摘要 |
A conferencing system for interactive video (and preferably also audio) communication, which includes a composite video signal generation means (220). The system preferably also includes a recordi ng unit (64, 65 and 66) for producing a permanent, combined video and audio record of a conference (which may be a court proceeding such as a criminal arraignment). The system includes a monitor for each conferee (11, 12 and l3), which displays a composite video signal including a principal video image in a large picture region (200) of the monitor screen and secondary video images in small picture regions (201 - 205) of the moni- tor screen. Preferably, all of the large and small picture regions have substantially the same aspect ratio, full video images are dis- played in the small and large picture regions, and the full video images displayed in the small picture regions do not obscure any portion of the full video image displayed in the large picture region. In an alternative embodiment, the small picture regions are displayed in a picture-in-picture window (301 - 303) which obscures a portio n of the principal image displayed in the large pic- ture region (300). |