Dataconferencing appliance and system
First Claim
1. A dataconferencing appliance for use at a local site to facilitate a dataconferencing session between the local site and at least one geographically distant remote site, the local and remote sites being accessible via a shared voice call network and a shared data network, the remote site having a remote dataconferencing appliance connected to the voice call network and the data network, at least one of the local and remote sites having an image source for producing image data representative of an image, and the local site having a local display device for displaying the image at the local site, the dataconferencing appliance comprising:
- a telephone adapter for connecting a telephone receiver to the voice call network so that a voice call session can be established between the telephone receiver and the remote site via the voice call network, the telephone adapter including circuitry for monitoring the voice call session and for transmitting signals within the voice call session;
a network interface for connecting the dataconferencing appliance to the data network;
a dataconference control unit connected to the telephone adapter and the network interface, the dataconference control unit adapted for communication with the local display device, the dataconference control unit implementing a negotiation procedure that obtains a network access code and causes the telephone adapter to generate and transmit within the voice call session a signal representative of the network access code for receipt by the remote dataconferencing appliance,the dataconference control unit being responsive to receipt at the telephone adapter of a remote signal transmitted from the remote dataconferencing appliance within the voice call session, the remote signal representing a remote network access code, and to establish a data communication session, parallel to the voice call session, between the local and remote sites via the data network using the remote network access code, when received, thereby enabling image data to be transmitted between the local and remote sites over the data network for display via the local and remote display; and
a housing adapted to incorporate the telephone adapter, the network interface, and the dataconference control unit into an integrated dataconferencing appliance.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Geographically distributed conference sites each have a telephone receiver and a dataconferencing appliance connected to a shared voice call network. Each site also has a display device for displaying images comprised of image data produced by an image source. The dataconferencing appliance is connected to a data network that links the sites independently of the voice call network. To initiate a dataconference session between the sites, a voice call session is first established between the telephone receivers via the voice call network. An address negotiation procedure implemented in software or hardware of the dataconferencing appliance is then manually initiated to identify a network access code and communicate it to at least a second one of the sites within the voice call session. The network access code is used to establish a data communication session via the data network for convenient transmission of image data between the sites.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A dataconferencing appliance for use at a local site to facilitate a dataconferencing session between the local site and at least one geographically distant remote site, the local and remote sites being accessible via a shared voice call network and a shared data network, the remote site having a remote dataconferencing appliance connected to the voice call network and the data network, at least one of the local and remote sites having an image source for producing image data representative of an image, and the local site having a local display device for displaying the image at the local site, the dataconferencing appliance comprising:
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a telephone adapter for connecting a telephone receiver to the voice call network so that a voice call session can be established between the telephone receiver and the remote site via the voice call network, the telephone adapter including circuitry for monitoring the voice call session and for transmitting signals within the voice call session; a network interface for connecting the dataconferencing appliance to the data network; a dataconference control unit connected to the telephone adapter and the network interface, the dataconference control unit adapted for communication with the local display device, the dataconference control unit implementing a negotiation procedure that obtains a network access code and causes the telephone adapter to generate and transmit within the voice call session a signal representative of the network access code for receipt by the remote dataconferencing appliance, the dataconference control unit being responsive to receipt at the telephone adapter of a remote signal transmitted from the remote dataconferencing appliance within the voice call session, the remote signal representing a remote network access code, and to establish a data communication session, parallel to the voice call session, between the local and remote sites via the data network using the remote network access code, when received, thereby enabling image data to be transmitted between the local and remote sites over the data network for display via the local and remote display; and a housing adapted to incorporate the telephone adapter, the network interface, and the dataconference control unit into an integrated dataconferencing appliance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A dataconferencing appliance for use at a local site to facilitate a dataconferencing session between the local site and at least one geographically distant remote site, the local and remote sites being accessible via a shared voice call network and a shared data network, the remote site having a remote dataconferencing appliance connected to the voice call network and the data network, at least one of the local and remote sites having an image source for producing image data representative of an image, and the local site having a local display device for displaying the image at the local site, the dataconferencing appliance comprising:
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a telephone adapter for connecting a telephone receiver to the voice call network so that a voice call session can be established between the telephone receiver and the remote site via the voice call network, the telephone adapter including circuitry for monitoring the voice call session and for transmitting signals within the voice call session; a network interface for connecting the dataconferencing appliance to the data network; an image processing subsystem for communication with the network interface and the local display device, the image processing subsystem adapted to receive uncompressed image data and to compress the image data prior to transmission over the data network, the image processing subsystem further adapted to receive a compressed image data via the data network and to decompress the compressed image data before display via the local display device; and a dataconference control unit connected to the telephone adapter and the network interface, the dataconference control unit adapted for communication with the local display device, the dataconference control unit implementing a negotiation procedure that obtains a network access code and causes the telephone adapter to generate and transmit within the voice call session a signal representative of the network access code for receipt by the remote dataconferencing appliance, the dataconference control unit being responsive to receipt at the telephone adapter of a remote signal transmitted from the remote dataconferencing appliance within the voice call session, the remote signal representing a remote network access code, and to establish a data communication session between the local and remote sites via the data network using the remote network access code, when received, thereby enabling image data to be transmitted between the local and remote sites over the data network for display via the local and remote display devices.
