Patent · US Expired

Conversational video system having local network control

US4555781A · kind A · utility

40Cited by
4References
41Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 30, 1983
Grant dateNov 26, 1985
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 30, 2003

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M11/085
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A video conversational data communication network (30) in which subscribers (34, 36) may conduct conversational video textual data communications with one or more keystations (70, 602, 98) in the network (30). Each keystation (70, 602, 98) is associated with a keystation terminal controller interface (68, 96, 600) which is in turn connected to a switching concentrator computer (46, 48, 110, 112, 114) and a message switching node (32, 42, 44) for routing calls throughout the network (30). The concentrators (46, 48, 110, 112, 114) enable calls to be directly routed to controllers (68, 96, 600) sharing the same node (32, 42, 44) without having to go through the node (32, 42, 44). The controller (68, 96, 600) locally stores (304, 306) video conversational textual data for its associated keystations (70, 82, 84, 98, 100, 602) and enables two different designated keystations to conduct two different video conversations with a common keystation in a split screen display (76). The split screen display (76) may also be used to display retrievable data from a data base (50, 52) for simultaneous display (76) along with a video conversation. The data is transmitted between connected controller…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.