Patent ID: 8644525

Claim:
A multi-pod conferencing system for local conference participants to communicate with remote conference participants, the multi-pod conferencing system comprising; a base unit including a base controller configured to communicate audio signals with the remote conference participates over a carrier medium; and a plurality of pods separate from, and operably coupled to, the base unit, wherein each pod of the plurality of pods comprises: a pod processor; a loudspeaker operably coupled to the pod processor; a digital to analog converter operably coupled to the loudspeaker, the digital to analog converter configured to convert digital audio to analog audio for sound reproduction by the loudspeaker; a plurality of physical microphones connected to a pair of audio ports with each audio port being equal distance from the loudspeaker; an analog to digital converter operably coupled with the plurality of physical microphones, the analog to digital converter configured to convert the analog audio to digital audio for processing by the pod processor; and a plurality of virtual microphones for reducing common-mode noise, each virtual microphone of the plurality of virtual microphones formed from a combination of at least two outputs from the plurality of the physical microphones, wherein the analog to digital converters for each pod of the plurality of pods are configured for synchronized sampling with the analog to digital converters of the other pods of the plurality of pods in the multi-pod conferencing system.