Miniature Digital Communicator Capable of Displaying a Series of Alpha-Numeric Characters

This invention relates generally to the field of communication, and, more particularly to a compact communications device which is capable of receiving digitally formatted matter and transmitting this information, in the form of alpha-numeric characters, across a display.

There is always a need for current, accurate communications. Heretofore, communications systems have been in the form of radios, telephones, television and ticker tape devices and the like, all of which being either sound transmitting, large in size or expensive to produce. In many environments, especially the noisy environment of work or transportation, the utilization of such audio devices severely compromises the communications ability of individuals. In addition, many areas must be kept quiet, that is, quiet to the point where a radio loud enough to be understood may violate the efficiency of other persons. In some areas, for example, such as buses, distracting radios have been even banned due to their possible effects on the driver. Finally, many forms of communications available today are of practically no use to the deaf or hard of hearing. Heretofore, solutions to these problems have resulted in the formation of expensive and/or cumbersome communications equipment such as televisions which cannot be utilized for personal needs and in specific areas with a minimal of expense.

The instant invention overcomes the problems set forth hereinabove by providing a portable electronic device for personal communication with a central transmitter. Instead of using sound for the man-machine interface, a visual display is presented. Sound, however, may be provided as an adjunct to the receiver element if desired. The primary display of this invention is a series of alpha-numeric characters which "march" across the face of the miniature digital communicator much in the manner of a stock ticker. The exclusive use of integrated circuits permits low cost electronic display, while still permitting small size and low power drain.

The miniature digital communicator of this invention provides an accurate and clear digital operation. The basic "on-off", "yes-no" digital format is inherently resistant to distortion and garbling especially in comparison with analog commercial radio of today. This digital communicator can be applied against a number of communications problems in civil, commercial, military, and personal activities. For example, a semi-secure communication link with the police field units is possible with this invention. Only the officer using the communicator of the instant invention would be able to see the display. In commerce, the miniature digital communicator could be used for such familiar communications as stock tickers, but with no noise and substantially less energy consumed. Military uses are virtually unlimited since anywhere a positive, reliable communication is required, the instant invention may have application. Furthermore, by the utilization of a privacy circuit, access to most unauthorized "listeners" would be denied.

Personal use of this invention would be unlimited since it would be available to communications such as news, weather, sports releases, etc. as well as being capable of communicating with the deaf or hard of hearing. To further enhance this application, the digital communicator of this invention can be fitted with an acoustic pickup, so that telephone lines can be used for the transmission media. With a similarly designed transmitter, and a compatible data rate, two way long distance communications could be established without a sound.

At a predetermined time each day, the transmitting station (where privacy is desired) would enter a predetermined code into the privacy circuits of their transmitters and the receivers would be set to match. Commercial subscribers for specialized communications would certainly retain the privacy capability, as would the military, and perhaps the diplomatic corps. In the military applications, the codes could be changed for every transmission if necessary, the messages kept as short as possible to enhance the protection offered by the privacy circuit.

The origin of the signals for the communicator of this invention is through a conventional alpha-numeric keyboard which forms no part of this invention, wherein each key is given a binary identity. For example, "A" would be termed a binary "one" and "B" binary "two". For military applications, a direct link to the transmitter might be adequate for one-of-a-kind messages, but for general applications the keyboard would feed a recording mechanism, so that a long stream of data would be repeatedly cycled through the broadcast. As the news updates are necessary, they would be typed into a recorder upstream so that the oldest previous item is replaced first, but without interruption of the transmission. Transmission frequency is not critical, except for range (distance) requirements or special applications, with the data rate for this invention being low enough to be compatible with the lowest standard broadcast frequencies. In fixed installations, however, it is possible that high-speed bursts might be transmitted, requiring recording at the receiver to slow it down for display. This might be done to enhance the privacy aspect of the invention. Further, the signal could be rebroadcast within areas not penetrated by radio energy -- metal buildings, buses, underground locations, etc.

The miniature digital communicator also has significant potential as a telephone terminal. In this application, its range could be extended to continental and international distances. The digital rate would have to be held down to be compatible with those of the phone system, but with a half second per character display, this should pose no problem. In a humanitarian sense, this may be one of the most important capabilities, since it would permit voice and hearing-handicapped persons to communicate via the telephone. For this reason, an acoustic pickup and preamplifier are included in the design of this invention.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a digital communicator which is extremely small in size and ideally suited for personal communication.

