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Description  |
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TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to a device for monitoring the times of
day that various medicines should be taken by a patient and reminding the
patient of such needs and more particularly to an improved and simplified
device for reminding a patient of the various times of day when each
medicine or pill should be taken and for correcting or adjusting to new
reference times daily when a patient inadvertently takes one or more of
his medicines too late or too early.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Several such devices exist in the prior art, but none with the simplicity
and precision of the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,626 to NOBLE
shows a device for reminding a patient that the correct intervals of time
have elapsed for taking another dosage of a particular type of medicine
and sounds an alarm which can be worn on the patient's wrist like a watch
and activated by a radio signal transmission. However, if the patient
fails to take the medicine the device will simply reset the time interval
and sound another alarm when the next dosage is due.
There are no provisions for insuring that the patient has actually taken
his medicine or for correcting for those times when the patient takes his
medicine an hour or so too early or too late.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,474 to Simon shows a device for storing and
periodically announcing the time for removal of drug dosages in pill,
tablet, or capsule form. The device contains a number of plastic blisters
each containing a single pill. When the time to take a pill has come, an
electrical impulse ruptures the blister and sounds an alarm informing the
patient that it is time to take a pill. As in the case of U.S. Pat. No.
4,483,626 discussed above, there are no provisions to allow the patient to
record that he has taken the medicine. The device simply resets the timer
and ruptures another blister when it is time to take the next pill. If the
patient must take more than one type pill at another time interval then
another board of blisters is required as well as another timer and the
associated control circuits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,688 shows a pill dispenser with a timer that sounds an
alarm when it is time for the patient to take a pill. When the patient
opens the pill container, the alarm ceases and the timer resets. However,
only one type pill per box and per timer is accommodated. A separate box,
timer, and alarm is required for each different type pill.
It should be noted that in most states pills must be kept by the patient in
the same dispenser he obtained from his pharmacist. This is required by
law. Obviously, this is not true in the case of the prior art patents
discussed above.
Other prior art patents which show one or two features of the present
invention but none of which are regarded as being sufficiently relevant to
warrant individual discussion are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,419,016, 4,448,541, and
4,361,408 issued respectively to Zoltan, Wirtschafter, and Wirtschafter.
It would mark a definite improvement in the art to provide a single
container medication organizer which would not only indicate to the
patient when each medication was due to be taken, but would also provide
for a response from the patient that the pill had been taken, and further
indicate the time when the next dosage of each different type of pill was
due to be taken, and further would allow and correct for instances when
the patient took his medication much too early or much too late, or had
simply carried the pills in his pocket for a half day or so and had never
responded to the alarm activated by the invention.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide an improved
unitary device for storing a plurality of different types of medicines
such as pills and sounding an alarm at preset periodic intervals when it
is time for the patient to take one of the pills, and further to provide
means for the patient to acknowledge the alarm and indicate that he has
taken the prescribed pill.
Another primary object of the invention is to reset a time readout
indicator in response to the patient's acknowledgement of the alarm to
indicate when the next time arrives to take another of the prescribed
pills.
Yet another object is to provide a unitary device for reminding a patient
by an alarm that it is time to take a particular one of a number of
different types of pills and to automatically reset a time readout
indicator upon acknowledgement, by the patient, of the alarm as to when it
is time to take another pill of the same type and further to have the
ability to correct the time readout indicator to a corrected time readout
when the patient takes his pill earlier or later than he should have by
any amount of time.
A fourth object of the invention is to provide a pill dispensing device
which will automatically sound an alarm or make some other signal such as
a flashing light, to inform the patient that it is time to take a certain
type pill of several type pills which the device is capable of dispensing
by alarm at various time intervals and to shift the time readout indicator
for any particular type pill the patient took too early or too late by a
simple act by the patient and without disturbing the time intervals for
the other pills which were taken at their proper, predetermined times.
