System and method for exchanging connection information for videoconferencing units using e-mails

1. A first videoconferencing unit, comprising:

one or more network interfaces for sending and receiving e-mails and for establishing videoconference calls over one or more networks;

an e-mail application automatically generating one or more outgoing request e-mails requesting connection information and sending the outgoing request e-mails to one or more e-mail addresses of one or more second videoconferencing units with at least one of the network interfaces, the e-mail application obtaining connection information from one or more incoming response e-mails received from the e-mail addresses of the second videoconferencing units; and

a videoconference application initiating one or more videoconference calls via at least one of the network interfaces using received connection information.

2. The unit of claim 1 , comprising a user interface receiving one or more e-mail addresses of one or more second videoconferencing units and providing received e-mail address to the e-mail application, wherein the e-mail application uses received e-mail addresses to automatically generate the one or more outgoing request e-mails.

3. The unit of claim 2 , wherein the user interface comprises an address book function accessing a database storing one or more e-mail addresses of one or more second videoconferencing units.

4. The unit of claim 1 , further comprising a database having connection information of the videoconferencing unit, wherein

at least one of the network interfaces receives an incoming request e-mail from a requesting videoconferencing unit, the request e-mail requesting connection information from the first videoconferencing unit, and

the e-mail application automatically obtaining requested connection information from the database in response to the incoming request e-mail and automatically constructing an outgoing response e-mail for sending to the requesting videoconferencing unit, the outgoing response e-mail including the e-mail address of the first videoconferencing unit as a source, the e-mail address of the requesting videoconferencing unit as a destination, and obtained connection information.

5. The unit of claim 4 , wherein the e-mail application includes an authentication algorithm authenticating the incoming request e-mail received from the requesting videoconferencing unit.

6. The unit of claim 1 , wherein the connection information comprises an Integrated Services Digital Network address, an Internet Protocol address, a Session Initiation Protocol address, or a number for an IP-to-IP Gateway.

7. The unit of claim 6 , wherein the connection information further comprises encryption information associated with the sending videoconference unit.

8. A videoconferencing method, comprising:

receiving one or more e-mail addresses associated with one or more videoconferencing units;

automatically generating one or more outgoing request e-mails requesting connection information from one or more of the videoconferencing units;

sending one or more of the outgoing request e-mails to one or more of the e-mail addresses;

receiving one or more incoming response e-mails from one or more of the videoconferencing units,

automatically obtaining requested connection information from one or more of the incoming response e-mails; and

initiating one or more videoconference calls with one or more of the videoconference units using obtained connection information.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving one or more e-mail addresses associated with one or more videoconferencing units comprises receiving the one or more e-mail addresses as user input, or accessing a database storing the one or more e-mail addresses.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein automatically configuring one or more outgoing request e-mails requesting connection information comprises automatically coding the one or more outgoing request e-mails by including one or more indications of requested connection information.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein automatically obtaining requested connection information from the one or more incoming response e-mails comprises:

parsing the one or more incoming response e-mails;

reading e-mail addresses from the parsed e-mails; and

reading connection information associated with the e-mail addresses from the parsed e-mails.

12. A first videoconferencing unit, comprising:

a database storing videoconferencing connection information of the first videoconferencing unit;

one or more network interfaces for sending and receiving e-mails and for establishing videoconference calls over one or more networks;

an e-mail application communicatively coupled to the database and the network interfaces, the e-mail application configured to:

receive at least one incoming request e-mail from at least one second videoconference unit requesting the connection information of the first videoconferencing unit,

obtain the connection information from the database,

obtain an e-mail address of the at least one second videoconference unit from the incoming request e-mail,

automatically generate at least one outgoing response e-mail including obtained connection information, and

send the at least one outgoing response e-mail to the e-mail address of the at least one second videoconferencing unit; and

a videoconference application communicatively coupled to the one or more network interfaces and establishing a videoconferencing connection upon detection of an incoming videoconferencing call from the at least one second videoconferencing unit.

13. The unit of claim 12 , wherein to automatically generate at least one outgoing request e-mail, the e-mail application constructs the at least one outgoing request e-mail to include the e-mail address of the first videoconferencing unit as a source, the e-mail address of the at least one second videoconferencing unit as a destination, and one or more indications of requested connection information.

14. The unit of claim 12 , wherein the e-mail application is further configured to authenticate the at least one incoming request e-mail received from the at least one second videoconferencing unit using an authentication algorithm.

15. The unit of claim 12 , wherein the connection information comprises an Integrated Services Digital Network address, an Internet Protocol address, a Session Initiation Protocol address, or a number for an IP-to-IP Gateway.

16. The unit of claim 15 , wherein the connection information further comprises encryption information associated with a sending videoconference unit.

17. The unit of claim 12 , wherein the e-mail application is further configured to:

automatically generate at least one outgoing request e-mail requesting connection information from at least one other videoconferencing unit,

send the at least one outgoing request e-mail to the at least one other videoconferencing unit with at least one of the network interfaces,

obtain connection information from at least one incoming response e-mail received from the at least one other videoconferencing unit, and

provide the obtained connection information to the videoconference application,

wherein the videoconference application initiates a videoconference call with the at least one other videoconferencing unit using the obtained connection information.

18. The unit of claim 17 , further comprising a user interface receiving at least one e-mail address of the at least one other videoconferencing unit and providing the at least one e-mail address to the e-mail application, wherein the e-mail application uses the received e-mail address to automatically generate the at least one outgoing request e-mail.

19. The unit of claim 18 , wherein the user interface comprises an address book function accessing a database storing one or more e-mail address of one or more other videoconferencing units.

20. A videoconferencing method, comprising:

receiving, at a first videoconferencing unit, one or more incoming request e-mails from one or more e-mail address, the incoming request e-mails requesting connection information for establishing a videoconference with the first videoconferencing unit;

obtaining requested connection information;

automatically generating one or more outgoing response e-mails including obtained connection information in parseable form;

sending the outgoing response e-mail to the e-mail address;

detecting one or more incoming videoconference calls from one or more second videoconferencing units; and

connecting with the one or more incoming videoconference calls when detected.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the connection information comprises an Integrated Services Digital Network address, an Internet Protocol address, a Session Initiation Protocol address, or a number for an IP-to-IP Gateway for the first videoconferencing unit.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the connection information further comprises encryption information associated with first videoconferencing unit.