Communication system for videoconferences

摘要

Videoconferences are intended to avoid the time and expense of travelling to a common conference location. However, to ensure that the conferees can see and hear one another and show one another written documents and objects continuously and simultaneously, technical equipment is required, the cost of which depends on the one hand on the number of conference locations which are to interconnected and on the other hand on the measures enabling a reduction in the requirement for transmission capacity and terminal equipment. As in the known videoconferencing forms - >>studio conferences, meeting room conferences and workstation conferences<< - the picture and sound signals are intended to be switched over and/or mixed. The technical equipment required for this purpose, however, no longer has to be at the respective connectable location if a central videoconference station BZ is provided which contains this technical equipment - furthermore only to an extent commensurate with the actual videoconference traffic density. Each connectable location SO needs to be equipped only with the terminals EE which are also required for TV-quality videotelephones. Furthermore, the picture/sound can be controlled individually from each location SO. <IMAGE>