indicate a sequence of partial opera tions like form 10 in FIG 1 The act in box 42 uses the data defining the first form to automatically create a second form that includes a complete operation field for indicating the complete operation constituted by the sequence of partial operations The act in box 44 then provides data defining the second form as output 5
52. ssed event file Fax server application in structions 312 can then handle the received transmission as described below Similarly before fax server application instructions 312 signal TSR 310 to send a facsimile transmission they create an event file with the next available event number This event file can include the event number the telephone number of the destination a temporary file number identifying a temporary file containing data to be transmitted and such other information as a user name for a header on transmitted pages and so forth In response to the event file TSR 310 provides data to fax card terminate and stay resident instructions 306 indicating the destination TSR 310 can temporarily save the items to be sent in a directory in the DOS filing system fax card terminate and stay resident in structions 306 can put a request on a queue of requests to the fax card Subsequently in response to status checks from fax server application instructions 312 TSR 310 can request data from fax card terminate and stay resident instructions 306 indicating whether the items have been successfully sent Fax server application instructions 312 perform the central functions of fax server software 300 In addition to the above fax server application instructions 312 also call image processing instructions 314 to perform image processing operations and database instructions 320 to manage data in information database 322 and job d
53. t Contents section that can be used for requesting facsim ile transmission of an automatically created form back to the requester List Contents sections are described in more detail in copending coassigned U S patent appli cation Ser No 07 854 520 entitled Using a Form to Request Automatic Form Creation incorporated herein by reference A user can mark boxes in fields 550 552 554 and 556 to specify the requested operation The box in field 550 is marked to specify that the automatically created form Should include a list of all recipients in information database 322 which now includes the recipient identi fied in field 534 in form 510 The box in field 552 is 60 marked to specify that the automatically created form should also include a list of all documents in information database 322 The box in field 554 is marked to specify that the recipients and documents should be listed in a Send section for requesting a send operation Boxes in field 556 are marked to specify the requester s fax num ber or another number to which the automatically cre ated form should be transmitted The requester could 5 t 20 a 40 50 5 6 5 5 16 thus indicate a fax number of another location or of a third party in field 556 Form 522 in FIG 7 is an automatically created form that includes a Send section as specified by the marked boxes in form 512 Like the other forms shown in FIG 7 form 522
54. the form s definition to construct calls to image processing instructions 314 A call to image processing instructions 314 can in clude data indicating a segment of the form s image such as a rectangle or a position within the form s im age such as a corner of a check box Each call can also include data indicating an operation to be performed examples include an operation that determines whether a segment has been marked and an operation that clips segment that has been marked and returns its contents in the form of an array such as a bitmap The Form action uses the form s definition and the results returned by image processing instructions 314 to create actions and other items within job database 324 For example the form definition can indicate that if a given check box is marked a Store action should be created to store a document in response to a Store form or that a Delete action should be created to delete a document in response to a Delete form or that a Pre Send action should be created to prepare to provide a facsimile transmission in response to a Send form or that a Pre retrieve action should be created to prepare to provide a facsimile transmission to a destination indi cated on the form or back to the fax machine that sent the form typically in response to a Retrieve or List Contents form and so forth When the Form action must obtain a destination for a Retrieve action it begins by using a destination indi
55. uce the item of data using the other items of data An image is a pattern of light An image set is a set of one or more images An image may be divided into segments each of which is itself an image A segment of an image may be _ of any size up to and including the whole image An item of data defines an image when the item of data includes sufficient information to produce the im age For example a two dimensional array can define all or any part of an image with each item of data in the array providing a value indicating the color of a respec tive location of the image An item of data defines an image set when the item of data includes sufficient information to produce all the images in the set A data transmission is an act that transmits data from one location to another A facsimile transmis sion is a data transmission in which the transmitted data define an image according to a standard format An image destination is a machine or other destination to which data defining an image can be transmitted A fax machine is a machine with circuitry that can receive and provide facsimile transmissions Therefore the telephone number of a fax machine is an example of information that indicates an image destination A marking medium is a physical medium on which 8 human can produce a pattern of marks by performing marking actions or actions that modify marks such as erasing wiping or s
56. unction automatically when it performs the opera tion or function independent of concurrent human con trol Operations of a processor can be related to each other as partial operations and complete operations or combined operations A complete or combined oper ation is an operation that can be performed by perform ing a sequence of partial operations A sequence of partial operations constitutes a complete or combined operation when the sequence is sufficient to perform the complete or combined operation Any two components are connected when there is a combination of circuitry that can transfer data from one of the components to the other A processor accesses data in memory by any oper ation that retrieves or modifies the data such as by reading or writing a location in memory that includes the data A processor can be connected for accessing data by any combination of connections with local or remote memory or input output devices that permits the processor to access the data 4 A processor uses data in performing an operation when the result of the operation depends on the value of the data An instruction is an item of data that a processor 5 can use to determine its own operation processor 10 1 executes a set of instructions when it uses the instruc tions to determine its operations An item of data indicates an attribute when the item has a value that de
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