Abstract: An adjustable monitor stand that can hold a monitor includes a carrier, a base, and a low friction insert. First and second channel insertion portions extend from a curved lower surface of the low friction insert. Each has outer walls to be received by and fixedly engage with first and second base channels formed in a curved upper surface of the base, respectively, to prevent movement of the low friction insert with respect to the base. The first and second channel insertion portions each have inner walls to receive first and second protrusions extending from a curved lower surface of the carrier, respectively, and permit the carrier to be moved about a non-vertical axis as the first and second protrusions slide along the inner walls. The first and second protrusions of the carrier also form a frictional engagement with the inner walls of the first and second channel insertion portions.

Abstract: A pair of shade brackets and a diverter are provided for diverting a shade material of a roller shade to a fixed drop down position. The pair of mounting brackets are adapted to secure to a structure and retain the roller shade therebetween. Each mounting bracket comprises a diverter retaining portion. The diverter comprises a diverter roller and a pair of bearings disposed on two opposite ends of the diverter roller. The diverter is removably retained between the pair of mounting brackets such that each bearing is engaged by a respective diverter retaining portion and the diverter roller is adapted to freely rotate via the bearings. As the shade material is raised or lowered, the diverter roller rolls on the shade material via the bearings.

Abstract: A touch control panel assembly defining a plurality of touch buttons each adapted to control at least one function of at least one associated load. The touch control panel assembly comprises a front panel assembly adapted to removably attach to a rear panel assembly. The rear panel assembly comprises a user interface board comprising a plurality of touch sensing fields disposed at locations corresponding to the plurality of touch buttons to detect user input through the front panel. The user interface also comprises a plurality of light sources to provide backlighting to the touch buttons. The front panel assembly comprises a front panel and a frame comprising a frame wall attached to a rear surface of the front panel. The frame wall comprises a plurality of openings extending therethrough at locations corresponding to the touch buttons that define a plurality of label compartments.

Abstract: Described herein is a retrofit digital speaker system comprising two or more retrofitted speaker enclosures, each of the two or more retrofitted speaker enclosures (enclosures) comprising: at least one speaker; and an analog-and-digital interface adapted to receive digitally encoded audio signals, electrical power, and digital command signals, and wherein the digitally encoded audio signals, electrical power, and digital command signals are transmitted over existing two wire analog audio cables, and further wherein the two or more retrofitted speaker enclosures are wired in a daisy chain fashion, via the existing two wire analog audio cables.

Abstract: A touch control panel assembly defining a plurality of touch buttons each adapted to control at least one function of at least one associated load. The touch control panel assembly comprises a front panel assembly adapted to removably attach to a rear panel assembly. The rear panel assembly comprises a user interface board comprising a plurality of touch sensing fields disposed at locations corresponding to the plurality of touch buttons to detect user input through the front panel. The user interface also comprises a plurality of light sources to provide backlighting to the touch buttons. The front panel assembly comprises a front panel and a frame comprising a frame wall attached to a rear surface of the front panel. The frame wall comprises a plurality of openings extending therethrough at locations corresponding to the touch buttons that define a plurality of label compartments.

Abstract: A hem bar of a cable guided shade adapted to be removably attached to a pair of cables secured along opposite sides of a structural opening. The hem bar comprises a pair of cable engaging portions disposed at two opposite ends of the hem bar. Each cable engaging portion comprises a tubular body with a longitudinal channel extending therein and a slot traversing the tubular body from the top end to the bottom end of the tubular body. The hem bar may removably and slidably engage the pair of cables by twisting the hem bar in a first direction to align each slot in the cable engaging portions with a length of the respective cable, inserting the cables through the slots into the channels in the cable engaging portions of the hem bar, and twisting the hem bar in a second direction, opposite the first direction, to capture the cables within the channels in the cable engaging portions.

Abstract: A control system is disclosed that includes a room controller transmitting signals to both a shade control network and a light control network, directing that motorized roller shades and dimmable lights be set to desired intensity levels. The control system further includes an intelligent hub that provides a trickle-charge re-charge current via power-over-Ethernet cables to batteries associated with each of the motorized roller shades for re-charging the batteries, thereby eliminating power supplies being installed within walls. The intelligent hub provides for communication with the room controller based on streaming protocol and with the shade control network based on event-based protocol. A computer running user interface software may be connected to the system to facilitate programming.

Abstract: A roller shade is disclosed comprising a motor pretensioned counterbalancing spring that lowers the torque load on the motor of the roller shade throughout the rolling up or rolling down cycles. The roller shade comprises a motor drive unit at least partially disposed within a roller tube. The motor drive unit comprises a motor adapted to drive a drive wheel through a clutch. The motor drive unit further comprises a first spring carrier adapted to be stationary during operation of the motor drive unit. The drive wheel is operably connected to the roller tube and comprises a second spring carrier. The motor drive unit further comprises a counterbalancing spring connected at its first end to the first spring carrier and at its second end to the second spring carrier.

