The Picturephone System: Computer Access

In addition to face-to-face communication, Picturephone stations may be used to access computers. A Picturephone user can send information to the computer using his station's Touch-Tone dial, and messages from the computer can be displayed on the Picturephone screen. Since the computer-access capability is an alternate use of Picturephone service, and the objective is that it not interfere with nor increase the cost of face-to-face communication, the additional hardware required has been designed so that no modifications to the station or network are necessary.