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0-Chapter 1-1(GODREJ)
9/20/98 4:42 PM
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After dialing the number, the fax machine you are 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.
After a few seconds exchanging pleasantries (handshaking), the machines decide to get
down to the business of the call: sending and receiving a fax document.
A fax document is one or more sheets of paper which have been placed in the
transmitting (sending or TX) machine. As soon as the machines have finished with their
ÒintroductionsÓ, the document begins to move through the transmitting machine where
it is read and converted to a data signal, exactly as in a copier. The difference here is that
the print mechanism of the copying process is not located in the same machine as the
reading mechanism. It is several miles, or even several thousand miles, away, and prints
the data signals which arrive over the telephone line in the form of tones.
As far as it goes, this description of the fax process is accurate, and should be kept in
mind whenever using any fax machine.
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