ES1275079U - TIME DISPLAY (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Time display comprising: a plurality of indicator areas (1), emitting light, arranged in an orderly manner between an initial indicator area (1a) and a final indicator area (1n); and a control device equipped with an internal clock; characterized in that the control device is adapted to alter the light emission of the initial indicator zone (1a) every certain predefined time interval, and to alter the light emission of each successive indicator zone (1) every certain corresponding interval of time twice as long as that of the preceding indicator zone (1) within said ordered arrangement. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

DESCRIPTION

TIME DISPLAY

Technique field

The present invention concerns a time display, that is to say, a device that allows to display the passage of time. In this case by using multiple light-emitting indicator zones.

State of the art

Many ways of visualizing time are known, the oldest being the sundials, which allow to visualize the present moment within the day throughout the hours of daylight. Other ways to visualize the passage of time are hourglasses, water clocks or candles, which instead of visualizing the position of the current moment within the day, allow a certain interval of time to be measured in a uniform and repeatable way, also allowing the Viewing the passage of time at night, indoors or on cloudy days. Subsequently, more and more sophisticated mechanisms for measuring time were invented up to the present day, the most common being hand watches and watches that show numerical digits, always with a pattern of hours, minutes and sometimes also seconds.

However, these measurement systems require prior knowledge for their interpretation, such as recognition of the value and order of numbers, and requires a general knowledge of the time division of the day into hours, minutes and seconds. All this knowledge is not always accessible, for example for young children or people with learning difficulties.

In addition, these modern time display devices, when they are not used to measure the current moment within the day but to measure a countdown or a countdown can be unintuitive, especially when the periods measured are longer than one day.

It is also known, for example through document US2016033940A1, clocks that use the same time coding in hours, minutes and seconds, replace the six numbers of a digital clock by six symbols or by six variable colors. These Displays, by representing the same time pattern of hours, minutes and seconds, also reproduce some of the problems described above.

Clocks that represent time by changing shapes and colors are also known, for example from document US2008165629A1, but these systems do not allow an intuitive interpretation of the time, without prior knowledge of the coding system used.

The present invention proposes a solution to the above and other problems.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention concerns a time display that comprises, in a way known per se:

a plurality of light-emitting indicator zones arranged in an orderly manner between an initial indicator zone and a final indicator zone; Y

a control device equipped with an internal clock.

The light-emitting indicator areas can be, for example, areas of a transparent or translucent surface behind which are located LED light sources, AMOLED or other light-emitting devices.

Alternatively, the indicator areas may be areas within a light emitting screen, such as a mobile phone, smart watch, television, tablet, computer screen, or other equivalent device.

The control device can be, or can be integrated into, for example, a programmable logic controller, a computer, a smart mobile phone, a smart watch or other similar devices, and said control device will be connected, directly or by wireless means , to the light emitters integrated in the indicator areas.

The present invention further proposes, in a way not known in the state of the art, that the control device is adapted to alter the light emission of the initial indicator zone every certain predefined time interval, and to alter the light emission of each successive indicator zone every certain time interval corresponding to twice as long as that of the preceding indicator zone within said ordered arrangement. That is, the initial indicator zone modifies its lighting parameters, for example by altering the lighting and / or colorimetric properties of the light source or by alternating between on and off, every certain predefined time interval, for example every X seconds.

The next indicator zone, the second in the ordered arrangement, will also alter its lighting parameters but with an interval twice the predefined time interval, in this case every 2X seconds.

The third indicator zone of the ordered arrangement will alter its lighting parameters with an interval twice the interval of the second indicator zone, that is to say four times the predefined time interval, that is 4X seconds.

This succession of alterations will occur until even the last of the indicator zones has undergone two changes in its lighting parameters, when the initial indicator zone has undergone 2n changes in the lighting parameters, where "n" is the number of indicator zones, thus completing a full time cycle.

The total duration of the time cycle will therefore be two times the number of indicator zones on the time display and multiplied by the predefined time X.

According to a preferred embodiment, the indicator areas are concentric, for example circular, although other shapes such as polygons, amorphous shapes or other shapes such as star shapes are not ruled out.

Preferably the initial indicator zone will be the central indicator zone of said concentric arrangement of indicator zones.

According to an alternative embodiment, the indicator areas could be successive bars, whether they are straight bars, arched bars, wavy bars or other non-linear shapes.