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20. A dataconferencing appliance for use at a local site to facilitate a dataconferencing session between the local site and at least one geographically distant remote site, the local and remote sites being accessible via a shared voice call network and a shared data network, the remote site having a remote dataconferencing appliance connected to the voice call network and the data network, at least one of the local and remote sites having an image source for producing image data representative of an image, and the local site having a local display device having a pixel resolution for displaying the image at the local site, the dataconferencing appliance comprising:
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a telephone adapter for connecting a telephone receiver to the voice call network so that a voice call session can be established between the telephone receiver and the remote site via the voice call network, the telephone adapter including circuitry for monitoring the voice call session and for transmitting signals within the voice call session; a network interface for connecting the dataconferencing appliance to the data network; an image processing subsystem for communication with the local display device, the image processing subsystem adapted to receive image data and to resize the image data to fit the pixel resolution before display of the image via the local display ;
anda dataconference control unit connected to the telephone adapter and the network interface, the dataconference control unit adapted for communication with the local display device, the dataconference control unit implementing a negotiation procedure that obtains a network access code and causes the telephone adapter to generate and transmit within the voice call session a signal representative of the network access code for receipt by the remote dataconferencing appliance, the dataconference control unit being responsive to receipt at the telephone adapter of a remote signal transmitted from the remote dataconferencing appliance within the voice call session, the remote signal representing a remote network access code, and to establish a data communication session between the local and remote sites via the data network using the remote network access code, when received, thereby enabling image data to be transmitted between the local and remote sites over the data network for display via the local and remote display devices.
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21. A distributed dataconferencing system for use with multiple sites at which a shared voice call network and a shared data network are accessible, each of the sites including a display device, comprising:
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at each of the sites; (a) a telephone receiver coupled to the voice call network for establishing a voice call session with the telephone receivers of other sites over the voice call network for transmission of voice communications therebetween, (b) a network interface coupled to the data network, (c) a dataconference control unit coupled to the voice call network, the dataconference control unit coupled to the network interface and the display device at said site; and (d) a housing adapted to incorporate the network interface and the dataconference control unit into an integrated dataconferencing appliance; at one or more of the sites, an input key coupled to the dataconference control unit; a negotiation procedure implemented in the dataconference control units, the negotiation procedure responsive to manual actuation of the input key to obtain a network access code and transmit the network access code within the voice call session, and the negotiation procedure responsive to receipt of a received network access code via the voice call session, to thereby establish a data communication session, parallel to the voice call session, between the sites via the data network using one or both of the network access code and the received network access code; and at least one image source for producing image data representative of an image, the image source coupled to one of the network interfaces for transmitting the image data to the sites via the data network, to thereby facilitate display of the image at the sites via the display devices. - View Dependent Claims (22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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23. A distributed dataconferencing system for use with multiple sites at which a shared voice call network and a shared data network are accessible, each of the sites including a display device having a pixel resolution, comprising:
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at each of the sites; (a) a telephone receiver coupled to the voice call network for establishing a voice call session with the telephone receivers of other sites over the voice call network for transmission of voice communications therebetween, (b) a network interface coupled to the data network, and (c) a dataconference control unit coupled to the voice call network, the dataconference control unit coupled to the network interface and the display device at said site; and (d) an image processing subsystem coupled to the network interface and the display device, the image processing subsystem adapted to receive image data and to resize the image data to fit the pixel resolution of the display device at said site before display of the image; at one or more of the sites, an input key coupled to the dataconference control unit; a negotiation procedure implemented in the dataconference control units, the negotiation procedure responsive to manual actuation of the input key to obtain a network access code and transmit the network access code within the voice call session, and the negotiation procedure responsive to receipt of a received network access code via the voice call session, to thereby establish a data communication session between the sites via the data network using one or both of the network access code and the received network access code; and at least one image source for producing image data representative of an image, the image source coupled to one of the network interfaces for transmitting the image data to the sites via the data network, to thereby facilitate display of the image at the sites via the display devices.
