eli@spdcc.COM (Steve Elias) (05/30/90)
by the way, did you folks hear about the new Yamaha fax/dtmf chip?
this sort of beastie is going to do wonders for the faxmodem market.
In article <439@van-bc.UUCP> sl@van-bc.UUCP (Stuart Lynne) writes:
!I'm looking at a brochure from Teleglobe Canada dated March 1988. It
!describes their "Globefax" service.
hey, this sounds like a good opportunity for one of those
canada vs. US flame wars!
(just kidding. allons enfants de la North Country.)
! Tariff structure for the Globefax Store and Forward Messaging Service
!
!To use Globefax you dial a local telephone number, enter your ID using DTMF
!tones, enter the destination phone number using DTMF tones, then press start
!on your fax machine.
i believe there is a Japanese patent on the above functionality.
my understanding of the brooktrout patent is that it specifically
does NOT cover the Teleglobe functionality, or situations where the user
DTMFs (yes, DTMF as a verb) some routing data, and then downloads a fax
*to* the store-and-forward device.
the Brooktrout patent, as i understand it, is for the functionality
of *selecting a prestored fax* by using DTMF (and perhaps voice),
*and* routing that fax to an arbitrary fax machine specified via DTMF.
!This would seem to be prior art demonstrating one the types of applications
!Brooktrout is trying to patent. Fielded and demonstrated and in commercial
!service two months before Brooktrouts patent filing date (May 11, 1988).
the Japanese dude had it working long before then, i'll bet ye!
!So it would seem that the Globefax service is indeed an appropriate
!demonstration of prior art which would invalidate some if not all of
!Brooktrouts claims. Of course we'll have to let the lawyers get a hold of
!all this but it certainly doesn't look to good for Brooktrout.
enough axe grinding.
what's the big worry about the patent, anyway, Stuart?
--
/eli
eli@spdcc.com