Audio and visually augmented teleconferencing

As an efficient tool for office automation, teleconferencing systems have recently been attracting considerable attention. This paper describes the audio and visually augmented teleconferencing (AVAT) systems which facilitate the mutual exchange of the audio and visual information through an ordinary telephone network or a 64-kbit/s ISDN. First, the teleconferencing systems are analyzed and classified hierarchically from the standpoint of communication media and their functions, and then AVAT system features are clarified among the systems. Through existing AVAT system examples, the present status of and future tendencies for technologies that are vital to the configuration of AVAT systems are reviewed.