The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 19, 2000
Filed:
Feb. 26, 1997
Kiyoshi Ishida, Yokohama, JP;
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
This is to provided a video conference equipment which can realize a flexible multipoint video conference system unlimited in the number of the terminal attending the conference, by only connecting a plurality of video conference terminals to a network, and a connecting method of the same. A video conference equipment is used in a multipoint video conference system in which at least three video conference equipments are connected with each other via a communication network. The video conference equipment is connected to a communication network via first and second digital lines, each capable of bidirectional communication. External input/output devices, such as a camera for inputting an image, a monitor for displaying a video, a microphone for inputting audios and a loud speaker for outputting audio, are connected to the video conference equipment. The video conference equipment further comprises a data interface unit for controlling input/output of data, a signal processing unit for processing signals inputted from the input devices and signals to be outputted from the output devices, a switching unit for switching over signals to be received and transmitted from the first and second digital lines via the two line control units, signals inputted from the input devices via the signal processing unit, and signals to be outputted to the output devices, and a control unit for controlling each of the elements.