Multiple video screen display system

A video communications system comprising:

• a plurality of video transmitting nodes, at least one of said transmitting nodes having scaling means for reducing a full size picture defined by full size picture data to a reduced size picture defined by scaled picture data;
• compression means for compressing the scaled picture data,
• display information insertion means for inserting final display location and size data in a header attached to the compressed scaled picture data;
• combiner means for combining the compressed scaled picture data from said plurality of video transmitting nodes into a compressed combined picture data, the combined picture data defining a combined picture comprised of a plurality of reduced size pictures, said combiner means combining the compressed scaled picture data by writing the compressed scaled picture data into specified memory locations in accordance with the display location and size data read from the header attached to the compressed scaled picture data from each of said plurality of video transmission nodes transmitting scaled picture data, and reading the compressed picture data from the specified memory locations in a specific order to form a combined compressed picture,
• one or more video receiving nodes for receiving the combined picture data, the receiving nodes including display means for displaying the combined picture data;
• communication means for communicating to said display information insertion means a desired final display location and size of said reduced size picture on said display means for displaying said reduced size picture for each of said plurality of reduced size pictures;
• and
• communications link means for connecting the plurality of video transmitting nodes to the one or more video receiving nodes.

A method for communicating pictures originating from a plurality of transmitting nodes to one or more receiving nodes, the method comprising:

• inputting full size picture data defining a full size picture;
• scaling the full size picture data at each transmitting node to generate scaled picture data defining a reduced size version of the full size picture;
• compressing the scaled picture data generated at each transmitting node;
• inserting final display location and size data in a header attached to the compressed scaled picture data, the display location and size data defining the display location for the scaled picture data and size of the scaled picture data to be displayed at the one or more receiving nodes;
• transmitting the compressed scaled picture data from each of the transmitting nodes to a combiner means, wherein said combiner means combines the compressed scaled picture data from each transmitting node into combined picture data, said combiner means combining the compressed scaled picture data by writing the compressed scaled picture data into specified memory locations in accordance with the display location and size data read from the header attached to the compressed scaled picture data from each of said plurality of video transmission nodes transmitting scaled picture data, and reading the compressed picture data from the specified memory locations in a specific order to form a combined compressed picture;
• decompressing the combined picture data at one or more of the receiving nodes;
• and
• displaying the decompressed combined picture data.