Telephone timer

Claim 2

A telephone timing and display unit for providing an indication of a final interval of predetermined duration of each of a number of toll charge intervals during a telephone call, said unit comprising: clock means for providing a reference clock signal train; means for generating a succession of final interval signals of predetermined duration from said reference clock signal train, each succeeding final interval signal beginning a fixed time interval after the end of the previous final interval signal; manually actuatable means for initializing said generating means at the beginning of said telephone call; a plurality of display lamps, eaCh for specifying a different one of said final intervals; and means for energizing a different one of said lamps at a rate related to said clock signal train for each of said final intervals in response to the generation of each of said final interval signals so that each of said lamps is intermittently energized only during the final portion of a different toll charge interval.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 further including manually actuatable hold means for enabling said generating means to continue to generate any one of said final interval signals present upon actuation of said hold means so that the associated one of said display lamps continues to be intermittently energized when the hold means is actuated at the end of a telephone call.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said generating means includes means for producing the first of said final interval signals substantially 2.5 minutes after initialization of said generating means.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said fixed time interval is substantially one minute.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said generating means includes a divide-by-N unit coupled to said clock means, a scale-of-N counter coupled to the output of said divide-by-N unit, where N the time duration of said fixed time interval divided by four and a decoder coupled to said scale-of-N counter for generating each of said final interval signals in response to the generation of a different predetermined count in said scale-of-N counter.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5, wherein N 15.

Claim 8

A timer for indicating the duration of each of an ordered plurality of significant intervals, each succeeding interval beginning a fixed time interval after the end of the previous interval, said timer comprising: means for generating a reference train of clock signals having a predetermined frequency; counting and control means coupled to said generating means for providing a plurality of control signals, each defining a different one of said significant intervals; manually actuatable means for setting said counting and control means to an initial state; a plurality of indicator lamps coupled to said counting and control means, each said lamp associated to a different one of said significant intervals; and lamp energizing means coupled to said generating means and said counting and control means for sequentially energizing said individual lamps at a rate determined by said clock signals in accordance with the appearance of individual ones of said control signals so that each of said individual lamps is intermittently energized only during the significant interval associated thereto.

Claim 9

A timer for indicating the duration of each of an ordered plurality of significant intervals, each succeeding interval beginning a fixed time interval after the end of the previous interval, said timer comprising: means for generating a reference train of clock signals having a predetermined frequency; counting and control means coupled to said generating means for providing a plurality of control signals, each defining a different one of said significant intervals; manually actuatable means for setting said counting and control means to an initial state; a plurality of indicator lamps coupled to said counting and control means, each said lamp associated to a different one of said significant intervals; and lamp energizing means coupled to said generating means and said counting and control means for sequentially energizing said individual lamps at a rate determined by said clock signals in accordance with the appearance of individual ones of said control signals so that each of said individual lamps is intermittently energized only during the significant interval associated thereto.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said counting and control means includes a divide-by-N unit coupled to said generating means, a scale-of-N counter coupled to the output of said divide-by-N unit, where N the time duration of said intervals divided by two, and a decoder coupled to said scale-of-N counter for generating each of said control signals in response to the generation of a different predetermined count in said scale-of-N counter.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein N 15.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 8 further including manually actuatable means for disabling said scale-of-N counter from further counting in order to store the count therein.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said intervals are each of substantially 30 seconds duration and mutually separated by 60 seconds, the first one of said intervals beginning substantially 2.5 minutes after said counting and control means has been set to said initial state.