Advanced Media Server (AMS)

The standard features included with the Advanced Media Server can be grouped into four categories:

The Advanced Media Server is available in 4, 8 and 16 fax port configurations.

Each Advanced Media Server automatically boots up and the application starts (or optional capability to Start the Server after receiving a command from the GMS). The administrator also has the option of restarting the Advanced Media Server manually, either locally or remotely.

All the fax ports of an AMS can be monitored at one module screen called Port Monitor Screen. It lists the Port Status of all the fax ports in the AMS listed by port number and allows monitoring of Port Number, Line State whether Onhook or Offhook, Status, Number Called, CSID, Start/End Time and Last Error. It also displays graphically the configuration of the fax port as inbound, outbound or bi-directional. The Onhook and Offhook of a port are represented by a telephone handset that is displayed graphically.

All the activity on the WAN can be monitored at the WAN Monitor Screen, which displays port status of all the WAN ports in the AMS listed by port number. It allows monitoring Port Number, Line Status, Destination Address (Destination AMS), Job ID, Start/End Time and Last Error. The WAN ports can be configured as inbound, outbound and bi-directional, which is displayed graphically.

Channel Status displays the port mapping, current status or state, and type of port of all the ports in the AMS. The Channels can be enabled or disabled for individual fax ports in the AMS. This feature makes it convenient to disable a fax port, if experiencing problems with that particular port without a server down.

The Advanced Media Server is fully operational from a remote location through a 'dual serial port modem interface' or over a WAN. As a remote subscriber, you can perform all Advanced Media Server functions, including Advanced Media Server reboot, application start/stop, configuration, file transfer, and diagnostics/troubleshooting actions. The modem interface also lets you upload and download all Advanced Media Server configuration files, including DTMF/telephony parameters, subscriber command syntax, error logs, and transaction/port performance statistics.

If the GMS is unavailable (for example, network busy or off-line), the Advanced Media Server continues operations by storing faxes and transaction status until GMS connection is fully re-established. Once this connection is re-established, the faxes and transactions are sent to the GMS.

The Advanced Media Server records low-level errors (such as T.30) in a local database. The transactions and errors can also be recorded on a central, remote database server.

Data is transported over the WAN through TCP/IP data networks at baud rates of 2.4K to 382KBps, and at 10Mbps over Ethernet 10BaseT (this is dependent on traffic on the WAN and also a function of number of collisions).

Each telephony port supports several common line service types and dial plans, including toll-free, PBX, local, and long-distance services.

Each Advanced Media Server is configured with a minimum of fifty (50) megabytes of available document storage for each fax port. You also have the option of configuring additional storage per port. The disk status bar displays the current disk statistics of the AMS and Pending Documents (number of fax jobs waiting to be processed) High and Low marks can be assigned for the disk in the configuration. As soon as the disk reaches the high water mark, the system stops receiving new jobs so that the hard drive doesn’t run out of disk space.

Each Advanced Media Server is equipped with one 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy-disk drive, which is required for operations involving initial installation, configuration, file transfer, and troubleshooting.

Each Advanced Media Server port operates independently, yet simultaneously, with all other Advanced Media Server ports configured.

Each port can be configured as inbound or outbound. Each port can be enabled or disabled on the Advanced Media Server. The Advanced Media Server telephone interface supports Loop Start interfaces.

The Advanced Media Server is fully compliant with CCITT T.4 and T.30 recommendations (1988) for Group 3 facsimile transmission, including, but not limited to, the following items:

The Advanced Media Server is able to dial using DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) or Pulse (10 and 20 pps) signals, depending upon the telephone network to which it is connected.

When attempting to connect to a destination fax device, the Advanced Media Server is able to differentiate between the following signals:

The Advanced Media Server controls signal detection and processing to facilitate flexibility in call progress processing in different countries. Call progress is conducted on OAZ's DD/4 fax board.

In the event of AMS unavailability (for instance, an AMS error such as disk space allocated for AMS is full), the AMS can busy-out all inbound ports.

The AMS maintains a local delivery table, which is downloaded from GMS. Any fax that is received by the AMS and has a destination number that matches its local delivery table will be delivered from that AMS.

The scheduling of retry strategy for failed transmission is set with the Maximum Retry parameter which allows to set the maximum number of times the AMS will try transmitting a particular fax job. And the Retry Delay parameter determines the number of seconds between retry attempts during the first, second and the third hours.

The Broadcast Ports (%) option allows to allocate a percentage of fax ports that will send fax broadcast sub-jobs. If there are more sub-jobs in the fax broadcast job than there are available broadcast fax ports, the extra jobs will be placed in the Pending Documents queue until a broadcast fax port becomes available. This is to ensure that the AMS will have fax ports available for single fax job traffic while it is processing fax broadcast jobs.

GMS allows one to eight WAN connections at a time. While one connection is required, additional connections will help improve throughput. This will allow the server to support more than one communication session at a time, ensuring less network bottlenecks.

The Advanced Media Server allows to set the dialing Country and City codes, where the AMS is located. It also allows to set Access Codes for long distance and International calls.

The AMS can monitor inbound fax page size and reject the document if the page exceeds the following configuration parameters:

The AMS also can reject an inbound document based on image quality (Consecutive, total, and % error scan lines). All criteria are based on configuration parameters.

The Advanced Media Server supports a range of values used during transmission and reception that allow for maximum flexibility in communicating different document types to and from different types of fax devices.

The Advanced Media Server can send, receive, and store up to 255 pages of facsimile data per document, per port.

The following information describes the subscriber-related functions of the Advanced Media Server.

Once a phone call is received, the Advanced Media Server generates tone signals over a telephone interface (parameters: frequency and duration) to verify service connection. Once service is connected, the Advanced Media Server detects Dual-Tone-Multiple-Frequency (DTMF) signals from the subscriber/subscriber. Authorized DTMF signals correspond to the following standard DTMF tone-pad keys:

Up to 128 DTMF signals can be entered per transaction, dialed either manually or automatically. After validation of the subscriber/subscriber, the Advanced Media Server either prepares to receive a fax document or terminates the call. Before call termination, the Advanced Media Server generates tone signals to verify call completion.

Service Type information is an optional part of the DTMF input that is received by the AMS from a Subscriber. The subscriber can specify the Service Type of a particular fax job. The three service types are, point-to-point fax to one or more fax numbers or broadcast list, obtain a report of your broadcast list or status report (daily journal). A subscriber can also assign feature options with these service types. The feature types are: If the subscriber selects to receive an acknowledgment, the acknowledgment is sent to the subscriber irrespective of success or failure of a particular fax job. The acknowledgment can be received at any other forwarding address other than the address registered in your subscriber profile. The other feature options are Deferred Delivery, Delivery Time Limit, Delivery Notification, Forwarding Address and Daily Journal. The Service Type string consists of the following: