Voice over video communication system
First Claim
1. A voice over video communication system for use with a personal computer, comprising:
- communications interface means connected for communicating to the personal computer for transferring video data between the personal computer and the communications module;
telephone line interface means for connection to a telephone line and for full duplex digital communication over the telephone line;
voice interface means for receiving local voice signals from a local user and for conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user;
full-duplex conversion means connected to the voice interface means for converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data and for converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals;
digital signal processor means connected to the full-duplex conversion means for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the incoming digital voice data, each of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers and each of the compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers;
main control means connected to the telephone line interface means, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets from the digital signal processor means, connected for receiving outgoing video data packets from the personal computer through the communications interface means, operable for multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the video data packets to produce multiplexed outgoing data and for sending the multiplexed outgoing data to the telephone line interface means for transmission over the telephone line; and
the main control means further operable for receiving multiplexed incoming data from the telephone line interface means, the multiplexed incoming data containing incoming video data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, the main control means further operable for demultiplexing the incoming video data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, and for sending the incoming video data packets to the personal computer through the communications interface means and for sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the digital signal processor means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A personal communications system is described which includes components of software and hardware operating in conjunction with a personal computer. The user interface control software operates on a personal computer, preferably within the Microsoft Windows® environment. The software control system communicates with hardware components linked to the software through the personal computer serial communications port. The hardware components include telephone communication equipment, digital signal processors, and hardware to enable voice, fax and data communication with a remote site connected through a standard telephone line. The functions of the hardware components are controlled by control software operating within the hardware component and from the software components operating within the personal computer. The major functions of the system are a telephone function, a voice mail function, a fax manager function, a multi-media mail function, a show and tell function, a terminal function and an address book function. The telephone function allows the present system to operate, from the users perspective, as a conventional telephone using either hands-free, headset or handset operation. The telephone function is more sophisticated than a standard telephone in that the present system converts the voice into a digital signal which can be processed with echo cancellation, compressed, stored as digital data for later retrieval and transmitted as digital voice data concurrent with the transfer of digital information data.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A voice over video communication system for use with a personal computer, comprising:
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communications interface means connected for communicating to the personal computer for transferring video data between the personal computer and the communications module; telephone line interface means for connection to a telephone line and for full duplex digital communication over the telephone line; voice interface means for receiving local voice signals from a local user and for conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; full-duplex conversion means connected to the voice interface means for converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data and for converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; digital signal processor means connected to the full-duplex conversion means for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the incoming digital voice data, each of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers and each of the compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers; main control means connected to the telephone line interface means, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets from the digital signal processor means, connected for receiving outgoing video data packets from the personal computer through the communications interface means, operable for multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the video data packets to produce multiplexed outgoing data and for sending the multiplexed outgoing data to the telephone line interface means for transmission over the telephone line; and the main control means further operable for receiving multiplexed incoming data from the telephone line interface means, the multiplexed incoming data containing incoming video data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, the main control means further operable for demultiplexing the incoming video data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, and for sending the incoming video data packets to the personal computer through the communications interface means and for sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the digital signal processor means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for full duplex transmission of voice and video data information, comprising the steps of:
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receiving local voice signals from a local user; conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data; converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data; decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data into the incoming digital voice data; packetizing the compressed outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; depacketizing the compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the compressed incoming digital voice data; multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets with outgoing video data packets to produce an outgoing packet stream; transmitting the outgoing packet stream; receiving multiplexed incoming data which contains incoming video data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets; and demultiplexing the incoming video data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification