Polycom, Inc.

Don Binford

Alain Elon Nimri

Martin G Sexton

Jeffrey C Rodman

David Drell

Rick A Vander Kam

Jeff Ratcliff

Carolyn Kilday

Michael J Hess

Scott H Wakefield

Michael Kenoyer

Jason C Weaver

Jerry Mayfield

Patrick D Vanderwilt

Christopher Ramm

Rick Flott

Mike Tucker

Kyle Brookshire

Pat Vanderwilt

Benjamin Misrahi

Stacy Saxon

Earl Manning

A conference link between devices in teleconference system at one site is disclosed. The linked devices include video conference units, speakerphones or stand-alone loudspeakers. Audio data can be transmitted through the conference link between devices. Audio data processing can be performed in either a video conference unit or a speakerphone. The microphones and loudspeakers in the video conference unit may be eliminated. The microphones and loudspeakers in the speakerphone are used. Other data, for example directories of dialing information, may also be transmitted through the conference link and the data processing may be allocated among processors in devices connected by conference links. The conference link may be wired or wireless, analog or digital. The devices may be linked by conference link in parallel or series. A dialing program can adapt the dialing stream with the locations of the near end site and the dialed far end site. The dialing program can automatically select a mutually supported network or protocol to establish a connection between two sites.

Conference link between a speakerphone and a video conference unit

A personal videoconferencing system includes a videoconferencing appliance connected to a personal computer through a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or similar connection. The appliance is provided with a video camera and microphone for generating local video and audio streams. The local video and audio streams are compressed by a video and audio encoder residing at the appliance, and the compressed video and audio streams are conveyed to the personal computer over the USB connection. The appliance may be further provided with an audio decoder for decompressing a remote audio stream received by the personal computer through a network interface and conveyed to the appliance via the USB connection. A video decoder, located on the personal computer, is configured to decompress the local video stream (received through the USB connection) as well as a remote video stream received through the network interface. The decompressed video streams are then sent to a monitor for display to a user. The decompressed audio stream may be played either at a loudspeaker coupled to the audio decoder or at the personal computer.

Personal videoconferencing system having distributed processing architecture

Personal videoconferencing device

Growing community of inventors

Cedar Park, TX, United States of America

Don Binford