Communication systems

• US 9,900,735 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2015
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Federal Signal Corporation
• Original Assignee: Federal Signal Corporation
• Inventors: Barron, Traci, Cassidy, Scott, Perry, David, Sugalski, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Tuan
• Application Number:
  US14/974,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20170180923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 45 73, 45 631, 45570, 45501, 45296, 455 73, 455 631, 455570, 455501, 455296
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3866 carried on the head
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/107 Monophonic and stereophonic headphones with microphone for two-way hands free communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/0335 Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests for monophonic headphones H04R1/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/304 For headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A communication system providing volume attenuation as a function of distance from the communication source to simulate natural communication.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of transceiving devices including at least a first transceiving device and a second transceiving device, each of the plurality of transceiving devices comprising;

a voice transmitting module having a microphone and configured to transmit signals to other transceiving devices in the communication system; and

a voice receiving module having a speaker and configured to receive signals from the other transceiving devices in the communication system, the speaker being configured to provide an audio output;

wherein at least the second transceiving device comprises a regulator module, the regulator module being configured to modulate first signals provided by the voice transmitting module of at least the first transceiving device and provide second signals to the voice receiving module of the second transceiving device, the second signals being modulated relative to the first signals based on a distance between the first and second transceiving devices;

wherein a volume of the audio output generated by the speaker of the second transceiving device decreases according to a first mathematical function up to a threshold distance between the first and second transceiving devices; and

wherein the volume of the audio output generated by the speaker of the second transceiving device decreases according to a second mathematical function for at least some distances between the first and the second transceiving devices that are greater than the threshold distance.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the regulator module comprises a positioning submodule configured to determine the distance between the first and second transceiving devices.

3. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the positioning submodule determines the distance between the first transceiving device and the second transceiving device based on an RF signal strength at the second transceiving device.

4. The communication system of claim 3, wherein the regulator module comprises an audio processing engine.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the first or the second mathematical function is an exponential decay function.

6. The communication system of claim 1, wherein one of the first or the second mathematical function is a linear function.

7. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the volume of the audio output generated by the speaker of the second transceiving device is zero for distances between the first and second transceiving devices that exceed the threshold distance.

15. The communication system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of transceiving devices includes a regulator module.

8. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of transceiving devices, each transceiving device comprising;

a voice transmitting module having a microphone and configured to transmit signals to other transceiving devices in the communication system;

a voice receiving module having a speaker and configured to receive signals from the other transceiving devices in the communication system; and

a regulator module comprising a positioning submodule and a transmission impedance submodule;

wherein the regulator module of a first of the transceiving devices is configured to modulate signals provided by the voice transmitting module of at least a second of the transceiving devices based on a distance between the first of the transceiving devices and the second of the transceiving devices;

wherein, the positioning submodule of the first of the transceiving devices is configured to determine the distance between the first of the transceiving devices and the second of the transceiving devices;

wherein the transmission impedance submodule is configured to determine impedance of signals caused by one or more physical structures;

wherein a volume of audio output generated by the speaker of the first of the transceiving devices decreases according to a first mathematical function up to a threshold distance between the first of the transceiving devices and the second of the transceiving devices; and

wherein the volume of audio output generated by the speaker of the first of the transceiving devices decreases according to a second mathematical function for at least some distances between the first of the transceiving devices and the second of the transceiving devices that are greater than the threshold distance.

9. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the positioning submodule determines the distance between the first of the transceiving devices and the second of the transceiving devices based on an RF signal strength measured at the first of the transceiving devices.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the transmission impedance submodule determines impedance of signals caused by the one or more physical structures based on the RF signal strength.

11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the regulator module comprises an audio processing engine.

12. The communication system of claim 8, wherein one of the first or the second mathematical function is an exponential decay function.

13. The communication system of claim 8, wherein one of the first or the second mathematical function is a linear function.

14. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the volume of audio output generated by the speaker of the first of the transceiving devices varies based on the transmission impedance of signals caused by the one or more physical structures.