It is another object of this invention to provide a miniature digital communicator which permits positive communications in areas which are extremely noisy and areas wherein sound must be kept to a minimum.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a miniature digital communicator which can be easily adapted to receive telephone communications and therefore provide great assistance to the deaf or hard of hearing.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a miniature digital communicator which is economical to produce, highly reliable in operation and which utilizes conventional, currently available components that lend themselves to standard mass producing manufacturing techniques.

For a better understanding of the present invention together with other and further objects thereof reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial representation of the miniature digital communicator of this invention shown in the hand of a user;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the miniature digital communicator of this invention shown with the cover removed therefrom;

FIGS. 3a and 3b are schematic representations of the circuitry of the miniature digital communicator of this invention; and

FIG. 4 is a graphic representation of the pulses as transmitted through various points in the circuitry of the miniature digital communicator of this invention.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing which show in pictorial fashion the miniature digital communicator 10 of this invention.

FIG. 1 is an illustrative example of the relative size of communicator 10 with respect to the size of the hand 12 of a person using this device. As seen from this Figure communicator 10 is of a relatively small overall dimension and can be easily held. Communicator 10 is contained within an exterior housing or cover 14 made of any suitable material such as hard plastic which contains attached thereto a retractable standard 16 pivotally mounted on cover 14, and a movable lid or sun shade 18 which can be used to enclose the display unit when not in use or, as shown in FIG. 1, be used to shield the display from the rays of the sun when this invention is utilized in daylight. Also operatively mounted within and protruding from cover 14 are an on/off switch 20, a channel selector 22, and an antenna 24, all of which being operatively connected to the circuitry of communicator 10 of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the body 25 or interior of miniature digital communicator 10 with cover 14 removed. In this Figure, clearly evident are the power source or battery 26, on/off switch 20, channel selector 22, privacy switches 28, integrated circuits 30 and the twelve light emitting diode (LED) or liquid crystal (LC) elements 31 of display 32. All elements shown in pictorial fashion in FIG. 2 of the drawing are discussed and explained in detail hereinbelow with reference to FIGS. 3a, 3b and FIG. 4.

Still referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, the signals intended for display by the miniature digital communicator 10 of this invention will have a similar format. The "burst" for any characters to be shown on display 32 will have a length of 9 bits in terms of timing. The "burst" begins with a timing pulse, which sets up the initial logic, signalling that a letter or numeral is about to be received in a manner described hereinbelow. This timing pulse is followed by a blank period equal in time to two pulses. The blank is to facilitate the timing and synchronizing necessary to reset the logic between the characters. This two-space blank is never used for anything else.

The next six bits (or spaces) are used to identify the character to be displayed. Such a six bit code is capable of 63 combinations and can therefore illustrate all the letters of the alphabet (capitals only), all ten numerals and a broad selection of punctuation marks and special symbols. The time necessary for the nine bits is intentionally very short when compared to the half-second display period. This differential is significant in that it is the key to synchronization of the instant invention. Thus, no matter at what instant the communicator 10 is turned on it will be ready for a meaningful display within one-half second.

Reference is now made to the circuit diagram shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b of the drawing. The origin of the signals utilized by the communicator 10 of the instant invention which does not form part of this invention is a standard, conventional alpha-numeric keybroad. Each key is given a binary identity. For example, "A" might be termed binary "one" and "B" binary "two". All digital information is received by communicator 10 by a conventional radio receiver circuit 40 or acoustic pickup 42 or the like. Power for the communicator 10 is furnished by any conventional power source such as battery 26. Although power source 26 is shown in FIG. 3a, it is not shown diagramatically attached to the various elements of this invention since the addition of numerous lines to each element would tend to obstruct the clarity of the wiring of the novel and essential elements of this invention.

The invention accepted by radio receiver 40 or acoustic pickup 42 is passed on as an information signal 44 through switch 43 upon the selection of the appropriate "channel" by channel selector 22. Information signal 44 proceeds to two other circuit elements; (1) a monostable multivibrator 46 and (2) one side each of eight two-input AND Gates 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62 of a privacy circuit 64. The output 66 of multivibrator 46 enables a clock 68 (after a one bit delay by a monostable multivibrator 70) to oscillate for the period of one display (just under one-half second). Clock 68, which may be in the form of a variety of digital clock concepts, ranges from a simple unijunction transistor circuit to a more likely integrated circuit such as an astable multivibrator. Clock 68, thus enabled, produces a stream of accurate, timed pulses 72 at a gate equal to the transmitted data rate and at a width to accommodate a partial overlap in time with transmitted data bits.

