YOUR NEW MACHINE
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Fax Theory
Thank youfor your purchase of this SAMSUNG fax machine. We want you to get
maximum use from your new equipment, therefore we would like to explain a little bit
about FAX machines and how they work. This will help when reading the rest of this
manual and becoming acquainted with FAX machines in general, plus all the features
available with your new machine.
Most people donÕt realize it, but the fax machine has been around in various forms since
the time of the invention of the telegraph in the mid-nineteenth century. Early fax
machines were large, slow, and difficult to operate. Equipment and techniques for
sending copies of documents across long distances have improved over the years, and
todayÕs fax machine is small, fast, and easy to operate.
Afax machine may appear complex, but in reality, modern fax machines are merely a
combination of several very familiar machines.
First of all, faxing makes use of processes very much like an office copier. When you
send a fax document to someone, the machine makes an internal copy of it (a facsimile,
hence the term ÒfaxÓ), and converts that copy to electronic signals which we call ÒdataÓ.
The data is then sent out over the telephone line as a series of audible tones. When you
receive a fax from someone else, the copy process simply converts these tones from the
telephone line back to data, and then to printed output.
Fax machines depend very much on telephone technology, since they must dial
telephone numbers, answer calls, and exchange fax data (their version of ÒspeechÓ) over
the phone line with other fax machines.
Basic FAX Operation
TELEPHONE LINE
SEND
DOCUMENT
RECEIVE
DOCUMENT
FAX DATA
To send a fax document, you tell the fax machine the telephone number to call by
entering the number on a Touch-Tone keypad, just like a telephone. You may also store
frequently-called numbers in the machineÕs various memory locations. This makes
dialing faster, more accurate, and allows your machine to ÒrememberÓ telephone
numbers for performing many automatic functions.
After dialing the number, the fax machine youÕre calling answers the call and, just as
people do, the machines introduce themselves and make sure they have compatible
features and speak the same ÒlanguageÓ (fax engineers call this process ÒhandshakingÓ).
The machines also determine the quality of the sound over the telephone line and decide
whether they should continue, or perhaps ÒtalkÓ slower in the case of noise or low
volume. They may even refuse to speak to each other and will hang up, rather than
waste time when it is not possible to have a ÒconversationÓ (just like people!). In this
case, they often try the call again later, when the telephone connection may be better.
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