Patent Publication Number: US-2006015347-A1

Title: Chime MP3 display

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      Not applicable.  
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
      Not applicable.  
     FIELD OF INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to an in-store display of merchandise, such as door chimes, having a MP3 player in conjunction with an insignia button board, motion sensor, or other signaling device for sounding chimes, speech, or other sounds.  
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART  
      Current practices for displaying door chimes involves having an in-store display comprised of a sound board and a button board. Each individual chime base or actual product is mounted to the sound board and hardwired to a specific push button or buttons on the button board that activates a specific chime when pressed. An in-store chime display typically has several chimes on display which requires that the sound board holding the chimes to be quite large. Additionally, since these in-store displays have the actual chimes producing the sounds mounted on the sound board, a transformer needs to be mounted on the sound board to supply power to each individual chime since they are low-voltage. If wireless chimes are being displayed, they currently need to be specially modified to convert them to hardwire use so that RF interference is eliminated. Therefore, the wireless chimes also need to be mounted on the soundboard and have power leads attached to the transformer. Since each chime is hardwired to a push button and a transformer the resulting display has a complex and cumbersome wiring arrangement. The result is an expensive and complex display requiring much labor to assemble, modify, and maintain.  
      These current practices require significant labor and expense to install a chime onto a sound board or to retrofit the sound board with a new chime sound. The resulting display is large and can become unaesthetic. Other problems associated with the current practices is that the soundboards need be displayed in a large area which takes up floor space and limits the locations where the in-store display may be placed. Additionally, the sounds actually come from the chimes mounted on the soundboard and consequently the in-store display must be placed in a location where it will still provide good sound quality for the customer. This further limits the locations where such an in-store display may be placed. These current practices are labor intensive, costly, difficult to retrofit with new chime sounds, undependable, difficult to place within the store, and unaesthetic.  
      Current practices of displaying merchandise other than door chimes often times require significant labor, expense, and floor space. Therefore, it is contemplated that this invention may be used to display a variety of items within a store where the current practices of displaying such items exhibit some of the aforementioned problems and where some of these problems will be addressed by the present invention.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      One object of the present invention is to create an in-store display of door chimes that requires less labor and cost to install, modify, and maintain.  
      Another objective of the present invention is to provide a smaller and more versatile in-store display requiring less floor space.  
      A further object of the present invention is to create a more aesthetic in-store display of door chimes.  
      These objects and others are accomplished according to the present invention by providing a Chime MP3 Display. The MP3 sound module chime display of the present invention includes a microcontroller housing which houses a microprocessor controlled electronic sound module and a reprogrammable digital storage device such as a multimedia media memory card or flash card. The microcontroller housing has front and rear control access panels. The front control access panel provides volume control switches, an electronic port such as a USB port for loading or deleting sound files, and a ribbon cable receptacle for connecting a button board. The rear access panel provides a power supply receptacle, a removable digital storage device, and a speaker output terminal block.  
      A ribbon cable extends from the ribbon cable receptacle to a button board. The button board has the insignia or a description of each chime and associated button or buttons. The button board is the only portion of the present invention that needs to be on display to the customer. The inventive design does not need to hold the actual chime bases as in the prior art since the sounds of each chime are stored on the digital memory device or MP3 sound module. Hence, the Chime MP3 Display provides for an aesthetic in-store display of chimes that requires minimal floor space.  
      The configuration of the MP3 Player provides for easy operation. The customer pushes a button, electronic input means, on the button board display to hear a specific chime sound as indicated by the insignia. The push of the button triggers an input signal to the MP3 microprocessor. The microprocessor&#39;s firmware then sends the specific MP3 file or chime tune on the digital storage device that is associated with the pushed button to a digital to audio signal converter. This audio signal is then sent to an amplifier which drives the speakers. Optionally, a speaker unit may be used which houses the signal converter, amplifier, and speaker. The speakers may be mounted anywhere near the button board display to provide quality sound. The firmware is capable of scrolling through several different tunes for a specific electronic input so that all of the tunes for a chime that has multiple tunes may be heard.  