The alteration of the light emission of each aforementioned indicator zone will preferably alternate between two light emission states, successively passing from one light emission configuration to the other.

For example, it is proposed that the two states of light emission are off and on with a first color or between on with a first color and on with a second color.

Preferably the first color of successive indicator areas, within said ordered arrangement, will be different, thus allowing two adjacent indicator areas to always have different colors, avoiding confusion.

It is also proposed that the control device is adapted so that, when the final indicator zone alters its light emission for the second time from the beginning of a cycle of time, that is, since the first change of state of the emission of light was made. light of the initial indicator zone, the time cycle will be considered completed, and then a signal will be emitted, indicating the end of the cycle, luminous, luminous through the indicator and / or acoustic zones through a loudspeaker connected to the device of control.

This allows users to have a clear indication that a full time cycle has been completed. Said full-time cycle could be, for example, one hour.

The control device may also be adapted so that, when the final indicator zone alters its light emission for the second time from the beginning of a time cycle, the time cycle is considered completed, and then all the settings are adjusted. Indicator zones to the initial light emission parameters, that is to say those existing at the beginning of the time cycle, and start a new time cycle. That is, all the indicator zones are returned to their initial state and a cycle of time is started again, repeating the previous cycle of time.

Optionally, the control device may be adapted so that, when the final indicator zone alters its light emission for the second time from the beginning of a time cycle, the time cycle is considered completed and a new cycle is carried out. inverse time to the preceding time cycle. In other words, a de-escalation is started by gradually reversing the different indicator zones until reaching the initial state once the second time cycle has been completed.

The control device may also be adapted to start the new cycle of time with settings of the light emitters different from those used in the previous cycle of time, so that the user, observing the display, can have an indication of how many cycles time have been completed. For example, in a display configured to complete a time cycle every hour, a color code could be used to indicate the different hours of the day, for example using different color combinations at each hour of the day (red and green at 9 o'clock , red and blue at 10am, red and yellow at 11am, green and blue at 12pm, green and yellow at 1pm, etc).

According to a preferred embodiment, the predefined time interval of alteration of the light emission of the initial indicator zone, and the total number of indicator zones is adapted so that a full time cycle lasts one hour, six hours, twelve hours , twenty-four hours, seven days, a quarter of a year, half a year or a year, four years, five years or a decade.

For example, the indicator zones can be eight indicator zones, and if in this case the predefined time period is about fourteen seconds, the full time cycle will last one hour.

The proposed time display does not require human symbols and therefore it is universal that allows encoding, with a relatively low number of indicator zones, periods of time that can be from very brief, of seconds or minutes, to enormous periods of time, of years, decades, centuries or even millennia or older even if appropriate. Other potential practical applications of this time viewer is to visualize a countdown to a specific moment in the future, either through an in crescendo or a decrease.

To measure longer periods of time, it is recommended to use a greater number of indicator zones, for example twelve indicator zones for a cycle to last a whole day, or a greater number of indicator zones for longer periods of time.

In a preferred embodiment, the indicator areas are concentric rings. In this case, it is contemplated that the center of said concentric rings may be associated with a photograph, with a two-dimensional drawing or three-dimensional sculpture, preferably with a human figure, for example a Saint or a Buddha. In such a case, the concentric indicator zones will produce an aura-like effect around said human figure. Other characteristics of the invention will appear in the following detailed description of an embodiment.

Brief description of the figures

The foregoing and other advantages and characteristics will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the attached drawings, which should be taken by way of illustration and not limitation, in which:

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show a time display equipped with four indicator zones, showing the sixteen possible display states, ordered from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, in four horizontal rows, showing the complete progression of a time cycle , according to three possible embodiments where in the first embodiment the indicator areas are concentric rings, in the second embodiment are overlapping stripes and in the third embodiment with overlapping stripes forming a pyramid;

Figs. 4 and 5 show an embodiment of the time display provided with eight indicator areas, according to an embodiment with indicator areas in the form of concentric rings and according to another embodiment with indicator areas in the form of concentric stars.

Detailed description of a realization example

The attached figures show exemplary non-limiting illustrative embodiments of the present invention.

The proposed time display consists of multiple luminous indicator zones 1 arranged according to an arrangement, for example concentric or superimposed. Said ordered arrangement makes it possible to identify an initial indicator zone 1a and a final indicator zone 1n.

A control device is programmed to control the lighting conditions of each indicator zone independently and to alter said lighting conditions following a pre-established pattern.

