Patent ID: 6236303
Filing Date: 2001-05-22
Classification: G08B

Abstract:
In a multiple-room building, where a plurality of rooms are each connected by a doorway to a common corridor, a system for indicating the status of one of said rooms comprising selecting means allowing an occupant of said one of said rooms to select a message to be conveyed to a recipient in said common corridor, said selecting means accessible to the occupant within the interior of said one of said rooms, and indicating means electrically connected to said selecting means for indicating the message selected by the occupant to the recipient when said message is selected, said indicating means viewable by the recipient from said common corridor; wherein said selecting means comprises a switch assembly mounted within said one of said rooms, said switch assembly comprising a switch switchable between an ""off"" position and a plurality of ""on"" positions, each one of said switch ""on"" positions representing said occupant's selection of a particular pre-determined message, said switch assembly comprising means for indicating to said occupant the massage associated with each ""on"" position; and wherein said indicating means comprises an indicating assembly mounted in said common corridor, said indicating assembly comprising a plurality of message indicators, each one of said message indicators corresponding to a particular one of said switch ""on"" positions such that when a switch ""on"" position is selected by said occupant, a corresponding message indicator indicates the predetermined message intended to be conveyed by the occupant to a recipient.