Portable appliances for informing bus users

Claim 1

A portable appliance for informing users of an urban bus network about waiting times for buses at various stops of the network, the appliance being associated with an installation designed to generate and transmit signals which provide information about the respective instantaneous real positions of the buses of the network, and said appliance comprising: an electrical power supply, user-actuatable interrogation means for identifying any specified stop of the network, means for receiving said signals and for selecting those of said signals which relate at least to the "next bus" expected at the identified stop, and means including a video screen for displaying on said screen information associated with the waiting time for the next bus at said stop, said appliance further comprising: (i) programming means including memory means for storing a first list in plain language of the various lines of the network together with their destinations, and a plurality of second lists in plain language of the various stops on the various lines, and control means for displaying and scrolling on said screen of the appliance the first list, and a selected one of said second lists, and for confirming, within each said list, a selected element of the list to be taken into account, each confirmation causing the display to move on to the following list that corresponds to the selection that has been performed; and (ii) operational means for displaying in succession on the screen of the appliance data relating to various final driving distances for the buses that have previously been selected, which data comprises, for each final driving distance, visible information associated with the waiting times for the next buses expected at the stop at which that final driving distance terminates.