EP0838774A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Electronic document delivery system
Assignee: Tumbleweed Software Corp
•
Filing: 1997-10-23
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2017-10-23
Abstract
Abstract A document, preferably in a portable format, is forwarded to a remote server ( e.g. using HTTP to push the document to the server). The server sends a generic notification of the document to an intended recipient, and the recipient can download the document from the server using local protocols. A method and system is also provided that sends documents from a desktop computer inside an intranet through a series of firewalls and/or proxy servers to a server residing on the Internet. A computer in an intranet system protected by a firewall or proxy server uses a software application to access the Internet. The software also encodes binary data to be sent as text. This binary data may be subdivided into smaller text packets. The text packets are sent, using HTTP, to a server outside the firewall, which has been configured to accept such text packets. The server converts the text packets back to the original binary data representation. The binary data, once resident on the internet server, can then be forwarded directly to other internet servers, internet desktop computers, printers, or fax machines. A document delivery server is also provided that dynamically customizes the format of a document to be delivered, based on the capabilities of the recipient and the type of document to be delivered. The server attempts to maintain the information contained in the document in a high level representation and deters the decision of when to convert to a lower level representation, thereby maximizing the potential set of options and function at each step in the delivery process.
Inventors
- 👤 Jeffrey C. Smith
- 👤 Jean-Christophe Bandini
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 01:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/10; G06Q10/107; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/95; G06F16/958; H; H04; H04L; H04L51/00; H04L51/06; H04L51/066; H04L63/00; H04L63/02; H04L63/029; H04L63/04; H04L63/0428
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 71
Claim 1
Independent Claim
75 words
An apparatus for delivering an electronic document,
comprising: a sending computer (l6) a receiving computer (22) and a server (l2) interposed between said sending computer (16)
and said receiving computer (22), wherein when said
electronic document is forwarded to said server (12) from
said sending computer, said server (l2) sends a
notification of said electronic document to said receiving
computer (22) and wherein said receiving computer (22)
downloads said forwarded electronic document from said
server.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of claim l, wherein said notification either
contains a URL reference back to said served, is an SMTP
based E-mail notification, or contains an HTTP link to said
server.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
34 words
The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein when
said server sends a notification of said electronic
document to said receiving computer (22), said server sends
an acknowledgement to said sending computer (l6).
Claim 4
Independent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein when
said receiving computer downloads said forwarded electronic
document from said server (l2) said server sends an
acknowledgement to said sending computer.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
17 words
The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein said
electronic document is a portable electronic document.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said portable electronic
document is either in Envoy™ format or in Acrobat PDF™
format.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
61 words
A method for delivering an electronic document, comprising
the steps of: forwarding said electronic document from a sending computer
(16) to a server (12); sending a notification of said forwarded electronic
document from said server to a receiving computer (22), and when receiving computer reguests said forwarded electronic
document, delivering said forwarded electronic document
from said server to said receiving computer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 7, wherein said notification either
contains an URL reference back to said server, is an SMTP
based E-mail notification, or contains an HTTP link to said
server.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
33 words
The method of any of claims 7 or 8, wherein when said
server sends a notification of said electronic document to
said receiving computer, said server sends an
acknowledgement to said sending computer.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
31 words
The method of any of claims 7 to 9, wherein when said
receiving computer downloads said forwarded electronic
document from said server, said server sends an
acknowledgement to said sending computer.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
18 words
The method of any of claims 7 to 10, wherein said
electronic document is a portable electronic document.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 11, wherein said portable electronic
document is either in Envoy™ format or in Acrobat PDF™
format.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
104 words
An apparatus for delivering an electronic document,
comprising: a sending computer (16) a receiving computer (22) a first server (12a) interposed between said sending
computer and said receiving computer, a second server (12n) interposed between said first server
and said receiving computer (22), wherein when said
electronic document is forwarded to said first server (12a)
from said sending computer (16), said first server sends
said forwarded electronic document to said second server
(12n), said second server sends a notification of said
sent, forwarded electronic document to said receiving
computer, and wherein said receiving computer downloads
said sent forwarded electronic document from said second
server.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said first server and
said second server are interposed across the internet or an
intranet.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
92 words
A method for dynamically delivering electronic documents
via an electronic network, comprising the steps of: sending a high level representation of an electronic
document to a recipient via a dynamic document conversion
server (410), deferring a decision to descend to a lower level
representation; determining a most appropriate level of representation for
said document based upon said recipient's capability to
reproduce said document; converting said document to a lower level representation as
appropriate and necessary for said recipient's capability
to reproduce said document, and completing delivery of said document to said recipient.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of: converting said document to a portable document
representation of said document before sending said
document.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
26 words
