Abstract:
A method for providing advertising to a video telephone is disclosed, including the steps of monitoring the usage of the video telephone to detect a number of user activities. The detected user activities are stored within a database. The stored user activities within the database are used to generate directed content that is transmitted to the video telephone.

Description:
RELATED INVENTIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/592,847 filed Jul. 30, 2004 entitled “A/V COMMUNICATION NETWORK,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/598,504 filed Aug. 3, 2004 entitled “METHOD OF PROVIDING A/V TELECOMMUNICATIONS TO CONSUMERS,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/599,617 filed Aug. 6, 2004 entitled “DEMOGRAPHIC ADVERTISEMENT ON AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/599,727 filed Aug. 6, 2004 entitled “METHOD OF PROVIDING ADVERTISING TO AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,034 filed Aug. 9, 2004 entitled “METHOD OF COLLECTING DEMOGRAPHIC DATA FROM AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,408 filed Aug. 10, 2004 entitled “METHOD OF DELIVERING SYNCHRONIZED CONTENT TO AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,745 filed Aug. 11, 2004 entitled “INTEGRATED INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING PROMOTIONS AND AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,910 filed Aug. 12, 2004 entitled “METHOD OF ADVERTISING IN A VIDEO ANSWERING MESSAGE ON AN A/V TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/605,019 filed Aug. 27, 2004 entitled “BRAND ASSOCIATIVE ICON BASED DIALING PROTOCOL AND SYSTEM,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/600,865 filed Aug. 12, 2004 entitled “INTEGRATED INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING PROMOTIONS AND A/V TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,684 filed Jan. 5, 2005 entitled “INNER PROCESSOR COMMUNICATION IN A MULTIPROCESSOR DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,883 filed Jan. 5, 2005 entitled “INNER PROCESSOR COMMUNICATION IN A VOICE OVER IP VIDEO TELEPHONY DEVICE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,326 filed Jan. 4, 2005 entitled “METHOD FOR SYNCHRONIZATION OF AUDIO AND VIDEO PACKETS WITHIN AN IP VIDEO TELEPHONE,” which is incorporated herein by reference; and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/641,328 filed Jan. 4, 2005 entitled “IP VIDEO TELEPHONE WITH POTS TELEPHONE CONNECTIVITY,” which is incorporated herein by reference.  
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to video telephony, and more particularly, to a directed advertising via an IP video telephone.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The combination of video and audio channels provides a unique platform for interpersonal communication. With the availability of broadband Internet network connections in the home, there is an opportunity to further methods of interaction between content providers and consumers.  
         [0004]     An IP telephone is a telephone device that transmits voice over a network using data packets instead of circuit switch connections over voice only networks. An IP telephone refers to the transfer of voice over the Internet protocol (IP) of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Other voice over packet (VOP) standards exist for frame relay and ATM networks but many people use the terms voice over IP (VOIP) or IP telephone to mean voice over any packet network  
         [0005]     IP telephones originally existed in the form of client software running on multi-media PCs for low cost PC to PC communications over the Internet. Quality of service (QOS) problems associated with the Internet and the PC platform itself resulted in poor voice quality due to excessive delay, variable delay, and network congestion resulting in lost packets, thus relegating VOIP primarily to hobby status. The QOS provided by the Internet continues to improve as the infrastructure is augmented with faster backbone links and switches to avoid congestion, higher access connections to the end users such as XDSL cut-down latency, and new protocols like RSVP and techniques like tag switching give priority to delay sensitive data such as voice and video. IP telephones include one wire systems for transmitting both voice and data. The data may comprise video data of the user of the IP phone in some embodiments. IP telephones provide better scalability as additional stations are added to the system, and the ability to mix and match IP telephones from different manufacturers.  
         [0006]     IP telephones have several advantages over multimedia PCs with client software including lower latencies due to an embedded system implementation, a familiar user paradigm of using a telephone versus a PC enabled phone, greater reliability, and lower station costs where a PC is not required.  
         [0007]     When considering IP telephones for home use, the network interface that is available is typically a DSL or cable broadband connection. Typically, IP telephones connect to a cable modem or DSL modem via a high speed interface such as Ethernet or universal serial bus (USB). There are also emerging home communication standards such as being presented by home RF, which provides wireless communication within the home. In this new residential environment, IP telephones will attach to the home LAN and have access to the data network and the PSTN via either a DSL or cable modem which communicates to DSLAM or cable system equipment.  
         [0008]     A home voice over IP telephone including video capabilities would provide a platform for providing a number of different services and opportunities to the home user. A platform for implementing this service would be greatly desirable.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The present invention disclosed and claimed herein, in one aspect thereof, comprises a method for advertising to a video telephone. The usage of the video telephone is monitored to detect a number of user activities occurring on the video telephone. The monitored user activities are stored within a database. Directed content is generated from the user activities stored within the database. The generated directed content is transmitted to the video telephone.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings in which:  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a household broadband information appliance;  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates a handset for a household broadband information appliance;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates a block diagram of a household broadband information appliance;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates a block diagram of an IP video telephone;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram of the gateway of the IP video telephone;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a functional block diagram of the voice over IP processor of the IP video telephone;  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is a functional block diagram of the video processor of the IP video telephone;  
         [0018]      FIGS. 8   a - 8   c  indicate the various manners in which processing components of the IP video telephone may be interconnected via an Ethernet network;  
         [0019]      FIGS. 9   a  and  9   b  illustrate analog telephone connections to the IP video telephone;  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  is an illustration of a call connection process using the IP video telephone;  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  illustrates the manner in which delay may be created between video and audio packets when transmitted over an IP network;  
         [0022]      FIG. 12  is a flow diagram illustrating one method for synchronizing audio and video packets;  
         [0023]      FIG. 13  illustrates the method of inserting delays into the transmission of packets to achieve synchronization at a receiving end of audio and video packets;  
         [0024]      FIG. 14  is an illustration of a home display displayed on the video screen of the IP video telephone;  
         [0025]      FIG. 15  is an illustration of the calendar display on the display of the IP video telephone;  
         [0026]      FIG. 16  is an illustration of the telephone display on the display of the IP video telephone;  
         [0027]      FIG. 17  illustrates other display screens of the IP video telephone;  
         [0028]      FIG. 18  illustrates inter unit communications between device processors;  
         [0029]      FIG. 19  illustrates the software modules enabling communicating between a pair of IP video telephones;  
         [0030]      FIG. 20  illustrates the manner that a stun module interacts with an IP video telephone;  
         [0031]      FIG. 21  is a flow diagram illustrating a call connection using the software of  FIG. 20 ;  
         [0032]      FIG. 22  is a flow diagram illustrating a call receipt process;  
         [0033]      FIG. 23  is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing an audio/visual network;  
         [0034]      FIG. 24  illustrates a network for providing directed user content;  
         [0035]      FIG. 25  illustrates a method for providing directed user content;  
         [0036]      FIG. 26  illustrates a manner for generating directed user content for a plurality of IP video phones;  
         [0037]      FIG. 27  illustrates the provision of various user inputs to a database;  
         [0038]      FIG. 28  illustrates a method of interactive data collection;  
         [0039]      FIG. 29  illustrates a method of determining user preferences;  
         [0040]      FIG. 30  illustrates an IP video phone with integrated incentive promotion manager;  
         [0041]      FIG. 31  illustrates a process for providing incentives via an incentive promotion manager;  
         [0042]      FIG. 32  illustrates a system for providing advertising with audio/visual message recording;  
         [0043]      FIG. 33  illustrates a method for audio/visual message recording including advertising;  
         [0044]      FIG. 34  illustrates a recording including advertising;  
         [0045]      FIG. 35  illustrates a method of associating advertising with message retrieval;  
         [0046]      FIG. 36  illustrates a user interface with branded buttons;  
         [0047]      FIG. 37  illustrates programmable branded buttons;  
         [0048]      FIG. 38  illustrates a method for using branded buttons;  
         [0049]      FIG. 39  illustrates a system for providing synchronous promotional content broadcasts;  
         [0050]      FIG. 40  illustrates a method for providing coordinated synchronous content;  
         [0051]      FIG. 41  illustrates an IP video telephone having an integrated incentive promotion function; and  
         [0052]      FIG. 42  is a flow diagram of an integrated interactive promotion.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0053]     Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , there is illustrated a functional depiction of a broadband information appliance  100 . The broadband information appliance  100  includes a base unit  101 . The base unit  101  typically houses the processing circuits, memory storage, interfaces  105 , manual inputs  102  and power connections. The base unit  101  may be attached to a display  103 . The display  103  may be integral with the base unit  101 . The display  103  may be an independent unit fixedly attached to the base unit  101 . The display  103  may be interchangeably attached to the base unit  101  such that the display  103  may be easily exchanged for a different display  103 . In a preferred embodiment, the broadband information appliance  100  comprises a video telephone. The video telephone provides the user with the ability to converse with an individual also having a video telephone while providing both audio and video outputs to each user of a video telephone.  
