Patent Application
20190235447
The present disclosure relates generally to time telling devices and clocks, and more particularly to clocks with traditional analog hands as well as digital clock features.
Clocks are traditionally divided into two types, analog and digital. The analog clock has a 12-hour-dial and two hands that move around the clock's surface to indicate hours and minutes. The challenge with traditional analog clocks is that they may be difficult to see in the dark. Digital docks generally have a digit numeric readout showing hours and minutes. The challenge with traditional digital clocks is that they are rarely as ornate as analog clocks. Additionally, traditional digital docks may be difficult to see depending on the luminosity or glare due to the ambient light. Therefore, a need exists for a dock provides the ornate design available with analog clocks that also include features of a digital clock so that the time may be seen in the dark.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known art, disclosed herein is a novel solution for an analog-digital clock device. The general purpose of the present invention is to allow a user to use the analog clock features to tell time during the day, and use the digital clock features to tell time at night. The features of the invention that are believed to be novel are distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.
The written disclosure herein describes illustrative embodiments that are non-limiting and non-exhaustive. Reference is made to certain of such illustrative embodiments that are depicted in the figures described below.
The present disclosure will be better understood from the detailed description provided below and from the drawings of various embodiments, methods, and examples herein. These specifics, however, are provided for explanatory purposes that help the various embodiments of the disclosure to be better understood. The invention should therefore not be limited by the described embodiments, methods, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.
In one embodiment, the digital-time display includes a projected numerical image. The face may include a transparent façade upon which the digital time is displayed. In some embodiments, a light emitting diode lights the digital-time display. In some embodiments, the electro-optical sensor includes one or more photon detectors for providing real-time observation of ambient light.
The clock 100 may include one or more speakers coupled to the housing according to various embodiments. The clock 100 may also include a sound memory for storing in digitized form different sounds related to the respective hours of the day that produce an output signal if the ambient light has not dropped below said threshold. The housing may also include a Bluetooth-compatible transceiver positioned substantially within the housing. In one embodiment, the Bluetooth-compatible transceiver is coupled to a pairing switch that is activated by an external communication source. A circuit board having one or more operational characteristics may be positioned substantially within the housing, according to one embodiment.
The clock 100 may include a high-frequency crystal controlled time base, according to one embodiment. The time base may be coupled to a frequency converter in the form of a binary frequency divider that may produce low frequency timing pulses. The timing pulses may control a motor to move the minute hand and the hour hand, according to one embodiment. The clock 100 may also include a settable electronic actuator to produce digital values for concurrently actuating the digital-time display. The digital-time display may be in synchronism with the analog display provided by the minute hand and the hour hand, according to one embodiment.
The clock 100 may also include a microprocessor that includes a data memory for storing the value of one or more selected alarm settings, wherein the microprocessor compares the changing time values corresponding to existing time with the value of the one or more alarm settings to produce an output signal when the changing time values are coincident with the value of the one or more selected alarm settings.
The clock 100 may also include one or more wireless-network-connected-remote-computing devices, wherein the one or more devices receive an input from one or more mobile applications. For instance, in one embodiment the clock may be programmed to synchronize with a calendar application on a mobile phone and automatically set an alarm based on the schedule input into the calendar application. In one embodiment, the clock 100 may be able to synchronize with alarms input into a clock application on a mobile phone such that alarms may be input into the mobile phone directly rather than manually programming the alarms on the user interface. In one embodiment, the clock 100 may include a micro-control unit coupled to the circuit board for receiving remote radio signals. The clock, according to one embodiment, may also include one or more integrated circuits operatively connected to the minute hand and the hour hand as well as the user interface.
Reference throughout this specification to “an embodiment” or “the embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the quoted phrases, or variations thereof, as recited throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the above description of embodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that any claim requires more features than those expressly recited in that claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in a combination of fewer than all features of any single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following this Detailed Description are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. This disclosure includes all permutations of the independent claim with its dependent claims.
It will be apparent to those having skill in the art that changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. Embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.
This application claims the priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/452,619, filed Jan. 31, 2017, and entitled “Analog-Hidden Digital Clock,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
