Patent ID: 8094181

Claim:
A method of allowing a first group of persons at remote locations to communicate with a second group of persons at a central location, wherein a first person of the first group of persons is at a first remote location, a second person of the first group of persons is at a second remote location, and a third person of the first group of persons is at a third remote location, the method comprising: receiving, by a conferencing unit, videos of the second group of persons recorded by cameras at the central location; receiving, by the conferencing unit, videos of the first group of persons recorded by cameras respectively at the remote locations; outputting the videos of the first group of persons from the conferencing unit to a central display at the central location such that the first group of persons are displayed on respective portions of the central display for viewing by the second group of persons; outputting one of the videos of the second group of persons from the conferencing unit to remote displays respectively at the remote locations without outputting the videos of either the first person or the second person to the remote display at the third remote location such that the second group of persons are displayed on one portion of each remote display for viewing by the first group of persons and such that the first person and the second person are not displayed on the remote display at the third remote location; outputting the video of the first person from the conferencing unit to the remote display at the second remote location without outputting the video of the third person from the conferencing unit to the remote display at the second remote location such that the first person is displayed on another portion of the remote display at the second remote location for viewing by the second person and such that the third person is not displayed on the remote display at the second remote location; and outputting the video of the second person from the conferencing unit to the remote display at the first remote location without outputting the video of the third person from the conferencing unit to the remote display at the first remote location such that the second person is displayed on another portion of the remote display at the first remote location for viewing by the first person and such that the third person is not displayed on the remote display at the first remote location.