         [0054]     The display of the IP video telephone  402  and the browser operating within the video processor  111  are typically left in a powered state to enable content to be received by the IP video telephone  402  at any point. In this manner, when the IP video telephone is not presently operating with supporting an audio/visual telephone call, the browser may be used to display content to an individual on the screen of the IP video telephone. This enables a host server interconnected with the IP video telephone  402  through a network such as the Internet to consistently provide advertising or other types of directed information on the display of the IP video telephone through the browser. This information may be determined in such a manner that the displayed information is of particular interest to the individual.  
         [0055]     Base unit  101  may include manual inputs  102 . Typically the manual inputs  102  for a video telephone include a standard telephone keypad with ten numeric buttons plus a “#” and “*” buttons. Manual inputs may further include any number of other button switches, thumb wheels, pointing devices or other appropriate manual input devices. A wide variety of functions and features may be controlled using the manual inputs  102 . Manual inputs  102  may include navigation keys or a joy stick for up, down, right and left selections and programmable soft keys. Power and status LEDs may also be provided to display information to a user.  
         [0056]     A base unit  102  may be connected to a handset  104 . Handset  104  may be substantially a standard telephone handset including a microphone and speaker. Handset  104  may be directly connected to the base unit  101 . A handset  104  directly connected to the base unit  101  may be called a “tethered” or “wired” handset. Handset  104  may also include a wireless transceiver, a wireless connection to the base unit  101  including (or connected to) a wireless transceiver. The wireless transceivers may be a 2.4 GHz transceiver or any other suitable wireless transceiver frequency. The wireless transceivers may be spread spectrum transceivers. A handset  104  wirelessly connected to the base unit may be called a wireless handset.  
         [0057]     Base unit  101  is connected to an interface  105 . Typically, interface  105  is integral with base unit  101 . Interface  105  includes an interface for connection to a network  106  such as an IP network. The network  106  may comprise an open network such as the Internet. Interface  105  includes interface connections  101  for connecting the base unit  101  to a variety of peripherals or networks. Typically, the interface  105  will provide Ethernet ports, telephone handset and keypad support, video capture and display ports including NTSC composite input and output ports, S video ports, NTSC camera ports and LCD display ports. The interface  105  may include audio capture and reproduction ports, an external microphone port, an external speaker port, two audio line level inputs, and a hands-free speaker phone.  
         [0058]     A digital video camera  115  is connected to the base unit  101 . Typical digital video camera  115  comprises a CCD camera device. The digital video camera  115  may be integral with the base unit  101  or the display  103 . An additional digital video camera  137  may be integral with the handset  104 . A privacy shield  141  may be a cover provided to disable the digital video camera  137  by covering the lens of the digital video camera  137 .  
         [0059]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a more detailed description of the components that may be incorporated into the handset  104  is illustrated. The handset  104  typically includes a speaker  135  and a microphone  136  to provide standard audio communication. Handset  104  may include a digital video camera  137 , typically at one end of the handset  104 . A scanner  138  may be provided on the handset  104  to read machine readable codes or scan image data. An LCD display  139  may be provided on the handset  104  to allow the user to see the input from the digital video camera  137 , or show video data being displayed on display  103  when the handset  104  is being used remotely from the base unit  101 . The handset display  135  may also show alternate visual data. The handset  104  may further include manual inputs  140  to control the video camera  137 , hand display  139  and scanner  138 .  
         [0060]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is illustrated an overall functional block diagram of a basic broadband information appliance  100 . A gateway  110  provides an interface to a network  106 . In a preferred embodiment, the network is an IP network such as the Internet. The gateway  110  communicates with voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) hardware  111  and video hardware  114 . The voice over IP hardware  111  provides all of the voice and audio functionalities for the broadband information appliance  100 . The video hardware  114  provides the video capabilities to the broadband information appliance  100  such as streaming video of a speaker or display of a browser for browsing the IP network such as the Internet. The voice over IP hardware  111  may be directly connected to a wired handset  104  or may be connected to a cordless base unit  112  which provides wireless communications with a cordless handset  113 . The video hardware  114  may be connected to a video camera  115  and a display  103 .  
         [0061]     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is illustrated a detailed functional block diagram of an IP video telephone  402  that may more particularly comprise the broadband information appliance discussed above. The IP video telephone  402  is connected to an IP based network  404  through a connection  406 . The interconnection  406  may be a wired connection such as a DSL connection or a cable connection through a DSL or cable modem, respectively. Alternatively, the interconnection  406  between the IP network  404  and the IP video phone  402  may comprise a wireless or satellite connection. The IP network  404  in the preferred embodiment comprises the Internet. However, any packet based network would be applicable to the following description. The IP video telephone  402  has its interface to the outside world and the IP network at a gateway processor  408 . The gateway processor  408  provides communication with one or more networks  404 . The gateway processor  408  typically acts as a master boot processor for the IP video telephone  402 . The gateway processor  408  is typically an integrated, multiport PCI bridge system on a chip. In one embodiment, the gateway processor  408  comprises a Micrel KS 8695P processor. The KS 8695P integrates an ARM 922T CPU, a PCI bridge that can support up to three external PCI masters and a five port switch with integrated media access controllers and low power Ethernet PHYs. The PCI interface can be connected gluelessly to many PCI or card bus wireless LAN cards that support 802.11A/G/B. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other processors, chips or configurations could be used for the gateway processor  408 .  
         [0062]     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there is provided a functional block diagram of the gateway processor  408 . The gateway processor  408  includes a plurality of transmit/receive PHY transceivers  502  enabling communications to and from the gateway processor  408 . The transceivers  502  are mixed signal, low powered, fast Ethernet transceivers and have corresponding media access control units  504  associated therewith. A switching engine  506  moves data to and from the MACs  504 . The switching engine  506  operates in a store and forward mode. Associated with the switch engine  506  are switch registers  508  and an APD bridge  510  for interconnecting the advanced peripheral bus (APB)  512  with the high speed AMBA bus  514 . A microcontroller unit  516  controls operation of the gateway processor  408 . The microcontroller unit  516  operates at 166 MHz and includes an 8 kilobyte I-cache  518  and an 8 kilobyte D-cache  520 . A memory management unit  522  enables operation with Linex and WinCE®. A router  524  assists in the processing of packets transmitted by the gateway processor  408 .  
         [0063]     An advanced memory controller  526  includes an external input/output controller  528 , a flash/ROM/SRAM controller  530  and an SDRAM controller  532 . These controllers provide programmable 8/16/32 bit data and 22 bit address bus with up to 64 megabytes of total memory space for flash, ROM, SRAM, SDRAM and external peripherals. The PCI host bridge  534  supports three external PCI masters or guest mode and further a mini PCI and card bus peripheral. The PCI host bridge  534  supports a 33 MHz, 32 bit PCI interface. The gateway processor  408  further includes an interrupt controller  536  for generating interrupts in response to various interrupt conditions, 16 GPIOs for inputting and outputting data, a UART transceiver  540  and timer/watchdog circuitry  542  for timing various events.  
         [0064]     Referring now back to  FIG. 4 , there are illustrated a link controller  410 , USB controller  412  and mini PCI slot  414  connected to the gateway processor  408  via the PCI bridge  534 . Likewise, the FLASH DRAM memory  416  is connected to the gateway processor  408  through the advanced memory controller  526 . An Ethernet link  418  provides for interconnection between the gateway processor  408 , a voice over IP processor  420  and a video processor  422 . The voice over IP processor  420  is a communication processor providing audio, Codec and telephone management. In one embodiment, the VOIP processor  420  may comprise a teleology TNETV105 DSP.  
         [0065]     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , there is more fully illustrated one embodiment of the VOIP processor  408 . Two 10/100 base T Ethernet PHY  602  and MAC  604  transceivers are included with an integrated layer to three port Ethernet switch  606 . On-chip peripherals include an 8×8 keypad interface  608 , a USB controller host  610 , a UART serial interface  612 , a programmable serial port  614  enabling serial port communications and a general purpose input/output interface  616 . An integrated voltage regulator  620  provides for voltage regulation with respect to the VOIP processor  420 . An integrated dual channel 16-bit voice codec integrates the coding/decoding functions necessary for IP phone applications and includes two analog-to-digital converters and two digital-to-analog converters. Other codec features include analog and digital side tone control, antialiasing filter, programmable gain options and programmable sampling rate. Other features of the VOIP processor  420  include analog-to-digital side tone control, filter, programmable gain options, programmable sampling rate, 8-bit speaker driver, microphone, and handset and headset interface  630 .  
         [0066]     The TNETV 1050 VOIP processor is a communications processor based on a MIPS 32 reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor  600 , along with a C55X digital signal processor (DSP)  601 . The VOIP processor  420  has a rich peripheral set architect specifically for IP phone applications, which reduced the build materials costs, time and complexity associated with developing an IP phone. The RISC processor  600  supplies the overall system services and performs user interface, network management, protocol stack management, call processing and task scheduling functions. The DSP processor  601  provides real time voice processing functions such as echo cancellation, compression, PCM processing and tone generation/detection.  
