CA2100633A1 - Method for automatically updating a personal computer system time clock over a telephone line - Google Patents
Method for automatically updating a personal computer system time clock over a telephone lineInfo
- Publication number
- CA2100633A1 CA2100633A1 CA 2100633 CA2100633A CA2100633A1 CA 2100633 A1 CA2100633 A1 CA 2100633A1 CA 2100633 CA2100633 CA 2100633 CA 2100633 A CA2100633 A CA 2100633A CA 2100633 A1 CA2100633 A1 CA 2100633A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- clock
- data packet
- data
- fsk
- time
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Landscapes
- Electric Clocks (AREA)
Abstract
A METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING A PERSONAL COMPUTER
SYSTEM TIME CLOCK OVER A TELEPHONE LINE
ABSTRACT
The highly accurate time stamp sent by the local phone company in FSK data streams such as the caller identification (CID) data stream is used to automatically update the PC system clock each time an FSK data stream is received. The telephone system transmits a data packet to the personal computer immediately after ringing the telephone. Data in the data packet represents the time of the telephone system's clock when the data packet was sent. This data, after being received by the PC, is decoded and then used to update the PC clock. Finally, a user interface is provided that allows the user to enable or disable the automatic updating of the PC clock.
SYSTEM TIME CLOCK OVER A TELEPHONE LINE
ABSTRACT
The highly accurate time stamp sent by the local phone company in FSK data streams such as the caller identification (CID) data stream is used to automatically update the PC system clock each time an FSK data stream is received. The telephone system transmits a data packet to the personal computer immediately after ringing the telephone. Data in the data packet represents the time of the telephone system's clock when the data packet was sent. This data, after being received by the PC, is decoded and then used to update the PC clock. Finally, a user interface is provided that allows the user to enable or disable the automatic updating of the PC clock.
Description
A METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING A PERSONAL COMPUTER
SYSTEM TIME CLOCK OVER A TELEPHONE LINE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a personal com-puters time management syctem, more particularly, to amethod of automatically updating of the PC system time clock when an incoming telephone call i5 received.
.~
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most of today's computers have built in real-time clocks. By using a battery, these clocks keep time even while the computer is turned off. Although these clocks are stable, they are generally not very accurate. Thus, the user must regularly update the time of the clock.
One present way to insure the accuracy o~ the local PC clock requires an expensive time broadcast receiver PC
card. This card contains a time broadcast receiver for receiving a radio signal. The radio signal contains time information that the card decodes and synchronizes the local cloc~. This system has two primary disadvantages.
First, the high cost of the time broadcast receiver PC
card. Second, the need for proper reception of the radio wave usually including an antenna system.
The clock maintained by the telephone company is extremely accurate. Until recently, the only way for the public to receive the local telephone company ti~le was to call the "time" number and listen to the time. The listener then must enter the new time into the computer.
Obviously, there is a time lag between listening to the time and entering the time into the computer. Errors in entry are also possible.
With calling number identification (CID) service, Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) data is sent over the phone lines to the telephone service customer. The telephone system time stamps the FSK data as it is sent out. The present invention uses this information to update the PC
clock.
Prior to the present invention, no inexpensive means to automatically keep the system clock in a personal com-puter (PC) synchroni2ed with the real local time existed.
Therefore, it is the objective of the present invention to provide a technique to cause the automatic updating of the PC system time clock when an incoming FSK data stream occurs on the telephone line to which the accessory card is attached.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to accomplish the objective of the present invention there is provided a method for automatically updating a local clock on a personal computer when a ringing signal is received. This method uses the highly accurate time stamp sent by the local phone company in FSK data streams such as the calling number identifica-tion (CID) data stream to automatically cause the PC
system clock to be updated each time an FSK data stream containing a local data and time field occurs on the attached line. The telephone system transmits a data packet to the personal computer immediately after ringing the telephone. Data in the data packet represents the time of the telephone system's clock when the data packet was sent. This data, after being received by the PC, is decoded and then used to update the PC clock. Finally, a user interface is provided that allows the user to enable or disable the automatic updating of the PC clock.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A better understanding of the invention may be had from the consideration of the following detailed descrip-tion taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of the card's rela-tionship to the host PC, external power supply, incoming telephone line and extension telephones.
21~3~
~ FIG. 2 is a dlagram showing the hardware aspects of the accessory card.
FIG. 3 is a screen image of the clock setup function.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the sequence of events that occur when an incoming call occurs accompanied by a calling number ID data stream~
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the format of a Single Data Message CID data stream.
FIG. 6 shows the actual content of a sample packet for a Single Data Message CID data stream.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the format of a Multiple Message CID data stream.
