EP1296408A2 - Deckenpaneel mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem - Google Patents

Deckenpaneel mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1296408A2
EP1296408A2 EP02026799A EP02026799A EP1296408A2 EP 1296408 A2 EP1296408 A2 EP 1296408A2 EP 02026799 A EP02026799 A EP 02026799A EP 02026799 A EP02026799 A EP 02026799A EP 1296408 A2 EP1296408 A2 EP 1296408A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
transmitter
ceiling tile
ceiling
receiver device
receiver
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP02026799A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1296408A3 (de
Inventor
Sandor A. Frecska
John E. Cronin
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Armstrong World Industries Inc
Original Assignee
Armstrong World Industries Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Armstrong World Industries Inc filed Critical Armstrong World Industries Inc
Priority claimed from EP00116401A external-priority patent/EP1081506B1/de
Publication of EP1296408A2 publication Critical patent/EP1296408A2/de
Publication of EP1296408A3 publication Critical patent/EP1296408A3/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q23/00—Antennas with active circuits or circuit elements integrated within them or attached to them
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E04—BUILDING
    • E04B—GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS; WALLS, e.g. PARTITIONS; ROOFS; FLOORS; CEILINGS; INSULATION OR OTHER PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS
    • E04B9/00—Ceilings; Construction of ceilings, e.g. false ceilings; Ceiling construction with regard to insulation
    • E04B9/04—Ceilings; Construction of ceilings, e.g. false ceilings; Ceiling construction with regard to insulation comprising slabs, panels, sheets or the like
    • E04B9/0457—Ceilings; Construction of ceilings, e.g. false ceilings; Ceiling construction with regard to insulation comprising slabs, panels, sheets or the like having closed internal cavities
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/007—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas specially adapted for indoor communication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H01Q1/1207—Supports; Mounting means for fastening a rigid aerial element
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
    • H01Q1/24—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/40—Radiating elements coated with or embedded in protective material
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/44—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas using equipment having another main function to serve additionally as an antenna, e.g. means for giving an antenna an aesthetic aspect

