Abstract:
The timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators is a programmable interval timer for selecting a time interval within a user determined longer time block, the timer signaling the end of the interval duration with an audible sound and then reinitializing the countdown timer interval for as many whole number intervals as will fit in the time block. The audible signal generated upon each counted down interval is selected from a plurality of audible sounds stored within the timer and automatically indexed to the next sound upon generation. The timer consists of a base housing, timer circuitry, audio circuitry and an interchangeable faceplate, the faceplate having decorative indicia and a memory device within which a plurality of sounds is electronically stored representative of the indicia disposed on the faceplate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to timers, and specifically to timers with programmable intervals and means for generating different sounds upon completion of an interval.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Timers that prompt the user to perform a certain activity at a scheduled time are well known in the art. The well known “kitchen timer” is one of a number of mechanical timers that produce an audible tone after a predetermined period. Timers are prevalent in the field of education, both as an instructional tool in the subject of time, as well as a functional tool for time management of classroom activities. In both instances, the intended goal is to provide an audible signal that, at a minimum, will break through the child&#39;s consciousness and, more optimistically, motivate the child to further action.  
         [0005]     With advances in technology, electronic timers now offer a wide range of programmable options which were previously unavailable in older mechanical devices. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2002/0009018, published in January 2002, discloses a timer device for conditioning children to perform special tasks, and includes a generated signal controlled by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), which acts to, among other things, establish normal time intervals so that the signal is activated at the end of that interval. A voice acknowledgment message, recorded by a microphone, is activated by a switch operated by the child upon completion of the timed task.  
         [0006]     U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,956, issued to J. Draghi in July 1971, discloses a mechanical timer having an audible signal at various intervals in a run-out or run-down cycle. The output is prevented if the mainspring is not fully wound.  
         [0007]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,961, issued to E. Bruskewitz in September 1991, discloses a child activity timer for teaching young children the concept of time. The timer in the &#39;961 patent is a one time run-out timer comprising a housing containing a mechanical or electronic timing mechanism and activity selector. The timer permits selection of a duration of predetermined length and includes an indicator that moves in relation to a time scale to graphically illustrate the change in duration of time.  
         [0008]     An electronic interval timer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,228, issued to B. Truett in October 1993, discloses a cylindrical shell having five rows of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted at spaced intervals from top to bottom. Timer and control circuits are connected to select a desired time interval, to illuminate the LEDs, and to turn off successive rows in proportion to the time remaining in the selected interval. Interrupt and rest capabilities are provided along with a buzzer or voice chip which provides a single, non-unique audible signal when the interval has run out.  
         [0009]     Many of the aforementioned devices feature advanced time functions only available with the incorporation computer chips. However there is much room for improvement in a timer interval providing a variety of audio signals that would maintain the interest of a child. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a timer with multiple personalized audio features solving the aforementioned problems is desired.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     The timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators is a programmable interval timer for selecting a countdown time interval within a user determined longer time block, the timer signaling the completion of the interval with one of a plurality of predetermined sounds, or with a personalized sound recorded by an integrated microphone. The countdown timer interval is reinitialized automatically. The audible signal is generated from a plurality of audible sounds stored within the timer and automatically indexed to the next sound upon the signaling of each repeated interval. The timer consists of a housing, timer circuitry, audio circuitry and an interchangeable faceplate, the faceplate having decorative indicia and a memory device within which a plurality of sounds are electronically stored and are audibly representative of the unique indicia disposed on the faceplate.  
         [0011]     Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an interval timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators having the capability of indexing through a selection of electronically stored sounds upon completion of the selected time interval.  
         [0012]     It is another object of the invention to provide an interval timer deriving its audible signals from a memory device disposed within an interchangeable faceplate.  
         [0013]     Still another object of the invention is to provide an interval timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators having a microphone with which to record an audible signal generated at completion of at least one of the countdown intervals.  
         [0014]     It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.  
