Method for sending and receiving video images

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG.
1 illustrates a method for one-way or two-way transmission of identification icons for use as caller identifiers in a peer-to-peer, in-band, all digital call between two telecommunication devices.
FIG.
5 illustrates a system in which the method of FIG.
1 may be used.
In first step 104 a first telecommunications device initiates communication with a second telecommunications device.
After communication is established, the first device sends a signal comprising icon information to the second device as indicated in step 106.
The icon information may represent stored information such as text, video, audio, data or other information and may identify the caller.
The second device then displays or otherwise utilizes the information, e.
g.
edit or store the information.
Either or both users of the telecommunications devices may employ a recoding device (audio and/or video) to screen the communication as shown in step 118.
In step 110, the user of the second device may then decide to initiate a communication between users of the devices (i.
e.
initiate live voice and/or data transmissions) based on the transmitted data displayed on the screen of the second device.
The method illustrated in FIG.
1 may also be configured so that icon information may be transmitted initially from the second device to the first device as shown in step 108 or simultaneously between the telecommunications devices.
The communication is ended when either device terminates the communication.
A separate, optional, feature illustrated in steps 112, 114 and 116 of FIG.
1 is a "mute" feature whereby if one user wishes to mute the audio or video portion of the communication, the transmitted data will revert to a specified format (i.
e.
a preselected audio or video message such as the identification icon).
In this embodiment the method advantageously serves as a one-way or two-way video caller identification scheme.
For example, telecommunication device users can elect to transmit an identification icon, e