Timer programming apparatus

• US 5,063,543 A
• Filed: 07/23/1990
• Issued: 11/05/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shibuya, Kenichi, Furudate, Yukio, Okubo, Hirotsugu
• Primary Examiner(s): Miska, Vit W.
• Application Number:
  US07/556,177
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 368/28-29, 368/34, 368/82-84, 368/185-187, 368/223, 368/239-242
• US Class Current: 368/29
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 15/006 for operating at a number of different times cigar or cigarette receptacles or boxes with means for limiting the frequency of smoking A24F15/005
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/023 remotely controlled
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/02 Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/10 Indicating arrangements; Warning arrangements G11B15/04, G11B19/04, G11B27/34, G11B27/36 take precedence

Abstract

A timer apparatus in which a stored reservation date to record a program and the present date are compared and when the reserved date is past the present date the reserved date is automatically changed to the nearest future date of the same day of the week, so that user efforts are simplified and required memory space is decreased. When it is necessary to make a change in the date or day of the week being displayed, by repeating a plurality of selected display patterns within a predetermined time period it appears to the user that the date or the day of the week is being continuously and sequentially changed at a high speed, whereas only the selected patterns are being sequentially displayed.

Claims

1. A timer apparatus having a date display section comprising:

means for setting the date display to a desired date;

said display section comprising segmented display units, in which each segment thereof is controllably energized, alone or in combination; and

operating means for changing the energizing of the segments to form a plurality of abstract segment pattern displays, wherein said plurality of abstract segment pattern displays are rapidly and sequentially output for a period time until the setting of the desired date is finished.

2. A timer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a day of the week display section, in which the name of each day of the week is controllably energized by said operating means to form a plurality of different pattern displays, in which each pattern display is formed of more than two but less than seven days of the week, the pattern displays being sequentially changed until said date display is set to said desired date.

3. A timer apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of pattern displays of said day of the week display section each include two pairs of consecutive days of the week, in which no day in one pair is consecutive with a day in the other pair.

4. A timer apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of pattern displays of said days of the week comprise seven different patterns of four days of the week, no more than two of said four days of the week being consecutive.

5. A timer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said segmented display units includes segments for displaying all numerals from zero to nine and each of said plurality of abstract segment pattern displays has segments energized to produce patterns similar to numerals.

6. A timer apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said plurality of pattern displays of said date section comprises seven different patterns of segments energized to represent a digit other than actual digits one through nine.

7. A timer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said date display comprises two segmented display units representing the days of the month and said operating means energized segments of the least significant digit of said two display units to display abstract segment patterns different than actual numerals zero through nine.

8. A timer apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said plurality of abstract segment pattern displays comprises seven different patterns.