Video conferencing network

A video conferencing network, comprising:

• a plurality of video ports and data ports;
• a plurality of video terminals each having a unique address for transmitting and receiving audio, video and data;
• switching means for receiving video information from one of a plurality of said video ports and selectively transmitting said received video information to one or more of the remaining of said ports in accordance with a predetermined network configuration;
• data manager means for receiving data at one of a plurality of said data ports, for determining which of the remaining of said data ports the received data is to be transmitted to in accordance with predetermined routing information corresponding to said predetermined network configuration and for transmitting the received data to the determined one of said ports;
• communication link means disposed between each of said video terminals and a select one of said video ports on said switching means and a select one of said data ports on said data manager means;
• slave means for controlling the configuration of said switching means in response to receiving a reconfiguration signal from said data manager means, said slave means in data communication with one of said data ports on said data manager means;
• network master means for controlling the network, said network master means receiving data from said data manager means and transmitting data thereto, said network master means communicating with said video terminals and said slave means, said network master means generating said predetermined network configuration and generating said reconfiguration signal for transmission to said slave means through said data manager means to reconfigure said switching means in accordance with said predetermined network configuration;
• data link means for interfacing between said network master means and one of said data ports on said data manager means;
• and
• audio networking means for selectively interconnecting the audio portion of said video terminals corresponding to the interconnection of the associated ones of said video terminals in accordance with said predetermined network configuration.

A video conferencing network having a plurality of network ports for networking video and data therebetween, comprising:

• a local network having local area network terminals associated with the network ports for networking local area network data;
• local area network communication link means for interfacing between each of the network ports and said local area network to allow networking of local area network data between a plurality of said local area network terminals;
• a plurality of video terminals for transmitting and receiving video information and video conferencing data, said video conferencing data comprised of control data and networking data, each of said video terminals disposed at an associated one of the network ports;
• first multiplexing means having links for multiplexing transmitted video and conference data with said local area network data for transmission on said local area communication on said links and for demultiplexing received video and conferencing data from said local area communication link means;
• second multiplexing means associated with each of the network ports and disposed at a select location in the link associated with the network port for multiplexing video and conference data onto said link and for demultiplexing video and conference data from said link;
• switching means for receiving video information from one of the plurality of said second demultiplexing means and selectively transmitting said received video information into one or more of the remaining of said second multiplexing means in accordance with a predetermined network configuration;
• data switching means for receiving conference data from one of the plurality of said second multiplexing means and selectively interconnecting the received conference data to one or more of the remaining of the plurality of said second multiplexing means to provide a conference data path between two or more of said second multiplexing means and the associated ones of said video terminals;
• and
• control means for interfacing with each of said second multiplexing means for receiving control data therefrom and for transmitting control data thereto for generating said predetermined network configuration and controlling said video and data switching means to provide video and data paths, respectively, in response to data communication between said video terminals and said control means.

A video conferencing network, comprising:

• a plurality of video ports;
• at least three video terminals coupled to said video ports, wherein each of said video terminals has a unique address for transmitting and receiving video information;
• switching means, coupled to each of said video ports, for receiving video information from one of said video ports and selectively switching said received video information so that said video information is transmitted to one or more of said video ports;
• and
• means, coupled to said switching means, for controlling status definitions of each of said video terminals during a video conference communication among said video terminals, said controlling means comprising:
• means for defining only one of said video terminals as having a primary status when said one of said video terminals requests a locking of status definitions associated with said video conference;
• means for refraining from changing said primary status definition associated with said primary status video terminal so long as said video conference remains locked;
• means for transmitting video from said primary status video terminal to all of said video terminals except for said primary status video terminal;
• means for defining only one of said video terminals as having a secondary status;
• means for transmitting video from said secondary status video terminal only to said primary status video terminal;
• means for defining all of said video terminals other than said primary and secondary status video terminals as having a ternary status;
• and
• means for refraining from transmitting video which originates at a ternary status video terminal to any of said video terminals.

A method of controlling the displaying of video on at least three conferee display stations during a video conference communication among said conferee display stations, said method comprising the steps of:

• defining only one of said conferee display stations as having a primary status when said one conferee display station requests a locking of status definitions associated with said video conference;
• refraining from changing said primary status definition association with said primary status conferee display station so long as said video conference remains locked;
• transmitting video from said primary status conferee display station to all of said conferee display stations except for said primary status conferee display station;
• defining only one of said conferee display stations as having a secondary status;
• transmitting video from said secondary status conferee display station only to said primary status conferee display station;
• defining all of said conferee display stations other than said primary and secondary status conferee display stations as having a ternary status;
• and
• refraining from transmitting video which originated at a ternary status conferee display station to any of said conferee display stations.