Video telephone and method for changing communication mode during communication
First Claim
1. A video telephone with functions for switching between video and voice communication modes, comprising:
- a modem for transmitting and receiving video and voice signals so as to perform a video communication via a telephone network line connected therewith;
a control unit for performing a control routine in response to a mode control signal and enabling the modem to be set to the video communication mode or the voice communication mode;
a telephone handset for a voice communication via the telephone network line connected therewith;
a switch for connecting the telephone network line to either the modem or the telephone handset under the control of the control unit; and
a tone code codec unit connected between the control unit and the telephone network line, for decoding a tone code signal from the telephone network line, generated under the manual control of a user from another telephone connected thereto, to produce the mode control signal and for encoding the mode control signal from the control unit, in response to a signal generated under the manual control of a user from the video telephone, to generate a tone code indicative of setting and changing the communication modes during communication of the video telephone.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A video telephone system has a control unit for performing a control routine in response to a mode control signal, a tone code codec unit for decoding, a tone code signal from a telephone network line to produce the mode control signal and receiving a mode control signal from the control unit to generate a tone code indicative of mode setting and changing, and a switch for connecting a telephone network to either a modem or a telephone set under the control of the control unit. The control unit is also provided to control the entire operation of the video telephone system. The video telephone system is capable of selecting, when there is a video communication request from a video telephone of either a calling or a called party, the other party approves the connection/disconnection of a video communication with the video telephone. The video telephone system is also capable of easily changing communication modes during a communication thereof.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A video telephone with functions for switching between video and voice communication modes, comprising:
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a modem for transmitting and receiving video and voice signals so as to perform a video communication via a telephone network line connected therewith; a control unit for performing a control routine in response to a mode control signal and enabling the modem to be set to the video communication mode or the voice communication mode; a telephone handset for a voice communication via the telephone network line connected therewith; a switch for connecting the telephone network line to either the modem or the telephone handset under the control of the control unit; and a tone code codec unit connected between the control unit and the telephone network line, for decoding a tone code signal from the telephone network line, generated under the manual control of a user from another telephone connected thereto, to produce the mode control signal and for encoding the mode control signal from the control unit, in response to a signal generated under the manual control of a user from the video telephone, to generate a tone code indicative of setting and changing the communication modes during communication of the video telephone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for changing communication modes during communication between calling and called video telephones, said method comprising the steps of;
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selecting a communication function in accordance with a function key entry; determining whether the calling video telephone is in a calling state; upon determining that the called video telephone is in the calling state, calling the called video telephone so as to connect the calling video telephone with the called video telephone; alternatively, upon determining that the called video telephone is not in the calling state, setting the calling video telephone so as to be in a stand-by state so as to wait for a call; connecting the calling and called video telephones to each other when the call occurs; performing voice or video communication between the calling and called video telephones in accordance with the selected communication function; determining whether a mode changing request has been generated under the manual control of a user from either the calling or the called video telephone during the communication therebetween; if so, changing a performing communication mode to the other communication mode so as to perform the communication in accordance with the communication changed thus; and if not, terminating the communication between the calling and called video telephones. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A video telephone with functions for switching between video and voice communication modes, comprising:
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a modem for transmitting and receiving video and voice signals so as to perform a video communication via a telephone network line connected therewith; a control unit for performing a control routine in response to a mode control signal and enabling the modem to be set to the video communication mode or the voice communication mode; a telephone handset for a voice communication via the telephone network line connected therewith; a switch for connecting the telephone network line to either the modem or the telephone handset under the control of the control unit; and a tone code codec unit connected between the control unit and the telephone network line, for decoding a tone code signal from the telephone network line, generated during a first contact with another telephone connected thereto, to produce the mode control signal and for encoding the mode control signal from the control unit to generate a tone code indicative of setting and changing the communication modes during communication of the video telephone. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification