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. 26, 2000
Filed:
May. 24, 1996
Mohammad Reza Shafiee, Ridgefield, CT (US);
Nynex Science & Technology Inc., White Plains, NY (US);
Abstract
There is provided a video conferencing system for enabling multiple, remotely located transceivers to communicate with each other, including transceiver that utilize different communication formats or protocols. The video conferencing system includes a telecommunications interface unit and a plurality of transceiver that may connect to the telecommunications unit through telephone or network links. The telecommunications interface unit includes a gateway block corresponding to each transceiver connected to the unit and a switching subsystem for directing communications, particularly video and audio information, between the gateway blocks. The transceivers communicate with their respective gateway blocks using their own communication formats, but the gateway blocks communicate to the switching subsystem using a single common language, such as a standard television signal using the NTSC standard. Accordingly, the present invention permits multiple transceivers using different communication formats to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently.