Patent ID: 8289364
Filing Date: 2012-10-16
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. Apparatus comprising: TV chassis; a TV video display on the chassis; at least one TV audio speaker for playing audio associated with video presented on the display; at least one TV tuner for presenting video from a selected channel on the display; at least one TV processor in the chassis and communicating with a wide area computer network using a network interface; a microphone on the chassis; a video camera on the chassis; an IP phone module in the chassis receiving signals from the microphone and video camera, the IP phone module sending the signals to one or more recipients on the wide area network using the network interface; incoming videoconferencing signals from the wide area network being presented on the TV video display and TV audio speaker, wherein a self-image from the video camera is presented on at least a portion of the video display in a picture-in-picture presentation, and further comprising a switch in the chassis selectively connecting the speaker to a TV audio baseband circuit or to the IP phone module responsive to user selection of TV mode or videoconferencing mode, respectively, wherein the IP phone module includes an analog baseband circuit sending signals to the switch and a digital processor communicating with the analog baseband circuit and sending signals for display on the TV display.