Communications: electrical – Audible indication – Electronic
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-23
2001-12-11
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Audible indication
Electronic
C340S870030, C340S870030, C340S870030, C381S077000, C381S080000, C381S081000, C381S082000, C381S085000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06329908
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention is related in general to message broadcast systems. More specifically, it is related to a system for the selective activation of individual speakers in a broadcast audio communications system.
Noise in the workplace is not a new problem, but one that is getting increased attention as work configurations and business operating models evolve. A number of recent studies indicate that noise in the form of conversational distractions is the single largest negative influence on workers' productivity. Additionally, announcement broadcasts from overhead sound systems are primary distractions, as attention is naturally drawn to these messages. This disruption in the normal workflow creates inefficiencies in people's productivity, and it degrades the overall quality of the workplace environment.
The negative effects of noise are influencing larger groups of people. As the service sector of the economy continues to grow, an increasing number of workers find themselves in office settings rather than manufacturing facilities. The need for flexible reconfigurable space has resulted in open-plan workspaces, larger rooms with reduced heights, and movable partitions over which sound can pass. The density of the office workplace is also increasing with more workers occupying a given physical space. More workers are using speakerphones along with conferencing technologies and multimedia computers with large, sound reflecting screens and voice input. All these factors have contributed to the dramatic increase in the noise level of the work place. As a result, the loudness of the paging systems and overhead sound systems has increased in order for the broadcast to be heard above the increasing ambient noise.
A major drawback of the current paging system used in most schools and businesses is the inability to confine the audio messages only to the space occupied by the intended recipient. As a simple example, consider a small business office environment having three rooms separated by partitions or walls. Each wall blocks the sound from reaching into an adjacent room. Each room is equipped with an individual speaker, which is connected to a broadcast audio power unit. Audio messages are typically maintained in a central location and sent to a broadcast power unit, which in turn drives speakers in each room. Further, consider that room
1
is empty and rooms
2
and
3
have occupants. The occupants in rooms
2
and
3
are subject to the same announcement driven by the speaker system, which is integrated into the overhead ceiling tiles, even though the announcement may only be intended for the occupants in room
2
. Power used to broadcast the message into room
1
is unnecessarily wasted, since this room is unoccupied.
This mode of messaging is disruptive, inefficient, and outdated. What is needed in today's workplace environment is a message broadcast system that does not broadcast messages to all speakers simultaneously, but does drive selectively only the speaker that is nearest to the intended recipient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system and method for sending an audible message to a specifically identified individual through a selected single broadcast speaker closest to the identified individual within an environment having multiple speakers scattered throughout. A feature of the present invention is the capability to predefine the location of all broadcast speakers in a predefined area and to broadcast a message through each speaker on an individual basis. The system has the capability of locating an intended message recipient from all other personnel working within the predefined area. By combining these capabilities, a unique individual can receive an audible message from a single speaker closest to the individual without all the speakers becoming active simultaneously.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a building, such as an office or school, is equipped with a public addressing system having multiple speakers scattered throughout the building. The speakers are connected to a speaker power unit, which is also known as an audio power unit, and the public addressing system is connected to a central controller. This building is also equipped with a network of cell controllers located above the ceiling space, and each cell controller is equipped with a radio frequency communication system of transmitters, receivers, and antennas. This network of cell controllers is connected to the central controller. The central controller can be accessed by an intelligent workstation. Each person working inside the office building is given a badge equipped with an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. When there is an audio message to be delivered to a particular person inside the building, all cell controllers, which are mounted above the ceiling plane, will broadcast a radio frequency (RF) signal through the transmitters into the area below which includes all the rooms. When an RFID badge receives the radio frequency signal from a cell controller, the badge responds by transmitting back another RF signal that contains a unique ID code that identifies itself. This radio signal transmitted by the RFID badge is received by the nearest antennas. Each antenna may receive more than one RF signal from more than one RFID badge. Each cell controller then scans and receives the information from all the antennas that are connected to it. Upon receiving the information, each cell controller calculates the distance between each badge and the receiving antenna, and from this distance calculation, the cell controller determines the location of each tag. The location information is sent by each cell controller to the central processor which maintains a log of the location of each individual carrying an RFID badge in the building. This location log which is stored in the central processor can be accessed by the intelligent workstation when it needs to send an audio message to a particular user wearing an RFID badge.
In operation, when there is a need to broadcast an audio message to a particular user wearing an RFID badge inside the building, the receptionist, for example, identifies the person and delivers the audio message to the intelligent workstation that is connected to the central processor. The central controller, after associating the person with an RFID badge, looks in the log to determine the location of this individual and delivers the audio message by enabling the closest speaker through the speaker power unit and sending the audio message to this speaker.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 415764 (1999-10-01), Azima et al.
patent: D. 416907 (1999-11-01), Azima et al.
patent: D. 420005 (2000-02-01), Azima et al.
patent: 3325954 (1967-06-01), Olson
patent: 3980827 (1976-09-01), Sepmeyer et al.
patent: 3985957 (1976-10-01), Torn
patent: 4013846 (1977-03-01), Krawczak et al.
patent: 4059726 (1977-11-01), Watters et al.
patent: 4098370 (1978-07-01), McGregor et al.
patent: 4319088 (1982-03-01), Orfield
patent: 4330691 (1982-05-01), Gordon
patent: 4385210 (1983-05-01), Marquiss
patent: 4476572 (1984-10-01), Horrall et al.
patent: 4506117 (1985-03-01), Fresard
patent: 4862159 (1989-08-01), Marusa et al.
patent: 4914706 (1990-04-01), Krause
patent: 5033247 (1991-07-01), Clunn
patent: 5131048 (1992-07-01), Farenelli et al.
patent: 5363434 (1994-11-01), Farinelli et al.
patent: 5406634 (1995-04-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5432858 (1995-07-01), Clair, Jr. et al.
patent: 5440644 (1995-08-01), Farinelli et al.
patent: 5740235 (1998-04-01), Lester et al.
Armstrong World Industries Inc.
Nguyen Tai T.
Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC
Wu Daniel J.
LandOfFree
Addressable speaker system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Addressable speaker system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Addressable speaker system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2599285