The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 16, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2002
Kenneth P. Roy, Holtwood, PA (US);
Thomas J. Johnson, Chesterfield, MS (US);
Ronald Fuller, Burbank, CA (US);
Steve Dove, Lebanon, PA (US);
Kenneth P. Roy, Holtwood, PA (US);
Thomas J. Johnson, Chesterfield, MS (US);
Ronald Fuller, Burbank, CA (US);
Steve Dove, Lebanon, PA (US);
AWI Licensing Company, Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A unique, fully integrated, fully programmable, and highly flexible sound distribution system and methodology for providing masking sound, background music, and paging capabilities in up to eight zones of a building or space is provided. The methodology embodied in the system includes internal masking sounds that are uniquely pre-filtered to provide efficient and effective masking of distracting sounds within selectable zones of the space with a minimum masking sound dB sound level and with a pleasant sounding and non-annoying masking sound. The system also incorporates the capacity to be controlled from a remote or local telephone to adjust the volume level in any zone serviced by the system by issuing appropriate DTMF codes from the telephone's keypad. Unique bi-tone diagnostic functions are provided for assuring that the entire system is correctly wired and installed and for troubleshooting operational anomalies. ⅓ octave equalization is provided to compensate for known frequency response characteristics of the flat panel radiators of the system and to compensate for varying room acoustics to provide a low special variation of sound among the various zones of the space. The result is a high quality high fidelity sound that is consistent from zone to zone.