Patent ID: 8081738

Claim:
A visual communication system comprising: a telephone terminal; a first video camera to be associated with the telephone terminal; a first display unit to be associated with the telephone terminal; an emergency call terminal that is an incoming call destination of an emergency call from the telephone terminal; a second video camera to be associated with the emergency call terminal; a second display unit to be associated with the telephone terminal; and a main apparatus which accommodates the telephone terminal and the emergency call terminal via a common extension network, wherein the main apparatus comprises: a determination processing unit which determines whether or not a call generated from the telephone terminal is an emergency call; a visual link forming unit which forms an image communication link between the first video camera and the second display unit to display an image captured by the first video camera on the second display unit when the determination processing unit determines that the call is the emergency call; and a voice link forming unit which forms a voice communication link between the telephone terminal and the emergency call terminal when the emergency call terminal performs a response operation for the call after the image communication link is formed.