RFC 2532 (rfc2532) - Page 2 of 12

Extended Facsimile Using Internet Mail

RFC 2532                 Extended Internet Fax                March 1999


   enhancements described in this document utilize the messaging
   infrastructure, where possible, instead of creating fax-specific
   features which are unlikely to be implemented in non-fax messaging
   software.

   This document standardizes the following two features.

      *  Delivery confirmation (Section 2) (required)
      *  Additional document features (Section 3) (optional)

   These features are fully described in another document titled
   "Terminology and Goals for Internet Fax" [RFC 2542].

1.1.  Definition of Terms

   The term "processing" indicates the action of rendering or
   transmitting the contents of the message to a printer, display
   device, or fax machine.

   The term "processing confirmation" is an indication by the recipient
   of a message that it is able to process the contents of that message.

   The term "recipient" indicates the device which performs the
   processing function.  For example, a recipient could be implemented
   as a traditional Mail User Agent on a PC, a standalone device which
   retrieves mail using POP3 or IMAP, an SMTP server which prints
   incoming messages (similar to an LPR server).

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC 2119].

1.2.  GSTN Fax Gateways ("onramp"/"offramp")

   The behavior of gateways from GSTN fax to SMTP ("onramps") and from
   SMTP to GSTN fax ("offramps") are not described in this document.
   However, such gateways SHOULD have the behavior characteristics of
   senders and recipients as described in this document.

2.  Delivery and Processing Confirmation

   In traditional GSTN-based realtime facsimile, the receiving terminal
   acknowledges successful receipt and processing of every page [T.30].

   In Internet Mail, the operations of Delivery (to the mailbox) and
   Disposition (to paper or a screen) may be separated in time (due to
   store and forwarding of messages) and location (due to separation of
   delivery agent (MTA) and user agent (MUA)).  The confirmation of



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