Patent Application
20060221236
The present invention relates to a technology of displaying numbers, and more particularly, to a television that can show television programs and numbers on the display of the television at the same time.
In busy cities, apparently everyone has experienced queuing and waiting, no matter it is queuing for an appointment in a hospital, a banking service in a bank, an ordered food in a restaurant. Queuing in a line not only occupies spaces but also forbids a person who is waiting in the queue to leave the line and pursue something else while waiting. It is thus time consuming as well as frustrating.
Therefore, numbered cards are given out to people to replace the conventional way of personally queuing in a line, so that people can sit down and watch television or read magazine etc. and will be summoned when a numbering display machine shows the same number he/she has on his/her card.
Conventionally, the numbering display machine and the television are separately provided, such that people who are watching the television while waiting have to check the numbering display machine from time to time. This causes a lot of inconvenience. Sometimes, one may even miss the call when one is too concentrated on watching the television program.
From the above technical drawbacks, a main objective of the present invention is to provide a television with number displaying function, which shows both number and television program on the screen of the television to provide a user to see queue number while watching television program at the same time. This eliminates the need for the user to check from time to time the queue number being called upon and also reduces the possibility of missing the queue number when the user is too concentrated in watching television, when the queue number is conventionally displayed in a separate device from the television.
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a television with number displaying function. The television with number displaying function of the present invention comprises: a controlling unit, an output unit, a wireless controlling device, a receiver, and a memory unit. The output unit can display both television program and number simultaneously and also make a number switching ringing tone, allowing the user to see instant queue number while watching television program at the same time, as well as notified of the switching number via the ringing tone. The wireless controlling device provides the user to remotely alter the number and number switching ringing tone outputted by the output unit and the different ways of displaying the number by sending signals to the receiver. The receiver is used to receive signals sent by the wireless controlling device and then forward the signals to the controlling unit. The memory unit calculates the number to be displayed and stores the displaying settings for the display of the number in accordance with the signals received by the receiver.
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the advantages and functions of the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art after reading the detailed description. The present invention should cover various modifications and variations made to the herein-described structure and operations of the present invention, provided they fall within the scope of the present invention.
The controlling unit 11 is a central processing unit of the television for displaying numbers 10, and is electrically connected to the output unit 12, the receiver 14 and the memory unit 15. Its main function is to implement the program stored in the memory unit 15, analyze and process signals received by the receiver 14.
The output unit 12 (e.g. a LCD display) can show a television program and a number on the same screen simultaneously. The system thus allows a user to notice the number displayed while watching television program at the same time. A ringing sound is also made when the number is switched so that the user is notified when the number is changed. The number can be displayed as a scrolling or flashing number or a fixed-light display. Moreover, how a television program is displayed simultaneously with another message is well known in the art, thus it will not be described further in order to maintain clarity of the description.
The wireless controlling device 13 sends signals to the receiver 14; the signals includes alteration of numbers, choice of display method for the number and alteration of the ringing tone, which allows a number controller (not shown) to remotely alter the number and ringing tone shown on the output unit 12, and also provides the number controller to choose different display method for numbers.
The receiver 14 is used to receive the signals sent by the wireless controlling device 13 and forward the signals to the controlling unit 11 for analysis and processing.
The memory unit 15 is used to store a calculating module 151 and data display module 152, wherein the calculating module 151 can perform accumulation of the number. Therefore, when it is time to switch to the next number, the number is accumulated by one. The data display module 152 provides settings of display locations, display methods and the ringing tones etc. The operations of the calculating module 151 and the data display module 152 are further explained as follows.
When the wireless controlling device 13 delivers a signal of ‘next number’ to the receiver 14, the receiver 14 then sends it to the controlling unit 11. Then, the controlling unit 11 makes the calculating module 151 in the memory unit 15 accumulates the currently stored number by one. The resulting accumulated number is then read by the controlling unit 11. Thereafter, the data display module 152 is implemented, so as to display the number on the output unit 12 according to the various settings such as the display location, the display method and the switching ringing tone stored in the module.
When the wireless controlling device 13 sends another signal of ‘number switching+29’, the signal is sent to the controlling unit 11 after receiving by the receiver 14, and the controlling unit 11 reads the calculating module 151 in the memory unit 15 to switch the currently displayed number to 29, then the data display module 152 is implemented, so as to display the number on the output unit 12 according to the various settings such as the display location, the display method and the switching ringing tone stored in the module.
When the wireless controlling device 13 sends yet another signal of ‘29+flash’, the signal is sent to the controlling unit 11 after receiving by the receiver 14, and the controlling unit 11 reads the data display module 152 in the memory unit 15, and then a flash setting is set to ‘Yes’ in the data display module 152, thus the number 29 is displayed in a flashing manner.
When the wireless controlling device 13 sends yet another signal of ‘29+scrolling to the right’, the signal is sent to the controlling unit 11 after receiving by the receiver 14, and the controlling unit 11 reads the data display module 152 in the memory unit 15, then the scroll setting is set to ‘Yes’ in the data display module 152, also the direction of scrolling setting is set to ‘R’ to make number 29 scrolling from left towards right on the output unit 12. Conversely, when ‘29+scrolling to the left’ is chosen, only the scrolling direction setting is set to ‘L’ while the rest is the same.
The invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded then broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
