A MULTIMEDIA GATEWAY FOR PHONE FAX AND MIME MAIL/

Facsimiles have become the most popular form of text communication on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). At the same time, the e- mail is the well-liked textual delivery system on computer networks. T he message exchange between the fax/phone and e-mail will improve thei r availability and increase their messaging capabilities. In the Distr ibuted System Laboratory at the National Central University, ROC, a ne w system integrating the MIME (multipurpose internet mail extensions) mail and fax/phone has been proposed and implemented to fulfil the req uirements of bidirectional multimedia messaging. A user can send mails from Internet to PSTN. Furthermore, our system allows transmitting mu ltimedia messages from PSTN to Internet. The system has the following properties: (1) only use the usual current equipments, e.g. telephones , G3 fax machines and personal computers, (2) be conformable to the po pular protocols and existing systems, (3) provide user-friendly interf aces, such as the voice guided help, and (4) provide a universal and t ransparent addressing scheme between facsimiles and e-mail. Finally, w e believe that our system meets real user needs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence B.V.