Method and system for dynamic control of a messaging environment from a facsimile processor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is one object of this invention to provide a method and system for controlling from a first facsimile processor a messaging environment coupled to a second facsimile processor.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and system for dynamically routing a message in a messaging environment via a facsimile processor.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a method and system for requesting and receiving messages from a messaging environment via a facsimile processor.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method and system which integrates a facsimile processor into a messaging environment.
To achieve the foregoing and additional objects, a method and system is provided for controlling from a first facsimile processor a messaging environment coupled to a second facsimile processor.
The method includes inserting at the first facsimile processor a user identifier associated with a user known to the messaging environment into a first subfield of a communications data field.
A dynamic function code is inserted into a second subfield of the communications data field, and the communications data field is sent from the first facsimile machine to the second facsimile machine.
The second facsimile machine examines the user identifier and the dynamic function code, and in conjunction with a document routing module, performs the respective task identified by the dynamic function code.
If the requested task requires a security code, such as a password, the document routing module determines if a third subfield containing a security code was included in the communications data field and, if so, validates the security code before performing the specified task.
According to one embodiment of this invention, a task identified by the dynamic function code involves transferring a message accompanying the transmission of the communications data field to a particular location within the messaging environment, such as to a printer, a storage location, or a particular electronic mailbox