[21] Appl. No.: 435,071
[22] Filed: Apr. 8, 1995
Related U.S. Application Data
[63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 349,022, Dec. 2, 1994.
[51] Int. CI.6 G06F 13/00
[52] U.S. CI 395/200.15; 395/840
[58] Field of Search 395/200.01,200.03,
395/840, 841, 412, 416, 421.11, 182.16, 600, 200.02, 200.09, 200.13, 200.17, 200.18, 853, 650, 824, 830, 831, 839, 200.15; 364/130, 401, 406, 152; 371/31, 32, 67.1, 68.2
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
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Method, system, and apparatus are described for automatically receiving, at an intermediate processing location, data from a wide variety of remote sources, identifying the format of the data, translating the data to a common file format, sending the data to a recipient in an intermediate format, then translating the data to the specific format needed by the particular recipient. The system operates automatically with little human intervention. A unique system for automatically selecting and implementing specific translation modules is also described. Error checking features ensure that the transferred data matches the original data although the format is altered, and documentary receipts are sent to each section of the system that sends data, and logical, statistical and mathematical operations may be performed on the data. The system utilizes internal databases which allows it to know what format data will arrive in, what format to translate it to, and how many transactions to bill a data-receiving subscriber for. The system performs data translation and transfer, and performs validation, exception reporting, data analysis, and generates and sends receipts. Some or all such data processing may alternatively be performed at one or both of the data source and the data destination, without an intermediate processing location. A provider data file may also be prepared from a scanner, such as a fax transmission, which provides image data which are processed in order to derive the data file.
28 Claims, 16 Drawing Sheets
