Patent ID: 7400716

Claim:
A multifunctional intercom system, for use by a resident of an apartment building and a visitor to that apartment building, said apartment building having a main front door and a plurality of individual apartments each having a front door having a doorbell, comprising: a main control panel, mountable near the front door of one of the individual apartments, having a message recorder for recording incoming messages left by the visitor, at least one message recorder button for playing the messages left upon the message recorder, a message recorder light which is selectively illuminated, a speaker having an associated listen button and a talk button, for listening and talking by the user, respectively, to the visitor at the main front door, said main control panel also having a CD player having a plurality of CD compartments for selectively holding compact discs, wherein said CD player is in communication with and is capable of playing each of the CDs within the CD compartments, said main control panel further having a clock radio having a radio and an alarm clock; a front door intercom/message unit, in electrical communication with the main control panel, mountable near the main front door of the apartment building, accessed by the visitor visiting the apartment of the resident, said front door intercom/message unit having a speaker, a doorbell button for ringing the resident's doorbell, a message button for leaving a message when the resident is not in the apartment, wherein when the visitor depresses the message button, the message recorder on the control panel records the message, and wherein after the message has been recorded, the message indicator light on the main control panel is illuminated, thereby alerting the resident that the message has been recorded on the message recorder, wherein said front door intercom/message unit is capable of selectively broadcasting music from the CD player or radio on the main control panel; and a remote control unit in communication with the main control panel for allowing the user to selectively access all of the functions on the main control panel from a remote location, said remote control unit having a speaker, a power button for selectively powering the remote control unit, tuning controls for varying the frequency of the radio station playing on the clock radio, buttons for selectively retrieving and playing messages left on the message recorder, buttons for playing the CD player, and volume controls for adjusting the volume of sound provided.