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29. A distributed dataconferencing system for use with multiple sites at which a shared voice call network and a shared data network are accessible, each of the sites including a display device, comprising;
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at each of the sites; (a) a telephone receiver coupled to the voice call network for establishing a voice call session with the telephone receivers of other sites over the voice call network for transmission of voice communications therebetween, (b) a network interface coupled to the data network, and (c) a dataconference control unit coupled to the voice call network, the dataconference control unit coupled to the network interface and the display device at said site; and (d) a telephone adapter connecting the telephone receiver and the dataconference control unit to an incoming telephone line of the voice call network, the telephone adapter configured to monitor the status of the incoming telephone line and report status information to the dataconference control unit, at one or more of the sites, an input key coupled to the dataconference control unit; a negotiation procedure implemented in the dataconference control units, the negotiation procedure responsive to manual actuation of the input key to obtain a network access code and transmit the network access code within the voice call session, and the negotiation procedure responsive to receipt of a received network access code via the voice call session, to thereby establish a data communication session between the sites via the data network using one or both of the network access code and the received network access code, the negotiation procedure of the dataconference control unit causing control signals to be issued from the dataconference control unit to the telephone adapter in response to manual activation of the input key, the control signals directing the telephone adapter to transmit within the voice call one or more electronically generated audio signals representing the network access code; and at least one image source for producing image data representative of an image, the image source coupled to one of the network interfaces for transmitting the image data to the sites via the data network, to thereby facilitate display of the image at the sites via the display devices.
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35. A dataconferencing system for use with a voice call network and a data network accessible at first and second sites, comprising:
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a first display device located at the first site; a first integrated dataconferencing appliance coupled to the voice call network, the data network, and the first display device at the first site; a second display device located at the second site; a second integrated dataconferencing appliance coupled to the voice call network, the data network, and the second display device at the second site; and an image source coupled to one of the first and second dataconferencing appliances, each of the first and second dataconferencing appliances implementing a negotiation procedure for obtaining a network access code, transmitting to the other dataconferencing appliance the network access code over the voice call network, and establishing a data communication session, parallel to the voice call session, between the dataconferencing appliances via the data network using the network access code. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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41. A dataconferencing system for use with a voice call network and a data network accessible at first and second sites, comprising:
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a first display device located at the first site; a first dataconferencing appliance coupled to the voice call network, the data network, and the first display device at the first site; a second display device located at the second site; a second dataconferencing appliance coupled to the voice call network, the data network, and the second display device at the second site; and an image source coupled to one of the first and second dataconferencing appliances, each of the first and second dataconferencing appliances implementing a negotiation procedure for obtaining a network access code, transmitting to the other dataconferencing appliance the network access code over the voice call network, and establishing a data communication session between the dataconferencing appliances via the data network using the network access code, each of the first and second dataconferencing appliances including a dataconference control unit and a telephone adapter connecting the dataconference control unit to an incoming telephone line of the voice call network, the telephone adapter configured to monitor the status of the incoming telephone line and report status information to the dataconference control unit, the negotiation procedure of the dataconferencing apparatus causing control signals to be issued from the dataconference control unit to the telephone adapter, the control signals directing the telephone adapter to transmit within the voice call one or more electronically generated audio signals representing the network access code.
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Specification