After going through the many stages of design and then finally testing and verification
of our multi-purpose digital thermometer, there are many ideas that we came up with
along the way; ideas to enhance this project if we were to do it again or change
our existing design approach.
Ideas
- Modify the existing LCD code to contain a 32 byte buffer - 16 bytes
to contain the current display, and 16 bytes to contain data that is queued
to be displayed. If the two halves are different, a highly optimized
routine displays the output buffer on the LCD. This reduces the
flicker on the display, noticeable on cheap LCDs.
- Use nonvolatile memory to store data, such as alarm temperatures, or to
log temperature. The temperature data can then be exported through a RS232
interface to a computer, and analyzed. A more advanced model could measure
other quantities, such as air pressure, and use some heuristics to predict
the weather (all on one chip).
- Change the button interface to use chording to control functions. This
will reduce the amount of buttons (and data lines) required to interface
with the outside world.