A fifth object of the invention is the improvement of devices capable of
organizing any one of a plurality of different types of pills for a
patient, and remind him it is time to take one, at predetermined time
intervals.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one preferred form of the invention there is provided an
improved and simplified pill dispenser for patients requiring medication
comprising a plurality of compartments each containing one or more
different kinds of pills but all of such pills falling into a class of
pills having the same morning start-up time and the same time interval
between the taking of each type pill, a real time clock (RTC), a control
panel unique to each compartment and comprising, first and second
indicators for indicating, respectively, the morning start-up time and the
time interval between taking pills, and a time readout indicator
indicating when the next pill is to be taken. Also provided are
comparators for comparing the RTC time with the contents of the readout
indicators, an alarm responsive to the coincidence of the real time and
the contents of the readout indicator to alert the patient to take his
pills, a first energizer for transferring the contents of the start-up
time indicator to the readout indicator at the patient's bedtime, and
other energizers energizable by the patient to selectively transfer either
the contents of the RTC to the time readout indicator and then add the
time interval in the second indicator to the contents of the time readout
indicator or, alternatively, to simply add the time interval to the
contents of the time readout indicator, depending on how long before or
after coincidence between the RTC time and the contents of the time
readout indicator occurred after the other energizer were energized.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a front view of the invention;
FIG. 2 shows an enlarged and more detailed view of the front of one of the
pill compartments;
FIG. 3 shows an end view of the structure of FIG. 1;
FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, considered together, as shown in FIG. 6A, is a block
diagram of logic of the invention;
FIG. 7 is a logic diagram of block 54 of FIG. 4;
FIG. 8 shows a logic diagram of the LCD or LED readout elements with their
drivers; and
FIG. 9 is an alternative form of the invention employing a computer and a
different format for the various controls and readouts.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1, which shows the front view of the dispenser, has a side profile as
shown in FIG. 3. The front view of FIG. 1 is divided into two sections 21
and 23, with the upper section 21 having four compartments 25, 27, 29, and
31, each containing one or more bottles of pills in their original
containers and with each of the four compartments containing different
types of pills. If two or more different types of pills are to be taken at
the same time during the day, they can be kept in the same compartment of
compartments 25, 27, 29, and 31.
A more detailed showing of one of the compartments 25, 27, 29, and 31, all
of which can be identical, is shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2 the phrase "Take
2 Tablets Every 0 4 Hours" is changeable if desired. More specifically,
the phrase "Take 2 Tablets Every" can be a replacable printed tab to
provide for other dosages, or even different dosages of two or more
different kinds of pills with color or number coding to distinguish the
pills one from the other.
It should be noted that the same color or number coding can be used to mark
the lid, such as the lid 33 of compartment 25 of FIG. 1, which lid can be
opened by means of hinge 35 of FIG. 3 and tab 55 also of FIG. 3, to access
the pill bottle holding compartment lying thereunder. Each of the
remaining three compartments 27, 29, and 31 can have hinged lids
corresponding to hinged lid 33 of compartment 25.
In FIG. 2 the marking 0 4 labeled 19, can be a thumb wheel operated switch
consisting of a set of two discs with the left disc, which shows an "0" in
FIG. 2, also having a 1 and a 2 thereon, and the disc to the right
thereof, which shows a "4" in FIG. 2 also having the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3,
and 5-9 thereon so that the time intervals can be set by the patient to
show any time period from 1 hour to 24 hours. The words "Hours" label of
FIG. 2 can be a changeable tab or it can be permanently printed on the
compartment face, as shown.
The next line reading "Starting at 0 8:0 0" labeled 20, consists of the
changeable printed phrase "Starting at" followed by a thumb wheel operated
switch which is set at 0 8:0 0 in FIG. 2. The patient can change this time
to any other time he selects. If operated by thumb operated wheels, it is
desirable to have the units and tens of minutes operated by separate thumb
wheels and the hours by a single thumb generated wheel which causes the
hours count to be selectable from 1:00 to 12:00. Minutes are also
selectable. Thumb wheel operated switches 19, 20, and 26 could also be a
register or a counter in other designs with an LED or LCD display and will
sometimes be referred to herein as a register, indicator or a counter.
Thumb operated switch 26 can be set to AM or PM. Thumb wheel switch 20 is
shown in FIG. 4, as blocks labeled 26, 70, 72, and 74 with output leads
80, 96, 95 and 97, respectively.
The next line in FIG. 2 reads "Next Dose To Be Taken At" followed by the
readout indicator 18 which is a combination register and readout, referred
to herein both as a register and a readout and which indicates when the
next pill is to be taken. Readout indicator 18 is divided into sections
indicating hours 108, minutes 124, and AM/PM 125. Although this indicator
18 shows a time of 12:00, this is not the real time, but only a setting
which does not change until it (the 12:00 setting) coincides with the
arrival of real time 12:00 which is shown by the real time clock (RTC) 28
of FIG. 1 followed by the patient's immediate taking of his pills and the
depressing of reset button 14, of FIG. 2 or, if the pills are taken too
early or too late, the depressing of reset button 16, of FIG. 2 or, as a
third possibility, the depression of the bedtime button 12, of FIG. 2 all
of which will be described in more detail later.
