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How Your Fax Machine Works
The concept of how a fax machine works is simple. Here’s a simple analogy. Let’s
say you want to mail a gift to a friend:
• You take the item, wrap it and send it.
• Days later, your friend receives the package, unwraps it and uses it.
Now, let’s apply that to fax communication. You put a page into your fax
machine’s feeder and call a fax number. Your machine makes a satisfactory
connection with the other machine and than…
• An image scanner in your fax machine examines the information on the page.
That’s how your machine takes the document.
• Your fax machine translates the scanned information into a numeric code and
compresses the code for the fastest possible transmission speed. That’s how
your machine wraps the document.
• Finally, your fax machine sends the compressed code. That’s how your
machine sends the document.
On the other end of the line…
• The remote fax machine receives the code.
• The remote fax machine uncompresses and deciphers the code, turning it into a
representation of the scan your machine made. That’s how your machine
unwraps the document.
• The remote fax machine prints the representation. Now, the recipient can use
the document.
…and that’s how fax works!
The only difference between a regular telephone call and a fax call is the content of
the transmission:
• On a regular call, your telephone sends your voice.
• On a fax call, your fax machine sends a coded image.
If your fax machine is in T/F Ready mode and you have other telephone extensions
on the same line, all the other phones will ring. In fact, there’s no way to tell if an
incoming call is from a fax machine or from a person until you answer, or your fax
machine answer. You’ll know it’s a fax call if, upon answering, you hear a beeping
sound that repeats every few seconds. This sound is each fax machine’s way of
identifying itself to a machine it calls. It’s much like your making a voice call and
identifying yourself, “Hello, this is (your name).” When you press
START
, your
fax machine responds to these signals using other special tones (to us humans, they
sound a bit like screeches) which are its way of responding to the other machine’s
“greeting.” This acknowledgment --- just like greetings you might exchange with a
friends --- is called “handshaking.”
The way fax machines work is regulated closely by international standards applied
by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an agency of the United
Nations. These standards ensure the compatibility of your fax machine with
millions of other fax machines worldwide. However, they also limit the way you
can use your machine with other devices, such as telephones and answering
machines.
Nonetheless, this is a small price to pay --- for the ability to send documents just
about anywhere on earth!