DOOR ANSWERING INTERCONNECT SYSTEM UTILISING EITHER AN INSIDE INTERCOM OR RADIO-COMMUNICATION SYSTEM OR A PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SUBSCRIBER TELEPHONE NETWORK, INTERCONNECTED TO AN OUTSIDE OR ENTRANCE-HALL INTERCOM SYSTEM, INCLUDING VIDEO RETRANS ISSION POSSIBILITIES

SYSTEME D'INTERCONNEXION A POSSIBILITE DE TRANSMISSION VIDEO SERVANT A REPONDRE AUX VISITEURS ET UTILISANT UN INTERPHONE OU UN DISPOSITIF DE RADIOCOMMUNICATION INTERNE OU UN RESEAUTELEPHONIQUE PUBLIC OU PRIVE CONNECTE A UN INTERPHONE D'ENTREE

English Abstract

A B S T R A C T
A discreet communications interconnect system between the
public subscriber telephone network, or an interior intercom, or
a private or commercial radio-communication system, and any
intercom or speaker phone system located at the door or in the
entrance-hall of a residence or of a commercial building. When the
building occupant is on the premises, he can either answer directly
at the door or through the inside intercom. If the occupant is
absent, the said link, after being set to OPTION I or OPTION 2
stand-by status by the building occupant before leaving the
building, will automatically be switched on every time a visitor
will ring the outside bell. When a visitor does ring the outside
bell, ...OPTION 1. an easely recognizable tone-signal is
automatically transmitted through the radio-communication system.
The answering party , with his first transmission on his radio,
automatically establishes the audio path to the outside speaker
with the visitor. The conversation will then occur back and forth
using either simplex VOX, simplex sampling or half-duplex modes
technology, as programed by the answering party, as if through a
normal intercom system. When the conversation is over and the
visitor leaves, the audio path between the radio-communication
system and the outside speaker is automatically cut after one to
5 minutes of radio silence from the answering party. ...OPTION 2.
An automatic dial-up operation is initiated via a public or private
subscriber telephone network to a unique telephone number pre-
programmed by the building occupant before leaving the premises.
The pre-programmed phone number could be a cellular phone or any
other phone number of a location where the individual expects to
be present within a short period of time or the number of another
trusted person who would know how to handle the call properly. When
his phone rings, the answering party will hear a caracteristic
"DING-DONG-like" tone that will be transmitted on the phone line
by the said communications interconnect control-board, alerting the
answering party that someone is at the door. Depending on how the
system was programed, the answering party will either automatically
have audio path to the outside intercom at the door or he will then
transmit a "*" using any "touch-Tone" telephone key-pad, thereby
allowing audio from the answering party to be heard by the visiting
party. From that moment on, a normal phone-like two-way
communication will be established between the answering party and
the visiting party, through the subscriber telephone network, via
the outside intercom. The control-board will be designded so that
DTMF (Touch Tones) will never be heard by the visitor, thereby
making him beleive that he is talking to someone inside and not to
someone on the phone. Interesting security feature, isn't it? Since
the answering party is not present on the premises, he would then
find some excuse as to why he cannot actualy go to the door and
would then suggest to the visitor that they could meet at some
other time or talk on the phone later. The outside intercom audio
could be temporarily muted if needed by the answering party through
the use of other DTMF "Touch-tone" codes. Once the conversation is
completed, the answering party then transmits the "#" on his
"Touch-Tone" key-pad, thereby inducing hang-up of the phone line

on the side of the visitor. If the answering party omits to
transmit the "#", the line will be automatically hung-up by the
control-board after a short while. The control-board on location
will be remotely programmable through the phone line as long as the
phone line is not in "call-forwarding" mode to another phone

Claims

What is claimed is:
1. A discreet communications interconnect system between the
visitor to a building, residential or commercial, and the building
occupant, whether he be present in or absent from the building,
through an inside intercom or through the subscriber telephone
network, or through a private or commercial two-way radio-
communication system, via an outside or entrance hall intercom,
all of which would be controled by an inside programmable control-
board.