         [0067]     The external memory interface  632  supports two SDRAM chip selects providing 120 megabytes of memory space. The external memory interface  632  also supports three chip selects providing 16 megabytes each of RAM or ROM memory. Finally, the interface provides one chip select for providing a 32 megabyte flash memory.  
         [0068]     Referring now back to  FIG. 4 , the VOIP processor  420  is connected to the flash/DRAM memory  424  through the external memory interface  632 . The flash/DRAM memory  424  may comprise a flash memory, SDRAM or other suitable memory device. The VOIP processor  420  is also connected to a handset  426 . The telephony interface  630  may also provide an interconnection for a cordless base  428  providing a wireless interconnection with a cordless handset  430 . The voice over IP processor  420  may also be connected with a manual input device  432  to enable an individual to input information into the VOIP processor  420 . Additionally, an audio out connection  434  provides for the ability to externally output audio information to the user of the IP video telephone  402 . A microphone  436  enables the user to input audio information into the VOIP processor  420 .  
         [0069]     An embedded terminal adaptor  440  is interconnected with the VOIP processor  420  through a digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital interface  442 . Information transmitted from the embedded terminal adaptor  504  is converted from analog into digital data by an analog-to-digital converter within the interface  442 . Likewise, digital data coming from the VOIP processor  420  is converted into analog data for use by an analog telephone connected to the embedded terminal adaptor  440  by the interface  442 . Information provided to the VOIP processor  420  by an analog telephone connected to the embedded terminal adaptor  440  is routed from the VOIP processor  420  to the gateway processor  408 . The gateway processor  408  allows the data to be packetized and transmitted over the IP network  404  such that ultimately the data can be routed to another VOIP device connected to the IP network  404  or to an analog telephone connected to a PSTN network which is interconnected to the IP network  404 .  
         [0070]     The video processor  422  is connected to the Ethernet link  418  to provide video capabilities for the IP video telephone  402 . The video processor  422  includes a video Codec and LCD panel controller. The video processor  422  may in one embodiment comprise a TI TMS320DM642 digital signal processor. Referring now to  FIG. 7 , there is illustrated a functional block diagram of one embodiment of the video processor  422 . The digital signal processor is based on the second generation high performance advance velociTI very long word instruction (VLIW) architecture. The digital signal processor may provide 4800 million instructions per second at a clock rate of 600 MHz. The DSP offers the flexibility of high speed controllers, and the numerical capability of array processors. A DSP core processor  702  has 64 general purpose registers of 32-bit word link and six arithmetic logic units. The DSP provides extensions in the eight functional units including new instructions to accelerate performance in video and imaging applications to extend parallelism. The DSP can produce four 32-bit multiply accumulates per cycle for a total of 2400 million MACs per second or eight 8-bit MACs per cycle for a total of 4800 million MACs. The DSP may have application specific hardware logic, on-chip memory and additional on-chip peripherals. The DSP typically uses a two level cache based architecture. A level one program cache  704  is a 128K bit direct mapped cache and a level one data cache is a 128-Kbit direct mapped cache and a Level 1 data cache is a 128-Kbit 2-way set-associative cache. A Level 2 memory cache  706  consists of a 2-Mbit-memory space that is shared between program and data space. Level 2 memory can be configured as mapped memory. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other DSP processors may be implemented.  
         [0071]     The video processor  422  includes three configurable video port peripherals  708  (VP 0 , VP 1  and VP 2 ). These video port peripherals provide a glueless interface to common video decoder and encoder devices. The DSP video port peripherals support multiple resolutions and video standards. The video ports peripherals are configurable and can support video capture and video display modes. Each video port may include two channels with a 5120 byte capture/display buffer that is split-able between the two channels. The DSP video ports include a capture port interfaced with a Philips decoder with integrated multiplexer for NTSC, S-video sources; a display port interfaced with Philips SAA7105 NTSC and S-video encoder and a third port dedicated to the LCD panel.  
         [0072]     The peripheral set further includes a 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet MAC; a management data input/output  711 ; a VCXO interpolated control port  712 ; a multichannel buffered audio serial port  714 ; an inter-integrated circuit bus module; two multichannel buffered serial ports  718 ; three 32-bit general purpose timers  720 ; a user-configurable 16-bit or 32-bit host port interface  722 ; a peripheral component interconnect  724 ; a 16-bit general-purpose input/output port  726  with programmable interrupt/even generation modes; and a 16-bit glueless external memory interface  728  which is capable of interfacing to synchronous and asynchronous memories and peripherals.  
         [0073]     The multichannel buffered audio serial port transmitter  714  is programmed to output multiple encoded data channels simultaneously with a single RAM containing the full implementation of user data and channel status field. The multichannel buffered audio serial port  714  also provides extensive error checking and error features, such as bad clock deterioration circuit for each high frequency master clock which verifies that the master clock is within a program frequency range.  
         [0074]     The Ethernet media access controller  710  provides an efficient interface between the DSP core processor and the Ethernet network  418 . The media access controller  710  supports both 10-base T and 100-base T in either have or full duplex with hardware flow control and quality of service support. The Ethernet MAC  710  makes use of a customer interface to the DSP core that allows efficient data transmission and reception.  
         [0075]     The management data input/output (MDIO) module  711  continuously pulls all 32 MDIO addresses in order to enumerate all PHY devices in the system. Once a PHY candidate has been selected by the DSP, the MDIO module transparently monitors its link state by rating the rating the PHY status register. Link change events are stored in the MDIO module  711  and can optionally interrupt the DSP, allowing the DSP to pull the link status of the device without continuously performing costly MDIO accesses.  
         [0076]     The VCXO interpolated control (VIC)  712  port provides a digital-to-analog conversion with resolution from 9-bits to up to 16-bits. The output of the VIC  712  is a single bit interpolated D/A output.  
         [0077]     The 12C0 port  728  on the video processor  422  enables the DSP to easily control peripheral devices and communicate with a host processor. Additionally, the standard multichannel buffered serial port (MCBSP)  718  may be used to communicate with serial peripheral interface (SPI) mode peripheral devices.  
         [0078]     The video processor  422  connects with a video memory  446 . The video memory  446  may comprise a flash memory, SDRAM, or other suitable memory device. The video processor  422  also connects to a video decoder  448 . The video decoder may comprise an NTSC decoder for decoding provided video data. The video decoder  448  receives video signals from an external NTSC source  450  or from a video camera  452 . The video processor  422  is also connected with a video encoder  454  that may comprise an NTSC encoder. The video encoder  454  may be integral with a CSC  156  to provide video signals to a RGB/LCD panel  158 . The video encoder  454  may also provide video signals to an LCD panel  163  and a CV/S/RGB output  162 .  
         [0079]     Referring now to  FIG. 8   a - 8   c , there is more fully illustrated the flexibility provided by the use of a gateway processor  408 , VOIP processor  420  and video processor  422  that are able to communicate via an Ethernet network on a same board.  FIG. 8   a  illustrates a first configuration of the gateway processor  408 , voice over IP processor  420  and video processor  422 . Each of these processors are included upon a same device board within the IP video telephone. In this configuration, each of the processors has an Ethernet connection with each of the other processors. Thus, the gateway processor  408  may communicate directly with the voice over IP processor  420  and the video processor  422 . Also, the voice over IP processor  420  may communicate with each of the gateway processor  408  and the video processor  422 , and finally, the video processor  422  may communicate with each of the gateway processor  408  and voice over IP processor  420 .  
         [0080]      FIG. 8   b  illustrates a configuration wherein only the gateway processor  408  may communicate with each of the voice over IP processor  420  and the video processor  422 . When the video processor wishes to converse with the voice over IP processor  420 , it must do so through the gateway processor  408 . Thus, IP packet messages are transmitted from the video processor  422  to the gateway processor  408 , and the gateway processor  408  then forwards the IP packets to the voice over IP processor  420 . Likewise, when the voice over IP processor  420  desires to communicate with the video processor  422 , it must forward packets to the gateway processor  408  which then forwards the packets onward to the video processor  422 . As can be seen, each of the voice over IP processor  420  and video processor  422  may communicate directly with the gateway processor  408 .  
         [0081]     Finally,  FIG. 8   c  illustrates a chained configuration wherein the gateway processor  408  communicates only with the voice over IP processor  420 . The voice over IP processor  420  can communicate with either of the gateway processor  408  and the video processor  422 . The video processor  422  only communicates with the voice over IP processor  420 . All packets transmitted from the gateway processor to the video processor must be transmitted through the voice over IP processor  420 , and likewise, all packets transmitted from the video processor  422  to the gateway processor  408  must be routed through the voice over IP processor  420 .  
