Aesthetic enclosure for a wireless network access point

Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Having particular housing or support of a transceiver

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C361S694000, C361S707000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06249671

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to the field of computer device enclosures and, more particularly, to an aesthetic enclosure for a wireless network access point for placement in an interior building structure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wireless terminals may be deployed in many settings, such as medical care facilities, warehouses, freight loading centers, office parks, research and development facilities, military bases, and so forth. For example, wireless terminals are particularly well suited to medical care environments, such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and doctors' offices. Here, they offer the great advantage of replacing the traditional clipboard hanging from a patient's bed frame with a computer terminal that uses radio-frequency transmissions to communicate with a distributed computer network. These wireless terminals bring bedside medical care into the information age by computerizing medical charts. They also make it much easier for a doctor to remotely monitor a patient's condition and issue health care instructions.
In a medical care environment, a wireless terminal operates as the bedside component of a distributed patient-care computer network that might include computer resources and terminals located throughout a hospital system. This patient-care computer network might also extend to other hospital systems, the offices of the doctors that practice in the hospital, the offices of the insurance company, and so forth. The wireless terminal is typically used to post and record the information that was traditionally posted and recorded on a bedside clipboard, such as the patient's prescriptions, vital signs, receipt of medications, scheduled tests, etc. This and other information is now automatically communicated between the wireless terminal and the distributed patient-care computer network.
As an example, consider a doctor who has patients in several different hospitals. The doctor may access the wireless terminals assigned to these patients by way of any terminal of the patient-care computer network, such as a terminal located at the doctor's home or office. In fact, the patient-care computer network might be remotely accessible from virtually any location, even a golf course or sailboat, using a cellular telephone and a laptop computer.
This type of patient-care computer network allows an off-site doctor to remotely access several wireless terminals that are in different locations without having to travel to the different locations or place telephone calls to on-site practitioners at the different locations. An on-site practitioner, such as floor a nurse or on-duty doctor, simply refers to a patient's assigned wireless terminal to learn of the off-site doctor's instruction for the patient.
The on-site practitioner making the rounds usually picks-up the appropriate wireless terminal before visiting the patient and takes the terminal into the patient's room. The on-site practitioner then performs the indicated tasks and enters any relevant information into the wireless terminals, such as test results, vital signs, observations, and the like. The wireless terminal automatically transmits the patient's information to the patient-care computer network. When the visit with the patient is over, the on-site practitioner typically returns the wireless terminal to its storage location. The off-site doctor can later access the information received from the wireless terminal to confirm that the instructions were carried out, further monitor the patient's condition and, if required, alter the care instructions.
Deploying a wireless terminal in this type of medical care environment typically involves placing a wireless network access point within each hospital room. The network access point, which integrates the wireless terminal with the distributed patient-care computer network, allows the wireless terminal to conduct wireless communications with the computer network while the medical practitioner uses the wireless terminal within the hospital room. The network access point typically receives a power cable and a communications cable that connects the network access point to the computer network. The network access point also typically includes an antenna for conducting wireless communications with the wireless terminal.
To avoid interference and ensure that only one network access point attempts to communicate with a particular wireless terminal, the network access point and the wireless terminal typically use a very low-power, high-frequency radio signal. As this signal remains effectively confined within the room in which the wireless terminal is located, the network access point antenna must typically be located within the same room. Locating the network access point itself inside the room, however, is considered aesthetically unacceptable by many hospitals. In particular, mounting the network access point on a hospital-room wall and running cables to the device along the wall is generally unacceptable.
A number of enclosures have been developed for network access points in an attempt to provide an aesthetically acceptable deployment. For example, enclosures including domes, globes or box-shaped housings that extend from a wall or the ceiling into the room space have been developed to house network access points. Although this type of enclosure conceals the network access point, the enclosure can be quite expensive and still intrudes into the room space. Many hospitals therefore find these enclosures to be an unacceptable solution.
Alternatively, network access points have been placed above the ceiling, for example on top of an acoustical-panel ceiling structure. But this solution may also be unacceptable because the building space above the ceiling is often used as an air-handling space, for example to supply return air to the building's heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Fire codes applicable to such air-handling spaces typically prohibit simply placing a network access point on top of an acoustical-panel ceiling structure. A freestanding network access point placed on top of a ceiling structure may present a falling-object safety hazard because the device could fall through the ceiling if the panels become wet or if the building experiences an earthquake or other disturbance.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for an aesthetically acceptable enclosure for housing a network access point in an interior building structure, such as a wall or ceiling of a hospital room.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention meets the need described above in an enclosure for housing a computer device, such as a wireless network access point, in an interior building structure, such as a wall or ceiling of a hospital room. The enclosure includes a sealed pan that houses the computer device outside the room space, typically in the building space above the ceiling of the hospital room. As this space is often used as an air-handling space, for example to provide return air to the building's HVAC system, devices and enclosures placed in this space may be subject to restrictive fire code regulations. The enclosure includes a ventilated cover and a mounting plate within the enclosure that keeps the computer device from overheating while the sealed pan forms a substantially sealed smoke barrier that meets these fire code regulations.
Generally described, the invention is an enclosure for a computer device. The enclosure includes a substantially sealed pan configured for placement within a structural member defining a substantially planar surface, such as a wall or ceiling, adjacent a room space. The pan, which defines an enclosure space for housing the computer device outside the room space, does not extend substantially into the room space when placed within the structural member. The pan includes a cable receptacle for receiving one or more cables for connecting the computer device to a computer network. The cable receptacle typically includes a first hole for a power cable

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