Barrier Operator System and Method Using Wireless Transmission Devices

• US 20080132220A1
• Filed: 12/04/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Chamberlain Group LLC
• Original Assignee: The Chamberlain Group, Inc. (The Chamberlain Group LLC)
• Inventors: Fitzgibbon, James J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/420
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00793 by Hertzian waves
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/00928 for garage doors
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00182 operated with unidirectional data transmission between data carrier and locks
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00563 using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/31 Voice input
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1016 Telecontrol
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00

Abstract

A system includes a wireless speech transmission device that communicates a wireless transmission of speech representing data in a first protocol via a wireless network. The speech representing data conveys substantially noise-free human speech. A wireless speech communication device receives the speech representing data in the first protocol via the network and couples representations of the data to a speech communication apparatus in a second protocol. A moveable barrier operator is within receiving range of the wireless transmission of the data from the wireless speech transmission device, intercepts the wireless transmission from the wireless speech transmission device, and recognizes a speech pattern from the data in the wireless transmission. A barrier movement apparatus actuates the barrier based upon the speech pattern.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a wireless speech transmission device communicating a wireless transmission of speech representing data in a first protocol via a wireless low-power personal area network, the speech representing data conveying substantially noise-free human speech;

a wireless speech communication device receiving the speech representing data in the first protocol via the wireless low-power personal area network and coupling representations of the speech representing data to a speech communication apparatus in a second protocol;

a moveable barrier operator, the moveable barrier operator being within receiving range of the wireless transmission of the speech representing data from the wireless speech transmission device, intercepting the wireless transmission from the wireless speech transmission device, and recognizing a speech pattern from the speech representing data in the wireless transmission; and

a barrier movement apparatus coupled to a barrier and the moveable barrier operator for actuating the barrier based upon the speech pattern.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the moveable barrier operator is configured to identify a word or phrase in the wireless transmission.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the first protocol is a wireless protocol.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the wireless protocol is the Bluetooth-compliant protocol.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the second protocol is a cellular protocol.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the wireless speech communication device comprises a cellular phone.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the wireless speech communication device comprises a device selected from a group comprising a personal digital assistant, a pager, and a personal computer.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the personal area network is operable over an area covering a vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the wireless transmission device comprises a wireless headset.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the moveable barrier operator is selected from a group comprising a gate operator and a garage door operator.

11. A method comprising:

operating a wireless speech communication device and a wireless speech transmission device within a wireless low power personal area network;

transmitting a wireless transmission over a substantially noise-free wireless link from the wireless transmission device to the wireless speech communication device according to a first protocol, the wireless transmission including speech representing data;

coupling representations of the speech representing data from the wireless speech communication device to a speech communication apparatus using a second protocol;

intercepting the wireless transmission at the moveable barrier operator;

processing the wireless transmission at the moveable barrier operator to determine a speech pattern of the speech representing data in the wireless transmission; and

actuating a barrier according to the speech pattern.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the speech pattern comprises a word or phrase.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the first protocol is a wireless protocol.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the first protocol is the Bluetooth-compliant protocol.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the second protocol is a cellular protocol.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the wireless speech communication device comprises a cellular phone.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the wireless speech communication device is selected from a group comprising:

a personal digital assistant, a pager, and a personal computer.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the personal area network operates within a vehicle.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the wireless transmission device comprises a wireless headset.

20. A system comprising:

a wireless speech transmission device being adapted to convert received human speech into a high-quality wireless transmission, the high quality wireless transmission including speech representing data, the wireless speech transmission device sending the wireless transmission to a cellular phone according to a wireless protocol, the wireless transmission being for communication by the cellular phone on a public telephone network according to a cellular protocol; and

a moveable barrier operator being adapted to receive the wireless transmission, recognize a speech pattern in the speech representing data, and operate a moveable barrier according to the speech pattern.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the moveable barrier operator is configured to identify a word or phrase in the wireless transmission.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the wireless protocol is the Bluetooth-compliant protocol.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the wireless transmission device, barrier operator, and cellular phone operate over personal area network.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the personal area network is operable over an area covering a vehicle.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the wireless transmission device comprises a wireless headset.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the moveable barrier operator is selected from a group comprising a gate operator and a garage door operator.