         [0082]     The use of processing devices on the same board having packet network communications functionalities associated therewith enables an ease of configuration and updating with respect to the IP video telephone board. In this configuration, any of the processing chips used for either the voice over IP processor  420 , gateway processor  408  and video processor  422  may be upgraded to a different chip or component by merely implementing the new chip within the board design. The only requirement is that the newly implemented chip must have the ability to transceive over an Ethernet network. Since the processors within the IP telephone board are each designed to carry out their various functionalities and communicate with the outside world using IP packets via an IP network, the use of differing components for these processors does not adversely affect the operation of the IP video telephone board.  
         [0083]     Referring now to  FIGS. 9   a  and  9   b , there are illustrated the manners in which an analog telephone may be both connected to the PSTN network  904  through an IP video telephone  402 . In this embodiment, the analog telephone  902  connects with the IP video phone  402  through an analog connection  906 . The analog telephone  902  is plugged into the IP video telephone  402  at an embedded terminal adaptor  908 . Embedded terminal adaptor  908  enables the IP video telephone  402  to accept analog signals from the analog telephone  402  and convert them into digital IP packet data that may be used to transmit over the IP network  910  to the PSTN network  904 . The IP network  910  is connected to the PSTN network  904  through a gateway  912 .  
         [0084]     Referring now to  FIG. 9   b , there is illustrated an alternative embodiment wherein the analog telephone  902 , rather than being plugged directly into the IP video telephone  402 , is plugged into an analog home network  914 . Rather than plugging the analog telephone  902  directly into the embedded terminal adaptor  908 , the analog home network  914  is plugged into the embedded terminal adaptor  908 . In this manner, analog telephones  902  within a home may be plugged into the existing telephone jacks of the home since the analog home telephone network is no longer directly connected to the PSTN network  904  but is instead connected to the IP video telephone  402 . Signals generated by the analog telephone  902  are transmitted over the analog home network  914  to the IP video telephone  402  through the embedded terminal adaptor  908 . These signals are converted to IP packet signals and provided over the IP network  910  to the public switched network  904  or other IP video phones connected to the Internet.  
         [0085]     When connected in the manners illustrated in  FIGS. 9   a  and  9   b , the analog telephone  902  will operate as it normally does when connected with the PSTN network  904 . The connection to the PSTN network  904  through the IP network  910  via the IP video telephone  402  is seamless to the user of the analog telephone  402 .  
         [0086]     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , there is illustrated the process for providing a call connection and call disconnection using the IP video telephone of the present disclosure. Initially, a browser  1002  initiates a call by transmitting a message  1004  to call control  1006 . The call control  1006  transmits a message  1008  to the audio processor  420  to configure the audio processor protocol. The call control  1006  also transmits a message  1010  to the video processor  422  to configure the video processor for operation. The gateway  408  provides the IP address or number address for the call at  1012 . This information is provided to the video processor  422  at  1014  and to the audio processor  420  at  1016 . The audio processor  420  provides the ability to provide audio support for the call at  1018 , and the video processor  422  provides the capabilities for video processing for the call at  1020 . The call control  1006  initiates the call to the external world at  1022 .  
         [0087]     A ring signal  1024  is provided from the external world back to the call control and the call control forwards the ring signal to the gateway processor and the call control  1000  forwards the ring signal to the gateway processor  408  at  1026 . After the call is answered at the receiving end, an answer signal  1028  is provided from the external world to the call control  1006 . The call control  1006  notifies the gateway  408  that the call is connected using a call connection signal  1030 . The call controller  1006  notifies the audio processor  420  at  1032  that the call is connected and sets the capabilities for the call with the audio processor. The video processor  422  is notified at  1034  that the call is connected and sets the capabilities for the video processor  422 . The call control  1006  transmits an acknowledge signal  1036  back to the external world to where the call has been answered. The call is supported by the IP video telephone during the time period  1038  for which the call is active.  
         [0088]     Once the user has completed the call and hangs up the receiver of the IP video telephone, a hang-up signal  1040  is provided from the gateway  408  to call control  1006 . The call control  1006  initiates a hang-up notification  1042  to the external world to the unit to which the IP video phone is connected. The call control  1006  initiates a stop signal  1044  to the audio processor  420  and a stop signal  1046  to the video processor  422  to indicate that the call has been disconnected. An acknowledgment  1048  is received from the external world at the call control  1006 , and the call control notifies the gateway processor  408  that the call is disconnected at  1050 .  
         [0089]     Referring now to  FIG. 11 , there is illustrated the problem of synchronization associated with the transmission of associated audio and video packets from a video phone at first location  1102  to a video phone at second location  1104 . The video and audio encoding of the video and audio packets begins at the same time, and the packets are transmitted as the audio and video encoding are completed over an IP packet network such as the Internet. Decoding of the audio and video packets is begun upon receipt of said packets at the second location  1104 . The process begins with the video and audio packets synchronized at location  1102 . The packets will become unsynchronized by the time they arrive at location  1104  with the audio packets arriving for provision to a third party much sooner than the video packets. This is due to the inherent delays associated with the encoding/decoding of the video packet at both the first location  1102  and the second location  1104 . The encoding of video packets at location  1102  takes longer than the encoding of audio packets. Thus, if the audio packets and video packets are transmitted as soon as they are ready, the audio packets will be transmitted prior to the video packets since the video packets will take longer to encode.  
         [0090]     During transmission of the packets over the IP network, the assumption is that the packets sent at the same time will be grouped together as they are received and arrive at substantially the same time. However, when arriving at the second location  1104 , the decoding of the video packet will again take longer than the decoding of the audio packet at the second location. Thus, the initial delay D 1  between the audio and video packets is caused by the encoding delays at the first location  1102  and the second delay D 2  is associated with the inherent decoding delay differences between the audio and video packets. Thus, a total delay of D 1 +D 2  will be introduced between the audio and video packets resulting in a lack of synchronization between the audio and video packets at the receiving end.  
         [0091]     One manner for minimizing or eliminating the lack of synchronization between the audio and video packets is illustrated in the flow chart of  FIG. 12 . The decoding of both the audio and video packets is begun at step  1202  with each of the associated audio and video packets being encoded in their normal fashion. However, once received at the gateway processor, the audio packets are delayed at step  1204  to an amount equal to the difference in the length of time it takes an audio packet and a video packet to be encoded. The received video packets and the delayed audio packets are transmitted at step  1206  to a second location  1104  from the first location  1102 . The packets, both audio and video, are received substantially together at step  1208  at the second location  1104 , and the audio packets are again delayed at step  1210  by an amount equal to the difference between the amount of time required to decode the audio packet from the amount of time to decode the video packet. The undelayed video packets and the delayed audio packets are decoded at step  1204  such that the completed decoding of associated packets will be provided at substantially the same time due to the delay introduced at the processing gateway of the receiving IP video telephone at location  1104 . The introduced delay at the transmitting and receiving ends will cause the audio and video packets to be substantially synchronized.  
         [0092]     Referring now to  FIG. 13 , there is more fully illustrated this process with respect to a pair of IP video telephones  1302  and  1304 . The video to be encoded is input to the video processor  1306 . The audio to be encoded is input to the audio processor  1308 . The delay caused by the encoding is 20 milliseconds for the audio processor  1308  and 120 milliseconds for the video processor  1306 . When these decoded packets are received at the gateway  1310 , the audio packets are delayed by 100 milliseconds and the video packets are not delayed at all. This is due to the difference in delays associated with the encoding of the audio and video data. In this manner, associated audio and video data packets will be transmitted from the transmit gateway  1310  at substantially the same time.  
         [0093]     The packets are transmitted over the associated IP network  1312  and statistically the packets will take the same pathway and arrive at a receive gateway  1314  at substantially the same time. The audio packets received at the receive gateway  1314  are delayed for 50 milliseconds while the video packets are not delayed at all and are passed on directly to the video decoder  1316 . The provided video packets are decoded by the video decoder  1316  which takes approximately 100 milliseconds. After a delay of 50 milliseconds, the associated audio packets are forwarded to the audio decoder  1318  wherein the packets are decoded in approximately 50 milliseconds. Due to the induced delay of 50 milliseconds at the receive gateway  1314  for the audio packets, the audio packets provided from the audio decoder  1318  and the associated video packets from the video decoder  1316  will be output as associated video and audio packets at substantially the same time. This provides for a synchronized output at the IP video telephone  1104 .  
         [0094]     Referring now to  FIG. 14 , the IP video phone main display  1402  allows a user a quick and easy access to selection key applications each are which associated by a single touch button represented by a number of icons. The eight soft coded buttons  1404  that appear below the active display area  1406  correspond to specific activities or applications denoted by small icons that appear within the active display. For example, if a user selects and depresses the calendar button  1404   a  this will cause the IP video telephone to load and display a calendar application. The small icons on the bottom of the active display panel will vary depending upon the specific page or application that is selected by a user. As a result, each soft coded button  1404  will trigger or launch a specific and different activity or application relative to which active page or application is displayed. For example, if the user selects and depresses the button  1404   a  that corresponds to the calendar, this will result in loading the calendar application or load a web page that displays a user&#39;s personal calendar. When the calendar application is active, the icons that correspond to each of the buttons may differ than those as they appear in  FIG. 14 . The icons that would appear in the active calendar application would be relevant to the calendar application itself which will be more fully described hereinbelow.  