Monostable multivibrator 46 also provides its output 66 to a buffer (driver) 74 in the form of a circuit element providing isolation and amplification combined with an inverter 76, a conventional circuit element usually associated with a driver which reverses the polarity of a signal. Driver 74 is thus timed, with its resultant narrow positive output 78 serving the rest of the circuits with a reset pulse, which is generally intended to make those circuits receptive to the next signal in a manner to be described hereinbelow.

Output 72 of clock 68 now appears as a stream of identical pulses interrupted approximately every one-half second when monostable multivibrator 46 drops out in anticipation of the next character. Signal 72 may be seen at the output of AND gate 80 as signal 82.

A multiplexer circuit 84 correlates clock signal 82 directly with the output 44 of receiver 40. Multiplexer circuit 84 is made up of bistable multivibrators 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 plus privacy circuit 64 made of eight AND Gates 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62. At AND Gate 80, which is located before multiplexer circuit 84, the clock output 72 is held up for the length of one bit until monostable multivibrator 70 fires. Multivibrator 70 and a driver 100 and an inverter 102 associated therewith are than activated for that period from the same output 66 from multivibrator 46 that enables clock 68. This delay prevents multiplexer circuit 84 from being activated by pulse 44. The multiplexer bistable multivibrators 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 are cascaded so that the output of bistable multivibrator 86 can pass a signal to either bistable multivibrator 88 or multivibrator 90, depending on the position of a conventional privacy switch 104. As each bistable multivibrator 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 is fired, it "flips" and in turn fires the next multivibrator as determined by the position of the respective privacy switches 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, and 116 as shown in FIG. 2 as elements 28. These switches being in the form of any conventional double pole, double throw switch.

As any single pulse 66 passes through clock 68, bistable multivibrator 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 and switches 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114 and 116, its presence is shortly acknowledged at one of the And Gates 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 or 62 which form the privacy circuit 64 or output of the multiplexer circuit 84. For any combination of the privacy switches, there will be a single path through the multiplexer circuit 84 for a particular clock bit. When the second clock bit is sensed, bistable multivibrators 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96 and 98 are routed to that path predetermined for the second bit. This sequence is followed through a period time equal to a six bit character, which is sufficient to identify a character. No actual transmitted data is handled in either clock 68 or multiplexer circuit 84. These two circuits merely combine to assign "addresses" for each of the data bits received. Data bit are assigned their correct "addresses" by correlation in the AND Gate 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62 of privacy circuit 64. The received data stream is supplied to all the AND Gates, but only those enabled by a clock bit will pass a signal to a display group 118 (three of which are shown in FIG. 3b). The total of display group 118 corresponds in number, 12 to the twelve element display 32 in FIG. 1 and 2. Although 12 such elements are preferred, any other desirable number can become part of this invention. If privacy switches 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114 and 116 are not in use, or all are in the same "normal" position as shown in the drawing, the sequence seen by privacy circuit 64 or AND Gates 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62 would be in the following order: AND Gate 48, AND Gate 56, AND Gate 52, AND Gate 60, AND Gate 50, AND Gate 58, AND Gate 54, and AND Gate 62. Use of any or all privacy switches will alter at least some of these "addresses".

The transmitted "addressed" data, a, b, c, d, e, f, g and h go directly from AND Gates 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62, respectively, through a corresponding conventional memory such as a bistable latch 120 and any suitable converter such as a conventional binary coded decimal 122 to a conventional display 124 made of a light emitting diode (LED) or liquid crystal (LC) display, of each display group 118. After the bistable latch 120 in a particular display group 118 has captured the data, and at the end of that particular display, a pulse 78 from buffer or driver 74 resets the bistable multivibrators 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 and 62 to their baseline condition, in which they await the next clock burst. If desirable conventional displays are available which internally include the latch 120 and coded decimal 122. One bistable latch 120 is necessary for each of the display characters in order to hold it for its one-half second. The key to having the display characters "ripple" across the display 32 lies in the bistable latch 120 for each display group 118. Bistable latch 120 awaits correspondence of the energized elements from the previous display and the coding system reset pulse. With these inputs bistable latch 120 conducts the previous display. This signal is then latched to the next display group 118, and held until the next reset pulse 78 causes the transfer to be passed on down the line. For clarification reference is made to FIG. 4 of the drawing which shows the relationship between various signals in the circuit of this invention with respect to the time it takes to produce a letter. FIG. 4 would therefore be an illustrative example of letter T.

Although this invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that this invention is also capable of a variety of further embodiments within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.