Abstract: A color-to-temperature converter senses temperatures of a device, translates the temperatures into light of different colors, and emits or displays the light. The color-to-temperature converter includes a tri-color light emitting diode (LED) assembly with inputs corresponding to red, green, and blue monochromatic LEDs within the assembly. The processor of the converter separately controls the intensity of each monochromatic LED of the assembly, and the outputs of the monochromatic LEDs converge to appear as one color to an observer. In typical operation, the relationship between the temperature input and the converged color imparts to the observer an intuitive understanding of the consequences of the sensed temperatures to operation of the device whose temperatures the converter monitors.

Abstract: A light-to-speech transforming circuit is coupled to an indicator light of a legacy security system. The transforming circuit detects flashes of the indicator light, interprets sequences of the flashes, and correlates the sequences to specific events monitored by the security system. The events are then correlated to speech segment data of various audible announcements. The segment data is used to drive a speaker, so that the user can hear the announcements. The transforming circuit can include a learning feature, whereby it prompts the user to cause specific events of the security system, such as zone violations, and then prompts the user to speak the announcements corresponding to the events. The transforming circuit records the flashing sequences and the announcements corresponding to the sequences, and delivers the announcements when the corresponding events occur during operation of the security system.

Abstract: A vehicle immobilizer disables a vehicle's system after receiving from a vehicle security system two immobilizer control signals in predetermined states. The vehicle's system is a necessary system for the vehicle to run, for example, an ignition system or an engine computer, so that the vehicle is immobilized when the necessary system is disabled. The immobilizer includes switching and self-biasing circuits that bypass the security system. Bypassing the security system reduces the likelihood of immobilizing a running vehicle because of a security system malfunction.

Abstract: A color-to-temperature converter senses temperatures of a device, translates the temperatures into light of different colors, and emits or displays the light. The color-to-temperature converter includes a tri-color light emitting diode (LED) assembly with inputs corresponding to red, green, and blue monochromatic LEDs within the assembly. The processor of the converter separately controls the intensity of each monochromatic LED of the assembly, and the outputs of the monochromatic LEDs converge to appear as one color to an observer. In typical operation, the relationship between the temperature input and the converged color imparts to the observer an intuitive understanding of the consequences of the sensed temperatures to operation of the device whose temperatures the converter monitors.