Abstract:
A computing device capable of time sorting and its control method are disclosed, wherein a clock is embedded in the computing device for providing corresponding time parameters so as to sort and sum up the inputted income/expense values to be saved according to time parameters. Further, the summation of income values or expense values can be computed and displayed according to different time periods, such as the summation that occurred during each past day, each past week, each past month, each past season, each past year, etc.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a computing device capable of time sorting and its control method, which is used in electronic equipment capable of clocking, inputting, displaying, and computing.  
         [0003]     2. Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     Currently, the conventional computing device, such as a calculator, provides a convenient way for users to process calculations with its rapid and correct computing ability. However, the conventional calculator can only execute an expression inputted by the user, and then output the resulted value of the expression without saving the resulted value, sorting the saved value according to time or other purposes, or even accumulating income or expense values to obtain a balance. Therefore, when a user tends to keep account by utilizing the conventional calculator, for example, to compute an income summation and an expense summation that occurred during the past week, the user has to classify values as income values and expense values manually before one by one keying in those income/expense values that occurred during the past week for obtaining the income/expense summation. Thus, it is getting more inconvenient, time-consuming, and error-prone for users to classify income/expense values and compute income/expense summation that occurred during a longer period of time, such as the past month, the past season, or even the past year.  
         [0005]     Therefore, it is desirable to provide an improved computing device capable of time sorting and its control method to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     A main object of the present invention is to provide a computing device capable of time sorting and its control method, which provides a clocking function to automatically accumulate values according to different time classifications, and to compute the summation of saved values that occurred during different time periods (for example, during each past day, each past week, each past month, each past season, each past season, etc.) so as to improve the usage convenience.  
         [0007]     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a computing device capable of time sorting and its control method, which saves income values and expense values in accordance with their corresponding classification, and automatically computes the income summation and expense summation that occurred during a specific time period without manually classifying and keying in those values for further computation. Therefore, reliability and correctness can be improved to eliminate manual mistakes.  
         [0008]     A further objective of the present invention is to provide a computing device capable of time sorting and its control method, which provides a time-sorting design according to the efficiency of each computing device itself. For example, income/expense values that occurred during the same day are saved in the same field of the memory without separately saving each income/expense value so as to save the memory space and to lower the cost of the computing device.  
         [0009]     To achieve the object, the computing device capable of time sorting of the present invention includes a display module, an input module, a memory, a clock, and a microprocessor. The display module displays values. The input module is capable of inputting, and has at least one save key for saving the value display in the display module, and at least one summation key for computing a saved value. The memory saves the value received from the input module after the at least one save key is pressed. The clock is embedded in the computing device of the present invention for providing a corresponding time parameter while the memory saves the value. The microprocessor receives a save command after the save key of the input module is pressed, controls the memory to save the value in conjunction with the corresponding time parameter provided by the clock according to the save command, and receives a summation command after the summation key of the input module is pressed for computing a summation of the value saved in the memory.  
         [0010]     According to another aspect of the present invention, a control method applied in the above-mentioned computing device capable of time sorting firstly receives an input command, and then displays a value after the input command is executed. Next, a save command is received for saving the inputted value in conjunction with a corresponding time parameter in a memory. When a summation command is received, a summation, such as an income summation or an expense summation, of the value saved in the memory can be computed.  
         [0011]     Further, the at least one save key of the present invention comprises an income key and an expense save key for computing the income summation and the expense summation. The summation of the values saved in the memory that occurred during a specific time period, such as during each past day, each past week, each past month, each past season, and each past year, is computed after the at least one summation key is pressed.  
         [0012]     Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a computing device capable of time sorting according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the computing device capable of time sorting according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart for inputting income/expense values according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart for displaying income/expense values according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a front view of a computing device capable of time sorting according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0018]     Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a computing device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The computing device  1  is a calculator  10  capable of time sorting. The computing device  1  can also be a printing calculator, a data bank, an electronic dictionary, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other electronic equipment capable of clocking and computing without restriction of the calculator  10  of the present embodiment. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the appearance of the calculator  10  includes a display module  11  and an input module  12 . The input module  12  comprises number keys and operator keys, and it further comprises a set of save keys  121  and a set of summation keys  122 .  
         [0019]     With reference to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a block diagram of the calculator  10  of the present embodiment. The calculator  10  includes the display module  11 , the input module  12 , a memory  13 , a clock  14 , and a microprocessor  15 . The display module  11  is used for displaying. The input module  12  is capable of inputting, for example, for simply inputting a value, or continuously inputting a series of values and operators to form an expression, and then a resulted value is computed by the microprocessor  15  according to the expression. In particular, one of the save keys  121  of the input module  12  is defined as an income save key A 1 , and the other one is defined as an expense save key B 1 . The summation keys  122  share some buttons with the number keys, and each summation key  122  is defined as different time period, where “D” represents “day”, “W” represents “week”, “M” represents “month”, “S” represents “season”, and “Y” represents “year”. The “Switch” key is used for switching the corresponding function of the number key and the summation key  122 . The memory  13  is preferred to be a random access memory (RAM) for saving values. In this embodiment, the memory  13  defines an income save unit (field) for saving income values, and an expense save unit for saving expense values.  
