Patent · US Expired

System for remotely programming a portable information device using visible optical pattern transmitted from a display device while concurrently displaying human-readable explanation of the pattern

US5748895A · kind A · utility

27Cited by
12References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 17, 1997
Grant dateMay 5, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 17, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F15/0225
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A system and method is provided for remotely and optically programming a portable information device, such as a programmable watch, using a visual display device, such as a CRT monitor. The monitor displays a sequence of changing optical patterns used to optically transmit a serial stream of data. The optically programmable watch has an optical sensor which detects the sequence of optical patterns to optically receive the data stream. The optical patterns transmit machine-readable information that can be detected by the optical sensor, but no meaningful information to a user. The visual display device therefore also displays a human-readable image that explains to a user the sequence of optical patterns being used to transmit the data stream. The human-readable image is displayed in a manner that renders it undetectable by the optical sensor of the programmable watch.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.