         [0095]     The active display  1406  provides various information to the user. A message portion  1408  provides an indication of stored voice and video messages to the user. The calendar portion  1410  provides an abbreviated version of the user&#39;s calendar for the day and the ability to select a particular day of the week to view activities scheduled for that day. A reminders section  1412  provides various reminders that the user has programmed into the IP video telephone enabling them to be reminded of particular events or appointments. A weather display  1414  provides various information to the user on current and coming weather conditions for various days of the week. Finally, an ad window  1416  provides for the placement of banner ads that have been purchased by various advertisers that have a business relationship with the service provider of the IP video telephone. While the foregoing description describes one particular embodiment of the display associated with the IP video telephone, it will be realized by one skilled in the art that the above-described displays and the particular descriptions of the displays following herewith comprise only a single embodiment and numerous changes and alterations to the display may be made to suit a particular user and/or service provider.  
         [0096]     Referring now to  FIG. 15 , the calendar display screen  1502  provides a user with more detailed calendar information as well as enables the user to add, edit or view various individual family members&#39; calendars. Users will have the ability to upload and download personal calendars form external sources and devices including, but not limited to, PDAs, Microsoft Outlook and Eudora. Users would also have the ability to view their personal calendars stored within the IP video telephone away from the IP video telephone as long as they have access to an Internet connection and a web browser. The active display  1504  associated with the calendar button  1404   a  includes a screen displaying the calendar items for today. The calendar includes options  1508  for displaying a day, week or month configuration on the calendar and an advertisement window  1510  enables banner ads to be displayed to the IP telephone user.  
         [0097]     Referring now to  FIG. 16 , the telephone display screen  1602  is displayed responsive to pressing the telephone display button  1504   b . The telephone display screen  1602  allows a user an overall view and access to call center applications including call log, audio and video messages, directories and telephone listings, alert notifications and the IP telephone&#39;s dial pad to make a telephone or video call. Text within the call log pane  1604 , message pane  1606  and directory pane  1608  are hot linkable. A user is able to drill down and view more detailed information within the selected window panes by simply using a tethered stylis and touching a respective hot link. For example, if a user selects and touches “Receive Calls” hot link in the call log window pane  1604 , the user will be able to review all of the received calls that have been stored within the memory of the IP video telephone.  
         [0098]     The call log pane  1604  additionally provides information on previously dialed calls and missed calls. The messages pane  1606  provides listing of both video and voice messages that have been received and stored for a user. The directories pane  1608  provides access to various telephone directories including a personally created phone book, a white pages or a yellow pages. An alerts pane  1610  may provide either information previously indicated by the user as important to the user for which they wish to wish alerts upon, or alternatively, may be directed information pushed to the user based upon data mining analysis with respect to the user&#39;s call and/or interest activities.  
         [0099]     In addition to the displays described above, the IP video telephone may also include the displays illustrated in  FIG. 17 . The instant message/email display  1702  enables the video phone  402  to display instant messaging messages and email messages. Additionally the instant message/email display  1702  enables the creation of these kinds of messages. The directory display  1704  provides a listing of all telephone numbers that a user has stored for point and click dialing or may provide network access to publically available directories. The entertainment display  1706  displays various entertainment content that an IP telephone user has either has programmed in themselves or has been determined to be of interest to the user by a host server providing service to the IP video telephone  402 . The shopping display  1708  displays various content providers that a user has indicated an interest in shopping from or displays content providers than the host server has determined a user may have an interest in shopping from the provider. The tool/help display  1710  provides an interface enabling a user to solve various problems or receive how to descriptions for the video telephone. The display  1710  includes a search screen enabling a user to search available information and a index screen with an index of available information. The notes display  1712  provides a display enabling users to leave messages or reminders to themselves or another. A note display icon may be displayed responsive to an open note. The setup and registration application display  1714  provides a user with the ability to setup and register their IP video telephone  402  with the network and a host server. Relevant information and system parameters are entered through this display.  
         [0100]     Referring now to  FIG. 18 , there is illustrated a block diagram describing the manner in which the data and voice gateway processor  110 , the video codec processor  114  and the audio VOIP processor  111  may carry out inter unit communications (IUC) between each of the associated devices. Communications between each of the data and voice gateway processor  110 , video codec processor  114  and audio VOIP processor  111  are carried out via UDP socket link connections  1804 . Communications over the UDP socket links  1804  are enabled via IUC control software  1806  stored within each of the units. The video codec processor  114  and the audio VOIP processor  111  additionally include debugging functionalities  1808  to enable the debugging of communications problems within each of these devices. The data and voice gateway processor  110  may additionally communicate with an external PC  1810  via a communications link  1812 . The IUC handler  1806  on each processor uses the TCP/IP socket communications protocol as the transport layer between the various devices. The IUC handler  1806  additionally statically initializes and builds the UDP port on specific applications. The IUC handler  1806  enables command and communications between the processors to be based upon a TEXT/ASCII string. Each IUC handler  1806  converts TEXT/ASCII strings to a hexadecimal command structure. The IUC handler&#39;s  1806  other functionalities include providing a clock signal to keep processors alive, provisioning data for transportation through IUC socket connections and providing pay load data through different claims. Interdevice communications use a local area network (LAN) Ethernet transport, TCP/IP protocol, and optionally may communicate via an onboard LAN card with an external PC  1810 .  
         [0101]     Referring now to  FIG. 19 , there is more fully illustrated a pair of IP video telephones  402  and the software modules associated therewith enabling call connections between a pair of IP video telephones  402  and enabling the provision of content to a display of the IP video telephone  402  via the Internet. As described previously, the video telephone  402  consists of the gateway processor  110 , audio processor  114 , video processor  111  and a telephone handset  104  providing a user interface with the functionalities of the video telephone  402 . The audio processor  114  includes a SIP module  1902  enabling the video telephone  402  to set up calls over the Internet using a voice over IP functionality to carry out the calls. Calling between video telephones  402  is enabled via the SIP (session initiation protocol) protocol.  
         [0102]     SIP is a signaling protocol for Internet conference, telephony, presence, event notification and instant messaging. SIP provides the necessary protocol mechanisms so that systems and proxy server can provide services such as call forwarding; callee and calling “number” delivery, where numbers can be any (preferably unique) naming scheme; personal mobility, i.e., the ability to reach a called party under a single, location independent address even when the user changes terminals; terminal type negotiation and selection wherein a caller can be given a choice how to reach the party such as via Internet telephone, mobile phone, an answering service, etc.; terminal capability negotiation; caller and callee authentication; blind and supervised call transfer; and invitations to multicast conferences. Extensions of SIP allow third party signaling such as quick to dial services, fully meshed conferences and connections to multipoint control units, as well as mixed mode and the transition between those. SIP addresses users by an email-like address and reuses some of the infrastructure of electronic mail delivery such as DNSMX records or using SMTPEXPN for address expansions. SIP addresses (URLs) can also be embedded in web pages. SIP is addressing neutral, with addresses expressed as URLs of various types such as SIP, H.323 or telephone (E.164). SIP is independent of the packet layer and only requires an unreliable datagram service, as it provides its own reliability mechanism.  
         [0103]     The data port  1904  of the audio processor  114 , the data port  1906  of the video processor  111  and the data port  1908  of the gateway processor  110  each have unique internal IP addresses associated therewith that are used only within the video telephone  402 . These unique IP addresses are different from the IP address associated with the data port  1910  with which the IP video telephone  402  is connected with the external world from the gateway processor  110 . In order for data packets to be transmitted between the audio processor  114  and the video processor  111  to the external IP network through the gateway processor  110 . The Ethernet and SIP addresses used within the internal Ethernet network and over the external IP network must be translated. Thus, when data packets are transmitted to the gateway processor  110 , the SIP proxy  1912  is responsible for converting the SIP protocol addresses from the address utilized by the audio processor  114  to the SIP protocol address used at the output of the gateway processor  110 . The SIP proxy module  1912  additionally converts the address of video packets from the video processor  111  to the address of the output of the gateway processor  110 . The SIP proxy  1912  additionally includes the capability for routing audio stream packets to/from the audio processor  114  and video stream packets coming to/from the video processor  111  at the same time. The SIP proxy  1912  achieves this by transmitting the video packets as a second audio stream of larger audio packets. The SIP proxy  1912  believes it is transmitting a second audio stream when in fact it is transmitting the stream of video packets from the video processor. The router/firewall/NAT  1914  is responsible for translating addresses from packets received from the audio processor  114  and the video processor  111  in the ethernet domain. The packets from the audio and video processors have the IP port addresses from the outputs of both the audio and video processors. The router/firewall/NAT  1914  converts the addresses of these output ports to the address of the output port  1910  of the gateway processor  110  at the Ethernet level.  
