Patent ID: 11895675
Assignee: H.M. ELECTRONICS, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 10:
11. A method for assigning particular voice communication channels used by communication devices in a drive-through restaurant, wherein the communication devices include a first communication device, the method comprising:
electronically storing information, wherein the information represents associations of individual voice communication channels with communication groups, wherein individual ones of the communication groups are specific to one or more roles and/or responsibilities in the drive-through restaurant, wherein individual associations are between the individual voice communication channels and subsets of the communication groups, wherein the communication groups include a first communication group and a second communication group;
receiving, from a first person, first user input that identifies one or more of the first person, a first role of the first person, and/or the first communication group;
automatically configuring the first communication device according to a first set of communication channel assignments, wherein a first communication channel is assigned to a first subset of the communication groups, wherein the first subset includes the first communication group and at least one other communication group, wherein a second communication channel is assigned to a second subset of the communication groups, and wherein the second subset is different from the first subset;
receiving a first device-specific packet from the first communication device, wherein the first device-specific packet includes packetized uplink information based on audio information captured by the first communication device, wherein the first device-specific packet is targeted to the first communication group;
generating a first downlink packet that includes packetized downlink information based on audio information previously received in device-specific packets that were targeted to individual ones of the subsets of the communication groups;
receiving, by the first communication device, user input that selects a given communication channel, wherein the given communication channel is one of the first communication channel or the second communication channel; and
transmitting the first downlink packet to a set of the communication devices, including the first communication device, for presenting audio information associated with individual ones of the subsets of the communication groups that include the given communication channel as selected.