TIM 2015 Technical Manual v1 (February 2018)
Page 46
Doing the whole job yourself
All audio files are created and stored in .WAV format, using the freeware Audacity program (
http://audacityteam.org/
) for editing them.
Although these files are named 001, 002 and so on, the Catalex module seemingly translates the file number into a 16-bit file number that it
allocates internally (like playing a number of tracks on a CD).
Voice file variables
The voice files used for TIM 2015 fall into two basic types,
British
and
USA
. They are not the cleverest names we could have chosen but
never mind.
So-called British files are the default type, in which the exact time is indicated on the third of three pips. It follows from this that the
first pip is sounded two seconds
before
the exact time, at the start of each minute and on the 8th, 18th, 28th, 38th and 48th seconds
thereafter. This British format is also used in Australia.
So-called USA files are those in which the exact time is indicated by a single toneburst sounded at the start of each minute and on
the 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, and 50th seconds thereafter. This USA format is valid in most countries. Many (but not all) USA-format
voice files include a preamble such as ‘Good Morning’, ‘Good Afternoon’ or ‘Good Evening’ and when the microcontroller detects
these additional greetings, it sounds the toneburst at the correct time. When the time-of-day announcement does not include these
Good Morning-type preambles, we insert dummy (zero-length) preambles in the voice file to ensure that it is treated as a USA type
file.
The voice files are also categorised as announcing in either 12-hour clock or 24-hour clock format. The 12-hour clock is the default but if the
microcontroller detects times for hours between 13 and 24, it takes account of this and displays an on-screen message to this effect. The
display itself is in 12-hour format with a separate indication of AM or PM. Early versions of the TIM 2015 operating system did not handle
24-hour format time and clocks fitted with the older operating system will announce 24-hour voice files in the 12-hour format.
Testing your newly created voice files
Testing is a straightforward business. Having saved you voice files into separate folders (numbered 01 onwards) on your computer, take a
1GB microSD card and format it (if not already formatted) using the FAT16 or FAT32 method.
Содержание TIM 2015
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Страница 9: ...TIM 2015 Technical Manual v1 February 2018 Page 9 Board dimensions 140 x 85mm...
Страница 10: ...TIM 2015 Technical Manual v1 February 2018 Page 10 Board layout...
Страница 11: ...TIM 2015 Technical Manual v1 February 2018 Page 11 Circuit diagram...