         [0104]     The stun module  1916  is utilized to enable the gateway processor  110  of the video telephone  402  to determine the IP address by which the outside world views the video telephone. The stun module  1916  does this by transmitting messages to a stun server  1918  associated with the SIP server  1920  enabling call connections. The stun server  1918  transmits a response back to the stun module  1916  indicating the outside world&#39;s view of data from the IP video telephone  402 .  
         [0105]     Referring now also to  FIG. 20 , there is more fully illustrated the manner in which the stun module  1916  is able to determine the way in which the outside world views the associated video telephone and in which the stun module  1916  provides an open port connection between the SIP server  1920  and a video telephone  402  by which an outside caller may connect to the video telephone  402 . The stun module  1916  sends a message to the stun server  1918  at step  2002 . The stun server  1918  receives at step  2004  the message from the stun module  1916  and determines at step  2006  the address associated with the video telephone  402  transmitting the stun server message, the port from which the stun server message is being transmitted and whether or not the data being transmitted from the video telephone is coming from behind a firewall. Responsive to this determination, the stun server  1918  notifies the stun module  1916  of its determinations at step  2008 . Utilizing this information, the stun module  1916  periodically transmits messages to the stun server  1918  at step  2010  in order to maintain a connection between the video telephone  402  and the SIP server  1920 . This periodic pinging to the stun server  1918  will continue as long as inquiry step  2012  determines that the video telephone is still connected to the network. Once inquiry step  2012  determines that the video telephone  402  is no longer connected, the connection is released at step  2014 . The purpose for maintaining the connection between the stun server  1918  associated with the SIP server  1920  and the video telephone  402  is to enable incoming calls to be received by the video telephone. If the connection through the stun server were not maintained, the gateway processor  110  of the video telephone  402  would view an incoming message as an attempt to improperly access the gateway processor  110 . By maintaining the connection between the stun module  1916  and the stun server  1918 , the connection may be used to transmit incoming calls by transmitting SIP protocol messages over the connection to the gateway processor  110  of a receiving video telephone  402 .  
         [0106]     The content and configuration module  1922  enables control of the configuration of the audio processor  114  and the video processor  111 . All operating parameters within these two processors are controllable through the content and configuration module  1922 . One parameter the content and configuration module  1922  may set is the codec with which the audio and video processors process incoming and outgoing data packets. The audio processor may be configured to operate according to the G.711, G.722, G.720 or any other available audio codec with which the audio processor  114  may operate. Likewise, the video processor  111  may be configured to code/decode video packet data according to H.264, H.263 or other types of video codecs. In the preferred embodiment, the configuration parameters may be set within the content and configuration module  1922  from an external host server  1924 . This external server may download these parameters into the content and configuration module  1922  and the content and configuration module  1922  may then download the appropriate parameters to the video processor  111  and the audio processor  114  through the internal ethernet.  
         [0107]     The content and configuration module  1922  is also able to control the content which is displayed by the browser  1926  within the video processor  111 . The browser  1926  operates as an Internet browser providing the ability for the video processor  111  to display various web page content upon the display of the video telephone  402 . Content may be established within the content and configuration module  1922  either by the user of the video telephone  402  selecting display preferences or controlling browsing of the Internet through the browser  1926  using, for example, the handset  104 . Alternatively, the external server  1924  may push content to the content and configuration module  1922  in order to enable external content providers to display, for example, directed advertising information on the browser  1926  of the video telephone  402 . Thus, the content portion of the content and configuration module  1922  may be either controlled locally via the user of the video telephone  402  or externally via a content provider providing a server  1924  interconnected with the video telephone  402 .  
         [0108]     Referring now to  FIG. 21 , there is a flow diagram illustrating the manner in which a call connection may be created between a first video phone and an external video phone or non-video phone. Initially, the user presses a call button on the handset of the video telephone at step  2102 . After pressing the call button, the user presses in the numbers associated with the called party at step  2104 . The gateway processor  110  sends the dialed numbers at step  2106  to both the audio processor  114  and the video processor  111 . Responsive to the received numbers, the video processor  111  provides at step  2108  a call setup view in the display and suspends operation of the browser  1926 . The call setup view provides a visual indication to the user such as a “called number” display or “call ringing” indication when the call is ringing on the called line. Responsive to the receipt of the dialed numbers from the gateway processor  110 , the audio processor  114  provides at step  2110  a dial tone indicating that an outgoing call line has been accessed. The dial tone is provided by the SIP functionalities  1902  within the audio processor  114 .  
         [0109]     The audio processor  114  sends at step  2112  a SIP message to the gateway processor  110 . The SIP message includes the audio and visual codec capabilities of the calling video telephone  402 . The gateway processor  110  converts the IP addresses associated with the SIP protocol and the IP addresses associated with the Ethernet protocol to the appropriate addresses using the SIP proxy  1912  and router/firewall/NAT module  1914  and forwards this information to the SIP server  1920 . The SIP server  1920  generates a SIP invite at  2115  which is forwarded to the called party. The called party responds to the received SIP invite at step  2116 , and the gateway processor  110  receives at step  2118  the called party&#39;s response. The appropriate address conversions are made by the router/firewall/NAT module  1914  and SIP proxy  1912  at the gateway  110  such that the audio processor  114  may be notified at step  1920  of the completion or non-completion of the call. Once the call is connected, the video processor  111  is notified at step  2122  by the audio processor  114  of the call connection. Inquiry step  1924  determines if the called party enables provision of an audio only or an audio/video call. If only audio is provided, an audio call is provided at step  2126 . If an audio/video call is indicative, the video call is provided at step  2128 . The call continues until the call is ended at step  2130 .  
         [0110]     If the called party is using another video telephone according to the type described hereinabove, the receipt of a SIP server invite would cause the operation as illustrated in the flow chart of  FIG. 22 . Initially, the SIP invite is received by the gateway processor  110  at step  2202 . The gateway processor  110  forwards the SIP invite at step  2204  to the audio processor  114 . The audio processor  114  is able to read all of the codecs indicated within the received invite provided by the calling party and select the appropriate codecs at step  2206  for use with the call. Thus, if the video telephone  402  provides both audio and video capabilities, the video phone would select both an audio codec and a video codec for processing the call. Next, the audio processor  114  responds to the SIP invite at step  2108  indicating the codecs that will be used for completion of the call connection. This operation within the audio processor  114  is carried out by the SIP functionality  1902 . Finally, the audio processor  114  and video processor  111  are able to connect with the calling party at step  2210  utilizing the selected codecs to provide a video telephone call between the calling party and the called party.  
         [0111]     Referring now to  FIG. 23 , it will be appreciated that the IP video telephone  402  described hereinabove may be utilized to create an IP video telephone network providing a number of services to customers in much the same way as the cellular telephone industry provides cellular services to cellular telephone customers. The process for providing IP video telephone services as illustrated in  FIG. 23  is initiated by the solicitation of customers at step  2302  to subscribe to the IP video telephone network. Once an individual has agreed to become a customer of the IP video telephone network, the customer is provided at step  2304  with the IP video telephone  402 . The IP video telephone  402  can be provided to the consumer without cost, and the customer can only be charged for connection services to the IP video telephone network. Alternatively, the customer could be provided with both the IP video telephone  402  and the right to connect with the IP video telephone network without charge. In this case, the IP video telephone network provider generates income from other services provided by the network.  
         [0112]     Once the customer has been provided with an IP video telephone at step  2304 , the network provides services to the customer at step  2306 . In the process of providing services to the customer, the IP video telephone network would have the ability to collect data at step  2308  relating to various user preferences, web sites accessed by the IP video telephone  402 , numbers called and similar types of data providing information related to a user&#39;s commercial preferences. This type of data is collected at step  2308  and stored within a data base associated with a host server supporting the IP video network. The data collected relates to the consumer, the consumer&#39;s demographics and personal buying habits of the consumer. The IP video telephone network provider sells this data at step  2310  to content providers, and the consumer data sold to the content providers is used to tailor the audio/visual content provided to the user at step  2312 . Thus, for example, if the web browsing activity of a particular IP video telephone user indicates an interest in snow skiing, a travel content provider providing travel services to ski resorts could purchase this information and direct advertising content to the user through the IP video telephone related to ski trip packages.  
         [0113]     Referring now to  FIG. 24 , there is illustrated the overall network system for providing directed user content to various IP video telephones  402  as described in  FIG. 23 . A number of IP video telephone telephones  402  are each connected with an IP network  2402 , such as the Internet, to enable call connections between the IP video telephones  402  and to enable the IP video telephones  402  to access various content providers  2404 . Each IP video telephone  402  has associated therewith a scanner  2406  and a user interface  2408 . The scanner  2406  enables a user of the video telephone  402  to scan various information into the video telephone that may be transferred from the video telephone over the IP network  2402  to a host server  2410 . The host server  2410  stores the information within individual user files  2412  within a database  2414 . The demographic data entered through the scanner  2406  of  FIG. 24  may result from the scan of codes associated with print advertisements, codes associated with purchase products, codes input from other media sources, acknowledgments or requests for further information of media content displayed on the IP video telephone  402 . The user interface  2408  is used to manually enter preference information into the IP video telephone  402  which may also be stored within the user files  2412  of the database  2414 . This information may include web site addresses accessed by the user of the IP video telephone  402 , purchases made by a user from various content providers  2404 , web broadcasts accessed and received by the user of the IP video telephone  402  from a particular content provider  2404 , or any other type of information transmitted over the IP network  2402  which may provide some insight as to particular interest or buying preferences that may be stored within the user&#39;s file  2412 .  