The extreme right hand block of FIG. 2 the readout 18 indicates whether the
time setting is AM or PM. All of the numerals in indicators 19, 20, and 18
of FIG. 2 can be either LED or LCD units activated by logic circuits to be
discussed later herein.
It should be noted that the thumb operated counters 19 and 20 are
accessible by sliding out the plastic panel 24 shown in FIG. 3.
Furthermore, once set by the patient the time interval set into counter 19
of FIG. 2 and the morning starting time set into counter 20 of FIG. 2 will
remain the same until changed by the patient. The setting in readout
register 18 of FIG. 2 will be changed by three different procedures
activated by the patient and which will be discussed in detail below.
Depressing the bedtime reset button 12 of FIG. 2 will load register 18 via
the control circuits of FIGS. 4-7, to be discussed later, with 8:00 AM or
whatever is dialed into register 20. Also the time set into readout
register 18 will become set at 8:00 AM, which is the real time the patient
is to take his first pill of the new day. Each time the patient takes his
pill on time the register 18 will be incremented by the number 4, or any
other number stored in counter indicator 19 of FIG. 2.
More specifically, for example, if the patient takes his first pill at 8:00
AM when the first alarm of the day sounds, and then depresses reset button
14, the time setting of 8:00 AM set into readout register 18 by the
depression of the bedtime reset button 12 the previous night, will be
incremented by 4, the number of hours set into counter indicator 19. The
readout register 18 will then show a time of 12:00 noon, which is the time
the patient should take his next pill. If the patient again takes his pill
on time and depresses reset button 14 the readout register 18 will again
be incremented by 4 and will read 4:00 PM, the time the patient should
take his next pill.
It should be noted that the time indicated by readout register 18 does not
necessarily bear any true relationship with the actual, real time of day,
as indicated by RTC 28 of FIG. 1, except at coincidence when the alarm
goes off.
It is obvious, however, that if the patient does not take his next pill
until 12:30 PM, then presses button 14 the readout register 18 will still
be incremented by 4 to read 4:00 PM, so that when the patient takes his
next pill at the time the next alarm goes off, which will be 4:00 PM by
readout register 18, also referred to herein as a readout indicating time
(RIT). He would then be taking his medicine 31/2 hours later. This would
mean he was 30 minutes late the last time and will be 30 minutes early the
next dosage. If the nature of the medication is such that this is
unacceptable then a second manner of resetting is required.
The second manner in which the time indicated by register 18 will need to
be corrected is when the patient takes his pill before or after the time
indicated by register 18. Assume that register 18 indicates 4:00 PM and
that he took his pill 11/2 hours late, (5:30 p.m.), and that while
register 18 indicates pill time to be 4:00 PM, the real time would be 5:30
PM. If now the patient takes his pill he is a full 11/2 hours late.
By depressing reset button 16 of FIG. 2 the patient will automatically set
the time indicated by register 18 as being 9:30 PM, the time he is to take
his next pill. It can be seen that the difference between 4:00 PM
indicated by register 18 (before depressing reset button 16) and the real
time of 5:30 PM is 11/2 hours. When reset button 16 is depressed register
18 not only is set to the real time of 5:30 PM but is also simultaneously
incremented by 4, the value in counter 19 of FIG. 2, so that register 18
will indicate the time of 9:30 PM as when the patient should take his next
pill.
It is to be understood that another compartment might have the value 03
stored in its counter indicator 19. In such a case the time 8:00 AM will
be incremented by 3 to read 11:00 AM after the patient takes his first
pill at 8:00 AM and depresses reset button 14. Should the patient take his
3 hour interval pills too early or too late by any time interval, he would
depress reset button 16 of FIG. 2 to set the time in register 18 to the
real time of real time clock 28 of FIG. 1, plus the 3 additional hours
contained in the counter corresponding to counter 19 of FIG. 2.
