Various types of alarm clocks are known. They include analog alarm clocks with hands to indicate the current time and digital clocks with digits to display the current time. Such alarm clocks take various methods to wake a sleeping person. These include, for example, alarm clocks with a bell alarm, a beeper, or a tone generator each repetitively generating a jarring sound as an alarm. Some alarm clocks also include certain illumination features to assist in reading the time under the low level lighting conditions usually encountered during the evening hours. Modern digital alarm clocks or clock radios also provide LED (light emitting diode) for a visual indication of the time even at night. A clock radio is a combination of a clock and a radio interconnected so that the radio is switched on at a predetermined time according to the clock. Radio alarm clocks allow a user to be awakened by either an alarm or the sound of a radio. Such devices awaken the user to music or other radio programming. Alarm clocks coupled with radio functions have been used to awaken people more gently, using music from a favorite radio station. Vibrating alarm clocks have been developed for hearing-impaired people. In order to overcome this problem and to provide alarm clocks which are usable by the deaf, hearing impaired and heavy sleepers, wrist watches and standard alarm clocks have been devised to provide a visual output, such as a flashing light, or a tactile output, such as vibrations, which can be easily detected. Such alarm clocks have also been provided with a remotely useable vibrator which is attachable to the alarm clock and activated when the time of day coincides with the preset alarm time to provide detectible vibrations to a pillow or directly to the person sleeping in a bed.

Most modem alarm clocks have a snooze button that allows one to temporarily turn off the alarm for a short period of time and thus allow the person to doze of for a few precious extra minutes of sleep. The alarm clock further includes a switch button assembly, operation of which can stop the alarm permanently or permits the alarm clock to generate a second alarm after a predetermined time interval. With the snooze feature, the alarm sound will stop, but it will begin again at a predetermined time from the hitting of the snooze button. An alarm clock with snooze control can avoid the user to fall asleep over a predetermined time period. The snooze feature is desirable because it allows a user to awaken gradually over a period of several minutes, rather than be awakened abruptly. It also allows a user to temporarily turn off the alarm if the user desires additional sleep without the danger of oversleeping, since the snooze feature permits the alarm to sound again several minutes later. Typically, the snooze button is on the top surface of the alarm clock, making it readily accessible for a sleepy person to engage, to thereby turn the alarm sound off. Most clocks with a snooze feature have a manual actuator, usually referred to as a snooze bar which activates the snooze feature. The snooze bar is usually a large pushbutton or similar structure on the top surface of the clock, so that it is easily locatable when the user wishes to activate it.

An alarm clock allows the user to program the clock to sound an alarm at a specific time. When using an alarm clock in the radio mode, the user has the ability to select the type of radio station he wants to be awakened to. The effect of the conventional alarm clock is generally attained by mechanical method consisting of a spring and a hammer, or an electronic method consisting of a quartz oscillator. The housing of the conventional alarm clock is provided with a press device for controlling or stopping the buzzing or the ringing of the alarm clock. Typical alarm clocks, whether electric, battery, or manual, have controls for setting the alarm and controls for shutting off the alarm. A person utilizing an alarm clock to wake him up from sleep generally has difficulty finding the shut-off because he is not fully awake. Commonly used clock radios are provided with a button which allows the alarm function to set either on or off along with a button which allows the radio to be switched off until such time as the alarm sounds. Alarm clocks are provided with various types of deactivation mechanisms and devices for enabling a user to shut off the alarm after it has become activated. In the case of mechanical alarm clocks, manually operated stop devices have been employed. With electrically operated clocks, switch devices or various types of combined mechanical and electrical alarm-deactivation means have been employed.

Clock radios are an attempt to eliminate the unnatural repetitive tone alarm, replacing it with broadcast music in order to wake the sleeper to a more calmly and soothingly. Such devices awaken the user to music or other radio programming. Timers also are available which may be used to switch on a television set or other audio-visual or audio device at a preset time. In radio clocks, the volume of the selected radio station gradually increases after the alarm is triggered if the alarm device is not turned off immediately. Alarm clocks have also incorporated visual methods for arousing a person. An alarm clock can be used to turn on a room's lights when the alarm is activated. Motion sensors, such as pyroelectric infrared detectors, have been incorporated in an alarm clock to control the snooze and light functions. For example, one type of alarm clock has an infrared sensor which silences the alarm for approximately four minutes when a hand is waved in the field of view of the sensor. In addition, detection of motion by the sensor causes the incandescent dial light of the Clock to turn on for approximately three seconds. Some alarm clocks have a time displaying section that is illuminated only when an illumination switch is turned on. Thus, for example, if the illumination light bothers the user, the illumination switch can be manually turned off to darken the alarm clock time displaying section.