         [0114]     As mentioned previously, the host server  2410  has the ability to collect all of the information entered into the video telephone by the scanner  2406  and the user interface  2408  in order to index and store this information within the database  2414 . The database  2414  contains a plurality of user files  2412  that are each uniquely associated with a particular IP video telephone  402 . The host server provider generates an income stream by selling the information within the various user files  2412  to content providers  2404 . The content providers  2404  use the stored user information within the user files  2412  to generate content specific advertising to various users of an IP video telephone  402 . Thus, if content provider  2404   b  was a retail outlet providing sporting good supplies, and it was determined that a user of IP video telephone  402   b  had an interest in outdoor activities, the content provider  2404   b  could direct specific advertising only to video telephone  402   b  and not to video telephones  402   a  and  402   c . In this way, the user of video telephone  402   b  is more likely to be exposed to advertising that the user will have an interest in, rather than having the user bombarded with a volume of advertising in which the user has no interest. Each content provider  2404  generates media content including audio or video programming such as advertisements, informational or educational content, entertainment content, interactive communication content, or other AV content. In response to a consumer request from an IP video telephone  402  or indication inferred from a user file  2412 , the content provider  2404  provides media content to the video telephones  402 . The sale of this directed user information in the user files  2412  by the provider of the host server  2410  is one manner in which a revenue stream is generated by the network provider without charging for the video telephones  402  or connection to the network.  
         [0115]     Referring now to  FIG. 25 , there is illustrated a flow diagram more particularly illustrating the manner in which particular user preferences may be used by a content provider to provide content tailored for the demographics of the specific household or user. Initially, the IP video telephone  402  provides various preference inputs at step  2502  through, for example, the scanner  2406  or user interface  2408  discussed hereinabove. These preference inputs may indicate particular interests or areas of interests that a user or household associated with the IP video telephone have. The IP video telephone  402  forwards the preference inputs to the host server  2410  at step  2505 . The host server  2410  is able to process these preferences and store them at step  2506  within the associated user file  2412  of the IP video telephone  402  within the database  2414 . A content provider  2404  is provided at step  2508 , access to the database  2414  by the host server. The content providers  2404  utilize the associated customer files  2412  to generate directed content at step  2510  based upon the preference inputs stored within the various user files  2412  of the database  2414 . In this use, only certain of the user files  2412  would be used by any particular content provider  2404  since each content provider would not necessarily provide content that was of interest to a user or household associated with every IP video telephone  402 . The content provider generates their directed content at step  2510  based upon the preference inputs and provides the directed content at step  2512  to the associated IP video telephone  402  from which the preference inputs were received from the user file  2412 .  
         [0116]     Referring now to  FIG. 26 , there is provided an illustration of the manner in which specific directed content may be generated for a number of IP video telephones  402 . The content provider  2404  receives a database input  2600  that provides a number of preferences associated with users of various IP video telephones  402 . Using the database input  2600 , the content provider  2404  generates directed content that is transmitted to particular IP video telephones  402 . Content A is generated and particularly associated with video telephone A. This information could have hiking and camping content associated therewith. Content provider  2404  could generate content B specifically directed to video telephone B for a user interested in fishing. Finally, the user of video telephone C might have a particular interest in sky diving, and the content provider  2404  would generate sky diving specific content C to be directed to the video telephone C. Since the IP addresses of each of the associated video telephones  402  are known by the host server  2410 , the content generated by a content provider  2404  may be sent specifically to the IP video telephone from the content provider  2404  rather than being generally broadcast to each of the IP video telephones  402 . Thus, the content is specifically directed to the interests and desires of a particular user or household associated with a video telephone  402 .  
         [0117]     Referring now to  FIG. 27 , there is more particularly illustrated the manner in which various inputs may be provided to the database  2414  such that the inputs may be stored in an associated user file  2412 . The database  2414 , as described previously is associated with the host server  2410  providing services to a number of IP video telephones  402 . The database  2414  has stored therein a plurality of user files  2412  with each user file associated with a particular IP video telephone  402 . The data is provided to the database  2414  and then stored individually within each user file  2412 . The data may be entered in a number of fashions. Scanned inputs  2702  may be input into the database  2014  from the scanner devices attached to the IP video telephone  402 . These scanned inputs may comprise scanned codes from products themselves, from advertisements, magazines, newspapers or any other physical item which has associated therewith a particular code that directs a user to a particular content provider or web site. Input may also be provided to the database  2714  in the form of user direct input  2704 . Direct inputs  2704  comprise codes or data manually entered by the user in order to access particular content providers or may comprise indications of particular web sites or content providers that are accessed by the user using their IP video telephone  402 . Another method for obtaining data to be stored within a user file  2414  involves interactive data collection  2706 . Interactive data collection  2706  involves the transmission of some type of message or request to one or more IP video telephone  402  by the host server  2410 , collecting the responses provided by the users and storing these responses within the associated user files  2412 .  
         [0118]     This process for interactive data collection is more particularly illustrated in  FIG. 28 . A question is initially generated at step  2802  for a number of IP video telephones  402  by the host server  2410 . The host server  2410  transmits the question to the plurality of IP video telephones  402  at step  2804 . Upon receipt of the question by an IP video telephone  402 , the question is displayed at step  2806 , and the user is given the opportunity to respond to the question in order to provide input data that may be stored within the user file  2512  associated with the IP video telephone  402 . A response is obtained at step  2808  by the user entering some code or responding by providing manual input to the displayed question. The provided response is transmitted at step  2810  back to the host server  2410  and the provided response is stored at step  2812  within the database  2414 , and more specifically, within the particular user file  2412  associated with the IP video telephone  402  providing the response.  
         [0119]     Referring now back to  FIG. 27 , another manner for providing data for storage within a user file  2412  of the database  2414  is analyzing a user&#39;s choices  2708  that are made with respect to the IP video telephone  402 . This would include particular locations that the user has access via the browser functionalities of the IP video telephone or specific locations that may have been called or contacted on the IP video telephone  402 . The user choices  2708  are analyzed such that the host server may infer data  2710  that would be valuable to a content provider  2404  in indicating a particular user&#39;s preferences. This inferred data  2710  is stored within the database  2414  for each user file  2412  for which inferential data has been created.  
         [0120]     Referring now to  FIG. 29 , there is a flow diagram illustrating the manner in which user preferences may be inferred from received user choices  2708 . Inputs from a particular IP video telephone are received at step  2902  from choices and selection the user makes as to who they are calling and what content providers they may be viewing through the web site browser functionalities of the IP video telephone  402 . These choices are processed at step  2904  such that the interests of the user may be determined at step  2906 . From the locations that a user has been viewing, various interests can be determined such that, for example, if a user is always accessing skateboarding web sites, a determination may be made that advertisements for skateboards would be of interest to at least one member of the household associated with the IP video telephone  402 . Once these interests are determined at step  2906 , they are stored within the user file  2412  at step  2908 . These interests are provided to various content providers  2404  to assist then in their directed advertising efforts.  
         [0121]     Referring now to  FIG. 30 , there is illustrated an IP video telephone  402  having an integrated incentive promotions manager  3002 . The integrated incentive promotion manager  3002  may be integrated within the operating software of the IP video telephone  402 . The IP video telephone  402  would receive transmissions from a content provider  2404  or the host server  2410  asking the user of the IP video telephones to provide certain inputs such as scanning information into the IP video telephone  402  using the associated scanner  2406  or manually entering information into the IP video telephone  402  through the user interface. Responsive to these inputs to the requests provided by the host server  2410  or content provider  2404 , the integrated incentive promotion manager  3002  provides various incentives to the user, such as entering the user into a contest of a particular content provider  2404 . This would involve the incentive promotions manager sending a particular code back to the content provider  2404  through the network  2402  responsive to the user providing the desired input. Additionally, the user of the IP video telephone  402  could be provided with some type of coupon that could be printed upon a printer  3004  of the IP video telephone  402 . The coupon may be used for some type of discount for the purchase of items related to the incentive promotion to which the user responded. The coupon could be used in a normal brick and mortar store or, alternatively, could have a code thereon which may be entered by a user to obtain the discount in an electronic commerce transaction.  