The method of any of claims l5 to 16 wherein said document
is delivered from a sender (412) to said server in a high
level representation.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
27 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 17, wherein said server
propagates said document via said network, thereby bringing
said document closer to an intended recipient.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
46 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 18, further comprising
the step of: dynamically converting said document from a high level
representation to a lower level representation, based on
the document to be delivered and a next server or
recipient's capabilities to reproduce said document.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
22 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 19, wherein a second
server then attempts to forward said document to said
recipient.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
31 words
The method of any of claims l5 to 20, wherein said document
is delivered to an initial server, and wherein said server
then delivers said document directly to an intended
recipient.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said server dynamically
converts a high level document representation to a lower
level document representation, and then delivers said lower
level document representation to said recipient.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
33 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 22, further comprising
the step of performing a database lookup or interactive dialog with
said recipient to identify said recipient's capability to
reproduce said document.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
20 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 23, wherein a sender of
said document further comprises a send client.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 24, wherein said send client performs
an initial conversion of said document to a portable
representation.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
33 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 25, further comprising
the step of: using a server facility to determine whether to convert
said document to be delivered to a lower level
representation.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of: maintaining a series of mapping tables to facilitate
potential mapping between representations.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of: providing a table that includes possible mapping from a
given data representation.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of: providing a table that includes possible data
representations given a specific capability.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
23 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 29, further comprising
the step of: deriving information regarding said document format to be
delivered.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
40 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 30, further comprising
the step of: maintaining a data base of capabilities with said server of
specific users which have used said server, either to pick
up documents, or to send documents.
Claim 32
Independent Claim
22 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 31, further comprising
the step of providing an inference engine to infer
recipient capabilities.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 32, wherein said inference is based on
either or both of a type of delivery mechanism and an
address used to describe said recipient.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
33 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 33, further comprising
the step of providing an LDAP query engine to query
recipient capabilities dynamically using the Internet
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) standard.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
36 words
The method of any of claims 15 to 34, further comprising
the step of: determining data format: identifying recipient capabilities, and using at least one mapping table to conclude whether data
conversion is required or appropriate.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
113 words
An apparatus for dynamically delivering electronic
documents via an electronic network comprising a sender
(412) for sending a high level representation of an
electronic document to a recipient (4l4), 4l6, 4l8) said
apparatus comprising: a dynamic document conversion server (4l0), for forwarding
said document to said recipient, said server further
comprising: a facility for determining a most appropriate level of
representation for said document based upon said
recipient's capability to reproduce said document, and a conversion engine for converting said document to a lower
level representation as appropriate and necessary for said
recipient's capability to reproduce said document, wherein said server defers a decision to descend to a lower
level representation as appropriate.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
26 words
The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising a send client
for converting said document to a portable document
representation of said document before sending said
document.
Claim 38
Independent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 or 37, wherein said
document is delivered from a sender to said server in a
high level representation.
Claim 39
Independent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 38 wherein said server
propagates said document via said network, thereby bringing
said document closer to an intended recipient.
Claim 40
Independent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 39, further
comprising: a conversion engine for dynamically converting said
document from a high level representation to a lower level
representation, based on the document to be delivered and a
next server or recipient's capabilities to reproduce said
document.
Claim 41
Independent Claim
21 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 40, further comprising
a second server that forwards said document to said
recipient.
Claim 42
Independent Claim
31 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 41, wherein said
document is delivered to an initial server, and wherein
said server then delivers said document directly to an
intended recipient.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said server dynamically
converts a high level document representation to a lower
level document representation, and then delivers said lower
level document representation to said recipient.
Claim 44
Independent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 43, further
comprising: an inference engine for performing a data base lookup or
interactive dialog with said recipient to identify said
recipient's capability to reproduce said document.
Claim 45
Independent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claims 36 to 44, wherein a sender of said
document further comprises a send client.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 45, wherein said send client
performs an initial conversion of said document to a
portable representation.
