Intercom System Utilizing Wi-Fi

1. A method, comprising: responsive to a processor of a first intercom unit establishing a wireless data channel with one or more second intercom units of a plurality of intercom units in a wireless network, and responsive to an encoder of the first intercom unit repeatedly encoding, during a repeated time interval, data to be transmitted to the one or more second intercom units over the wireless data channel while pausing the wireless data channel such that the first intercom unit does not transmit the encoded data during the repeated time interval, receiving, by the processor, an indication to un-pause the wireless data channel; and wirelessly transmitting, by a network controller of the first intercom unit, the data last encoded by the encoder during the repeated time interval to the one or more second intercom units.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising pinging, by the processor over the wireless network during each repeated time interval, each intercom unit of the plurality of intercom units.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first intercom unit establishes the wireless data channel using the Web real time communication (WebRTC) protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network is a WiFi network.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the processor of the first intercom unit establishing a wireless data channel to all intercom units of the plurality of intercom units in the wireless network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first intercom unit and the one or more second intercom units are associated with a mesh network of intercom units.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data to be transmitted or data to be received are one or both of audio data and video data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data last encoded by the encoder during the time interval is transmitted to the one or more second intercom units using an asynchronous protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data is encrypted.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processor of a first intercom unit establishing a wireless data channel further comprises: transmitting, by the processor over a Wi-Fi module of the first intercom unit, one or more probe requests to discover in-range WiFi networks; receiving, by the processor, one or more probe responses by corresponding with one or more intercom units functioning as access points (AP's); associating with, by the processor, a compatible access point from the one or more intercom units functioning as access points (AP's); and initiating, by the processor, a mesh repeater functionality to permit the first intercom unit to behave as an access point.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein associating with, by the processor, a compatible access point from the one or more intercom units functioning as access points (AP' s) further comprises attempting, by the processor, low-level WiFi authentication with the one or more intercom units functioning as access points (AP's).

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more probe requests and the one or more probe responses comprises an exchange of at least one of a wireless network name (SSID), supported data rates, or encryption type.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: determining, by the processor, that a third intercom unit of the plurality of intercom units is functioning as a repeater and is more compatible with respect to proximity and signal strength than other available AP's; and switching, by the processor, said wirelessly transmitting the data last encoded to the third intercom unit.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, recognizing, by a microphone and a speech recognition unit of the first intercom unit, received data as speech data.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising: recognizing, by the processor, the speech data as a voice command; and executing the voice command.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein, responsive to an audio analyzer of the first intercom unit determining that the intercom unit is on a call with one or more other intercom units, transmitting, by the processor using an audio encoder, the speech data to one or more other intercom units.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, determining, by a microphone and an audio analyzer unit of the first intercom unit, the received data as an event having been triggered.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein, responsive to the audio analyzer of the first intercom unit determining that an event has been triggered, broadcasting, by the processor using an audio encoder, the received data to all other intercom units of the plurality of intercom units.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: detecting, by a camera and a motion detector of the first intercom unit, the received data as a visual gesture; and executing a command corresponding to a detected visual gesture.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein: detecting, by a camera and a video encoder of the first intercom unit, the received data as video data; responsive to the processor of the first intercom unit determining that the first intercom unit is on a call with one or more other intercom units, transmitting, by the processor using the video encoder, the video data to one or more other intercom units.