System and method for monitoring/controlling a sound masking system from an electronic floorplan

• US 8,666,086 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 777388 Ontario Limited
• Original Assignee: 777388 Ontario Limited
• Inventors: Moeller, Niklas, Babineau, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Paul, Disler
• Application Number:
  US12/134,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20090306798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,097 Days
• Field of Search: 381/73.1, 381/61, 381/119, 381/109, 369 3- 4, 700/94, 715/716, 715/727
• US Class Current: 381/73.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/162 Interface to dedicated audio devices, e.g. audio drivers, interface to CODECs
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1752 Masking
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/12 for acoustic communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 2203/34 involving multiple cooperating jammers
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/42 characterized by the control of the jamming frequency or wavelength
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/43 characterized by the control of the jamming power, signal-to-noise ratio or geographic coverage area
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/825 by jamming

Abstract

A system and mechanism for monitoring and/or controlling a sound masking system from a computer aided design drawing. According to an embodiment, the system is configured to allow an operator to “click” sound masking components on the design drawing and view operating/configuration settings, and/or edit, change or modify the operating/configuration settings, which are then applied via an interface to the associated physical sound masking component in the sound masking system. According to another embodiment, the system is configured to allow an operator to design or configure sound masking components on a design drawing. The sound masking components correspond to physical sound masking components in a sound masking system and comprise one or more active sound masking elements, which are configured to be responsive to an input and allow an operator to monitor, change and/or modify operating/configuration settings for physical sound masking component via the sound masking element in the design drawing.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a sound masking system installed in a physical space and comprising a plurality of physical sound masking components, said apparatus comprising:

an electronic rendering representing the physical space comprising a plan drawing of the physical space and said plan drawing including an active graphical element corresponding to each of said physical sound masking components in the sound masking system and each of said active graphical elements having a location on said plan drawing corresponding to a physical location of said physical sound masking component installed in the physical space;

a user interface configured for applying one or more inputs to one or more of said graphical elements to control parameters associated with at least some of the physical sound masking components;

a controller module configured to be responsive to at least some of said one or more inputs and generate one or more control signals configured to control operation of one or more of the plurality of physical sound masking components installed in the physical space; and

an interface configured for passing said one or more control signals to the sound masking system for controlling one or more of said physical sound masking components.

2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plan drawing comprises a computer aided design generated drawing.

3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said inputs comprise one or more of a sound masking signal volume setting and a sound masking signal frequency setting.

4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said user interface comprises a graphical user interface and includes a viewer window for displaying said electronic rendering.

5. An apparatus for configuring a sound masking system installed in a physical space and operable to provide sound masking for noise control or speech privacy, said apparatus comprising:

a component configured to generate an electronic rendering comprising a plan drawing of the physical space;

a component configured to place one or more sound masking elements on said plan drawing, each of said one or more sound masking display elements representing a corresponding sound masking component physically installed in the physical space for the sound masking system and each of said sound masking elements having a location on said plan drawing corresponding to a physical location of said physical sound masking component installed in the physical space;

a controller configured to interface with the sound masking system and receive information associated with the operation of said physically installed sound masking components;

each of said one or more sound masking display elements including a mechanism configured to display the received information associated with the operation of said corresponding physically installed sound masking component; and

wherein said mechanism is further configured to be responsive to one or more inputs for modifying operational parameters of said corresponding physically installed sound masking component, and said controller is further configured to generate one or more control commands based on said inputs and transmit said one or more control commands to the physically installed sound masking system.

6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said operational parameters comprise one or more of a sound masking volume level, a sound masking frequency, and a paging volume level.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon for controlling a sound masking system installed in a physical space, wherein the program instructs a computer to perform the steps comprising:

displaying an electronic rendering comprising a plan drawing of the physical space, and said electronic rendering including one or more graphical elements corresponding to physical sound masking components for the sound masking system installed in the physical space and each of said graphical elements having a location on said plan drawing corresponding to a physical location of said physical sound masking component installed in the physical space;

activating one or more of said graphical elements in response to an input;

retrieving operational information for the physical sound masking components installed in the physical space and corresponding to said one or more activated graphical elements;

receiving one or more inputs to modify said operational information;

generating one or more control signals corresponding to said modified operational information; and

applying said one or more control signals to said associated physical sound masking component installed in the physical space.

8. An apparatus for controlling a sound masking system installed in a physical space and comprising a plurality of physical sound masking components, said apparatus comprising:

a graphical interface comprising a viewer window configured for displaying an electronic rendering comprising a plan drawing representing the physical space and including a graphical element corresponding to each of said physical sound masking components in the sound masking system and each of said graphical elements having a location on said plan drawing corresponding to a physical location of said physical sound masking component installed in the physical space;

said graphical interface comprising a sound masking control panel configured for selectively changing one or more operational parameters associated with one or more of the plurality of physical sound masking components;

said sound masking control panel including a sound masking volume setting panel and a sound masking equalizer setting panel, said sound masking volume setting panel being configured to control in response to a user input the sound masking volume of said one or more graphical elements corresponding to said one or more physical sound masking components rendered in said viewer window, and said sound masking equalizer setting panel being configured to adjust in response to a user input the spectrum of said one or more graphical elements corresponding to said one or more physical sound masking components rendered in said viewer window;

a controller module configured to be responsive to said one or more user inputs applied to said one or more graphical elements and generate one or more control signals configured to control actual operation of one of more of the plurality of physical sound masking components installed in the physical space; and

an interface configured for passing said one or more control signals to the sound masking system for controlling one or more of said physical sound masking components.

9. The apparatus as claimed claim 8, wherein said viewer window is configured to be responsive to one or more user inputs for selecting one or more of said graphical elements corresponding to said physical sound masking components, and said controller being configured to apply said control signals to said physical sound masking components associated with said selected graphical elements in said viewer window.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said graphical user interface comprises a sound masking viewer window and a sound masking component window, said sound masking viewer window is configured to display an electronic rendering of a plurality of sound masking components configured for the sound masking system, and said sound masking component window is configured to display a plurality of graphical elements corresponding to said physical sound masking components, and said sound masking component window including a function panel configured with a plurality of functions, and each of said plurality of functions being responsive to a user input for selectively applying said selected function to one or more of said plurality of graphical elements.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said plurality of functions comprises one or more of add, edit, remove, auto number, zoning and ping functions, and wherein each of said functions comprises a graphical element configured to be responsive to a user input.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said sound masking view window is configured to display one or more layers, wherein each of said layers comprises an arrangement of sound masking components or associated sound masking functionality configured for viewing.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said sound masking component window is configured with a layer function panel, said layer function panel being configured to be responsive to a user input to select one of said plurality of layers for display.