摘要 |
There is provided a video conferencing system (10) for enabling multiple, remotely located transceivers (12A, 12B) to communicate with each other, including transceiver (12) that utilizes different communication formats or protocols. The video conferencing system includes a telecommunications interface unit (20) and a plurality of transceiver (12) that may connect to the telecommunications unit (20) through telephone (14) or network links (22). The telecommunications interface unit (20) includes a gateway block (24) corresponding to each transceiver (12) connected to the unit (20) and a switching subsystem (30) for directing communications, particularly video and audio information, between the gateway blocks (24). The transceivers (12) communicate with their respective gateway blocks (24) using their own communication formats, but the gateway blocks (24) communicate to the switching subsystem using a single common language, such as a standard television signal using the NTSC standard. Accordingly, the present invention permits multiple transceivers (12A, 12B) using different communication formats to communicate with each other effectively and efficiently.
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