Abstract: A motorized shade for covering a window, a door, or a wall opening is provided that can be actuated by touching its hem bar. The motorized shade, such as a roller shade, comprises a shade material extending from a top end to a bottom end, a hem bar assembly connected to the bottom end of the shade material, and a shade drive unit operably connected to the top end of the shade material. The hem bar assembly comprises a touch sensing module adapted to detect a user touching the hem bar assembly and transmit a control signal in response to the detected touch. The shade drive unit comprises a motor and a motor control module adapted to receive the control signal and control the motor to open or close the shade material. The control signal can be wirelessly transmitted from the touch sensing module to the motor control module.

Abstract: A building management system and method that determines space utilization in a building. The building management system comprises room utilization sensors, such as occupancy sensors, a gateway that gathers raw occupancy data records from the occupancy sensors, and at least one processor. Each raw occupancy data record comprises an occupancy state associated with a timestamp. The processor is configured for normalizing the raw occupancy data records into normalized occupancy data records each comprising a time segment and an occupancy state indicating whether for a given time segment a room is occupied. The processor is further configured for structuring the normalized occupancy data records by associating each normalized occupancy data record with a space node corresponding to a room in the building from where the raw occupancy data record was collected and associating each space node with a set of tags, each tag defining a single state from a plurality of states.

Abstract: A cable retractor is disclosed and includes a housing. A spool is disposed within the housing and is mechanically coupled to the housing and rotatable about an axis. A spring mechanism is operatively attached to the spool and is configured to urge the spool to rotate in a first rotational direction about the axis. An electrically operated rotation regulator is operatively attached to the spool and is configured to, when activated, prevent the spool from rotating in the first rotational direction.

Abstract: An inventive Power over Ethernet (PoE) Powered Device (60) includes an auxiliary processor (62) which negotiates a power level with a PoE Power Sourcing Equipment using a first link layer (650), means for holding the PoE Powered Device in a low power state, and a second link layer (50) which allows the main processor to communicate over the Ethernet.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus and method for determining which controllable device an audible command is directed towards, the method comprising: receiving at each of two or more controlling devices the audible command signal, the audible command being directed to control at least one of two or more controllable devices controlled by a respective one of the two or more controlling devices; digitizing each of the received audible command signals; attaching a unique identifier to each digitized audible command so as to uniquely correlate it to a respective controlling device; determining a magnitude of each of the digitized audible command; determining a digitized audible command with the greatest magnitude, and further determining to which controlling device the audible command is directed to on the basis of the unique identifier associated with the digitized audible command with the greatest magnitude; performing speech recognition on the digitized audible command with the greatest magnitude; and forwarding a com

Abstract: A cable retractor enclosure having a weighted cable pulley and cable pulley guide rails. The cable pulley is rotatable about a pivot and configured to translate along said grooves when a cable wrapped underneath is extracted from the cable retractor enclosure. The cable extends outside of the retractor enclosure from its upper end and provides a cable end plug that sits within a retractor module insert. Weights may be attached to the cable pulley in order to leverage gravitational forces, which result in a bias causing the cable to retract back into the enclosure. Friction forces against the extracted cable can be used to prevent the gravitational bias the cable pulley exerts (retraction forces) on the cable by bending the cable to lay flat onto a table surface.

Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for automatically forming a wireless personal area network (PAN) comprising a network auto-formation (NAF) process. At least one network coordinating device initializes a PAN and transmits at least one beacon comprising PAN information. A network joining device performs a number of scan/listen cycles by actively scanning a plurality of wireless channels for PANs by masking out channels in a scan channel mask, and listening for beacons on channels in a listen channel list. The scan channel mask and the listen channel list are updated during each scan/listen cycle. The scan channel mask may comprise channels containing desired PANs, non-desired PANs, and channels on which beacons were heard. The listen channel list may comprise channels containing desired PANs and channels on which beacons were heard. The NAF process further comprises receiving PAN information included in heard beacons and attempting to join the best network based on the PAN information.

Abstract: According to a first aspect of the embodiments, a microphone mixer is provided comprising: an input adapted to receive differential microphone (mic) output signals; a gain-trim circuit adapted to receive the differential mic output signals, and which includes a substantially fully differential amplifier adapted to amplify the received differential mic output signals through use of a gain-trim output adjustment device that provides a variable gain amount ranging from a first gain-trim gain value to a second gain-trim gain value, to produce differential gain-trim circuit output signals; a fader circuit adapted to receive the differential gain-trim circuit output signals, and which includes a differential amplifier adapted to attenuate the received differential gain-trim circuit output signals through use of a fader output adjustment device that provides a variable gain amount ranging from a first fader gain value to a second fader value; and a common adjustment apparatus that mechanically ties the gain-trim out

Abstract: A building management system that determines space utilization in a building. The building management system comprises room utilization sensors, such as occupancy sensors, a gateway that gathers raw occupancy data records from the occupancy sensors, and at least one processor. Each raw occupancy data record comprises an occupancy state associated with a timestamp. The processor is configured for normalizing the raw occupancy data records into normalized occupancy data records each comprising a time segment and an occupancy state indicating whether for a given time segment a room is occupied. The processor is further configured for structuring the normalized occupancy data records by associating each normalized occupancy data record with a space node corresponding to a room in the building from where the raw occupancy data record was collected and associating each space node with a set of tags, each tag defining a single state from a plurality of states.