Patent ID: 8542812

Claim:
A telecommunication device comprising: (1) a networking port adapted to connect the telecommunication device with one or more other telecommunication devices to establish a conference call including the telecommunication device and the one or more other telecommunication devices; (2) two or more microphone ports adapted to connect the telecommunication device with two or more corresponding microphones, wherein each microphone: is adapted to be connectable to the corresponding port when proximate to the telecommunication device; is adapted to be individually identifiable by the telecommunication device; is adapted to be associated with a corresponding participant co-located with the microphone; and is adapted to transmit to the telecommunication device audio content generated by the corresponding participant; and (3) a processor adapted to: generate data packets encoding the audio content transmitted by the two or more microphones, wherein each data packet is adapted to identify at least one participant contributing to the audio content encoded in the data packet; and transmit the data packets via the networking port for the conference call, wherein: the processor generates a first data packet encoding audio content received from a first of the two or more microphones, the first microphone associated with a corresponding first participant; and the first data packet comprises a first participant ID adapted to enable identification of the first participant.