         [0015]     These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]      FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of a timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators according to the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2A  is an exploded perspective view of the present invention according to  FIG. 1 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 2B  is a side view of the memory device with stored interval audio indicators mounted on the rear of the faceplate, removably received by the socket on the printed circuit board mounted on the timer housing.  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a representative block diagram of the timer of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is an alternative embodiment of the decorative faceplate having indicia representative of the Serengeti. 
     
    
       [0021]     Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]     The present invention is a timer with multiple and personalized audio indicators, designated generally as  100  in the drawings.  
         [0023]     The timer  100  is a programmable interval timer that enables teachers to manage cooperative groups of students more effectively, and that incorporates an assortment of predetermined audio sounds, as well as user recorded audio sounds, that are generated at the end of a user selected time interval, the interval being repeatedly counted down within an initial block of time set by the user.  
         [0024]     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 A, the timer  100  is comprised of a faceplate  102  mounted to a molded plastic housing  202  and held in place by plastic fasteners  222  received by mounting holes  224 . The housing  202  has an interior cavity  230 , a circuit board  204  disposed in a cavity  230  defined within the housing  202  containing timer and audio circuitry, and two battery compartments  212 ,  216  defined within the housing  202 .  
         [0025]     The timer  100  has been designed for use in early childhood education and therefore has been specifically structured to gain the attention of young children. The faceplate  102  has decorative indicia disposed thereon and contains an electronic memory device  122  attached to the rear of the faceplate  102 . Electronically stored within the memory device  122  is a plurality of sounds, recorded or synthesized, characteristic of the design on the front of the faceplate. As best shown in  FIG. 2B , the terminals  220  of memory device  122  are received by memory socket  214  forming part of the circuitry disposed on printed circuit board  204 , whereby mounting a different faceplate upon the housing  202  operates to insert a corresponding memory device  122  into the logic of the timer  100 , thereby adapting the interval indicator messages to the faceplate motif.  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , faceplate  102  may represent a household pet, such as a cat, with sounds of the corresponding household pet stored on memory chip  122 . In contrast,  FIG. 4  has faceplate  402  representative of the Serengeti, and has a memory chip  404  containing sounds from the African plains. Timer  100  may be packaged as a kit with an assortment of interchangeable faceplates, each faceplate having a different motif and corresponding memory chip  122  storing assortment of sounds representative of the specific faceplate.  
         [0027]     The faceplate  102 ,  402  is made of plastic and has apertures defined therein, through which timer controls, disposed on the underlying printed circuit board  204  are made available. An alphanumeric display  106 , mounted on printed circuit board  204 , is visible through cutout  104  in faceplate  102 , and facilitates the setup of the timer  100  through a computer generated menu. Furthermore, the display  106  presents a visual indication of the time remaining in the selected time block and in the current countdown interval, thereby providing the child not only with an interesting sound generating device, but also a device that may serve in the teaching of the concept of time.  
         [0028]     Menu navigation is enabled by means of up and down scroll buttons  116 ,  118  and button  114  selects a desired function. Apertures  110 ,  112  and  108  make these controls accessible through faceplate  102 . The audible signals generated at the completion of each interval emanate from within the housing  202  and pass through a grid of small openings  120  disposed on the faceplate  102 . In the same manner, the internal microphone  210 , which may be mounted on the printed circuit board  204  behind the openings  124  disposed on the faceplate  102 , receives the speech to be used as personalized interval messages.  
         [0029]     As shown in  FIG. 2A , the printed circuit board  204  is secured to a recessed ledge  228 , by means of screws or other fasteners inserted through mounting holes  232 . A power harness  250  connected to battery compartments  212 ,  216  provides power to the timer and audio logic disposed on the printed circuit board  204 . Although one battery may be sufficient to provide an operative voltage to both the digital timer circuitry and the audio circuitry, alternatively a second battery may be utilized to enable the timer logic to be powered from one battery while a separate battery drives the audio logic, the audio logic generating and amplifying the analog wave shapes necessary to drive speaker  208 .  
