Remotely controllable message broadcast system including central programming station, remote message transmitters and repeaters

A remotely controllable message broadcast system comprising:

• a central programming station and a plurality of remote message transmitters;
• said central programming station comprising:
• means for storing therein a library of broadcast messages and a set of remote message transmitter programming instructions;
• and
• means for transmitting selected broadcast messages from said library and selected remote message transmitter programming instructions from said set to said plurality of remote message transmitters upon receipt of an external stimulus;
• each of said plurality of remote message transmitters comprising:
• means for receiving said selected broadcast messages and said selected remote message transmitter programming instructions from said central programming station;
• means for storing therein a subset of said selected broadcast messages and a subset of said selected remote message transmitter programming instructions based upon predetermined selection criteria;
• and
• means for locally transmitting at least one of the subset of said selected broadcast messages, in a predetermined sequence under control of the subset of said selected remote transmitter programming instructions stored therein;
• whereby different sequences of messages from said library are broadcast in different local coverage areas of said remote message transmitters, under remote control of said central programming station.

A message broadcast system comprising:

• a remote message transmitter and a plurality of repeaters;
• said remote message transmitter comprising:
• means for receiving broadcast messages and remote message transmitter programming instructions;
• means for storing therein received broadcast messages and received remote message transmitter programming instructions;
• and
• means for locally transmitting at least one of the stored broadcast messages, in a predetermined sequence under control of the remote transmitter programming instructions stored therein;
• each of said plurality of repeaters being located to receive the locally transmitted at least one of the stored broadcast messages, each of said plurality of repeaters comprising:
• means for receiving the locally transmitted at least one of the stored broadcast messages;
• and
• means for locally retransmitting the received locally transmitted at least one of the stored broadcast messages.

A remote message transmitter comprising:

• means for receiving broadcast messages and remote message transmitter programming instructions;
• means for storing therein said broadcast messages and said remote message transmitter programming instructions;
• and
• means for locally transmitting at least one of the stored broadcast messages, in a predetermined sequence under control of the remote transmitter programming instructions stored therein.

A digital recorder/player for simultaneously recording and playing digital messages, comprising:

• a random access memory;
• first and second coder/decoders connected to said random access memory;
• said first coder/decoder including means for sampling a message, means for digitizing the sampled message, and means for storing the digitized message at a first predetermined address in said random access memory;
• said second coder/decoder including means for reading a message from a second predetermined address in said random accessory memory, and means of reconverting the contents of said second predetermined address into an analog signal;
• said means for storing the digitized message and said means for reading a message being arranged to operate during successive time intervals, whereby simultaneous storage of received broadcast messages and playback of stored messages may occur.