Claim 47
Independent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 46, further comprising
a server facility for determining whether to convert said
document to be delivered to a lower level representation.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 47, further comprising at least one
series of mapping table for facilitating potential mapping
between representations.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising a table that
includes possible mapping from a given data representation.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of claim 48, further comprising a table that
includes possible data representations given a specific
capability.
Claim 51
Independent Claim
24 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 50 further comprising
a user database for deriving information regarding said
document format to be delivered.
Claim 52
Independent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 51 further comprising
a database of capabilities of specific users which have
used said server, either to pick up documents or to send
documents.
Claim 53
Independent Claim
18 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 52, further comprising
an inference engine to infer recipient capabilities.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
28 words
The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said inference is based
on either or both of a type of delivery mechanism and an
address used to describe said recipient.
Claim 55
Independent Claim
29 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 54, further comprising
an LDAP query engine to query recipient capabilities
dynamically using the Internet Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP) standard.
Claim 56
Independent Claim
45 words
The apparatus of any of claims 36 to 55 further comprising: a mapping table for determining data format; a mapping table for identifying recipient capabilities, and wherein at least one of said mapping tables is used to
conclude whether data conversion is required or
appropriate.
Claim 57
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for binary data delivery from an intranet through
at least one of a firewall or a proxy server (318)
comprising the steps of: converting said binary data to text at a sending computer
(314), using an unblocked protocol that supports unidirectional
communication to push said text across a firewall or proxy
server (318) to a server (320) residing on an electronic
network, reassembling said text at said server (320) and converting
said text to said binary data; and sending said binary data from said server to a recipient
(322) on said electronic network.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 57, wherein said electronic network is
the Internet.
Claim 59
Independent Claim
24 words
The method of any of claims 57 or 58 wherein said sending
computer converts said binary data into text using base 64
ASCII encoding.
Claim 60
Independent Claim
20 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 59, further comprising
the step of subdividing said text into text packets.
Claim 61
Independent Claim
18 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 60, wherein said server
is a part of said intranet.
Claim 62
Independent Claim
19 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 60, wherein said server
is a dedicated server on the Internet.
Claim 63
Independent Claim
22 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 62, wherein said sending
computer is either a desktop computer or a server computer.
Claim 64
Independent Claim
14 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 63, wherein said protocol
is HTTP.
Claim 65
Independent Claim
24 words
The method of any of claims 57 to 64, wherein said
recipient is one of a computer, fax machine, printer, or
personal digital assistant.
Claim 66
Independent Claim
163 words
A method for binary data delivery from a sending computer
(314), residing on an intranet through at least one of a
firewall or a proxy server (318), comprising the steps of: said sending computer accessing the Internet using HTTP; said sending computer (314) identifying the address of a
delivery server (320), residing on the Internet, said
delivery server configured to receive data from said
sending computer; said sending computer (314) identifying any delivery
protocols for said delivery server; said sending computer converting said binary data into text
data; said sending computer subdividing said text data into text
packets; said sending computer accessing the Internet to initiate a
session between said sending computer and said delivery
server, said sending computer initiating a data transfer
transaction with said delivery server (320); said sending computer submitting said text packets to said
delivery server; said sending computer concluding said data transfer
transaction with said delivery server, and said sending computer concluding said session with said
delivery server.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 66, further comprising the steps of: said delivery server reassembling said text packets into a
single text file;
said delivery server converting said single text file into said original binary data, and said delivery server forwarding said binary data to a
recipient via the Internet.
Claim 68
Independent Claim
25 words
The method of any of claims 66 or 67 where said sending
computer converts said binary data into text data using
base 64 ASCII encoding.
Claim 69
Independent Claim
74 words
A system for binary data delivery from an intranet through
at least one of a firewall or a proxy server (318)
comprising: a computer for converting said binary data to text data and
for using HTTP to send said text data across a firewall or
proxy server to an electronic network, and means for receiving, reassembling and converting said text
data to said binary data for delivery to a recipient on
said electronic network.
Claim 70
Dependent Claim
29 words
The system of claim 69, wherein said means for receiving,
reassembling and converting said text data to said binary
data is a server (320) residing on said electronic network.
Claim 71
Dependent Claim
27 words
The system of claim 69, wherein said means for receiving,
reassembling and converting said text data to said binary
data is a computer residing on said intranet.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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