Automatic weather information downloading and displaying system

• US 20090097431A1
• Filed: 10/11/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Profit Metal, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Profit Metalltd.
• Inventors: Chung, Tommy
• Application Number:
  US11/974,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20090097431A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

The system for downloading and displaying information utilizes a computer with an Internet connection. The computer runs a program that causes it to access a weather information server with a pre-determined address, upon start-up and periodically thereafter, and to receive weather information for a given place or given places from the accessed server. A memory stores the received weather information. A controller selects successive portions of the stored weather information for transmission at predetermined time intervals. The selected portions of the stored weather information are wirelessly transmitted. The transmitted information portions are received at a remote location and checked for transmission errors. If no errors are detected, the information is displayed. In one embodiment, two-way communications between the transmission and receiver sections of the system are possible through the use of transceivers. In another, time information is also downloaded and displayed. A compensation algorithm compensates for signal processing and transmission delays.

Claims

1. Apparatus for downloading and displaying information comprising a computer with an Internet connection, means for causing said computer to access a weather information server with a pre-determined address and to receive weather information for a given place or given places from said accessed server, means for storing said received weather information, means for selecting a first portion of said stored weather information for transmission, means for wirelessly transmitting said selected portion of said stored weather information, means for receiving said transmitted information portion, means for checking said received information portion for errors and means for displaying said checked information, if no errors are detected.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for causing said computer to access a server with a pre-determined address comprises means for causing said computer to access a server with a pre-determined address upon start-up and periodically thereafter.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for selecting a second portion of said stored weather information for transmission.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for selecting portions of said stored weather information for transmission until all of said stored weather information is selected.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for causing said transmitting means to transmit said selected weather information portion more than one time.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising means for transmitting said selected portions of said stored weather information at pre-determined time intervals.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said checking means comprises means for checking the correctness of the received information based on parity bits.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said checking means comprises means for checking the correctness of the received information based on checksum.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said checking means comprises means for checking the correctness of the received information based on cyclic redundancy check.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said transmitting means comprises a transmitter using wireless transmission technology selected from a group comprising Radio Frequency, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displaying means comprises a LCD display.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displaying means comprises a LED display.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displaying means comprises a VFD display (vacuum fluorescent display).

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said displaying means comprises an OLED display.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said transmitting means comprises a transceiver.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein said receiver means comprise a transceiver.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising means for causing said receiving means transceiver to transmit a message to said transmitting means transceiver indicating whether the received information contains errors.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for retransmitting the selected portion to said receiving means transceiver, if the previously received information contains errors.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for causing said computer to access a time server with a pre-determined address and to receive time information from said accessed server, means for storing said received time information, means for transmitting said received time information, means for receiving said transmitted time information and means for displaying said transmitted time information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising means for modifying said transmitted time information to compensate for the time interval between receipt and display of the time information.

21. A method for downloading and displaying information utilizing a computer with an Internet connection, the method comprising the steps of:

causing the computer to access a server with a pre-determined address and to receive weather information for a given place or given places from said accessed server;

storing the received weather information;

selecting a first portion of the stored weather information for transmission;

wirelessly transmitting selected portion of the stored weather information;

receiving the transmitted information portion;

checking the received information portion for errors; and

displaying the checked information, if no errors are detected.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of causing the computer to access a server with a pre-determined address comprises the step of causing the computer to access a server with a pre-determined address upon start-up and periodically thereafter.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of selecting a second portion of the stored weather information for transmission.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of selecting portions of the stored weather information for transmission until all of the stored weather information is selected.

25. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of causing the transmitting means to transmit the selected weather information portion more than one time.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of transmitting the selected portions of the stored weather information at pre-determined time intervals.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of checking comprises the step of checking the correctness of the received information based on parity bits.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of checking comprises the step of checking the correctness of the received information based on checksum.

29. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of checking comprises the step of checking the correctness of the received information based on cyclic redundancy check.

30. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of transmitting comprises the step of transmitting using wireless transmission technology selected from a group comprising Radio Frequency, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and ZigBee.

31. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of displaying comprises the step of displaying on a LCD display.

32. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of displaying comprises the step of displaying on a VFD display (vacuum fluorescent display).

33. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of displaying comprises the step of displaying on an OLED display.

34. The method of claim 21 wherein the step of transmitting comprises the step of transmitting using a transceiver.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the step of receiving comprises the step of receiving using a transceiver.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising the step of causing the receiving transceiver to transmit a message to the transmitting transceiver indicating whether the received information contains errors.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising the step of retransmitting the selected portion to the receiving transceiver, if the previously received information contains errors.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of causing the computer to access a time server with a pre-determined address and receive time information from the accessed server, the step of storing the received time information, the step of transmitting the received time information, the step of receiving the transmitted time information and the step of displaying the transmitted time information.

39. The method of claim 38 further comprising the step of modifying the transmitted time information to compensate for the time interval between receipt and display of the time information.