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a ceiling tile transmitter and receiver system for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals in a defined area of a building space comprising a ceiling tile or panel including a front surface to be faced towards the room, a back surface to be faced towards the plenum, and lateral surfaces and at least one transmitter/receiver device supported by the ceiling tile.
  • Building management systems contain various appliances for building service functions, a control system for control and regulation of the appliances, and a communication bus for communication of signals between the control system and the appliances.
  • Such a system is used for the central management of building functions, such as lighting, heating, and ventilation etc.
  • the appliances include, for example, lighting, heating equipment, air-conditioning devices or electrically movable window blinds.
  • the central management of energy consumption services allows a relatively easy adjustment of the level of light or temperature to the actual existing demand at any moment. This results in considerable savings of energy and costs.
  • Such a system precisely monitors energy consumption and enables accurate billing of the users in a multi-user building.
  • Such a building management system can also be used for peak saving purposes to comply with the requirements of an electric company to keep power consumption below an agreed maximum level.
  • One communication system may require one frequency setting whereas another communication system may require an entirely different frequency setting.
  • one communication system may require a certain power or gain, whereas another would be different.
  • Antenna gain is related to antenna size, and therefore if more gain is needed, the size of the antenna is increased.
  • Aesthetics have become of primary importance in building ceiling systems. Many ceiling manufacturers offer a wide variety of designs and colors for their suspended ceiling systems.
  • the local controllers and the appliances are connected to the communication bus by wires.
  • this is a drawback as space layouts are often changed. Changing space layouts almost always requires displacement of the appliances and frequently the tearing down and rebuilding of internal walls. To achieve a flexible floor layout at low cost, a minimum amount of wiring in the walls is required.
  • a hard-wired communication bus is used to connect to the local room wireless transmitter/receiver systems. These wireless transmitter/receiver systems are used to communicate between the bus and the appliances in the room.
  • the communication bus system is still a "hardwired" configuration. This leads to a decrease in flexibility, since a room's square footage may change over time, and therefore the transmitter/receiver devices and the hardwired communication bus may also need to be changed or rerouted. Rerouting or changing current transmitter/receiver devices requires modifying ceiling panels (drilling/punching/cutting) and replacing the ceiling tiles that had the transmitter/ receiver device in it.
  • transmitter/receiver devices have poor aesthetics when suspended from ceiling panels.
  • a rod or dish antenna system is added to the ceiling panel to allow it to communicate to appliances below.
  • the prior art of the generic kind according to GB 2 283 642 A discloses a suspended ceiling consisting of runners, the flanges of which support the ceiling tiles.
  • One of these ceiling tiles is modified by having mounted thereabove a base station for a radio telephone system.
  • the base station has an H-field flat antenna printed on a printed circuit board.
  • the antenna is coplanar with the ceiling tile and may be mounted on the upper or lower surface thereof.
  • the underside of this modified ceiling tile matches the remaining ceiling tiles of the suspended ceiling.
  • US 4 923 032 discloses a suspended ceiling comprising a grid structure of inverted T-shaped runners supporting ceiling tiles of standard size.
  • a loudspeaker module of the same size.
  • This module consists of a mounting panel corresponding in size and shape to a ceiling tile.
  • a pair of speakers is installed in the mounting panel.
  • a shallow rear housing is attached to the mounting panel provided with electrical connectors on its rear side, while on the opposite side a demountable grill is attached to the mounting panel to enclose the front faces of the speakers.
  • the demountable grill includes an acoustically transparent covering of cloth or the like which may be colored and/or textured to match the surface of the adjacent ceiling tiles.
  • an insulating foam material is located between the mounting panel and the supporting flanges of the grid to provide a vibration absorbing interface between the module and the supporting grid.
  • the deformable grill extends beyond the plane of the room facing surfaces of the runners.
  • the transmitter/receiver device is embedded adjacent to the front surface and a scrim cover is placed over the entire front surface of the ceiling tile.
  • the transmitter/receiver device may be encapsulated within the ceiling tile during manufacturing.
  • the transmitter/receiver device can also be embedded inside the ceiling tile by an adhesive that attaches a plug of the ceiling tile to the transmitter/receiver device to cover the opening created in the ceiling tile.
  • the transmitter/receiver device may be embedded in the front side of the ceiling tile and a "scrim" covering is placed over it.
  • the transmitter/receiver device can also be embedded inside the ceiling tile.
  • the transmitter/receiver device can also be embedded on the front surface of the ceiling tile, where the transmitter adds to, or integrates into, the overall aesthetics of the ceiling tile.
  • Various combinations of these embodiments can be used with a single ceiling tile.
  • the ceiling tile transmitter and receiver system described herein can be incorporated into a wireless communication plane providing an umbrella of connectivity for devices. Such devices can span a range from appliances to computer clients (workstations, laptops, hand-held devices, etc.).
  • RF antennas, transceivers and receivers can be embedded in the ceiling tile.
  • the transmitters/receivers can be embedded in the ceiling tile.
  • the components of the transmitter/receiver system include miniature antennas, single chip transceivers, sensors, power supplies, microprocessors, etc.
  • the transmitter/receiver system in one preferred embodiment employs an omnidirectional multistrip antenna that has a toroidal field pattern and provides omnidirectional coverage in any plane around the long axis of the antenna and two lobes in any plane parallel to the long axis.
  • Such microstrip antenna and also omnidirectional air-loaded patch element antennas are available for different frequencies and application requirements.
  • One exemplary antenna that can be used is the Microsphere omnidirectional microstrip antenna available from Xertex Technologies.
  • Fig.1 illustrates a transmitter/receiver device embedded within a ceiling tile.
  • Fig. 1 Shown in Fig. 1 is a section from a ceiling tile 1, with back surface (facing towards the plenum) 10 and a front surface (facing towards the room) 20.
  • back surface and “upper surface” are used interchangeably.
  • front surface and “lower surface” are interchangeable.
  • the transmitter/receiver device is embedded inside the ceiling tile.
  • the antenna 50 with extruding leads 60 can be effectively buried within the ceiling tile 1, with back surface 10 and front surface 20. Note that the extruding leads 60 are protruding from the back surface 10. This embodiment fully protects the antenna or device from any outside sources of mechanical damage, and provides the antenna or device with further environmental protection from moisture etc., that the ceiling tile allows.
  • the antenna or device can be encapsulated during part of the ceiling tile manufacturing process, if the highest temperature of the ceiling tile manufacturing process is lower than the limit that the antenna can withstand. During normal ceiling tile manufacturing, temperatures of 350°C are often reached.
  • the semiconductor process used to form an antenna is usually above the 350°C level, and the thermoset glue used to hold the rest of the antenna structure together can be designed to be higher than the 350°C ceiling tile process limit.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Selective Calling Equipment (AREA)
  • Finishing Walls (AREA)
EP02026799A 1999-08-10 2000-07-28 Deckenpaneel mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem Withdrawn EP1296408A3 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US14806099P 1999-08-10 1999-08-10
US148060P 1999-08-10
EP00116401A EP1081506B1 (de) 1999-08-10 2000-07-28 Deckenfliese mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP00116401A Division EP1081506B1 (de) 1999-08-10 2000-07-28 Deckenfliese mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1296408A2 true EP1296408A2 (de) 2003-03-26
EP1296408A3 EP1296408A3 (de) 2004-01-02

Family

ID=26071232

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP02026799A Withdrawn EP1296408A3 (de) 1999-08-10 2000-07-28 Deckenpaneel mit einem Sender-Empfängersystem

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1296408A3 (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2005031383A1 (en) 2003-09-27 2005-04-07 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Network for locating a wireless tag

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS58171104A (ja) * 1982-03-31 1983-10-07 Matsushita Electric Works Ltd アンテナ装置
US4456793A (en) * 1982-06-09 1984-06-26 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated Cordless telephone system
JPH03235432A (ja) * 1990-02-09 1991-10-21 Kubota Corp 情報記憶媒体
GB2283642A (en) * 1993-11-06 1995-05-10 Nokia Telecommunications Oy Radio communication apparatus
DE29510146U1 (de) * 1995-06-22 1995-08-24 Siemens AG, 80333 München Dachpfanne

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS58171104A (ja) * 1982-03-31 1983-10-07 Matsushita Electric Works Ltd アンテナ装置
US4456793A (en) * 1982-06-09 1984-06-26 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated Cordless telephone system
JPH03235432A (ja) * 1990-02-09 1991-10-21 Kubota Corp 情報記憶媒体
GB2283642A (en) * 1993-11-06 1995-05-10 Nokia Telecommunications Oy Radio communication apparatus
DE29510146U1 (de) * 1995-06-22 1995-08-24 Siemens AG, 80333 München Dachpfanne

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 008, no. 004 (E-220), 10 January 1984 (1984-01-10) & JP 58 171104 A (MATSUSHITA DENKO KK), 7 October 1983 (1983-10-07) *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 016, no. 018 (E-1155), 17 January 1992 (1992-01-17) & JP 03 235432 A (KUBOTA CORP), 21 October 1991 (1991-10-21) *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2005031383A1 (en) 2003-09-27 2005-04-07 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Network for locating a wireless tag

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1296408A3 (de) 2004-01-02

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