Fax Automation in Technology Center 1700 In early April of 2000, Technology Center 1700 (TC 1700) deployed a pilot program that automates the routing of incoming fax transmissions and provides an acknowledgment of Official fax communications received in Technology Center 1700. Deployment of this system to other Technology Centers will begin later in calendar year 2000. The goal of the pilot program is to improve service to customers and the efficiency with which fax communications are processed within Technology Center 1700. These goals will be achieved by reducing the need for retransmission of lost Official faxes and by providing faster delivery of draft and informal communications to the examiners by eliminating prior manual sorting and delivery steps. The pilot uses a computer-based fax server that routes and stores fax transmissions based upon the incoming United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) telephone number. Faxes sent to Official fax numbers would be stored electronically for 9 months or until a printed paper copy is made of record in the patent application file. An Official communication that lacks some formality such as a signature or fee will be treated as an Official fax unless explicitly identified as a draft or informal communication. A fax that is sent to an Official fax number would be rerouted to an Unofficial fax number if it were identified as a draft or informal communication. Faxes that are sent to fax numbers not designated as "Official," or rerouted to such numbers, will not be stored on the fax server after being deleted by the recipient. Although the faxes are received and stored on the server, they appear to PTO users as if they are being received on their workstation or a technology center printer. Official fax submissions will be routed to central printers in Technology Center 1700 for printing and matching with the application files. An acknowledgment confirming receipt of the fax by TC1700 will be transmitted to the sender's fax number. The acknowledgment will be sent only for the Official fax telephone numbers. Customers can thus be assured that their faxes are being received. The acknowledgment receipt will be fax transmitted back to the sending fax machine. The fax server can only be programmed to obtain a telephone number from the customer's sending machine fax ID. Customers must ensure that their fax machines or software are configured to transmit accurate ID data including the fax telephone number. The transmission of a receipt will be attempted soon after an Official fax transmission is received. Five attempts will be made to transmit the receipt if the line is busy and three attempts will be made if there is no answer. The receipt will indicate the date and time of receipt at the USPTO of each fax transmission and the number of pages received. If an incorrect telephone number is provided in the fax ID or a fax connection cannot be established, no receipt will be sent. Because the receipts are automatically generated by the software, we are unable to provide replacement receipts. Nor can receipts be generated for faxes that are rerouted from one fax number to another fax number. When an Official fax is entered into a patent application file, a corresponding content entry will be recorded in the Patent Application Location Monitoring (PALM) systems records for that application. PALM is a USPTO computer records system that lists the status and content of each patent application. Matching faxes with an application file and updating PALM should be expected within two weeks of the date of receipt of the fax in TC 1700. Status and content information for patent applications in PALM are available to applicants and their representatives with the Patent Application Information Retrieval system (PAIR). See 65 Fed. Reg. 10762 (Feb. 29, 2000). PAIR is a USPTO system available through the Internet for providing confidential status and content information about patent applications to applicants and registered practitioners. Enrollment information and downloadable software for PAIR can be found on the USPTO's web site at http://pto-ebc.uspto.gov/newusers.html. Thus, PAIR can be used to determine if an Official fax submission (or any paper) has been entered into the application file. Draft proposal communications sent to examiners will not be recorded into PALM; hence, there will be no corresponding PALM record to view with PAIR. A customer may infer that an Official fax is lost if a PALM content entry for the fax is not recorded into PALM within two weeks of the transmission of the fax. For customers who do not use PAIR, they may suspect that the fax is lost if no communication is received within 30 days plus normal mail time for "After Final" amendments or 3 months plus normal mail time for other amendments. If a customer is thinks that his/her Official fax is lost, he/she can request that a new copy be printed and matched with the application file. Requests for reprinting the fax should be directed to the customer service representative for TC 1700. Customers can assist in locating faxes if upon request they provide either a copy of the acknowledgment receipt or the date and time of transmission, number of pages transmitted, sender's fax telephone number, and the pilot fax telephone number used. Customer service should be improved since the automated system retains an electronic copy of each Official fax received at an Official fax number at least until the printed paper is made of record in the application file. The electronic copy will be used, if needed, to reduce the necessity for resubmission of lost faxes. The pilot program will not eliminate all lost faxes, since some faxes are lost due to transmission errors making the fax document received unusable. A select group of examiners in Technology Center 1700 will also be participating in another aspect of the pilot program. The participating examiners will be able to use special fax numbers for receiving draft or informal fax communications that can be viewed and printed directly at an examiner's workstation. Examiners participating in the pilot program will provide their direct fax number during telephone interviews with their customers. Participating examiners will also be able to send draft communications by fax from their workstations when necessary to supplement telephone communications. The pilot program should improve customer service and efficiency by allowing participating patent examiners to respond more quickly to draft communications, which will presage the migration of automated fax capabilities to the rest of the USPTO. New fax numbers are being used for the pilot program in Technology Center 1700 as follows: -All Official Final replies for applications assigned to Technology Center 1700 should be sent to 703-872-9311. -All other Official communications should be faxed to 703-872-9310. -Direct fax numbers to examiner PCs will be provided by participating examiners. An examiner's direct fax number should only be used for direct communications requested by the examiner, e.g., draft proposals. The direct fax number should not be used for routine transmission of amendments or replies to Office actions. The old fax telephone numbers for Technology Center 1700 will remain operational but they are not connected to the new automated fax system. The new fax numbers should be used whenever possible. Problems with fax communications should be directed to the customer service representative for Technology Center 1700 at 703-306-5665. Questions and comments may be directed to Patrick Ryan at 703-308-2383 or by e-mail to patrick.ryan@uspto.gov. July 24, 2000 ESTHER M. KEPPLINGER Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations