Utility timers in a food freshness printer
A method of adding a plurality of customizable event timers to a food freshness printer or smart printer is disclosed. The customizable event timers are added by the operator for the purpose of sounding an alarm to indicate an elapse in time and/or printing labels at a predetermined interval. When the event timer expires and the user acknowledges the audible tone, the user has the option to restart the timer for the next event or delete the timer. Further, the event timers enable the user to either display a message or print a set of labels when the timer expires.
1. A process for creating timer events in a food freshness barcode printer or smart printer that will sound on a periodic basis or at the elapsing of a specific time, comprising the steps of:
starting a process;
stopping a one second reference timer;
examining an active timer list; and
determining whether a timer screen is visible.
2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:
if the timer screen is visible, then updating an active timer count down display; and
if the timer screen is not visible, then determining if there are any expired timers.
3. The process of claim 2 , further comprising:
if there are not any expired timers, then determining if an alarm is sounding; and
if there are expired timers, then determining if a timer form is visible to a user.
4. The process of claim 3 , further comprising:
if the timer form is visible to a user, then determining if an alarm is sounding;
if the timer form is not visible to a user, then displaying the timer form to a user; and
determining if an alarm is sounding.
5. The process of claim 4 , further comprising:
if an alarm is sounding, then exiting the process;
if an alarm is not sounding, then advancing the process to where an alarm is sounded; and
completing and exiting the process.
6. The process of claim 5 , wherein at an end of a timer event, a reminder message can be displayed to a user.
7. The process of claim 6 , wherein there is no predetermined limit on a number of active timers allowed in the system.