Patent ID: 7760721

Claim:
A system comprising: two or more computers with multimedia audio support coupled to a network; a software program in each computer having instructions to manage two or more TCP/IP connections between said computer and two or more dedicated audio communication terminals on said network; at least two audio communication terminals, each coupled to said network and containing an IP address, an audio transducer, an audio codec and processor connected to said transducer to exchange IP data and control signals between the computer and the audio communication terminals over the network and, wherein said audio communication terminals provide real time audio connectivity and contain program instructions to establish a first network connection between said terminal and a first computer at said IP address, to monitor connection status of said first network connection, and to establish a network connection to a second computer at a second IP address if said first network connection fails; wherein the computers receive TCP/IP connection requests from said dedicated audio communication terminals and upon establishment of a connection a computer and an audio communication terminal can exchange data and digitized audio; and wherein the computer software contains instruction to control the network connection state and the audio modes of the audio communication terminal.