         [0020]     Due to the facility of keeping account by utilizing a calculator to compute the summation of income and expense for further obtaining the balance, the calculator  10  of this embodiment as shown in  FIG. 3  firstly receives an expression or a value (i.e. input command) inputted via the input module  12  by a user (step S 301 ). The microprocessor  15  executes the input command to obtain a resulted value (step S 302 ). If the resulted value represents an income value, the income save key A 1  of save keys  121  is then pressed to generate a save command (step S 303 ). Thus the microprocessor  15  saves the value in conjunction with a corresponding time parameter provided by the clock  14  in the income save unit of the memory  13  according to the save command (step S 304 ), and then accumulatively updates today&#39;s income value (step S 305 ). Accordingly, if the resulted value represents an expense value, the expense save key B 1  is pressed to save the value in the expense save unit, and the microprocessor  15  accumulatively updates today&#39;s expense value (from step  303  to step S 305 ).  
         [0021]     The income save unit and expense save unit save income values and expense values in corresponding fields. In this embodiment, each field of the income save unit and expense save unit saves values that occurred during “each day” according to its time parameter. That is, each day is defined with a corresponding income save field for saving income values that occurred during the day, and a corresponding expense save field for saving expense values that occurred during the day without separately saving each income and expense value so as to obviously save the space of the memory  13 . The memory  13  can also one by one save all of the income and expense values as long as it has enough space. Furthermore, the memory  13  of this embodiment is defined to save income values and expense values that occurred only during the past 90 days. Therefore the preceding income and expense save fields will be sequentially replaced by the newly occurred income values and expense values after the 91st day. In case the memory  13  has a larger space, it can expand its save fields to save more values.  
         [0022]     Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a flowchart for displaying the income/expense summation according to this embodiment. For example, the microprocessor  15  receives a summation command after the summation key  122  “D” corresponding to the button of number key “1” is pressed (step S 401 ). The microprocessor  15  then computes the income summation of each past day from the income save unit of the memory  13 , and the expense summation of each past day from the expense save unit (step S 402 ). Next, the income summation or the expense summation of each past day can be displayed in the display module  11  (step S 405 ). The microprocessor  15  of the embodiment computes everyday income/expense summations occurred during the past 31 days as a basis of a month. The user uses the selection key, such as the up/down arrow key (not shown), to select the income/expense summation according to requirements. Moreover, the microprocessor  15  also computes a balance by subtracting the income summation from the expense summation. It is noted that the computing efficiency of the microprocessor  15  is designed according to a practical requirement that is not limited in this embodiment.  
         [0023]     In the same way, if the summation key  122  “W” corresponding to the button of number key “2” is pressed to generate another summation command (step S 401 ), the microprocessor  15  computes the income summation and the expense summation of each past week (step S 403 ). Similarly, the user also uses the selection key to select the required income/expense summation to be displayed in the display module  11  (step S 405 ). While the summation key  122  “M” corresponding to the button of number key “3” is pressed (step S 401 ), the microprocessor  15  computes the income summation and the expense summation of each past month (step S 404 ) to be displayed in the display module  11  (step S 405 ). According to the above-mentioned embodiment, the microprocessor  15  can compute the summation of income/expense values that occurred during each past day, each past week, each past month, each past season, or even each past year according to the definition of the summation key  122  being pressed.  
         [0024]     The microprocessor  15  of this embodiment defines that each past week counts from Sunday, each past month counts from the first day of each month, each past season counts from the first day of each season, and each past year counts from January 1. Of course the microprocessor  15  can define that the past week covers the previous 7 days, the past month covers the previous 30 days, the past season covers the previous 90 days, etc.  
         [0025]     With reference to  FIG. 5 , there is shown a perspective view of the computing device according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the summation key  222  of the calculator  20  is a multi-functional key, wherein the summation of the past day is obtained after the summation key  222  is pressed once, the summation of the past week is obtained after the summation key  222  is pressed twice, and so on. Each input key of the input module  22  is designed as a multi-functional key or an independent key depending on the size of the computing device.  
         [0026]     According to the aforementioned embodiments, the computing device of the present invention automatically sorts saved values according to its corresponding time parameter or purpose, and computes the summation of saved values by selecting saved values that occurred from the group of: each past day, each past week, each past month, etc. Therefore the usage convenience is improved. Further, the present invention classifies values as income values and expense values, separately saves income values and expense values according to corresponding time parameters, and automatically computes the balance by subtracting the income summation from the expense summation for eliminating manual errors.  
         [0027]     Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.