1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of content sources providing content relevant to an event at a venue;
one or more wireless access points positioned at the venue;
a plurality of servers distributing the content signals to the wireless access points; and
a plurality of wireless communication devices, each using a browser to retrieve the content through one of the wireless access points.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication devices comprise Wi-Fi enabled devices.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content sources comprise one or more of:
a control room;
a camera array;
a venue broadcast;
a venue display; and
a non-video source.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the servers comprise one or more of:
a streaming videoaudio server;
a video-on-demand server;
a non-video services server; and
a miscellaneous services server.
5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a format converter for converting content to a format usable by a browser.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each wireless communication device is associated with one of the wireless access points and receives signals therefrom.
7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless access points exchange information with each other and using a distributed protocol and determine which of the wireless communication devices will receive content from the wireless access points.
8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the distributed protocol uses signal strength to determine which of the wireless communication devices will receive content from the wireless access points.
9. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
an authentication server.
10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication devices access one content signal at a time.
11. A method comprising:
receiving content relevant to an event at a venue from a plurality of content sources;
distributing the content to a plurality of wireless access points at the venue; and
using browsers in a plurality of wireless communication devices to receive content through one of the wireless access points.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless communication devices comprise Wi-Fi enabled devices.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the content sources comprise one or more of:
a control room;
a camera array;
a venue broadcast;
a venue display; and
a non-video source.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the content is received by one or more of:
a streaming videoaudio server;
a video-on-demand server;
a non-video services server; and
a miscellaneous services server.
15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
exchanging information among the wireless access points and using a distributed protocol and determine which of the wireless communication devices will receive content from the wireless access points.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the distributed protocol uses signal strength to determine the wireless access point that is to be accessed by one of the wireless communication devices.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the comparison of signal strengths occurs after the signal strength falls at one of the wireless access points below a threshold value.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:
maintaining communication with a wireless access point until confirmation of a successful handoff is made.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein each wireless communication device coordinates its own handoff by measuring signal strength and requesting an association with a wireless access point having the largest measured signal strength.
20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
converting the content to a format usable by a browser.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. An electronic-mail reception apparatus having a body, said apparatus comprising:
a facsimile receiver that negotiates with a sender before receiving image data, to receive image data in facsimile format from the sender via a telephone network;
an electronic-mail receiver that receives image data in an electronic mail format and character code data in the electronic mail format from a mail sender via a communication network;
a converter that converts the image data in the electronic mail format into image data in the facsimile format;
a font section that converts the character code data received by the electronic-mail receiver into image data; and
an output section that outputs the image data converted by the converter and the image data converted by the font section,
wherein the facsimile receiver, the electronic-mail receiver, the converter, the font section and the output section are integrated in the body of the apparatus.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output section is a printing mechanism.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a detector that detects whether the data received by the electronic-mail receiver is the image data in the electronic mail format or the character code data in the electronic mail format.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the detector refers to a data format information in a header of the received data in the electronic-mail format to detect whether the received data is the image data or the character code data.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a expander that expands the received character code data to output the expanded character code data to the output section.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
an operational panel that designates one of an electronic mail destination address and a facsimile destination address;
an acceptor that converts document data into image data;
a compressor that compresses the image data;
a facsimile transmitter that transmits the compressed image data to the designated facsimile destination via a telephone network; and
an electronic-mail transmitter that transmits the compressed image data converted into an electronic-mail format to the designated electronic mail destination address via the communication network.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1,
said font section comprising a memory which stores relationship between character code data and image data.
8. An electronic-mail reception apparatus having a body, said apparatus comprising:
a facsimile receiver that negotiates with a sender before receiving image data, to receive image data in facsimile format from the sender via a telephone network;
an electronic-mail receiver that receives character code data in the electronic mail format from a mail sender via a communication network;
a font section that converts the character code data received by the electronic-mail receiver into image data; and
an output section that outputs the image data received by the facsimile receiver and the image data converted by the font section,
wherein the facsimile receiver, the electronic-mail receiver, the font section and the output section are integrated in the body of the apparatus.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8,
said font section comprising a memory which stores a relationship between character code data and image data.
10. A method for receiving image data using an electronic-mail reception apparatus having a body, comprising:
negotiating with a sender before receiving image data, to receive image data in facsimile format from a sender via a telephone network;
receiving image data in an electronic mail format and character code data in the electronic mail format from a mail sender via a communication network;
converting the image data in the electronic mail format into image data in the facsimile format;
converting the character code data into image data;
outputting the image data in the facsimile format and the image data converted from the character data; and
performing the negotiating with a sender, the receiving image data in the electronic mail format and the character code data in the electronic mail format, the converting image data in the electronic mail format into image data in the facsimile format, the converting the character code data into image data, and the outputting in the body of the electronic-mail reception apparatus.
11. A method for receiving image data using an electronic-mail reception apparatus having a body, comprising:
negotiating with a sender before receiving image data, to receive image data in facsimile format from a sender via a telephone network;
receiving character code data in the electronic mail format from a mail sender via a communication network;
converting the character code data into image data;
outputting the received image data in the facsimile format and the image data converted from the character data; and
performing the negotiating with a sender, the receiving character code data in the electronic mail format, the converting the character code data into image data, and the outputting in the body of the electronic-mail reception apparatus.