The I-Clock is an alarm clock that synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook. The user simply adds the alarm event into Outlook and the I-Clock does the rest. No need to worry about missing early morning appointments again. View the I-Clock simulator below to test drive the I-Clock! Description

The I-Clock prototype will interact solely with Microsoft's personal information management software, Outlook. Outlook was chosen based on market research. Outlook is the de facto standard for personal information software, which would ensure a broad range of users capable of interfacing with the I-Clock. The interface between Outlook and the I-Clock software was achieved by utilizing Microsoft's Component Object Model. By utilizing the Microsoft's COM, the I-Clock software will be compatible with Microsoft Outlook 95 and later versions. Given Microsoft's market dominance from the sales of its computer productivity software, embracing Outlook should lead to the longest shelf life for the I-Clock.

Phase I solidified the usage of Open Palmtop Integrated Environment (Opie - please note this is the proper acronym as determined by its developers) as the operating system for the I-Clock. Opie is extremely flexible, reliable and cost-effective. Opie is an open source alternative to handheld operating systems such as Palm OS and Microsoft Pocket PC. Opie utilizes common open information standards such as XML and enjoys a wide range of support among the programming community. Using Opie allows for minimized costs without compromising usability. Furthermore, there are a large number of manufacturers producing components capable of running Opie.

The verification of design concept was achieved by utilizing two laptop computers and a single desktop computer. The first laptop was a Windows-based PC with Microsoft Outlook 2003 installed. The second laptop was running Mandrake Linux and was used to simulate the I-Clock. The desktop was used to simulate the data center server.

Technical Description

The I-Clock requires both some custom software development and custom hardware development. This development includes extending Outlook to allow users to signify which events they want to be alarm events. A separate batch program runs on the Outlook computer; this program gathers events from Outlook and downloads them to a server queue. A third piece of software is actually located on the clock itself. It polls the server queue and gathers the stored alarm events. The I-Clock software determines which alarm event is next and sets the alarm accordingly.

Phase I allowed for the development of most of the software components, and Phase II will be focused on the hardware development of the production I-Clock. The main I-Clock hardware will be a single board computer designed around the LH7A404 Card Engine developed by Logic Inc. At the heart of the device is the Sharp LH7A404 32 bit ARM microprocessor running at 200Mhz. The I-Clock will have 128MB of system RAM and 32MB of Flash memory. A display interface capable of driving up to a 1024x768 16 bit color touch screen display will be included on the main board. The LH7A404 provides a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet controller, and an AC97 audio codec. The LH7A404 also provides CompactFlash (memory storage only), PCMCIA and Secure Digital expansion card interfaces. In addition to the previously mentioned capabilities, the LH7A404 provides two USB ports, three serial ports (16C550 compatible UARTs), an IrDA interface, and PS2 mouse and keyboard interfaces. To provide further functionality, Logic Inc. will produce a daughter board with an audio amplifier and an AM/FM tuner.