The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 03, 1991
Filed:
Feb. 03, 1988
Stephen W Smith, Raleigh, NC (US);
Leland W Poole, Raleigh, NC (US);
William C Stewart, Raleigh, NC (US);
Other;
Abstract
A controlled device is disclosed for allowing a parent to control the use of an appliance by a child. The system includes a plurality of user cards, one of which is assigned to each child. A control device is interconnected with the circuitry of the appliance for actuating and deactuating the controlled appliance. The amount of time allotted to each child can be stored in the memory of the control device. The control device is responsive to input from the children's user cards and actuates the controlled appliance when the time allotted to such user is greater than zero. Once the controlled appliance is actuated, the time allotted to the then current user is decremented until the appliance is deactuated. When the time alloted to the then current user reaches zero, the control device will automatically deactuate the controlled appliance and that child cannot use the appliance until more time is allotted to him or her. The parent is given a master card which allows him to manually increment or decrement the time allotted to each child user. Thus, the device may be used to positively reinforce desired behavior and to discourage undesired behavior.