Early Fax Technology
The first fax concept appeared in 1843, invented by Alexander Bain, using clock mechanisms to synchronize the movement of two pendulums for line-by-line scanning of a message.
Fax Transmission Basics
Modern fax machines encode data from scanned images, converting them into audio tones. These tones are sent over telephone lines and received by another fax machine that decodes the tones back into images.
Fax Machine Internals
Inside a fax machine are scanning, printing, and communication components. A CCD sensor captures the image, while a modem handles the audio signal conversion.
Compression Techniques
Fax machines compress data to reduce transmission time using Modified Huffman or Modified Read codes. These methods recognize patterns, reducing file size without losing detail.
Error Correction Modes
Error Correction Mode (ECM) is a fax protocol that detects and corrects errors in the data, ensuring accurate document transmission even on poor-quality phone lines.
Fax in Digital Age
Despite being a 20th-century invention, fax technology persists today, often in secure fields like healthcare due to its direct point-to-point data transmission, which is difficult to intercept.
Surprising Fax Facts
Japan remains a global leader in fax usage, with cultural preferences for paper documents and hanko seals driving the continued prevalence of fax machines in business and government.
Who invented the first fax concept?
Thomas Edison
Alexander Bain
Elisha Gray
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