Fri 1 Dec 2006
I have found that I have lately developed the ability to turn off my alarm clock while remaining asleep. I am guessing that I am not the only one. The idea is designing an alarm clock that has four seven segment displays for two hour and two minute digits. A LED that blinks every second between the minutes and hours and an LED indicating AM/PM if you don’t like twenty four hour time. Above each of the seven segment displays and LEDs is a functional button, to set time or set alarm. Once the alarm goes off, a button press suspends the alarm for a short period of time allowing the user to disarm the system. At each alarm, the microcontroller determines a random sequence of five or six buttons of a pre-determined length. The microcontroller notifies the user which button to press by blinking the seven segment display or LED that is below the button. Once the user has pressed the correct button, it issues the next command. Once enough commands have been entered, say ten, the alarm would be fully disarmed. This procedure would have to be carried out any time the alarm is to be turned off, even before its scheduled time. I’m thinking of implementing this using some kind of 8-bit MCU and a serial real-time clock with a little NVRAM to store the alarm time and encasing it in a rugged enclosure in case it gets thrown.
What do you think?
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