Patent ID: 8390694

Claim:
A medical communication system comprising: a plurality of patient audio/video recording and playback devices disposed with patients receiving medical assistance; and a medical server configured to receive audio/video messages generated by the patient audio/video devices and to generate and transmit audio/video responses to targeted patient audio/video devices, the medical server including an audio/video recording and playback device configured to playback received audio/video messages and to record audio/video responses, the patient audio/video recording and playback devices being configured to playback audio/video responses received from the server; wherein each patient audio/video recording and playback device and the medical server are configured to provide two-way real-time audio/video communication; and wherein the medical communication system is configured to perform the operations of: initiating via one of the plurality of patient audio/video recording and playback devices a query transmitted to the medical server and addressed to one or more medical professionals; generating a two-way real-time audio/video call between the patient associated with the initiating patient audio/video recording and playback device and an available medical professional; and conditional upon there being no available medical professional, recording an audio/video message including video of the patient at the initiating patient audio-video recording and playback device, transmitting the audio/video message to the medical server, and playing back the audio/video message at the medical server at a subsequent time when a medical professional becomes available.