The "on-off" switch 17 of FIG. 2 (not shown in the detailed schematics of
FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 but functions to turn off the power supply to an unused
compartment. The power supply, which can be conventional, is also not
shown in the drawings, but merely activates or deactivates the particular
compartment it relates to. Deactivation, of course, will be used if the
compartment is not in use at that time, i.e., contains no pills.
Referring now to FIG. 1 again the lower portion 23 thereof is common to all
of the individual compartments 25, 27, 29, and 31 of the upper portion 21
of FIG. 1. Lower portion 23 contains a unit 43 which contains a
conventional real time clock 28, a calendar 45, and also shows the day of
the week by means 47.
All of the various time indicating displays are comprised of either LCD or
LED units and are dynamic in that they always show the present time
condition. For example, the date display 45 will change each day to show
the correct date, and the true or actual day of the day of the week
display 47 will be the only day of the display which is illuminated and
will, of course, change each day.
An alarm set switch 46 of FIGS. 1 and 6 is operable by the patient to
selectively enable both the audible and the visual alarm indicating that a
pill is to be taken, or, if the patient desires, the audio alarm can be
deactivated by moving the switch 46 to the off position leaving only the
visual alarm which can be indicated by flashing on and off of the register
indications such as shown in register 18 of FIG. 2.
The displays 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, and 42 of FIG. 1 are all thumb
operated display devices to show the month, day, year, hour, and minutes
of the next doctor's appointment and whether it is in the morning (AM) or
afternoon (PM).
A common bedtime reset button 22 is provided which can either replace all
of the individual bedtime reset buttons of the upper departments of FIG. 2
or can be used in lieu of them, but keeping both the common bedtime reset
button 22 of FIG. 1 and the individual ones of FIG. 2 on the device to
give the patient a choice of which one to use.
It is to be noted that separate control panels for each pill compartment
can be located on the common portion 23 of FIG. 1 with each separate
control panel containing indicators corresponding to indicators 19, 20,
and 18 of FIG. 2 and reset buttons 12, 14, or 16, of FIG. 2 or their
equivalents, and the on/off switch 17 of FIG. 2. Also, the various
indicators 19, 20, and 18 for each compartment can be set electrically by
a common keyboard and under control of a microcomputer in lieu of the
hardwired hardware of FIGS. 4-7 herein. Referring now to FIG. 4 there is
shown a combination schematic and block diagram of part of the circuit for
selectively transferring (after processing) the contents of the RTC 28
plus the contents of 19 of FIG. 2 of FIG. 1 or the contents of the thumb
operated indicators, such as indicator 20 of FIG. 2, to the comparator 171
of FIG. 6, and the readout register 18 of FIGS. 2 and 6 upon depressing
reset buttons 16 or 12, respectively. Also included in FIG. 4 is the
multiplexor 62 which connects the contents of either the RTC 28 or the
contents of indicator 20 of FIG. 2 to readout register 18 of FIGS. 2 and 6
and comparator 171 of FIG. 6 upon depression of reset buttons 16 or 12, of
FIG. 2 respectively, and further by means of logic 54, generates binary
values from the tens of hours to block 50 and the units of hours in block
52 and also supplies the 10's of minutes and the units of minutes as
binary values from logic blocks 56 and 58 of FIG. 4.
It should be noted the output of RTC 28 blocks 50, 52, 60, 56, and 58 are
assumed to be in a format which is normally used to drive a binary to
seven segment display logic.
More specifically, in FIG. 4 the blocks 52 and 50 which represent,
respectively, units and tens of hours having four outputs for units of
hours each represented by binary code, and a single lead for hours, and
which are supplied via 4 lead cable 53 and single lead 51 from a segment
driven format to binary coding logic block 54 which transforms the set of
4 lead coding representing units of hours and the single lead 51
representing hours into a single set of 4 leads 64 which represents in
binary code the time in hours from the RTC 28 of FIG. 1. The 4 lead binary
output 64 of logic block 54 and also the single lead output 61 of the
AM/PM section 60 of RTC 28 are supplied to 2-to-1 multiplexor (MUX) 62 via
5 lead cable 65.
The tens and units of minutes are supplied from the RTC 28 of FIG. 1 in 4
lead binary form which are shown in FIG. 4 as being supplied to MUX 62 via
cables 66 and 68.
The hours from the thumb wheel operated indicator (TWOI) 20 are supplied in
binary format to MUX 62 via the 4 binary leads 96 and 5 lead cable 101,
which also contains the single lead output 80 from the AM/PM section 26 of
the TWOI 20.
