In 1981 Dr. Chang wrote a science fiction short story, Nocturne, which was published on February 17, 1981 in a Chinese newspaper in Taiwan - the United Daily News. Nocturne (translated from the Chinese by John Balcom) is really a love story disguised as science fiction. However in this short story Dr. Chang first introduced the Chronobot - a device for the exchange of time.

When Dr. Chang went on sabbatical in 2004, he was invited by Industry Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan to initiate an advanced research project. Therefore he decided to turn the Chronobot from concept into reality.

On July 21, 2004 Dr. Chang announced the publication of his 3D book of short stories City Hunter and initiation of the Chronobot project (see also the Chinese website)

On November 2, 2010, Dr. Chang received approval from US Patent Office for Patent US7827067 with the title, "Device and method for time and knowledge exchange and management". This patent is based upon his science fiction short story written almost thirty years ago. Now it is turned into a patent, maybe a commercial device one day.

The announcement of the publication of the 3D book and the Chronobot project was widely reported in the news media in Taiwan