In this case, the control device modifies the lighting conditions of the initial indicator zone 1a every X time, and of each subsequent indicator zone with half the frequency of the preceding indicator zone of the ordered arrangement.

Therefore, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a time display device consisting of four indicator zones will modify the lighting conditions of the initial indicator zone 1a, for example between on and off or between a first color and a second color, every X time. The second indicator zone 1, adjacent to the initial indicator zone 1a, will modify its lighting conditions with half the frequency, that is to say every 2X time, remaining in the same light state during two different light states of the initial indicator zone 1a. The third indicator zone 1 will modify its lighting conditions every 4X time, and the fourth indicator zone 1, which in this case is the final indicator zone 1n, will modify its lighting conditions every 8X time.

Therefore, during a complete cycle of time displayed by this time display device, the initial indicator zone 1a will modify its light state 2n times, the next indicator zone 2n-1 times, the next indicator zone 2n-2 times, until the final indicator zone 1n only modifies its light state 2 times. In this case, the duration The total cycle time will be 2n multiplied by the predetermined time that each change in lighting conditions of the initial indicator zone 1a lasts.

Obviously, it is understood that in time displays with more indicator areas 1, such as those shown in Figures 4 and 5, the same progression will be followed.

The shape of the indicator areas is irrelevant, as long as they allow a certain hierarchical identification, either through a simple ordered arrangement, or through an increasing or decreasing size of the surface of each of the successive indicator areas.

For example, in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5 the indicator zones 1 are concentric, the surface of each of the indicator zones being greater than the preceding indicator zone. On the contrary, in the example shown in Fig. 3 the indicator areas have a smaller surface than the preceding indicator areas. However, in the example shown in Fig. 2 the surface of all indicator areas 1 is identical.

The shape of the indicator areas is irrelevant, it can be a geometric shape, as in the examples shown, but also an organic, figurative, random or any other shape.

Claims (15)

1. Time display comprising: a plurality of indicator areas (1), emitting light, arranged arranged between an initial indicator area (1a) and a final indicator area (1n); Y a control device equipped with an internal clock; characterized in that the control device is adapted to alter the light emission of the initial indicator zone (1a) every certain predefined time interval, and to alter the light emission of each successive indicator zone (1) every certain corresponding interval of time twice as long as that of the preceding indicator zone (1) within said ordered arrangement. 2. Time display according to claim 1, wherein the indicator areas (1) are concentric. 3. Time display according to claim 2, wherein the indicator areas (1) are circular. 4. Time display according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the initial indicator area (1a) is the central indicator area. 5. Time display according to claim 1 wherein the indicator areas (1) are successive bars. Time display according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the alteration of the light emission of each indicator zone (1) alternates between two states of light emission. 7. Time display according to claim 6, wherein the two states of light emission are off and on with a first color or between on with a first color and on with a second color. 8. Time display according to claim 7, wherein the first color of successive indicator areas, within said ordered arrangement, are different. 9. Time display according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control device is adapted so that, when the final indicator zone (1n) alters its light emission for the second time from the start of a time cycle, it is considered completed the time cycle, and then emit a signal, indicating the end of the time cycle, luminous, luminous through the indicator zones (1) and / or acoustic through a loudspeaker connected to the control device. 10. Time display according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control device is adapted so that, when the final indicator zone (1n) alters its light emission for the second time from the beginning of a time cycle, it is considered completed the time cycle, and then set all indicator zones (1) to the initial light emission parameters and start a new time cycle. 11. Time display according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 9, wherein the control device is adapted so that, when the final indicator zone (1n) alters its light emission for the second time from the start of a time cycle , consider the time cycle completed, and proceed to perform a new time cycle inverse to the preceding time cycle. 12. Time display according to claim 9, 10 or 11 wherein the control device is adapted to start the new time cycle with settings of the light emitters different from those used in the preceding time cycle. 13. Time display according to claim 9, 10, 11 or 12 wherein the predefined time interval of alteration of the light emission of the initial indicator zone, and the number of indicator zones is adapted so that a cycle of time lasts one hour, six hours, twelve hours, twenty-four hours, seven days, a quarter of a year, half a year, a year, four years, five years or a decade. 14. Time display according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the indicator zones are eight indicator zones. 15. Time display according to claim 14, wherein the predefined time interval of alteration of the light emission of the initial indicator zone is approximately fourteen seconds.