Patent ID: 8477662

Claim:
A system enabling communication between at least one participant at a location remote from a court and another participant at said court or remote from said court, said system comprising first video and audio conferencing equipment including terminals at the locations of the participants, second video and audio conferencing equipment including a plurality of terminals at the court, a first terminal at the judge's bench with a display screen facing the judge, a second terminal spaced from the court's terminal for one attorney with a display screen facing the public gallery, a third terminal at a station for a court clerk, and a forth terminal at a station for a court reporter, a private transmission system for placing said conferencing equipment of the court and first and second participants in video and audio communication with each other concurrently, and displaying images of the participants at the first, second, third and forth terminals, said terminals being placed in communication with each other by communication links having the same or different protocols, a bridging center operably connected to the transmission system and under the control of a remote conference manager that enables said conference manager to initiate and terminate a scheduled court video teleconference and who establishes communication between the court and each participant appearing before the court by video teleconference, said bridging center enabling the conference manager to communicate with the court and each participant at a scheduled video teleconference appearance and including a computer system programmed to enable simultaneous real-time communication between said terminals, and each said terminal including a device for near-real time compression and decompression of the audio and video signal streams transmitted or received thereby, said bridging center transcodes each protocol regardless of bit rate, frame rate, resolution rate, and video and audio compression and decompression schemes, and a dedicated telephone link in active communication with the court that enables the conference manager and court to communicate during a scheduled court video teleconference.