Scale with message display

1. A bath scale for measuring a user's weight, comprising:

a standing surface upon which the user stands to have his weight measured;

a weight display;

a message display; and

a detection-and-display system adapted to provide through said message display one or more substantially non-deductive messages to the user of said bath scale, said messages instructing the user as to how to calibrate and use the scale including a message to step off said scale during a calibration operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said weight display and said message display share common display elements.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said message display is an LCD display.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a battery power source;

wherein said detection-and-display system is adapted to test said battery power source; and

wherein said detection-and-display system provides a substantially non-deductive message to the user to replace or recharge said battery power source when indicated.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said detection-and-display system provides a substantially non-deductive message to the user that the weight placed upon the scale is out of the range of the scale's capabilities.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said non-deductive message is also provided as audible speech through a speaker.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said non-deductive message is scrolled across said message display.

8. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for aiding a user to operate a scale, said method steps comprising:

detecting a load upon said scale;

checking the calibration of said scale; and

if said calibration check shows the scale to be properly calibrated, then measuring said load, otherwise:

executing a calibration of said scale and displaying a substantially non-deductive language message to the user to remove the detected load from the scale.

9. The program storage device of claim 8 further comprising the step of:

delaying execution of said calibration until removal of said load is detected.

10. The program storage device of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

checking the strength of a battery power source; and

displaying a substantially non-deductive language message to the user to replace or recharge said battery power source if said battery check so indicates.

11. The program storage device of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:

checking that said load is within the range of capabilities of the scale to measure; and

displaying a substantially non-deductive language message to the user that said load is outside the range of the scale's capabilities if said range check so indicates.

12. The program storage device of claim 9 further comprising the step of delivering said non-deductive language message to remove the load from the scale as audible speech through a speaker.

13. The program storage device of claim 10 further comprising the step of delivering said non-deductive language message to recharge or replace said battery power source as audible speech through a speaker.

14. The program storage device of claim 11 further comprising the step of delivering said non-deductive language message that said load is outside the range of the scale's capabilities as audible speech through a speaker.

15. A bath scale for measuring a user's weight, comprising:

a standing surface;

a weight display adapted to provide a user's weight in numeric form;

a message display spaced apart and separate from said weight display and adapted to provide across said message display a scrolled message displayed as a non-deductive language message readable by a user;

said weight display comprising a plurality of numeric weight display elements;

said message display comprising a plurality of alphanumeric message display elements; and

said message display elements having a size smaller than said weight display elements, and wherein said message display elements are greater in number than said weight display elements.