         [0030]     The speaker  208  may be mounted directly to the printed circuit board  204  and depending upon the depth of the speaker, the back of the speaker may extend into cavity  230  of the housing  202 . The timer  100  includes a microphone  210 , which like the speaker  208 , may be mounted to the printed circuit board  204 , the microphone  210  providing the means by which personalized interval notification messages may be stored within the logic of the timer  100 .  
         [0031]     As shown in the block diagram of  FIG. 3 , the operation of timer  100  is controlled by a central processing unit (CPU)  302  mounted on the printed circuit board  204 . The timer includes: program memory  308  which may be read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM)  306 ; a display unit  106 ; an interchangeable memory device  122  that electronically stores the sounds to be generated at the termination of each programmed time interval; push button controls  310  for setting selecting menu options; and an audio circuit  304  for transforming digital signals to an analog waveform and amplifying the resultant waveform through speaker  208 . As previously mentioned, a microphone  210  enables the user to program the timer with personalized messages to be played at the conclusion of one or multiple intervals.  
         [0032]     The timer  100  may have an on/off switch, however, no switch is needed or is present in the preferred embodiment. Insertion of the battery for power  312  for the CPU and  302  and memory circuits and the audio battery  314  for driving the audio circuits into their respective compartments, and insertion of a sound memory device  122  is sufficient to reset the logic.  
         [0033]     The timer logic recognizes the presence of the sound memory device  122  and may either transfer the electronic representation of these sounds to a RAM memory device  306  on the printed circuit board  204 , or may be so designed as to read the sounds directly from the external memory chip  122  as required. Once power is applied to the timer circuitry, or when the sound memory device  122  is inserted, as when a faceplate  102  is interchanged, the timer  100  is in standby mode and awaits manual commands entered by the control pushbuttons  310 . The pushbuttons consist primarily of scroll command buttons  116 ,  118  and function selection button  114 .  
         [0034]     The alphanumeric display  106  may consist of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device displaying a single line of text and numbers and, as previously disclosed, is used to facilitate setting of the block of time within which repeated intervals of a shorter period is set. An initial depression of the selection pushbutton  114  puts the timer  100  in menu select mode, at which point the user may select one of several functions: (a) select the larger block of time which may be then subdivided into smaller time intervals; (b) select the smaller time interval; (c) replace an interval notification indication with a personalized message recorded by the microphone  210 ; (d) initiate the countdown of the interval; or (e) perform a reset of the timer.  
         [0035]     As known to those skilled in the art, the combination of a computer chip, a memory, and a display offers endless possibilities in programmable time functions, and the present invention is not limiting itself to any single embodiment. Once initiated, the display  106  may display the current time, the time remaining of the initial block of time, the remaining time of the current interval, or any combination of the above, either sequentially indexed, or by manual selection.  
         [0036]     Scrolling menus and up/down buttons are not new. However the ability to set the length of time for the block as well as the interval in individual minute gradations is a feature, which provides a user with a level of control heretofore unknown. For example, a teacher may set the timer  100  for a one hour classroom instructional period, then set the timer  100  to sound different alarms (animal sounds or voice messages) at ten minute intervals.  
         [0037]     Furthermore, an interval timer  100  with the capability of generating a different audible indication signal upon each successive counting down of the interval provides an educator with a tool that may retain the interest of the students. Interchangeable faceplates  102 ,  402  with different motifs and assortment of sounds add a further dimension to the device which extends the lifetime of the timer  100  once students are bored with the current selection. The choice of motif is limited only by imagination and may include: musical instruments, the rainforest, geography, history, questions related to mathematics, and super hero voices to name just a few.  
         [0038]     A memory device  122  storing at least 12 different messages would suffice to provide a different audible alert for multiple ten-minute intervals within a 120-minute block of time. Furthermore, the microphone  210  in conjunction with the CPU  206 , program code and onboard RAM  306  allows a user to replace any alert message for any one of the intervals with a prerecorded and personalized message. After personalizing the interval completion messages, the original sounds, as stored on the memory device  122 , are reset upon removal and reinsertion of the faceplate  102  or may be incorporated as a menu driven control.  
         [0039]     It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.