Time maintenance and display in a time keeping system including a time zone boundary

Claim 3

A method according to claim 1 wherein said transmitting step is conducted in a reception area including a boundary between an east time zone and a west time zone and said given time zone identification identifies one of said east time zone and said west time zone, and wherein said time zone preference indicator identifies one of said east time zone and said west time zone.

Claim 4

A method according to claim 2 wherein said given time zone identification is a binary value.

Claim 5

A method according to claim 2 wherein said time zone preference indicator is a binary value.

Claim 6

A method according to claim 1 wherein said transmitting step further includes transmitting in association with said time of day reference an indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary and said time keeping device interrogates said indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary and executes said comparing step in response to a positive indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary.

Claim 7

A time keeping system comprising: a radio signal transmission system broadcasting a plurality of time of day references within a reception zone including a time zone boundary, each time of day reference including identification of a given time zone; and at least one radio signal receiving device receiving a selected one of said time of day references, having a preference for display according to a preferred time zone, means for comparing said given time zone as received in association with one of said time of day references, and means for offsetting said time of day reference when said given time zone and said preferred time zone do not match.

Claim 8

A time keeping system comprising: a radio signal transmission system broadcasting a plurality of time of day references within a reception zone including a time zone boundary, each time of day reference including identification of a given time zone; and at least one radio signal receiving device receiving a selected one of said time of day references, having a preference for display according to a preferred time zone, means for comparing said given time zone as received in association with one of said time of day references, and means for offsetting said time of day reference when said given time zone and said preferred time zone do not match.

Claim 9

A system according to claim 6 wherein said identification of a given time zone identifies one of two adjoining time zones defined by said time zone boundary.

Claim 10

A system according to claim 7 wherein said identification of a given time zone is a binary value identifying an east or a west one of said two adjoining time zones.

Claim 11

A system according to claim 6 wherein each time of day reference further includes indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary and said radio signal receiving device interrogates said indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary and executes said comparing and offsetting steps conditionally as a function of said indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary.

Claim 12

A system according to claim 9 wherein said indication of transmission in proximity to a time zone boundary further includes indication of time offset between adjacent time zones defined by said boundary.

Claim 13

A system according to claim 10 wherein said time offset is a binary value indicating one of a full hour offset and half-hour offset.

Claim 14

In a method of time keeping having a time keeping system broadcasting by radio signal time of day information to a plurality of radio signal receiving devices employing said broadcast time of day information to maintain and display time of day, an improvement comprising the steps of: transmitting in conjunction with said broadcast time of day information an indication of a time zone associated with said broadcast time of day information; maintaining at each of said plurality of radio signal receiving devices a time zone preference indicator; and comparing at each of said plurality of radio signal receiving devices upon receipt of said broadcast time of day information said indication of a time zone with said time zone preference indicator and if a match condition results then accepting for time keeping said broadcast time of day information, and if a match condition does not result then offsetting for use in time keeping said broadcast time of day information as a function of said time zone preference indicator.

Claim 15

In a method of time keeping having a time keeping system broadcasting by radio signal time of day information to a plurality of radio signal receiving devices employing said broadcast time of day information to maintain and display time of day, an improvement comprising the steps of: transmitting in conjunction with said broadcast time of day information an indication of a time zone associated with said broadcast time of day information; maintaining at each of said plurality of radio signal receiving devices a time zone preference indicator; and comparing at each of said plurality of radio signal receiving devices upon receipt of said broadcast time of day information said indication of a time zone with said time zone preference indicator and if a match condition results then accepting for time keeping said broadcast time of day information, and if a match condition does not result then offsetting for use in time keeping said broadcast time of day information as a function of said time zone preference indicator.

Claim 16

An improvement according to claim 12 wherein said indication of time zone includes an indication Of broadcast in proximity to a time zone boundary and said radio signal receiving devices first interrogate said indication of broadcast in proximity to a time zone boundary and accept for time keeping said broadcast time of day information for display when said broadcast time of day information is not broadcast in proximity of a time zone boundary, said radio signal receiving devices executing said comparing step only when said broadcast time of day information is indicated as being in proximity to a time zone boundary.

Claim 17

An improvement according to claim 12 wherein said indication of broadcast in proximity to a time zone boundary further indicates indication of time offset between adjacent time zones defined by said boundary.

Claim 18

An improvement according to claim 14 wherein said time offset is a binary value indicating one of a full hour offset and half-hour offset.