Speakerphone is also module for video conferencing system

摘要

A communication system has a speakerphone and a physically separate sub-system interfacing the speakerphone to a network. The sub-system comprises either a wallmount device for interfacing to a telephone network or a sub-system for video conferencing. The speakerphone and the sub-system communicate through a digital proprietary protocol, e.g., time-division multiplexed. By physically separating the system into a speakerphone and a sub-system that interfaces to the network, the same speakerphone can be used for audio conferencing when used with the appropriate wallmount, and also as audio accessory to a video conferencing system that handles the same protocol.