There are times that it is enough if only one person in the family stands up and start preparing the breakfast, turn on the kettle and so on. But with our usual alarm clock hearing the alarm everybody stands up for no good reason. (this is the case for families where there is poor division of labor, and everybody is responsible from everything. Mutual suffering scenario)
I suggest an alarm clock which has option to ring in different tones. In advance everbody in the family will select his or her "unlucky tone", in the morning if your tone starts ringing than you know that you have to stand up and others will stay in bed. But if you hear another tone is ringing than you are lucky and will have a very valuable extra time in bed. Our alarm clock randomly choosed which tone to ring and nobody can question of it if it is fair or not.
This feature can be integrated accross a network of alarm clocks located in each bedroom and only one of them rings to wake up the "today's winner"
This idea can also be integrated into alarm functions of cell phones of the same brand. (you and your partner both set the alarm to the same time but only one of your's will ring in the morning, alerting him to stand up and make the tea ready while the other person enjoys extra time in bed.)They could decide in advance who shall stand up first by flicking a coin but some might prefer not to know until the morning and trust his or her luck. This also adds a sense of game, gambling and fun to the boring thing which is waking up with the help of an alarm clock.-- can1073, Dec 04 2007 audio spotlight http://www.holosonics.com/will direct your alarm to intended "alarmee". [pyggy potamus, Dec 04 2007] "true" random number generator http://www.random.orguses atmospheric noise to generate numbers [keithbrunkala, Dec 04 2007] [rcarty], I think the idea is that everyone else is awake (unless they have a true genius for 15-minute cat-naps), but no-one else has got up yet. Your chosen tone will wake me up just as surely as mine will, but it gives me the consolation that it's your job to bring me the tea this morning, rather than vice versa. Is that what you meant, [can1073]?-- pertinax, Dec 04 2007 //Your chosen tone will wake me up just as surely as mine will//
it doesn't have to be this way - if the alarm clock is equipped with audio spotlight technology [please see link] - the alarm can be directed to 1 specific person - everybody else can go on sleeping.-- pyggy potamus, Dec 04 2007 Pertinax, thanks alot for the clarification. That is exactly what I wanted to say. I polished the text a bit to clarify the idea.-- can1073, Dec 04 2007 Pygyy potamus, audio spotlight technology would be great for deluxe models. Thanks for the link.-- can1073, Dec 04 2007 I like this idea, I could use it if it wern't for the fact that I am always the first person up (because I have to go to school at 6:00 AM every morning).
However, if it would be across multiple alarm clocks, ringing one for whomever it randomly chose, couldn't somebody just unplug theirs in order for the clock to ring for somebody else. Also, how would it "randomly" choose people, when most random number generators are just a large pattern? would it be connected to the true random number generator (see link), or would it just use a large pattern for choosing people?-- keithbrunkala, Dec 04 2007 Why don't you just have your butler bring you breakfast in bed at the appropriate time ?-- 8th of 7, Dec 04 2007 Keithbrunkala, thanks for the random number generator link.-- can1073, Dec 04 2007 8th of 7, this invention is for those who don't have a butler to bring their breakfast to their bed. And those who has several butlers can present it to their butlers so that the butlers will happily use it to decide who will serve the master that day. Only market segment not covered at the moment is those who only have one butler.-- can1073, Dec 04 2007 8th has a butler?-- po, Dec 04 2007 // Only market segment not covered at the moment is those who only have one butler. //
Sheesh, trust me to be stuck in the one market segment that isn't fully served ...
Perhaps my butler can use it to delegate the task amongst the other house servants.-- 8th of 7, Dec 04 2007 random, halfbakery