Method and device to establish bidirectional and/or multidirectional communications between different persons grouped in different geographically distant locations connected to each other by telephone lines

Claim 1

A method for establishing bidirectional and/ or multidirectional communications for instance of the telephone type and/or for exchanging information for instance in the form of telephone data or messages between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations and interconnected by telephone lines, each station comprising at least one emitting unit equipped with at least one microphone, a receiving unit equipped with at least one loud-speaker, and a display unit, said method consisting, in order to start a conference between different stations and upon the initiative of one of those persons, in emitting, by the initiator of the conference and from the keyboard of the emitting unit of this station or source station, a call signal to the stations where the persons to be invited to participate in the conference are located, materializing said call signal at each of the stations receiving that signal, causing each station having received a call signal to reply by emitting a reply signal sent over to the station to participate in the conference and identifying the name of the speaking person during the conference on the display unit of each station participating in the conference, characterized in that it consists in: - switching on the emitting unit of each called station provided that: the station has received a call or validation signal; the emitting unit has been personalized by a person of the station and provided with an individual information medium such as a badge carrying at least coded information peculiar to that person and particularly his name, this personalization being effected by inserting said badge into a reading device of the emitting unit of the station; and that no other person already entered into the conference speaks; - identifying the name of the speaker on the display unit of each station entered into the conference, as soon as the speaker starts to speak, this identification being effected by automatically transferring the coded name of the speaker recorded on this badge previously inserted into the reader of this emitting unit, and in that it consists, at any time, in having only one microphone switched on, said switching on taking place automatically as soon as the first words said by a person or speaker reach a sound volume exceeding a predetermined threshold, the other microphones then being automatically switched off.

Claim 2

A method for establishing bidirectional and/ or multidirectional communications for instance of the telephone type and/or for exchanging information for instance in the form of telephone data or messages between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations and interconnected by telephone lines, each station comprising at least one emitting unit equipped with at least one microphone, a receiving unit equipped with at least one loud-speaker, and a display unit, said method consisting, in order to start a conference between different stations and upon the initiative of one of those persons, in emitting, by the initiator of the conference and from the keyboard of the emitting unit of this station or source station, a call signal to the stations where the persons to be invited to participate in the conference are located, materializing said call signal at each of the stations receiving that signal, causing each station having received a call signal to reply by emitting a reply signal sent over to the station to participate in the conference and identifying the name of the speaking person during the conference on the display unit of each station participating in the conference, characterized in that it consists in: - switching on the emitting unit of each called station provided that: the station has received a call or validation signal; the emitting unit has been personalized by a person of the station and provided with an individual information medium such as a badge carrying at least coded information peculiar to that person and particularly his name, this personalization being effected by inserting said badge into a reading device of the emitting unit of the station; and that no other person already entered into the conference speaks; - identifying the name of the speaker on the display unit of each station entered into the conference, as soon as the speaker starts to speak, this identification being effected by automatically transferring the coded name of the speaker recorded on this badge previously inserted into the reader of this emitting unit, and in that it consists, at any time, in having only one microphone switched on, said switching on taking place automatically as soon as the first words said by a person or speaker reach a sound volume exceeding a predetermined threshold, the other microphones then being automatically switched off.

Claim 5

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in connecting together all the stations through special connection and in transmitting possibly simultaneously by using an appropriate spatial multiplexing: - the coded signals of the speaker's intervention, - the call signals or reply signals or request for intervention signals, and - the data signals.

Claim 7

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it allows, simultaneously or not simultaneously with the transmission of a speaker's speech from one station to another or several stations participating in the conference, to have data transmitted by a station participating or not participating in the conference through said second channel to at least one station participating or not participating in the conference, said data in the form of a message being recorded at the receiving station on a magnetic medium.

Claim 10

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists, simultaneously or not simultaneously with the transmission of a speaker's speech from one station to one or several other stations, in allowing a station participating or not participating in the conference to dialogue with a data processing unit through a telephone line of the switched network in order for instance to receive information which may thereafter be transmitted to one or several stations.

Claim 11

A method according to one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that it consists in displaying each said message, upon the emission or the reception thereof, on the display unit of the emitting unit and/or printing this message on a printer.

Claim 12

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in automatically identifying on all the display units of the stations participating in the conference, the geographical location of the source station emitting a call signal, - in identifying on all the display units of the stations participating in the conference, the geographical location of the stations emitting a reply signal, - in switching on the loud-speaker of the receiving unit of a station as soon as the latter has emitted either a call signal, or a reply signal.

Claim 13

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in allowing any station to receive at any time a call signal from another station, and in allowing any station not participating in a conference in progress to be automatically informed of the various stations participating in that conference.

