Muratec M840, M880, M860 manual How Your Fax Machine Works

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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!

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