Sunset timer
First Claim
1. A timer for controlling electrical devices comprising:
- a display;
at least one input key for entering geographic indicia;
a memory unit;
a microprocessor for controlling at least the memory unit and display;
a database stored in said memory unit which comprises sunset times for a plurality of geographic locations, wherein said sunset times are indexed to geographic indicia for each of said plurality of geographic locations; and
software comprising instructions for actuating an electrical device at the sunset time indexed to said geographic indicia.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention generally relates to an electrical timer which automatically controls the activation and deactivation of electrical devices, such as light fixtures, appliances and the like based on the time of sunrise and/or sunset for a particular geographic location. In this regard, the sunrise and/or sunset times for a multitude of different geographic locations is collected and stored in the timer'"'"'s memory in association with the relevant geographic location. Each geographic location is specified in memory by geographic indicia, such as postal zip code or telephone area code, of its location (e.g., latitude and longitude). The timer of the present invention is programmed to automatically activate and/or deactivate the device to which it is coupled (e.g., lights, appliances, etc.) at the sunset and/or sunrise times stored in memory for each date that is specified in memory.
120 Citations
97 Claims
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1. A timer for controlling electrical devices comprising:
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a display;
at least one input key for entering geographic indicia;
a memory unit;
a microprocessor for controlling at least the memory unit and display;
a database stored in said memory unit which comprises sunset times for a plurality of geographic locations, wherein said sunset times are indexed to geographic indicia for each of said plurality of geographic locations; and
software comprising instructions for actuating an electrical device at the sunset time indexed to said geographic indicia. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87)
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62. Software for a timer comprising:
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instructions for managing a database of sunset times for a plurality of geographic locations, wherein said sunset times are indexed to geographic indicia for each of said plurality of geographic locations; and
instructions for actuating an electrical device at the sunset time indexed to said geographic indicia.
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88. A method comprising the steps of:
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storing in memory of a timer a database of sunset times indexed to geographic indicia for a plurality of geographic locations;
searching said database for sunset times indexed to a specific geographic indicia in response to entry said specific geographic indicia; and
automatically activating an electrical device coupled to said timer at a sunset time stored in said database corresponding to said entered specific geographic indicia. - View Dependent Claims (89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97)
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Specification