Claim 14

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists, in order to establish a conference upon the initiative of a person of a station with predetermined persons of several stations: - in transmitting by said person a call signal to the stations where said predetermined persons are located and the name of those persons, - in displaying on one and the same display device of the display unit of each station concerned the name of the station or the name of the person or persons called at that station, and, - in validating in each of those stations the reply signal of a station only if said reply signal is emitted by the person or persons actually asked to participate in the conference.

Claim 16

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in equipping each station with a display device on which the speaker's photograph is displayed.

Claim 18

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in grouping all the stations into a same communication network, particularly a star network with a central station connected to the other stations of the network by special connections.

Claim 19

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that it consists in authorizing also the communication between two networks through a telephone line of the switched network.

Claim 22

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that all of the stations forming a communication network are materialized at each station by a synoptic panel diagrammatically reproducing the geographical limits of the network and indicating the location of the various several stations of that network, each station being represented by for instance two light-emitting diodes of different colors illuminated either intermittently of fixedly depending upon that state of each station during the conference, thus allowing any person pertaining to a station to be informed rapidly and at a glance of the stations involved in the conference, of the state of each station participating in the conference and of the possible requests for intervention from stations froming part of the network and desiring to enter into the conference.

Claim 23

A method according to any preceding claim, characterized in that a person not present in a station of a network may, by means, for example, of a portable emitting unit, connect to a station of the network through a telephone line of the switched network, in order to participate in a conference possibly started upon his initiative between several stations of that network.

Claim 24

A device for establishing bidirectional and/ or multidirectional communications for instance of the telephone type and/or exchanging information for instance in the form of telephone date or messages, according to the method as defined by at least one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a telephone set, e.g. of a conventional type, including at least one alpha-numeric keyboard, a display unit and a set of processing circuits constituted essentially by a micro-processor comprising a central unit, a memory unit in which is recorded the personalized information constituting said repertory, a programmable read only memory comprising at least one recorded programme ensuring the various automatic sequencies of a telephone call search and launch, and an interface circuit inserted between said microprocessor, alpha-numeric keyboard and display unit as well as a switching circuit connected to the telephone set and to the telephone line and in that it further comprises a second memory unit for registering said personalized information of a person retrieved from said repertory, but whose call sequence resulted in a busy line signal, in order to effect again and automatically, after a certain time delay, at least one attempt to get in touch with that person.

Claim 29

A device according to one of claims 24 to 25, characterized in that it comprises a digital keyboard for entering the correspondents telephone numbers into said repertory.

Claim 30

A device according to one of claims 24 to 28, characterized in that it comprises a safety key for putting the device in the receiving mode only when said repertory is being constituted.

Claim 32

A device for establishing bidirectional and/ or multidirectional communications for instance of the telephone type and/or for exchanging information for instance in the form of telephone data or messages, between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations connected together by telephone lines, each station of a network comprising an equipment comprising at least one emitting unit provided with a microphone, a receiving unit provided with a loud-speaker and a display unit with light-emitting diodes, characterized in that each station further comprises a unit for reading information from an individual information medium such as a badge on which is recorded the name of a person possessing the badge for entering the name of that person on the display unit of each station participating in the conference when said person intervenes, and an interface unit connecting these different units to a telephone line, this equipment being located at each station of a communication network comprising several stations connected therebetween by telephone lines and particularly by special connections.

Claim 33

A device for establishing bidirectional and/ or multidirectional communications for instance of the telephone type and/or for exchanging information for instance in the form of telephone data or messages, between different persons grouped into different geographically distant stations connected together by telephone lines, each station of a network comprising an equipment comprising at least one emitting unit provided with a microphone, a receiving unit provided with a loud-speaker and a display unit with light-emitting diodes, characterized in that each station further comprises a unit for reading information from an individual information medium such as a badge on which is recorded the name of a person possessing the badge for entering the name of that person on the display unit of each station participating in the conference when said person intervenes, and an interface unit connecting these different units to a telephone line, this equipment being located at each station of a communication network comprising several stations connected therebetween by telephone lines and particularly by special connections.

Claim 36

A device according to one of claims 31 to 33, characterized in that it comprises means for detecting a predetermined key word said by a speaker and in that it controls only the validation of the microphone of that speaker, the other microphones being kept closed, the microphone of the speaker being advantageously closed during the detection of a second key word.

Claim 37

A device according to one of claims 23-34, characterized in that a person not present in a station of a communication network may possess a special equipment capable of being connected, by a telephone line of the switched network, to a station of a network, said special equipment being constituted by at least one emitting unit, one receiving unit, one badge reading device, and an interface circuit to which is connected for example the handset of a conventional telephone.