Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
RADIo PAGING RECEI~rER
BACKG~OUND t)F THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio paging receiver for
receiving a signal, containing an address signal and a data
signal, and for displaying the data signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, a radio paging receiver is extensively used not only
for receiving an exclusive call but also for receiving common
information such as stock price information and exchange rate
information.
To better understand the present invention, a brief
reference will be made to a prior art paging receiver, shown in
Fig. 1.
A radio signal containing an address signal and a data
signal from a base station (not shown) is received at an antenna
301. Then the address signal and the data signal are fed to a
receiving section 302 to be demodulated thereby.
The demodulated signal is decoded by a decoder 303 and then
compared with an address previously stored in a ROM 304. When
the decoded address signal and the stored address are equal, the
data signal following the address signal is decoded by the
decoder 303 and then stored in a storage 305.
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A display switch 30~ is connected to the storage 305. ~hen
the display switch 305 is turned on, the data signal stored in
the storage 305 is fed to a display 307 and displayed thereon.
Usually, the storage 305 stores a single data signal. On
the reception of new data, the old data signal is replaced with
the new data signal, so that the latest information is always ;
stored in the storage 305. However, some of the conventional
paging receivers are capable of storing a plurality of data
signals.
10The problem with the above-mentioned prior art paging
receiver is that the user cannot see change of information unless
the paging receiver is always put near the user. For example,
the stock price information and exchange rate information change
every hour, and how they change itself is important information. ;
Particularly, the user cannot see abrupt changes in the content
of stock and exchange in foreign countries where business hours
are different.
A paging receiver which enables an user to select received
data is disclosed in, for example, EP 0317230 A2 filed by the
same applicant. In the paging receiver in this publication, the
user can set a desired numeral condition for searching the
received data. However, since the condition is restricted by the
absolute numeral value (for example, stock price 2 150), the user
of the paging recelver cannot also see how the stock price or the
exchange rate changes.
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SUMM~RY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the
a~ove-discussed problem and provide a paging receiver allowing
the user to grasp changes Oc information.
5In accordance with the present invention, a radio paging
receiver comprises:
a latest data storage for storing the received data signal;
an old data storage for storing, when a new data signal is
received, the data signal stored in said latest data storage and
10transferred from said latest data storage;
a calculating section for calculating a difference between
numerical values of numerical information contained in the two
data signals stored in said latest and old data storage;
a condition setting section for inputting a specific
15condition relating to a difference between two numerical values;
a comparing section for comparing said difference produced
by said calculating section and said specific condition and, if
the difference calculated by said ~alculating section satisfies
said specific condition, generating an alert signal; and
20an alert generator responsive to said alert signal for
generating an alert sound.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION O~ THE DR~WINGS
The above object and feature of this invention will become
more apparent from the following detailed description when taken
25in conjunction with the attached drawings.
Fi
g. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art paging receiver;
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Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present
invention;
Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the alert generator in the
embodiment;
Figs. 4A to 4c show the exampl~ of display state of the
embodiment;
Figs. 5A and 5B are flowcharts showing the operation of the
embodiment.
In the drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same
structural elements.
DESCRIPTION OF ~HE PRE~ERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to Fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention
has an antenna 101, a receiving section 102, a decoder 103, a ROM
104, a latest data storage 105, an old data storage 106, a data
comparing section 109, a numeral setting section 110 and a
numeral setting switch 111, an alert generator 116, a time select
section 112, a time adjusting switch 113, a start time
determining switch 114, an end time determining switch 115, a
display switch 107 and a display 108.
The latest data storage 105 stores the latest received data
from a base station (not shown).
The display switch 107 is connected to the latest data
storage 105. When the display switch 107 is operated, the data
signal stored in the latest data storage 105 is delivered to the
display section 108 to be displayed thereon.
The old data storage 106 stores the data received prior to
the latest data.
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The numeral setting section llo stores a specific numeral
NO1 which is inputted from the numeral setting switch 111 by an
user of the paging receiver. The numeral NO1 denotes a threshold
value of change in received data.
The data comparing section 1os compares the numeral NOl and
the absolute value NC2 of a difference between the latest data
stored in the latest data storage 105 and the old data stored in
the old data storage 106. Then, if the absolute value NO2 is
larger than or equal to the numeral NO1, the data comparing
section 109 outputs an alert signal a.
The time select section 112 has clock and timer function.
The timer is adjustable by the switches 113, 114 and 115 for
determining the time period of alerting of the alert generator
116. The time select section 112 outputs ON signal b in the
determined time period.