DESCRIPTION OF TH~ PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention is part of a hardware and software package that comprises a complete single-line call management system. The hardware, as shown in figure 1, consists of a PC card. Generally, the environment is a personal computer with monitor, keyboard, and mouse 101, the card 102, and standard telephone line with some type of FSK data service 103.
Referring to figure 2, the interfaces to the card ` consist of a PC Interface 201 for connecting to the host PC. A telephone line interface 208 connection. DC
isolation and lightning/power cross protection are pro-vided for by the ~elephone line interface 208. An exter-nal power source not shown in figure 2, is locally regu-lated on the card and a well-defined power-on-reset sig-nal is generated to reset the card's own microprocessor at initial power-up. The portion of the cardls circuitry that deals with interfacing to the PC 201 receives 5~
power (VCC-PC) from the PC and is not powered when the PC
is off.
The analog portion of the card 206, 207 and 209 con-tains an off hook sensing circuit to determine telephoneline status, a DTMF generator and decoder, and an FSK
Bell 103 type modem to receive and decode the calling number data. The digital portion of the card 202, 203, ~04~ and 205 contains the microprocessor, RAM, ROM and Phone interface receptively. Alternatively, Phone inter-face 205 could hook directly to the PC via a serial port or directly to the PC bus.
The present invention distinguishes this system from existing FSK reception devices in that it provides a method for updating the system clock of the PC by using the time and date information contained in frequency shift keying data strings sent by the telephone company.
This invention provides a very convenient and inexpensive way to keep the PC system clock synchronized to local time. The standard FSK string contains the month, day, hour and minute corresponding to local time at the in-stant the FSK string is sent from the telephone company switching equipment. Assuming an incoming call occurs on the attached line once a week and the automatic system time update feature is enabled, the PC system time should remain accurate to within a few seconds. This assumes the accuracy of most personal computing devices at the time of this patent application's writing.
First an overview will be given, followed by a more detailed description. Referring first to figure 3, a user interface on the PC allows the user to enabled this feature. Assuming the feature is enabled as shown in figure 3, the device will use incoming FSK data as a ref-erence for updating the system clock of the PC. When the device detects an incoming call with an accompanying FSK
data stream, it passes the FSK data on to the associated PC software. The associated PC software reads the cur-rent time and date contained in the FSK data. Next, thePC software updates the PC system clock to match the FSK
date and time sent from the telephone company.
Referring to figure 4, a flow chart showing the logical execution of the PC software as it relates to updating the PC system time is shown. When an incoming call or other FSK event occurs 301, the FSK information is collected by the accessory card and passed to the PC
port 302. After receiving the FSK information, the PC
software checks if the auto system time update feature has been enabled 303. If so, ~ tware uses the time and date stamp included in the FSK string to update (reset) the PC sys-tem clock 304. Processing then returns to the calling point to continue processing o-ther infor-mation contained in the FSK string 305.
Figure 5 shows the format of an FSK Calling Number Identification (CID) string sent from the phone company to the customer's equipment. This figure shows the single message format CID data string as specified in the Bellcore Technical Advisory, TA-NWT-000030 "SPCS-to-CPE
Data Transmitter Generic Requirements". Figure 6 gives a more detailed description of the format of figure 5. In figure 6, an e~ample data packet for "March 21; 2:05 PM;
Calling Number: ~914) 555-1234" is shown.
Figure 7 shows another format for CID data. This figure shows the multiple message format CID data string also specified in the Bellcore Technical Advisory, TA-NWT-0000300 In the multiple message format, the date and time are contained under a separate parameter specified as parameter type 01 Hex.
An alternate embodiment allows the telephone system to update a standalone clock. This embodiment replaces the PC clock with a regular human readable clock. The operation is similar to that of the PC embodiment with some differences. The primary difference being that the clock module must receive the information from the tele-phone system and then update the local time of the time module.
Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.
SYSTEM TIME CLOCK OVER A TELEPHONE LINE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a personal com-puters time management syctem, more particularly, to amethod of automatically updating of the PC system time clock when an incoming telephone call i5 received.
.~
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most of today's computers have built in real-time clocks. By using a battery, these clocks keep time even while the computer is turned off. Although these clocks are stable, they are generally not very accurate. Thus, the user must regularly update the time of the clock.
One present way to insure the accuracy o~ the local PC clock requires an expensive time broadcast receiver PC
card. This card contains a time broadcast receiver for receiving a radio signal. The radio signal contains time information that the card decodes and synchronizes the local cloc~. This system has two primary disadvantages.
First, the high cost of the time broadcast receiver PC
card. Second, the need for proper reception of the radio wave usually including an antenna system.
