Method and system for providing an analog voice-only endpoint with pseudo multimedia service

• US 6,020,915 A
• Filed: 10/22/1996
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: O'Neil, Joseph Thomas, Markowitz, Robert Edward, Rosen, Kenneth H., Robinson, Bethany Scott, Katseff, Howard Paul, Bruno, Richard Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Application Number:
  US08/735,286
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: 379/90.01, 379/93.01, 379/93.09, 379/93.21, 379/142, 379/201-202, 379/88-89, 379/93.14, 348/14-20, 370/389, 370/401, 370/402, 395/200.34, 395/200.35
• US Class Current: 348/14.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/41 using speaker recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

An enduser at a POTS analog voice-only endpoint (136) and endusers at H.320 standard multimedia terminals (101, 102, 103, 104), which each communicate over separate voice, video and data streams, engage in a videoconference with each other in a pseudo multimedia manner through a central platform (135) that provides call conversion capabilities. A document to be shared by a user at the POTS endpoint with users at the multimedia endpoints is transmitted as a data signal from a facsimile machine (137) or PC terminal (138) associated with the POTS user to a server (146) in the platform. The received data signal is then inputted to a multimedia bridge (124) and transmitted on the data stream to each multimedia endpoint for display on a window on each multimedia terminal. Similarly, a document to be shared by a multimedia endpoint is transmitted on a data stream to the multimedia bridge, where it is bridged on the data stream transmitted to the other multimedia endpoints and to the server. The document is then transmitted from the server to the facsimile machine or PC terminal associated with the POTS endpoint. In conventional multimedia conferencing arrangements, voice-activated switching is used to determine which user'"'"'s video image is bridged onto the video stream transmitted to each multimedia terminal. When the audio signal from the POTS user would cause a video signal from that user'"'"'s terminal to be bridged to all the multimedia endpoints if in fact that user was at a multimedia terminal, a stored image of that user is retrieved from a database (151) and outputted by the bridge on the video stream transmitted to each multimedia terminal to enable the multimedia participants to visually identify the presently talking enduser.

Claims

1. In a telecommunications network, a method of providing a pseudo multimedia service comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications connection between a multimedia terminal and a telephone, the multimedia terminal associated with a user and operable to communicate voice, video and data signals over separate voice, video and data streams, respectively, on a bearer channel, the telephone associated with a telephone user and not having video capabilities, voice signals between the telephone user and the user at the multimedia terminal being communicated to and from the telephone over the voiceband connection and to and from the multimedia terminal over the voice stream;

establishing a communications connection between the multimedia terminal and a data terminal that is also associated with the telephone user,

determining the identity of the telephone user;

using the determined identity of the telephone user, retrieving a previously stored image of the telephone user from an image database which has stored therein images of a plurality of different telephone users in association with their identities;

transmitting the retrieved image of the telephone user to the multimedia terminal on the video stream, wherein the image of the telephone user is displayed on the multimedia terminal while voice signals are being communicated between the user at the multimedia terminal and the telephone user;

receiving a data signal on the data stream from the multimedia terminal; and

transmitting the received data signal to the data terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the image of the user retrieved from the image database is a static image of the telephone user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the image of the user retrieved from the image database is a video clip of the telephone user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the data signal represents a document to be shared by the user at the multimedia terminal with the telephone user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the data terminal is a facsimile machine.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data terminal is a PC terminal.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data signal and the voice signals are transmitted over a voiceband connection to the data terminal.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the data signal and the voice signals are transmitted over the same voiceband connection to the data terminal.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the PC terminal is connected to the Internet and the step of transmitting the data signal to the PC terminal comprises the steps of:

transmitting the data signal to a predetermined URL address on the Internet;

storing the data signal at the predetermined URL address; and

in response to a request made through the PC terminal, transmitting the data signal stored at the predetermined URL address to the PC terminal.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein a data terminal is also associated with the telephone user and the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving a data signal from the data terminal; and

transmitting the received data signal to the multimedia terminal on the data stream.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the data signal represents a document to be shared with the user at the multimedia terminal by the telephone user.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the data terminal is a facsimile machine.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the data terminal is a PC terminal.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the data signal is transmitted over a voiceband connection from the data terminal.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the data signal and the voiceband signals are transmitted over the same voiceband connection from the data terminal.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the PC terminal is connected to the Internet and the step of transmitting the data signal from the PC terminal comprises the steps of:

transmitting the data signal to a predetermined URL address on the Internet;

storing the data signal at the predetermined URL address; and

in response to a request made through the multimedia terminal, transmitting the data signal stored at the predetermined URL address to the multimedia terminal on the data stream.

