Message Minder

(last updated: 2008-09-15)

Purpose: Displays important messages on a small LCD screen that sits next to your main computer monitor so that you get messages even when your monitor is in screensaver mode or it is switched to a different PC (through KVM). Contest entry for Circuit Cellar's "Design Stellaris 2006" contest - distictive excellence award.

Overview

Several times I have been late for meetings because I didn't see the reminder dialog from Microsoft Outlook pop up on my monitor because it was switched to my Linux development PC (through a KVM). The Message Minder provides a dedicated display for these types of important messages so that I won't miss these messages anymore.

The project is a first-level prototype and was created using only the Luminary Micro LM3S811 Evaluation Kit. It includes a USB interface, for transfering the messages from the PC to the device, and it contains a small OLED.

A Visual C# application sits in the Windows task tray and watches for reminder messages from Microsoft Outlook. It also monitors incoming emails and will alert you if an email is received from a person on a special list. When such a message is detected, the Visual C# application sends part of the message to the Message Minder device. The message is then displayed on the OLED. If there are multiple messages, then each is shown for a few seconds. An LED slowly pulses on and off as an extra attention-getter. A pushbutton is used to acknowledge the messages and causes the messages to stop displaying.

See the attached documentation for further information.

Download (see Attachments)

MessageMinder_Documentation.doc - hardware and software design description

MessageMinder_AuxDisplay_code.zip - firmware for the LM3S811 Eval board, project files for the Keil RealView C compiler/IDE

MessageMinder_PC_Application_code.zip - Visual C# project files for the application that monitors MS Outlook messages.

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