The 3 output cables 82, 84, and 86, and AM/PM lead 88 of FIG. 4 transfer
either the output from the RTC 28 or the output from the TWOI 20
ultimately to the comparator 171 of FIG. 6 by controlling MUX 62 by the
logic within the dashed line block 113 of FIG. 4. It should be noted that
cables 84 and 86, which contain the tens and units of minutes, are
connected to comparator 171 via latch 192 of FIG. 6 while 4 lead cable 82
and AM/PM single lead 89 are first connected directly to the logic of FIG.
5 where further processing occurs, as will be discussed later herein.
Normally, MUX 62 of FIG. 4 will connect the cables 101, 103, and 102 of the
output of TWOI 20 to the output cables 82, 84, and 86 of MUX 62 which also
has single lead AM/PM ouput 88. However, when it is desired to connect the
RTC 28 to cables 82, 84, and 86 and single lead 88 the reset button 16 of
FIGS. 2 and 4 is depressed (as shown in detail in FIG. 4) by the patient
which overides the ground through resistor 92 and connects positive 5
volts from battery source 108 directly to MUX 62 through switch 106 and to
lead 104 and causes it to switch, thereby disconnecting TWOI 20 from
output cables 82, 84, 86 and single lead 88, and connecting the output of
RTC 28 to such output cables 82, 84, 86 and single lead 88. It should be
noted that lead 104 will go through several components without a reference
character change.
At the same time lead 104 will connect through long delay 112 of FIG. 5
which goes to load pin 11 of up/down counter 116 of FIG. 5 through NOR
gate 115 via lead 111 to initiate the necessary loading of up/down counter
116 with the binary data of cable 82 of FIG. 5 and processing (e.g.,
ultimately incrementing counter 116 by the number stored in TWOI 19 of
FIG. 2) to establish the time for the patient's taking of the next pill.
If reset button 12 of FIG. 2 is depressed, as at bedtime, +5 volt battery
source 94 will be connected through switch referenced 90 of FIG. 4
enabling MUX 62 with the +5 volt signal on lead 105 to transfer the
contents, hours, 10's of minutes, units of minutes, and AM/PM signal of
TWOI 20 through the MUX 62 of FIG. 4 to their proper destinations. The +5
volt signal on 105 is also be connected through short delay 114 of FIG. 5,
to gates 115, and OR gate 187 of FIG. 5. When not depressed, reset button
12 permits switch 90 to remain open to allow ground to be connected
directly through resistor 107 and to short delay 114 and then continue on
as load line 105 so that no transfer will occur since the load input pin
11 of counter 116 is not activated because the low level ground signal is
inverted to a high level signal by NOR gate 115.
As indicated above, cables 84 and 86 go directly to the latch 192 of FIG. 6
and then to the comparator 171 of FIG. 6. Only cable 82 the AM/PM lead 88,
and load lines 104 and 105 go to FIG. 5 for the following reasons.
If the time in readout 18 is 08:00 AM but the patient did not take his pill
until 09:30 AM, he will want to schedule the next pill for 4 hours later,
or at 01:30 PM. Consequently, he will depress reset button 16 which will
necessitate the real time of 09:30 AM to be incremented by 4. Unless
correcting logic is provided the 9:30 AM time would advance to 13:30
rather than to the desired 01:30 PM.
A similar case arises if the patient has taken his last pill on the
indicated readout time when the alarm 93 of FIG. 6 sounded (to be
discussed later) upon coincidence of the readout 18 time and the RTC at,
say 11:00 AM. The patient would depress reset button 14 of FIGS. 2 and 4
so that the readout 18 time of 11:00 AM would be incremented by 4 hours.
Unless correcting logic is provided the new readout time would be 15:00
instead of 03:00 PM.
The logic of FIG. 5 provides this correcting logic.
Consider the case where the patient takes his pill late, at 09:30 AM. The
output on cable 82 (hours only, in 4 bit binary format), of FIG. 4 is
loaded into up/down counter 116 of FIG. 5 and is registered thereon as
09:30 AM, upon the signal on load line 104 going low by virtue of NOR gate
115. It is to be noted that the minutes are shown for reference only. The
output of NOR gate 115 also goes to one of the inputs of NAND gates 122
and 124 through lead 111 and inverter 155. The other inputs of NAND gates
122 and 124 receive, respectively, the inverted form of the AM/PM
indication through inverter 126 and the non-inverted form of the AM/PM
indication, thus fully enabling one of the two NAND gates 122 or 124
depending on whether it is AM or PM. This will allow the processing of
lead 88 which is the AM/PM lead.