The alert generator 116 generates an alert sound in response
to the alert signal a and the ON signal b. ~ -
Reference will be made to Fig. 3 for describing the alert
generator 116 in detail. The alert generator 116 comprises an
AND gate 201, a tone signal generating circuit 202 and a speaker
203. The signals a and b are inputted to the AND gate 201. The
speaker 203 generates an alert sound c.
Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with
reference to Figs. 2 to 5. The explanation will be made for the
case in which the received data i5 exchange rate information
between Japanese yen (~) and U.S.dollars (US$).
F`irst, the user of the paging receiver operates the time
adjusting switch 113, the start time determining switch 114 and
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the end time determining switch 115 of the time select section
112 to enter a s~art time for turning on an alert of the alert
generator 116 and an end time for turning it off.
Next, the user operates the numeral setting switch lll to
enter the desired threshold numeral NOl. For example, assu~ne
that-the iatest data is "JYE/US$=107.50". This denotes that Us$l
is equal to ~107.50. Also, assume that the user wants to be
informed when the change in the exchange rate is ~0.20 or more.
The user inputs '~0.20" as the nu~eral NOl by the numeral set
switch 111 as shown in Fig. 4A. Namely, the numeral NOl
displayed in the display 18 increases "0.01" for each depression
of the switch 111. The decision of the NO1 is made by two
seconds or more depression of the swltch 111.
Next, a data receive operation will be described with
reference to Figs. SA and 5B. Now, assume that the latest data
stored in the latest data storaye 105 is "JYE/US$=107.50" which
denotes US$1 is ~107.50. This latest data is displayed at the
display 108 as shown in Fig. 4B.
A new signal received from a base station (not shown) and
containing an address signal and a data signal (e.g.,
"JYE/US$=107.20" which denotes US$1 is ~107.20) is fed to the
receiving section 102 via the antenna 101 to be demodulated
thereby (step Sl).
The demodulated address signal is decoded by the decoder 103
and then compared with an address stored in the ROM 104
beforehand (steps S2 and S3). If they compare equal, the data
signal followiny the address signal is decoded by the decoder 103
(step S4).
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The decoded new data signal "JYE/US$=107.20" is stored in
the latest data storage 105. At this instant, if data has
already been stored in the latest data storage 105 (i.e.,
"JYE/US$=107.50"), the data is transferred to the old data
storage 106 (steps s5 to S7). At this time, the latest data and
the old data are displayed at the display 108 by operating the
display swltch 107 as shown in Fig. 4C. In this case, the latest
data is displayed in a position under the old data.
Next, the data comparing section 109 calculates the absolute
value NO2 of a difference between the numerical information
contained in the data which are stored in the latest data storage
105 and in the old data storage 106 (step S8). In this case,
since the numeral value data "107. 50" is stored in the old data
storage 106 and the numeral value data "107.20" is stored in the
latest data storage 105, the absolute value N02 is "107.50"-
"107.20"="0.30".
Then, the data comparing section 109 compares the resulting
value NO2 and the value NO1 set by the numeral setting switch 111
(step S9). If the value N02 is greater than or equal to the
value NO1, the data comparing section 109 sends the alert signal
a of logical high level "H" to the alert generator 111. In this
case, since the calculated value NO2 = "0.30" is greater than the
value NO1 = "0.20", the alert signal a is output to the section
111 .
Further, the time select section 112 has a timer function.
When the start time set by the above method is reached, the
select section 112 sends the signal ON b of logical "H" to the
alert generator 116 (step S10).
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While the alert generator 116 is receiving the ON signal b,
it generates an alert sound c upon receiving the alert signal a.
Namely, the alert signal a from the data comparing section 10~
and the ON signal b from the time selecting section 112 are
applied to the AND gate 201 which delivers an AND of the two
inputs to a tone signal generator 202. As stated above, since
both the alert signal a and the ON signal b are at a logical "H"
level, a signal of "H" level is sent to the tone signal generator
202 only when b~th of the signals are input.
On receiving the "H" signal, the tone signal generator 202
generates a tone signal and amplifies the tone signal to drive
a speaker 203. As a result, an alert tone or sound c is produced
from the speaker 203 (step S11).
When the end time is reached, the time select 112 stops
sending the ON signal b to the alert generator 116, i.e., the
signal b changes from the logical high level "H" to a logical low
level "L". As a result, the alert generator 116 does not
generate the alert ~ound c even when it receives the alert signal
a from the data comparing section 109.
In this manner, while the user is asleep at night, for
example, an alert sound is produced when the content of the
received data signal undergoes a change greater than a
predetermined value, thereby allowing the user to grasp important
information.
Although the present invention has been fully described by
way of a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the
accompanying drawings, various changes and modifications will be
apparent to those having skill in this field. Therefore, unless
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these changes and modifications otherwise depart from the scope
of the present invention, they should be construed as included
therein.
