Patent ID: 8379823

Claim:
A conferencing system comprising: a plurality of interconnected conferencing devices, each conferencing device comprising: a processor for processing received audio signals and transmitting processed audio signals, at least one microphone for providing a microphone signal, at least one loudspeaker for converting a loudspeaker signal to sound, at least one interconnection port for connecting to another of the plurality of conferencing devices, and at least one external communication port for connecting to an external communication device; and links connecting the at least one interconnection ports of the plurality of conferencing devices to allow communication among the plurality of conferencing devices, wherein each of the plurality of conferencing devices receives and mixes external communication device audio signals from each of its at least one external communication port and provides a mixed external communication audio signal to each of the other of the plurality of conferencing devices, wherein each of the plurality of conferencing devices provides its microphone signal to one of the plurality of conferencing devices, with the one of the plurality of conferencing devices developing a mixed microphone signal from the received microphone signals and its own microphone signal and providing each of the plurality of conferencing devices with the mixed microphone signal, wherein one of the plurality of conferencing devices receives mixed external communication audio signals from each of the plurality of conferencing devices, develops the loudspeaker signal from the received mixed external communication audio signals and its own mixed external communication audio signal, and provides each of the plurality of conferencing devices the loudspeaker signal, and wherein each of the plurality of conferencing devices receives the mixed microphone signal and receives mixed external communication device audio signals from each of the other of the plurality of conferencing devices, and for each of its at least one external communication port mixes the mixed microphone signal, the received mixed external communication device audio signals and the external communication device audio signals from each of its other at least one external communication port and develops and provides a mixed audio signal to each of the at least one external communication port.