17. In a telecommunications network, a method of providing a pseudo multimedia service comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications connection between a plurality of multimedia terminals and a telephone, the each of the plurality of multimedia terminals operable to communicate voice, video, and data signals over separate associated voice, video and data streams, respectively, on a bearer channel, the telephone being one of a plurality of telephones not having video capabilities, a telephone user of the telephone being in voice communication with a plurality of users of the plurality of multimedia terminals over a voiceband connection to and from the telephone and over a video stream associated with and to and from the multimedia terminal;

determining the identity of the telephone user;

using the determined identity of the telephone user, retrieving a previously stored image of the telephone user from an image database which has stored therein images of a plurality of different telephone users in association with their identities;

transmitting, over the video stream associated with the at least one of the plurality of multimedia terminals with which the telephone user is in voice communications, the retrieved image of the telephone user to the at least one of the plurality of multimedia terminals, wherein the image of the telephone user is displayed on that multimedia terminal;

selecting at least one user from among the telephone user and the plurality of users at the plurality of multimedia terminals in accordance with the sound level of voice signals from the telephone user and from the plurality of multimedia terminals; and

if a selected user is the telephone user, transmitting the stored image of the telephone user to the plurality of multimedia terminals over the video stream associated with each of the plurality of multimedia terminals.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein a data terminal is also associated with the telephone user and the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving a data signal on the data stream from the multimedia terminal; and

transmitting the received data signal to the data terminal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the data signal represents a document to be shared by the user at the multimedia terminal with the telephone user.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the data terminal is a facsimile machine.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the data terminal is a PC terminal.

22. In a telecommunications network, a system for providing a pseudo multimedia service between a user associated with a multimedia terminal which is operable to communicate voice, video and data signals over separate voice, video and data streams, respectively, on a bearer channel, and a telephone user associated with a telephone not having video capabilities and associated with a data terminal, voice signals between the telephone user and the user at the multimedia terminal being communicated to and from the telephone over a voiceband connection and to and from the multimedia terminal over the voice stream, the system comprising:

a multimedia bridge connected to transmit and receive the voice, video and data streams to and from the multimedia terminal, the multimedia bridge having an audio port to transmit and receive the voice signals to and from the telephone, which voice signals are bridged to and from the voice signals on the voice stream from and to the multimedia terminal;

a database connected to the multimedia bridge, the database having stored therein previously inputted images of a plurality of different telephone users in association with their identities;

a controller connected to the multimedia bridge and in telephonic communication over the telecommunications network with the telephone and with the data terminal, the controller determining the identity of the telephone user, the stored image of the determined telephone user being retrieved from the database and transmitted by the multimedia bridge on the video stream to the multimedia terminal, wherein the retrieved image of the telephone user is displayed on the multimedia terminal while the voice signals are being communicated between the user at the multimedia terminal and the telephone user; and

a server and an associated second database connected to the multimedia bridge and the controller for receiving and storing on the second database a first data signal on the data stream from the multimedia terminal and for transmitting the stored first data signal from the multimedia terminal through the controller to the data terminal, and for receiving a second data signal through the controller from the data terminal and for transmitting the second data signal from the data terminal to the multimedia bridge for transmission on the data stream to the multimedia terminal.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the image of the telephone user retrieved from the database is a static image of the telephone user.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the image of the telephone user retrieved from the database is a video clip of the telephone user.

25. The system of claim 22 wherein the first data signal represents-a document to be sent from the user at the multimedia terminal to the telephone user.

26. The system of claim 22 wherein the first data signal represents a document to be sent from the telephone user to the user at the multimedia terminal.

27. The system of claim 22 wherein the data terminal is a facsimile machine.

28. The system of claim 22 wherein the data terminal is a PC terminal.

29. The system of claim 22 further comprising a multimedia messaging server for storing from the telephone user for later retrieval by the user associated with the multimedia terminal, a multimedia message comprising a voice message and the stored image of the telephone user.

30. The system of claim 22 wherein the telephone user is also associated with a data terminal, the system further comprising a gateway server connected to the multimedia bridge and the Internet for receiving a first data signal on the data stream from the multimedia terminal and for converting the first data signal into a form that is compatible for transmission on the Internet, the gateway server transmitting the converted first data signal to a predetermined Web server on the Internet, and in response to a request made by the user of the multimedia terminal that is transmitted to said Web server, receiving a second data signal transmitted to said Web server over the Internet from the data terminal and converting it to a form compatible for transmission to the multimedia bridge for transmission on the data stream to said multimedia terminal.