The clock maintained by the telephone company is extremely accurate. Until recently, the only way for the public to receive the local telephone company ti~le was to call the "time" number and listen to the time. The listener then must enter the new time into the computer.
Obviously, there is a time lag between listening to the time and entering the time into the computer. Errors in entry are also possible.
With calling number identification (CID) service, Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) data is sent over the phone lines to the telephone service customer. The telephone system time stamps the FSK data as it is sent out. The present invention uses this information to update the PC
clock.
Prior to the present invention, no inexpensive means to automatically keep the system clock in a personal com-puter (PC) synchroni2ed with the real local time existed.
Therefore, it is the objective of the present invention to provide a technique to cause the automatic updating of the PC system time clock when an incoming FSK data stream occurs on the telephone line to which the accessory card is attached.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to accomplish the objective of the present invention there is provided a method for automatically updating a local clock on a personal computer when a ringing signal is received. This method uses the highly accurate time stamp sent by the local phone company in FSK data streams such as the calling number identifica-tion (CID) data stream to automatically cause the PC
system clock to be updated each time an FSK data stream containing a local data and time field occurs on the attached line. The telephone system transmits a data packet to the personal computer immediately after ringing the telephone. Data in the data packet represents the time of the telephone system's clock when the data packet was sent. This data, after being received by the PC, is decoded and then used to update the PC clock. Finally, a user interface is provided that allows the user to enable or disable the automatic updating of the PC clock.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A better understanding of the invention may be had from the consideration of the following detailed descrip-tion taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of the card's rela-tionship to the host PC, external power supply, incoming telephone line and extension telephones.
21~3~
~ FIG. 2 is a dlagram showing the hardware aspects of the accessory card.
FIG. 3 is a screen image of the clock setup function.
FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the sequence of events that occur when an incoming call occurs accompanied by a calling number ID data stream~
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the format of a Single Data Message CID data stream.
FIG. 6 shows the actual content of a sample packet for a Single Data Message CID data stream.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the format of a Multiple Message CID data stream.
DESCRIPTION OF TH~ PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention is part of a hardware and software package that comprises a complete single-line call management system. The hardware, as shown in figure 1, consists of a PC card. Generally, the environment is a personal computer with monitor, keyboard, and mouse 101, the card 102, and standard telephone line with some type of FSK data service 103.
Referring to figure 2, the interfaces to the card ` consist of a PC Interface 201 for connecting to the host PC. A telephone line interface 208 connection. DC
isolation and lightning/power cross protection are pro-vided for by the ~elephone line interface 208. An exter-nal power source not shown in figure 2, is locally regu-lated on the card and a well-defined power-on-reset sig-nal is generated to reset the card's own microprocessor at initial power-up. The portion of the cardls circuitry that deals with interfacing to the PC 201 receives 5~
power (VCC-PC) from the PC and is not powered when the PC
is off.
The analog portion of the card 206, 207 and 209 con-tains an off hook sensing circuit to determine telephoneline status, a DTMF generator and decoder, and an FSK
Bell 103 type modem to receive and decode the calling number data. The digital portion of the card 202, 203, ~04~ and 205 contains the microprocessor, RAM, ROM and Phone interface receptively. Alternatively, Phone inter-face 205 could hook directly to the PC via a serial port or directly to the PC bus.
The present invention distinguishes this system from existing FSK reception devices in that it provides a method for updating the system clock of the PC by using the time and date information contained in frequency shift keying data strings sent by the telephone company.
This invention provides a very convenient and inexpensive way to keep the PC system clock synchronized to local time. The standard FSK string contains the month, day, hour and minute corresponding to local time at the in-stant the FSK string is sent from the telephone company switching equipment. Assuming an incoming call occurs on the attached line once a week and the automatic system time update feature is enabled, the PC system time should remain accurate to within a few seconds. This assumes the accuracy of most personal computing devices at the time of this patent application's writing.
First an overview will be given, followed by a more detailed description. Referring first to figure 3, a user interface on the PC allows the user to enabled this feature. Assuming the feature is enabled as shown in figure 3, the device will use incoming FSK data as a ref-erence for updating the system clock of the PC. When the device detects an incoming call with an accompanying FSK
data stream, it passes the FSK data on to the associated PC software. The associated PC software reads the cur-rent time and date contained in the FSK data. Next, thePC software updates the PC system clock to match the FSK
date and time sent from the telephone company.