3
2. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claim 1, that will behave in such a manner that the visitor will
not be able to know that the person answering him is actualy quite
a distance away from the premises, speaking through a telephone
system or through a radio-communication systems thereby making the
visitor beleive that he or she is talking to someone inside the
building and thereby discouraging potential unlawfull access to
the premises.
3. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 and 2, that will, when a visitor rings the door bell,
if preset to OPTION 1, automatically interconnect the intercom
located at the door to a radio-communication system, using either
simplex VOX, simplex sampling or half-duplex modes technology as
programed by the answering party, thereby allowing intercom-like
two-way conversation between the visitor and the answering party.
4. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 3, that will, when a visitor rings the door
bell, if preset to OPTION 1, automatically disconnect the intercom
located at the door from the radio-communication system 1 to 5
minutes after the last transmission from the answering party, as
per program pre-established by answering party.
5. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims I through 4, that will, whether beeing used in preset
OPTION 1 or OPTION 2, be interconnectable to any existing or pre-
installed exterior or interior door or entrance-hall intercom
system.
6. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 5, that will, when a visitor rings the door
bell, if preset to OPTION 2, automatically perform a dial-up
operation, in either DTMF "Touch-Tone" or "Pulse" code technique,
via any public or private subscriber telephone network to a phone
number previously programmed on the control-board by the building
occupant before leaving the premises, thereby allowing two-way
phone-like conversation between the visitor speaking through the
outside intercom at the door and the answering party on the phone.
7. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 6, that will, when a visitor rings the door
bell, if preset to OPTION 2., control the audio path between the
answering party on the telephone network line and the visitor at
the outside intercom through the use of DTMF "Touch-Tones" digits
encoders and decoders, unless the building occupant decides to use
the fully automatic feature on that aspect of the control-board.
8. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 7, that will, if being used as per OPTION 2
settings, include an analogic voice delay of 50 miliseconds or more
on the audio coming from the answering party on the telephone
network line in order to compensate the 40 miliseconds delay taken
by the DTMF "Touch-Tone" decoder, thereby ensuring that the visitor
will not hear the DTMF "Touch-Tones" over his intercom and thereby
giving no clue to the visitor that he is actually talking to
someone outside of the premises.

4
9. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 8, that will, whether preset to OPTION 1 or
OPTION 2 always be on stand by status on the telephone network
line, "listening" so that if the phone rings, it will automatically
unhook the line and "listen" for control DTMF "Touch-Tones" which
will be confirmed back automatically by the control-board on the
phone line by a synthetized voice, for remote programming purposes,
inasmuch as the telephone line connected to the control board of
this communications interconnect system is NOT in call-forward to
another number.
10. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 9, that will also alow retransmission of video
signals from an outside video camera through compatible local or
distant transmission cabling and receiving facilities.
11. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 10, that will be equiped with "Current Surge
Protectors" on all its exterior connection ports.
12. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 11 that will not be hindered in any of its
functions whether the visitor rings only once or numerous times per
visit.
13. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 12 that will, when set in the "present" status,
automatically link existing inside intercom, if any, to the outside
intercom.
14. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 13 that will include a CPU chip as its main
control component.
15. A discreet communications interconnect system as claimed
in claims 1 through 14 that will allow a multiple access building
to have all its outside intercoms connected to the same control
board and be answered on a first-entrance-door-ring-first-linked
access basis.
In relation to the drawings that are illustrating the
realisation of this invention,-
FIGURE 1 represents the different options available to the building
occupant to answer is visitor whether the answering party is on or
away from the premises.
FIGURE 2 represents the various user-friendly programming controls
and connection ports accessable to the building occupant for easy
and rapid installation.
The visitor, fig.1(1), comes to the door and rings the bell,
fig.1(2). If the building occupant is "present", his control-board,
fig.1(4), Status switch, fig.2(2), being set to the "present"
position, he either goes to the door and answers in person or he
answers through his interior intercom system, fig.1(5), fig.1(8),
via the outside intercom, fig.1(3), at the door.

