DETAILED OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR THE TIMESTOPPER MODEL TS200

1. Connect the START gate to the appropriate connector on the TIMESTOPPER computer/display unit.



2. Plug the power module into a source of 120AC power and plug its coaxial plug into the TIMESTOPPER power receptacle located on the lower right side of the computer/display module.



3. Slide the TIMESTOPPER Power Switch to ON (that is, into the position upward toward the display).



4. The LCD display will first come on with some random characters followed by the sequence:

          0 0 0 0
          1 1 1 1
          2 2 2 2
          3 3 3 3
          4 4 4 4
          5 5 5 5
          6 6 6 6
          7 7 7 7
          8 8 8 8
          9 9 9 9
          L - 0 7
          - - - -           (all dashes)

The steady display of four dashes at the end of the count-up sequence indicates that the START gate is in the start position (closed).   If the display sequences between all dashes and a blank screen, the START gate is not in the start position.

5. When the START gate is in the correct position (display shows all dashed (- - - - ), the race can be started.   When the START gate drops and the cars are released, the TIMESTOPPER starts timing the race.   While the race is being timed, the display will show a horizontally scrolling dash character represented by the following sequence:

          b b b _

          b b _ b

          b _b b

          _ b b b

          b b b _

This sequence continues until the race ends or until 10 seconds has elapsed, whichever is shorter. In this sequence, "b" represents a blank character position on the display, while "_" is a dash on the display.

6. The race is finished when racecars on all the lanes have crossed the finish line.   Beginning at that time, the display will continuously cycle between a pair of sequential views of results for the first-place racer.

One of the pair of views displays the "Place" order, followed by the letters "PL", followed by the "Lane" number as illustrated below when the first place winner was in lane 3:

                              1PL3
          First Place à /       \à Lane Three

In this first view, the "P" stands for "Place", while the "L" stands for "Lane".   The other, or second view, displays that racer’s first-place finish time, for example "2.985", showing whole seconds and a decimal fraction, in other words "two seconds and 985 thousands-of-a-second".

The race results for the first place winner will cycle between these two different views at a rate of about one pair every three seconds.   With each cycle, the lane and place view will display for about one second, followed by the time, for about two seconds.

7. To view results for the next place finisher (i.e. the second place finisher), depress the front panel RESET/LaneSelector pushbutton for less than 1 second.   The display will then show the following where the second place car was in lane 1:

                              2PL1
      Second Place à /       \à Lane One

The second view of the current pair of sequential views will show the race time for this second place car.

8. To view results for a third place finisher, next depress the front panel RESET/LaneSelector pushbutton for less than 1 second.   The display will then show the following where the third place car was in lane 2:

                              3PL2
        Third Place à /       \à Lane Two

The second view of the current pair of sequential views will show the race time for this third place car.

9. After stepping through all the place-positions, depressing the RESET/LaneSelector pushbutton again for about 1 second will then show the results for the first place lane again, and each short depressing of the RESET/LaneSelector pushbutton will cycle or step the results to the next pair of views.



10. To clear the race results and prepare for another race, depress the RESET/LaneSelector pushbutton for more than 2 seconds.   The display will again indicate the start condition with a view of dashes as shown above in paragraph 5.

1. In the event that a lane is not used, or that a car fails to finish, the race results will be displayed after the default time of 10.0 seconds has elapsed.   For the lanes where a car crossed the finish line, the results will be displayed as indicated above.   For the non-finishing lane(s), the time display will show four "E"s as "EEEE" instead of an actual time duration.   If no car reaches the finish line within 10.0 seconds elapsed-time since a race started, the race is automatically stopped and the results will automatically display as though the first place winner was in lane 1, the second place winner in lane 2, and the third place winner in lane 3.   In such a case, all the race times will display as "EEEE".



2. In the rare instance that there is a tie between one or more lanes, the true place positions will have to be determined by comparing the displayed race times rather than the displayed place positions in case their times may differ by a finite amount.