Patent ID: 6906983

Claim:
An ear-plug alarm system including by this reference any generalized time triggering system comprising: (A) a base-station or setting device further comprising: (a) a master time reference, (b) user controls for designating alarm events or setting alarm times, possibly including a display and buttons or connection to other remote input means, (B) one or more ear-pieces, comprising: (a) a local time reference separate from said base-station master time reference, (b) storage means for holding settings from the base-station (c) a controller for determining when said alarm time is reached based upon said local time reference and the stored setting, (d) a power source, possibly rechargeable from the base-station whereby the logic is powered for autonomous operation after disconnection from the base-station and (e) one or more interfaces to initiate responses at said alarm event, whereby the ear-piece is entirely autonomous once set and operates without further support from or connection to said base-station, (C) means of directly connecting any one of said ear-pieces to said base-station such that: (a) the presence of this connection implicitly selects the particular ear-piece to be set among multiple ear-pieces in near proximity, whereby a single setting device can unambiguously control multiple ear-pieces, setting them one at a time, without separate addressing or selections, (b) the connection provides a means of transferring settings from said base-station to said ear-piece, where a single base-station may include a plurality of such connections.