Fax Gateway Automatic Device Information Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Administrators face significant trouble in registering and maintaining information about new FAX gateways in internet FAX systems, as each onramp must be manually updated with the Internet addresses and telephone numbers of all offramps, increasing administrative burden as the number of offramps grows.
Innovation Solution
The system includes a device information acquiring unit to automatically collect and store addresses of FAX gateways, a forwarding unit to select optimal transmission paths, and a transmitting unit to share this information, reducing the need for manual input and administrative effort when new gateways are added.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If administrators manually register Internet addresses and telephone numbers of all offramps into each onramp, then complete transmission path information is available for path selection, but administrative burden increases significantly as the number of offramps grows
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-registration where new offramps automatically register their information with onramps without administrator intervention. The offramp transmits its Internet address and telephone number to onramps automatically when joining the system, eliminating the need for manual administrator registration and reducing operational burden as the system scales.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary automatic registration of transmission path information when offramps join the system. By automatically establishing the information registry at the time of offramp addition, the system prevents future manual update requirements and ensures complete path information is available from the outset.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a greater number of onramps and offramps are located at different locations over a large area, then more selectable transmission paths are available, but each onramp must be preliminarily informed of Internet addresses and telephone numbers of all offramps
Solution Approach 1:
The automatic self-registration mechanism allows the system to scale geographically without increasing administrative complexity. Each new offramp automatically registers itself with relevant onramps, enabling the system to support numerous distributed relay stations while maintaining simple operational procedures regardless of system size.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically updates transmission path information automatically when new offramps are added or existing ones change locations. This dynamic registration process eliminates the need for static pre-registration of all possible paths, allowing the system to adapt flexibly as relay stations are added or relocated across different geographic areas.
Data Source
AI summary
A FAX transmission system is composed of: a plurality of first FAX gateways having a function of receiving FAX data from a sending FAX machine over a telephone network and forwarding the FAX data over a communication network other than the telephone network; and a plurality of second FAX gateways having a function of receiving FAX data over the communication network and forwarding the FAX data to a receiving FAX machine over the telephone network. A first FAX gateway in the FAX transmission system acquires, for each second FAX gateway, device information that includes (i) an address on the communication network of the second FAX gateway and (ii) an address on the telephone network of the second FAX gateway or information for acquiring the telephone network address, and transmits the acquired device information to at least one other of the first FAX gateways.