Referring to figure 4, a flow chart showing the logical execution of the PC software as it relates to updating the PC system time is shown. When an incoming call or other FSK event occurs 301, the FSK information is collected by the accessory card and passed to the PC
port 302. After receiving the FSK information, the PC
software checks if the auto system time update feature has been enabled 303. If so, ~ tware uses the time and date stamp included in the FSK string to update (reset) the PC sys-tem clock 304. Processing then returns to the calling point to continue processing o-ther infor-mation contained in the FSK string 305.
Figure 5 shows the format of an FSK Calling Number Identification (CID) string sent from the phone company to the customer's equipment. This figure shows the single message format CID data string as specified in the Bellcore Technical Advisory, TA-NWT-000030 "SPCS-to-CPE
Data Transmitter Generic Requirements". Figure 6 gives a more detailed description of the format of figure 5. In figure 6, an e~ample data packet for "March 21; 2:05 PM;
Calling Number: ~914) 555-1234" is shown.
Figure 7 shows another format for CID data. This figure shows the multiple message format CID data string also specified in the Bellcore Technical Advisory, TA-NWT-0000300 In the multiple message format, the date and time are contained under a separate parameter specified as parameter type 01 Hex.
An alternate embodiment allows the telephone system to update a standalone clock. This embodiment replaces the PC clock with a regular human readable clock. The operation is similar to that of the PC embodiment with some differences. The primary difference being that the clock module must receive the information from the tele-phone system and then update the local time of the time module.
Although the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (17)
1. A method for updating a local clock on a personal computer, a master clock being part of a telephone system, said telephone system transmitting a data packet to said personal computer, said data packet containing data representing an instantaneous time of said master clock, said method comprising the steps of:
receiving said data packet form said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said instantaneous time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data represent-ing said instantaneous time of said master clock.
receiving said data packet form said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said instantaneous time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data represent-ing said instantaneous time of said master clock.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data packet being transmitted being performed by a modulator means.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said modulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type modulator.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of receiving being performed by a demodulator means.
5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said demodulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type demodulator.
6. A method for updating a local clock, said method comprising the steps of:
transmitting a data packet over a telephone line means to said local clock from a telephone system, said telephone system, containing a master clock, said data packet containing data representing an instantaneous time of said master clock;
receiving said data packet from said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said instantaneous time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data represent-ing said instantaneous time of said master clock.
transmitting a data packet over a telephone line means to said local clock from a telephone system, said telephone system, containing a master clock, said data packet containing data representing an instantaneous time of said master clock;
receiving said data packet from said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said instantaneous time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data represent-ing said instantaneous time of said master clock.
7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said step of transmitting being performed by a modulator means.
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said modulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type modulator.
9. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said step of receiving being performed by a demodulator means.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein said demodulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type demodulator.
11. A method for automatically updating a local clock on a personal computer when a ringing signal is received, a master clock being part of a telephone system, said telephone system transmitting a data packet to said personal computer immediately after transmitting said ringing signal, said data packet containing data representing a present time of said master clock, said data packet being transmitted over a telephone line means as a series of tones, said personal computer including a user interface, said method comprising the steps of:
enabling said automatically updating of said local clock through said user interface;
detecting said ringing signal;
receiving said data packet form said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said present time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data representing said present time of said master clock.
enabling said automatically updating of said local clock through said user interface;
detecting said ringing signal;
receiving said data packet form said telephone system;
extracting said data representing said present time of said master clock; and updating said local clock with said data representing said present time of said master clock.
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said step of detecting being performed by a ring detector means.
13. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said data packet being transmitted being performed by a modulator means, said modulator means generating said series of tones.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said modulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type modulator.
15. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein said step of receiving being performed by a demodulator means.
16. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said demodulator means is a frequency shift keying (FSK) type demodulator.
17. Each and every novel feature or novel combina-tion of features herein disclosed.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US94182292A | 1992-09-08 | 1992-09-08 | |
| US941,822 | 1992-09-08 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2100633A1 true CA2100633A1 (en) | 1994-03-09 |
Family
ID=25477125
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2100633 Abandoned CA2100633A1 (en) | 1992-09-08 | 1993-07-15 | Method for automatically updating a personal computer system time clock over a telephone line |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2100633A1 (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6091804A (en) * | 1995-12-29 | 2000-07-18 | Council Of Scienntific & Industrial Research | Device useful as a master/slave clock for transmitting standard time over a telephone network and a telephone network incorporating the device for transmitting and receiving standard time |
-
1993
- 1993-07-15 CA CA 2100633 patent/CA2100633A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US6091804A (en) * | 1995-12-29 | 2000-07-18 | Council Of Scienntific & Industrial Research | Device useful as a master/slave clock for transmitting standard time over a telephone network and a telephone network incorporating the device for transmitting and receiving standard time |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| FZDE | Dead |