Board for displaying universal time

• US 6,233,204 B1
• Filed: 11/12/1996
• Issued: 05/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Chu, Wen-Ching, Sheng-Pen Chu, Wen-Chi Chu
• Original Assignee: Chu, Wen-Ching, Sheng-Pen Chu, Wen-Chi Chu
• Inventors: Chu, Wen-Ching, Chu, Sheng-Pen, Chu, Wen-Chi
• Primary Examiner(s): Miska, Vit W.
• Application Number:
  US08/746,494
• Time in Patent Office: 1,645 Days
• Field of Search: 368/10, 368/21-24, 283/34, 283/35, 340/990-995
• US Class Current: 368/21
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 9/0076 in which the time in another time-zone or in another city can be displayed at will

Abstract

A time board for dynamically displaying the universal time is provided, the board is adaptable to hang on the wall of lounge of an airport, a main railroad station hall, a passenger terminal of a harbor, the office of tele-communication and the classroom of a school, and comprises a flat rectangular board having front panel on which a world map of Mercator Equator Projection is attached containing every country and region of the world which are covered by 24 time zones, each of the time zone occupies 15 degrees longitudes repersenting an hour. An universal date display column and an universal hour display column parallel extend adjacent an upper border of the board from left to right margin thereof each contains 25 display windows spaced apart and in cooperation with the 24 time zones for inserting binary numbered LEDs to dynamically display the date and time differences around the world. A local time column displays the hour, minute and second of the local time and works in concert with hours displayed in the time zones. The improvement has been characterized in the alteration of the conventional ways to obtain the universal time differences in order to suit to the popularity. The world map may be variable to facilitate every country or regions have equal chance to be centered in the map.

Claims

1. A device for dynamically displaying universal time comprising:

a flat rectangular board having a rectangular frame, a front panel inserted in the frame and a back cover hinged to a rear side of the frame;

said front panel having a universal date display column and a universal hour display column parallel to and adjacent the frame from left to the right margin of the front panel, each including 25 display windows confronted with 24 time zones of the world for inserting therein a plurality of LEDs to dynamically display the change of dates and hours around the world;

a local display column at an appropriate position of a lower portion of said front panel for inserting therein a plurality of LEDs to dynamically display the hour, minute and second of the local time, wherein the LEDs are a binary numbering structure and connected with and operated by a plurality of IC boards, a CPU board and a control device disposed in series to a back side of the front panel;

a world map attached to the front side of the front panel including all of the countries and major cities in the world, said map being compiled with the Mercator Equator Projection having 24 time zones divided by a set of longitudes of 15 degrees interval, said time zone being designated with letters of alphabet at a lower end with the time zone M/Y in which the International Date Line is centered being doubly widened to coinside with a pair of display windows of said universal date display column and said universal hour display column and longitude denoted below the alphabet numbers for the central maridian of each odd numbered time zone;

a first transparent color applied to a color block at an upper end of each odd numbered time zone and a second transparent color applied to a color block at an upper end of each even numbered time zone and tinting said transparent colors respectively to those countries and/or regions located within said corresponding time zones;

a third transparent color applied to the countries and regions whose standard time differ from the time zone by a fraction of an hour;

a symbol of appropriate color adapted to label countries who adapt Summer time (Daylight saving time) or Winter time;

a legend for describing the above data positioned at lower corner of said world map.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said IC boards include an universal date and time display circuit board containing 25 date display units and 25 hour display units and a local time circuit board containing an hour, a minute and a second display units and connected in series with said control device and said CPU circuit board, said units being respectively connected to their corrsponding LEDs.

3. A device according to claim 1 wherein said CPU circuit board includes a ROM being inputed with a calendar good for any future years and a 3.6V rechargeable battery which ensures that said device can work constantly and continuously without stopping during a power interruption.

4. A device according to claim 2 wherein said local time circuit is combined with said control device and is adjustable by said control device, the adjusted hour displayed in said local time column being worked in concert with the hour displayed within a time zone centralized in said world map.

5. A device according to claim 1 wherein said control device includes five adjusting buttons incorparated with five small display windows for respectively adjusting the A.D. year, month, date, hour and minute.

6. A device according to claim 5 wherein said minute adjusting button is released at the same time while the second unit begins to work in conforming with the GMT time.

7. A device according to claim 1 wherein said Mercator Equator Projection is characterized in a selective central maridian so as to facilitate preparing different world maps to show any country and/or region to be centered within said map.

8. A device according to claim 2 wherein said universal date and hour display columns are adjustable to conform with the changes of said world map.

9. A device according to claim 1 wherein the hour displayed in said universal hour display column is hourly and sequentially increased from west to eastward and the date displayed in said universal date display column is advanced one day west of the International Date Line.

10. A device according to claim 1 wherein said device can be adapted to navigation for scheduling and controlling the operation of the crew on sailing and enjoying the exact local time at arrival.