Patent ID: 8868052

Claim:
A telephone conferencing system, comprising: a conference telephone configured to send voice input to a remote party and to receive voice input from the remote party over a telephone connection; a plurality of physically separate speakers in communication with each other and in communication with the conference telephone; and a wireless device linked with one or more of the plurality of physically separate speakers and the conference telephone; wherein the wireless device is configured to receive voice input from a user which is transmitted to the conference telephone over the link and sent from the conference telephone to the remote party over the telephone connection; wherein the link between the wireless device and the conference telephone is separate from the telephone connection; wherein the wireless device is independently configured to place and receive telephone calls; wherein the wireless device communicates directly with a first speaker of the plurality of physically separate speakers and wherein an automatic determination is made by the system that the voice input is inaudible to one or more users thereby causing a second speaker of the plurality of physically separate speakers, not in direct wireless communication with the wireless device, to broadcast the voice input.