Patent ID: 7840982

Claim:
An audio-visual system for a facility, comprising: a video camera in one of a plurality of classrooms; an encoder for receiving video content from said camera and encoding said video content into a digital stream, said encoder connected into said network in the one of the plurality of classrooms; a decoder also connected into said network, said decoder adapted to receive said digital stream and transform said digital stream into an analog signal which is playable to a plurality of video display devices in said facility; an override mechanism connected to said network that activates the video content for display on a predesignated number of the plurality of video display devices in said facility in response to a first selection of the override mechanism, the override mechanism being operable to activate the video camera and the encoder to capture the video content in real-time in response to the first selection; and a controller adapted to determine a plurality of states for a plurality of ports communicating media content to a plurality of video display devices from a plurality of media players in said facility in response to the first selection of the override mechanism, store the plurality of states for each of the plurality of ports and the plurality of media players, pause playback for each of the plurality of ports, communicate the video content to each of the plurality of ports communicating with the plurality of video display devices, and return the plurality of ports and associated plurality of media players to the plurality of states in response to a second selection of the override mechanism, wherein the controller controls the plurality of media players utilizing infra red signals.