         [0122]     Referring now to  FIG. 31 , there is illustrated the process by which the incentive promotion manager  3002  may provide incentives to a user of an IP video telephone  402 . The content provider  2404  or host server  2410  generates a request at step  3102  for input to the IP video telephone  402 . The user of the IP video telephone  402  provides an input response at step  3104  to the request. Responsive to the user input, an incentive is provided by the incentive promotion manager  3002  at step  3106 . The provided incentive may be reviewed by the user of the IP video telephone  402  and stored either within the IP video telephone  402  or at a location associated with the IP video telephone  402  within the host server  2410  at step  3108 .  
         [0123]     Referring now to  FIG. 32  and  FIG. 33 , there is illustrated a system for providing advertising within an audio/visual message recording and playback. When an IP video telephone  402   a  initiates an audio/visual telecommunication session with IP video telephone  402   b  in cooperation with the host server  2410  through the IP network  2402 , a call notification is played at the IP video telephone  402   b . If the call is not answered at step  3302  at the IP video telephone  402   b , the content provider  2404  is notified of the non-answer at step  3304 . Responsive to the non-answer at the IP video telephone  402   b , the content provider  2404  sends at step  3406  advertising content and a pre-recorded request for recording a message to the IP video telephone  402   a . The advertising and message are played on the display  3202  of the IP video telephone  402   a . A message responsive to the ad and recording is recorded by the IP video telephone  402   a  on a CCD camera  3204 , and the recorded response is stored at step  3308  on the host server  2410  or other appropriate location.  
         [0124]     Referring now to  FIG. 34 , there is provided an illustration of the recording  3400  played by the content provider  2404  on the display  3202  of the calling IP video telephone  402   a  responsive to a non-answer condition. A first portion  3402  of the recording  3400  includes the ad content provided by the content provider  2404 . This ad content would be related to the services or business of the content provider  2404 . The second portion  3404  of the recorded message  3400  comprises the recorded message notification  3404  which would provide an audio/visual request to leave a message. In an alternative embodiment the ad content may be placed after the recorded message notification.  
         [0125]     Referring now to  FIG. 35 , there is illustrated the manner in which an individual user of an IP video telephone  402   b  may retrieve messages that have been stored at the host server  2410  or other location. The user enters some type of code or indicator to retrieve stored message at step  3502 . The host server  2410  notifies the content provider  2404  at step  3504  of receipt of the retrieved message request. The content provider  2404  sends an ad to the IP video telephone  402   b  at step  3506  responsive to this receipt notification. The recorded message is played for the user on IP video telephone  402   b  at step  3508 . The sent message may come from the host server  2410  or whatever location that the recorded message has been stored for the user. As described previously, the ad content may also be played after the message.  
         [0126]     Referring now to  FIG. 36 , there is illustrated one embodiment of the user interface of the IP video telephone  402 . The user interface includes a display  3602  and a numeric keypad interface  3604 . The user interface may additionally include a number of other buttons for providing other functions within the IP video telephone  402 . Some of these buttons may be labeled with a symbol, trademark, trade name or other indicia associated with a particular content provider such as buttons  3406  and  3408 . The user of the IP video telephone  402  automatically connects the IP video telephone  402  to the content provider  2404  via the network responsive to pressing of one of the iconic buttons  3406  or  3408 . Information related to this content provider  2404  is then presented on the display  3602 . The IP video telephone  402  may include any number of iconic labeled buttons  3406  and  3408 .  
         [0127]     In addition to the fixed mechanical buttons illustrated in  FIG. 36 , the IP video telephone  402  may have programmable buttons associated with user selected content providers  2404  wherein the content provider identifier would be displayed within a display area of the display  3602 . In the example illustrated in  FIG. 37 , the display  3602  indicates three different content providers. These content providers include Widgets, Inc., XYZ Corp. and Stuff, Inc. Widgets, Inc. has a button  3702  associated therewith, XYZ Corp. has a button  3704  associated therewith, and Stuff, Inc. has a button  3706  associated therewith. Each of the content providers associated with these buttons may be programmed into the IP video telephone  402  such that by pressing the associated button  3702 , the user would be connected directly to the content provider Widgets, Inc. A similar process would be associated with buttons  3704  and  3706 . Programming of the button may be done through the browser controls or the numeric keypad interface  3604  of the IP video telephone  402 .  
         [0128]     Referring now to  FIG. 38 , there is provided a flow diagram illustrating the process for use of the iconic buttons for connecting to a selected content provider. Initially, at step  3802 , the IP video telephone  402  detects a button press on the user interface of the phone  402 . Responsive to detection of the button press, the IP video telephone  402  generates a signal requesting connection to the particular content provider associated with the button at step  3804 . This may be done through the browser functionality in the video processor  422 . The signal is sent at step  3806  to the host server  2410  to enable a connection to the content provider  2404 . The host server  2410  determines the associated content provider  2404  at step  3808  and enables connection of the IP video telephone  402  to the content provider at step  3810 .  
         [0129]     Referring now to  FIG. 39 , there is illustrated a system for providing a synchronous promotional content broadcast to an IP video telephone  402 . An IP video telephone  402  having a display  3902  is connected to a network  2402  such as the Internet. A host server  2410  is communicably connected to the IP video telephone  402  via the network  2402 . The host server  2410  is additionally connected with a content provider  2404 . The content provider  2404  enables media content to be transmitted to a television  3904  by a T.V. source  3906  in communication with the content provider  2404  at the same time, or in some synchronous relationship with the broadcast of the same or related promotional content to the display  3402  of the IP video telephone  402 . For example, a commercial may be broadcast from the T.V. source  3906  to the television  3904 . When the commercial is finished playing on the television  3904 , a related commercial may be played on the display  3402  of the IP video telephone  402  enabling the advertisers to reach a consumer through coordinated media content.  
         [0130]     Referring now to  FIG. 40 , there is more fully illustrated the manner for the coordinated synchronous content. When the T.V. source  3906  transmits a commercial to a television set  3904 , the T.V. source  3906  generates a notification that is received by the content provider  2404  at step  4002 . Responsive to this notification from the T.V. source, the content provider  2404  notifies the host server at step  4004  of transmission of the T.V. content. The host server  2410  provides a connection between the content provider  2404  and the IP video telephone  402  at step  4006  to enable the content provider  2404  to provide the synchronous advertising on the display  3402  of the IP video telephone  402  at step  4008 . In this way, an individual within the household associated with the video telephone  402  will substantially synchronously view the advertising content on the television set  3904  from the T.V. source  3906  and on the display  3402  of the IP video telephone  402  from the content provider  2404 . The content provider  2404  may also initiate the transmissions or may cause the video phone ad to be played before the T.V. ad.  
         [0131]     Referring now to  FIG. 41 , there is illustrated an IP video telephone  402  having an integrated incentive promotions function. The integrated incentive promotion function may be integrated within the operating software of the IP video telephone  402 . The IP video telephone  402  would receive transmissions from a content provider  4104  or the host server  4110  asking the user of the IP video telephones to provide certain inputs such as scanning information into the IP video telephone  402  using the associated scanner  4106  or manually entering information into the IP video telephone  402  through the user interface. Responsive to these inputs to the requests provided by the host server  4110  or content provider  4104 , the integrated incentive promotion function provides various incentives to the user, such as entering the user into a contest of a particular content provider  4104 . This would involve the incentive promotions manager sending a particular code back to the content provider  4104  through the network  4112  responsive to the user providing the desired input. Additionally, the user of the IP video telephone  402  could be provided with some type of coupon that could be printed upon a printer  4114  of the IP video telephone  402 . The coupon may be used for some type of discount for the purchase of items related to the incentive promotion to which the user responded. The coupon could be used in a normal brick and mortar store or, alternatively, could have a code thereon which may be entered by a user to obtain the discount in an electronic commerce transaction.  
         [0132]     Referring now to  FIG. 42 , there is illustrated a flow chart of an integrated interactive promotion associated with the IP video telephone  402 . When the IP video telephone  402  is functioning, visual promotional content is displayed on the display of the IP video telephone  402  at step  4202 . The visual promotional content includes a request for interaction by a user of the IP video telephone  402  at step  4204 . Inquiry step  4206  determines if some type of user input has been received. If not, control passes to step  4210  and additional content is displayed to the user. If inquiry step  4206  determines that user input has been received, control passes to step  4208  wherein the IP video telephone is given further access to promotional material by establishing a two-way audio/visual communication with a content provider  2404 , displaying further media content or a mixture of these two processes. Responsive to these further accesses, inquiry step  4206  determines if additional input is received from a user and if not, normal content can again be shown at step  4210 . The interactive process may continue between step  4208  and  4206  until all available content has been provided to the user or until the user is providing no more interactive input to the IP video telephone  402 .  
         [0133]     It will be appreciated by those skilled in The art having The benefit of this disclosure that this invention provides a broadband information appliance. It should be understood that The drawings and detailed description herein are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive manner, and are not intended to limit The invention to The particular forms and examples disclosed. On The contrary, The invention includes any further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in The art, without departing from The spirit and scope of this invention, as defined by The following claims. Thus, it is intended that The following claims be interpreted to embrace all such further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments.