Method and apparatus for secured facsimile transmission

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for secured facsimile transmission of a document, comprising the steps of generating at least one image of said document (step a)), reading the pixels of said at least one image into a series of blocks of predetermined size (step b)), converting said series of blocks into a character string based on a conversion table (step c)), encrypting said character string to create an encrypted character string (step d)), compressing said encrypted character string to create a scrambled image (step e)), and transmitting said scrambled image (step f )), wherein an option between a standard encryption mode and an optimized encryption mode is provided, wherein in the standard encryption mode in step a) one image is generated from the entire document and in the optimized encryption mode in step a) a series of images is generated, each image corresponding to one line of the document, in step b) the pixels of each image of said series of images are read into aseries of blocks of predetermined size, in step c) said series of blocks corresponding to each image are each converted into a character string, resulting in one character string per image, and in step d) only character strings corresponding to images with at least one non- white pixel are encrypted. The present invention relates further to an apparatus for performing the method of the invention.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a method for secure facsimile transmission according to the preamble of claim 1 and a device for secure facsimile transmission according to the preamble of claim 7 . Generally, the present invention belongs to the technical field of telecommunications. Background technique [0002] Fax transmissions are often replacing regular mail or such as UPS and FedEx delivery service because fax transmissions are fast and reliable, and recipients can receive messages within minutes rather than hours or even days or weeks. Often, sensitive information such as, for example, internal technical drawings, confidential financial or business data or private information needs to be transmitted by facsimile transmission. Often, however, a substantial portion of the population has access to fax machines, such as in large offices or in hotels. Therefore, there is always the possibility that someone may view the contents of an incoming fax befo...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] Furthermore, if the fax does not reach the intended recipient but another recipient due to, for example, a wrong entry of his fax number, pressing of the wrong speed dial key, or a malfunction in the telephone network, the transmitted data may fall into the wrong man's hands

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