Automatic dialer with a programmable pause

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Against the foregoing background, a general aim of the present invention is to provide methods and means for utilizing raster input scanners as readers for automatic telephone dialers.
A more detailed, related object is to provide methods and means for translating raster scanned address indicia into the dial pulses or frequencies necessary to place outgoing telephone calls.
More particularly, an object of this invention is to provide economical methods and means for automatically placing outgoing telephone calls from unattended facsimile terminals.
In more detail, an object is to provide methods and means for utilizing the raster input scanners of conventional facsimile transmitters and transceivers as readers for automatic telephone dialing equipment.
Even more pointedly, an object of the present invention is to provide methods and means for automatically placing outgoing telephone calls from unattended facsimile terminals at any preselected time of day, whereby those terminals can carry out facsimile comunications at the most convenient time of day, such as during non-business hours when telephone traffic and charges are usually relatively low.
Another specific object of the present invention is to provide methods and means for automatically placing outgoing calls from unattended multi-speed facsimile terminals and for setting-up such terminals to operate in an individually preselected mode and at an individually preselected document transmission rate during each of those calls.
Still another object of this invention is to provide facsimile terminals with automatic dialing and control equipment of the foregoing type, without impairing the existing ability of those terminals to function under manual or remote control.
Briefly, to carry out these and other objects of the invention, a facsimile terminal is equipped with an automatic dialer which temporarily seizes control of the terminal when a unique recognition pattern at the leading edge of an address card is scanned