5
If the building occupant wants to leave and wishes to use his
radio-communication system, fig.1(6), in conjonction with his door
answering interconnect system, fig.1(4), he would first set the 1
to 5 minute time-out timer inside the control-board to his liking,
he would then set the Link-Option switch, fig.2(3), to OPTION 1
position, the Mode switch, fig.2(4), to the appropriate position
to ensure compatibility with the sppecifics of his radio-
communication system, and the "Status" switch, fig.2(2), to the
"absent" position. When the visitor, fig.1(1), rings the door bell,
fig.1(2) a caracteristic tone-signal will be transmitted to the
answering party's radio-com. unit, fig.1(9). He will then be able
to tall, back and forth to his visitor by radio via the outside
intercom , fig.1(3), at the door until the exchange is over. The
radio-link will automatically disconnect after 1 to 5 minutes of
radio silence.
If the building occupant wants to leave and wishes to be
reached on his cellular phone or at another predetermined phone
number, fig.1(10), of any private or public telephone network,
fig.1(7) by a eventual visitor, fig.1(1), via the outside intercom
system, fig.1(3), at the door, he sets the Link-Option switch,
fig.2(3), to OPTION 2 position, the "Touch-Tone"-"Pulse" switch,
fig.2(6) to the desired setting, the "Audio-Path" switch, fig.2(5),
to the desired setting, he programs the destination phone number
on the "key-pad", fig.2(8), making certain from the digital
display, fig.2(7), that he has in fact programmed the right number.
He then sets the "Status" switch, fig.2(2), to the "absent"
position and he is ready to go. When the visitor, fig.1(1), rings
the door bell, fig.1(2), the pre-programmed phone number is
automatically dialed by the "control-board". fig.1(4). The
answering party, fig.1(10), answers the phone not yet knowing who
the calling party is. He then hears a caracteristic "DING-DONG"
like tone over the phone. If the control board is set to "Automatic
audio path" the communication is automatically established with the
visitor. If the control board is set to "DTMF Touch-Tone audio
path", the answering party then transmits the "*" digit on the
telephone "touch-Tone" key-pad, thereby establishing audio path
with the visitor. The conversation can then take place in a normal
phone-like manner. The conversation can be muted and unmuted at
will by the answering party by again transmitting the "*" digit on
the telephone "Touch-Tone" key-pad. When completed, the
comunication is automatically terminated by hang-up from the
answering party if the "control board" "audio path" switch,
fig.2(5), is set to "automatic" position, or it will be terminated
by the answering party when he transmits the "#" digit on the
"Touch-Tone" key-pad of his telephone and then hanging-up, if the
"audio-path" switch is set to the "DTMF Touch-Tone" position.

6
If the control board has been set to the "Absent" "Status" and
to the OPTION 2 telephone link, and if the building occupant is
away from the premises anywhere in reach of a "Touch-Tone"
telephone connected to the telephone network, he can at will change
the destination phone number programmed on the control board by
simply calling the phone number of the line connected to the
control board, wait for the "unhooked signal" and tranmit the new
phone number using the "Touch-Tone" key-pad of the phone. The new
destination phone number will be confirmed back on the phone line
by a "Voice-Synthesizer" in the control-board, after which the line
will automatically be hung-up. This feature will obviously not be
available if the phone number of the line connected to the control
board happens to be in "Call-Forwarding" mode to another number.
One should of course make sure that the main power switch,
fig2.(1), is always "ON", unless the system is not being used.
Outside connections from the control board, fig.2(9), 2(10),
2(11), 2(12), 2(13) and 2(14) are designed to alow easy trouble
free installation.

Description

S P E C I F I C ~ T I 0 N
This invention is a communication interconnect means by
which ~ building occupant, whether residential or comnercial, will
be able to answer a visitor at his door whether the answering party
his present or absent from the premises, through either an inside
intercom on the premises or a r~dio-communication system or through
the subscriber telephone network, the said communication
interconnect means being designed in such a way that the visitor
will have no possibility of knowing that he is actualy talking to
someone ~w~y from the premises.
The intercom systems presently in use for the purpose of
answering a visitor at the door can only be used while the building
occupant is present on the premises. Therefore9 it has been widely
known that potenti~l burglars will co~e to a building and ring the
bell and w~it for someone to ans~er simply to confirm the presence
or the absence of people on the pre~ises in order to know if they
are safe or not to engage in their mischief. It is therefore
obvious that those intercom systems are ineffective to oeter such
potential wrongdoers from ~cting when the building occup~nt is
absent from the premises. This is why it has been proposed that an
interconnect control-board circuitry be devised in s~ch a w~y that
would make it possible for a building occupant or any other trusted
answering p2rty that would know how to handle the c~ll to answer
a visitor at his door from practically anywhere in the world,
either through the public subscriber telephone network or any
private telephone network, or through ~ny private or commercial
radio-communication syste~, as well as through ~n already eKisting
inside intercom system. This invention will thereby greatly improve
the security of the premises and will also make the building
occupant easier to reach by his visitors, ~n aspect of this
invention th~t could often make the difference betw~en success and
f~ilure in all kinds of endeavours, ~usiness or othQrwise.
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