Load line 104, after the high level signal thereon goes low upon passing
through short delay 200 of FIG. 5 and NOR gate 170. This loads the
contents of TOSI 19 via cable 110 of FIGS. 2 and 5 into counter 118 of
FIG. 5 with a 3 (binary) but will decrement counter 118, by 4, as will be
explained later.
Furthermore, load line 104 goes through short delay 200 (FIG. 5) and NOR
gate 170 to reset flip-flip 119 causing Q to go high and thereby priming
AND gate 120. It should be noted that load line 104 also functions to
inhibit AND gate 120 until the load signal ends to avoid conflict of
signals.
As a result of the priming of AND gate 120, when Q of flip-flop 119 goes
high as a result of the load signal 104 on the reset pin, four positive
pulses from pulse source 128 will pass through AND gate 120 and output
lead 183 (after the low level load signal ends) to produce four positive
pulses which will pass through AND gate 201 via lead 181 to be supplied to
input pin 5 of up counter 116 to increment the hour count (09:30 AM) by 4.
The 4 pulses supplied to input pin 4 of the down counter 118, which was set
to 3 by the load signal on pin 11 thereof to load the contents of SWOI 19
therein, will cause down counter 118 to count down to 0 at which time the
borrow pin 13 thereof will go low to set flip-flop 119 via lead 179 and
thereby cause Q of flip-flop 119 to go low to disable AND gate 120 and
prevent further pulses from pulse source 128 from passing through.
It should be noted in the following explanation that the only time being
incremented is the hour, and the AM/PM is being toggled. The minutes are
used for explanation only.
As the 4 pulses are entered into up/down counter 116 on pin 5, via lead
181, the first pulse will cause the count to go from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
causing the carry lead 12 to go low and the binary 1 output lead 140 to go
low because the output of counter 116 is BCD coded. Also, the flip-flop
146 is reset causing Q, which is labeled lead 89 and represents the 10's
of hours, to go high, and which goes to the latch 192 and comparator 171
of FIG. 6. At the next pulse (the second pulse) the binary 1 output lead
140 will go high and the binary 2 output lead 142 will remain low. The
count goes from 10 to 11. At the third count from pulse source 128 the
lead 140 will go low and the lead 142 will go high. The count goes from 11
to 12. At the fourth count of pulse source 128 both the leads 140 and 142
will go high and the output goes from 12 to 13 and this generates a reset
pulse that is explained in the following paragraphs.
It should be noted that when the carry lead 144 went low and flip-flop 146
was reset and the Q thereof went high AND gate 150 was also primed via
lead 148. Then, when leads 140 and 142 of the output of counter 116 both
went high (this decodes a count of 13) AND gate 150 became conductive and
passed a high pulse to inverter 152 which in turn produced a low level
signal on lead 154 to set flip-flop 146, driving Q thereof low, and also
was supplied via lead 154 to the clock input of flip-flop 160 to cause
flip-flop 160 to toggle from its AM state to its complement PM state.
When the output of AND gate 150 went high, due to the leads 140 and 142
going high, the output of the up counter 116 was cleared to 0 via a high
level signal supplied via lead 163 to reset pin 14 of counter 116. It
should be noted on the fourth pulse AND gate 150 becomes conductive and
clears counter 116 very quickly, long before the fourth pulse has ended.
Thus, when counter 116 is cleared output leads 140 and 142 go low and
carry lead 144 goes high. Also, flip-flop 146 was set when AND gate 150
became momentarily conductive, causing the low level output of inverter
152. Since the fourth pulse is still present at the input of AND gate 201
and the reset pulse from AND gate 150 through invertor 152 produced a
quick negative pulse on lead 154 to the other input of AND gate 201
through lead 154. The effect on counter 116 is that of a fifth pulse
occurring, (counter 116 counts on the rising edge of a pulse) and the
effect is the same as dividing the fourth pulse into two separate pulses,
or generating a fifth pulse. This drives the count from 0 to 1.
The net effect is that the hours were incremented by 4 from 9 AM to 1 PM.
The units of hours are carrie | | |
