Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: shri%ccs1@cs.umass.edu (H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Locatable Ringers Message-ID: Date: 4 Oct 89 21:14:27 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: "H.Shrikumar{shri@ncst.in}" Organization: Nat'l Centre for S/w Tech. Bombay, now at Umass, Amherst Lines: 24 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 431, message 3 of 9 >In article Kenneth_R_Jongsma@ cup.portal.com writes: >In a recent issue of the digest, someone mentioned that they wanted a >phone that you could locate by the sound of its ring. .... We also >all have the traditional AT&T 2500 telephones on our desks. Unfortunately, >they are the new electronic ringer style [and all sound the same.] Most ringers today give rather steady tones, which is what makes location rather difficult. (By steady I mean not-much-swept-freqeuncy ). Birds and animals in the wild use such noises to signal "DANGER, SCRAM" So they are heard but they themselves cant be located easily. Now what do the birds do when they want to say "I AM HERE !" .... they emit a sweep of frequencies, or many chirps at different and steadily varying pitch and loudness. That helps location. Ergo - the solution to this problem in ergonomics ! ( Comments Anyone ? ) shrikumar ( shri@ccs1.cs.umass.edu, shri@ncst.in ) Disclaimer: I know where I got this idea, ... in the wild !