      The present invention provides for an in-store display of doorbell chimes. The Chime MP3 Display has a display board with buttons and associated insignia or description of the particular chime to sound. The display board may be of almost any size or shape and consequently can be designed to take up very little floor space. The buttons are wired to a microprocessor that is in electronic communication with a digital storage device (i.e. multimedia memory card, flash card, etc.) and speakers. When a button is pressed, the microprocessor sends the associated MP3 file from the digital storage device to the speakers. This provides for a significant cost savings over the prior art by avoiding the wiring, maintenance, and floor space costs incurred by putting the actual doorbell chimes on a board to sound. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram showing the elements of the present invention and their relationship to one another;  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the MP3 Player of the present invention showing details of each element;  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the rear of the microcontroller housing shown in  FIG. 2 ; and  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the front of the microcontroller housing shown in  FIG. 2 .  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The Chime Display of the present invention may best be described with reference to the figures.  FIG. 1  provides a schematic diagram showing the elements of the present invention and their relationship to each other. Firmware resides in the microcontroller unit or microprocessor (μP)  100  and is in electronic communication with each element of the present invention. A power supply  109  provides power to the microcontroller and is typically an off-the-shelf UL listed wall transformer that converts 120 V AC to 12V DC. Volume controls  101  provide input to the microcontroller  100  based on the users setting of the volume controls  101 . The button board  102  displays the buttons and associated insignia or chime descriptions and provides the customer with a convenient customer input device for selecting a chime to sound. When one of a plurality of buttons on the button board  102  is pressed by a customer a signal is sent to the microcontroller  100  and the firmware accesses the digital storage device or media  108  and sends the associated digital audio file or sound file such as an MP3 file to the digital to audio converter  103 . The audio signal is sent to the amplifier  104  which causes the speakers  105  and  106  to produce the sound associated with the selected unique chime. The digital memory device or digital storage media  108 , may be a multi-media memory card, flash card or other digital storage device. The digital storage device  108  may be a type that can be a type that can be removed, reprogrammed or replaced. Additionally, the digital storage device  108  may be reprogrammed in place via an electronic port  107  such as a USB, parallel, or serial port. Hence, new digital or MP3 files may be loaded onto digital storage media  108  via the electronic port  107 . In other words, new chimes may be easily stored by the Chime Display of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  provides a perspective view of the present invention showing details of each element of the present invention. Button board  102  has insignia  202  or a description of each chime that is on display. In close proximity to each insignia  202  is an electronic input means or customer input device such as a play selection button  201  or a plurality of play selection buttons  201  that are associated with the proximal insignia  202  or description. A ribbon cable  205  electronically connects the buttons  201  to the microcontroller  100  that is mounted in microcontroller housing  200 .  FIG. 2  also shows the speaker housings  105  and  106  being electronically connected to the microcontroller  100  within microcontroller housing  200  via speaker wires  203 . Additionally, power supply  109  is shown to be in electronic communication with the microcontroller  100  via power supply cable  204 .  
      As can be readily seen, the chime display of the present invention allows for a user to hear the doorbell sounds associated with a plurality of chimes associated with buttons  201  and insignias  202  without the necessity of a completely wired replica doorbell chime display utilizing the actual products. The digital storage media  108  of the present invention stores a plurality of sound files associated with each button  201  and insignia  202  so that a customer may hear the associated doorbell chime.  
       FIG. 3  provides a perspective view of the rear control access panel  300  of the microcontroller  100  within microcontroller housing  200 . The rear control access panel  300  has a power supply receptacle  303  that receives power supply cable  204 . On the opposite side of the rear control access panel  300  is a speaker output terminal block  301  that provides a digital signal to the digital to audio converter  103  via speaker wires  203 . Alternatively, digital to audio converter  103  may be contained within housing  200 . In this alternate embodiment, speaker output terminal block  301  provides an audio signal to speaker wires  203 . Between the speaker output terminal block  301  and power supply receptacle  304  is digital memory device  108  in electronic communication with microcontroller  100 . Digital storage media  108  is shown to be installed in a holder recessed in the rear control access panel  300 . Digital storage media  108  may be removed from this holder and replaced if so desired or reprogrammed.  FIG. 3  also depicts mounting flanges  302  extending from microcontroller housing  200 .  
       FIG. 4  is a front perspective view of the microcontroller housing. Front control access panel  400  has ribbon cable receptacle  403 , volume control switches  402 , and an electronic port  401 , all of which are in electronic communication with microcontroller  100  within housing  200 . Ribbon cable receptacle  403  receives ribbon cable  205  which connects to the play selection buttons  201  on button board  102 . The volume control switches  402  are connected to microcontroller  100  in microcontroller housing  200  and provide the user the ability to adjust the loudness of the chimes being sounded in speakers  105  and  106 . Electronic port  401  provides electronic access to microcontroller  100  and hence all of the elements in electronic communication with microcontroller  100 . Electronic port  401  may be used to access the chime files or MP3s on the digital storage media  108  so that the digital storage device  108  may be reprogrammed without having to be removed. Typically this is done by connecting a computer to the microcontroller  100  via electronic port  401 . Electronic port  401  may be a USB, parallel, serial, or other port that provides electronic communication with microprocessor  100 . The firmware in conjunction with the computer software allows the user to delete, add, or rearrange chimes on digital memory device  108  via electronic port  401 .  
      These figures provide for a single embodiment of the present invention. As one skilled in the art can appreciate, there are many alternative embodiments of the present invention. For instance, front panel  400  and rear panel  300  could be combined by having a single top panel which would provide for the microcontroller  100  access. The housing  200  could provide for a larger surface area on the front panel  400  or rear panel  300  providing enough area to place all of the controls or microcomputer  100  access ports  401  on a single panel thus eliminating one of the access panels. Alternatively, electronic port  401  could be a USB, serial or parallel port or even be eliminated. This may then require digital storage media  108  to be removed to be reprogrammed, yet the present invention would still provide a useful and novel function. Therefore, the figures serve to describe only a single embodiment of the present invention and do not serve to limit the many alternative embodiments claimed herein. In fact the present invention may be used to display a variety of merchandise within a store and still be within the scope of the presently claimed invention. For example, a heater system could be displayed by the present invention where the electronic input device  201  may have buttons  201  on a button board  102  and/or a motion sensor associated with specific electronic files that describe the heater with a sensory output device such as an audio/visual output device that may deliver voice (i.e. description or instructions), graphics, video, or other audio/visuals.