Internet-enabled portable audio/video teleconferencing method and apparatus

摘要

A local computer having an IP communications link to the Internet runs Internet telephony application software. A microphone and a speaker are provided at a location removed from but within a reasonably short distance the computer. A first signal representative of voice sounds detected by the microphone is transmitted to the computer over a short range wireless link. The computer's Internet telephony software processes the first signal and further transmits it over the IP link to a remote computer. A second signal representative of remote sounds produced at the remote computer is received by the local computer from the remote computer over the IP link. The local computer's Internet telephony software processes the second signal and further transmits the processed second signal over the wireless link, for reproduction of the remote sounds by the speaker. Optionally, a camera and a video display may be provided at the location removed from the local computer. A third signal representative of images captured by the camera is transmitted to the local computer over the wireless link. The local computer's Internet telephony software processes the third signal and further transmits it over the IP link to the remote computer. A fourth signal representative of remote images captured at the remote computer is received by the local computer from the remote computer over the IP link. The local computer's Internet telephony software processes the fourth signal and further transmits the processed fourth signal over the wireless link, for reproduction of the remote images on the video display. Command and control application software can be run on the local computer. Before the first signal is passed to the Internet telephony software it is processed by the command and control software to determine if it contains a voice command. If so, the first signal is processed by the command and control software to perform the command to control operation of the local computer.