Analogue alarm electronic timepiece

Disclosed is an analogue alarm electronic timepiece having a time hand. The time hand is used as both alarm setting time hand and time display hand. The analogue alarm electronic timepiece comprises a reversible motor, an electronic circuit including a driving circuit for the reversible motor and means for counting and storing at least two kinds of relative time differences selected from the group consisting of the relative time difference between the present time and alarm time, the relative time difference between the alarm time and the display time, and the relative time differences between the alarm time and the display time, and an electronic acoustic transducer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an analogue alarm electronic timepiece 
which is simple in construction and which uses the time-indicating hands 
to set the alarm time. 
FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a block diagram of the conventional 
analogue alarm electronic timepiece. An oscillating circuit 1 produces a 
high frequency signal as a time standard signal. A frequency dividing 
circuit 2 divides down the high frequency signal and produces a signal for 
operating the following circuits. A driving circuit 3 synthesizes an 
output signal from the frequency dividing circuit 2 and periodically 
generates driving pulses having suitable proper pulse width for driving a 
motor. A motor 4 converts the driving pulses into a rotary mechanical 
motion. A display mechanism 5 has a gear train and time hands, and the 
display mechanism 5 transmits the motion of the motor 4 to the time hands 
and displays the time. An alarm time setting mechanism 7 is provided for 
setting and displaying an alarm time, and the setting and displaying 
operation is carried out by moving an alarm setting wheel or a sub-hand 
which is operated by the operator. A coincidence detecting mechanism 6 is 
a switch mechanism operated in relation to the display mechanism 5 and the 
alarm time setting mechanism 7 such that when the present time is 
coincident with a preset alarm time, the coincidence is detected in 
accordance with the ON-OFF condition of the switch mechanism and an 
electric signal is produced. An alarm circuit 8 synthesizes an alarm 
driving signal on the basis of the output signal from the frequency 
dividing circuit 2, and the circuit 8 outputs the alarm driving signal 
when the coincidence detecting mechanism 6 detects the fact that the 
present time is coincident with the alarm time. An electric-acoustic 
transducer 9 comprises a piezo-electric element or an electromagnetic 
speaker for converting the alarm driving signal into a sound signal by 
generating an audible sound. 
The above mentioned analogue alarm electronic timepiece is disadvantageous 
in that since the mechanical constructions of the alarm time setting 
mechanism 7 and the coincidence detecting mechanism 6 are complex, it is 
difficult to obtain a small size timepiece or a thin type timepiece, and 
the cost is high. Moreover, since a special display device is required for 
setting and displaying the alarm time, this restricts the freedom of 
design for the outer design for a timepiece. Furthermore, in such an alarm 
electronic timepiece, since the coincidence detecting mechanism 7 is a 
mechanical switch, it is difficult to exactly set an alarm time in the 
time unit of minutes or seconds. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an analogue 
alarm electronic timepiece which effectively overcomes the above described 
drawbacks in the conventional analogue alarm electronic timepiece. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide an analogue alarm 
electronic timepiece which detects electrically whether or not an alarm 
time is coincident with the present time without using mechanical means. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide an analogue alarm 
electronic timepiece wherein the time hands for normally indicating the 
time are used for setting and displaying the alarm time so that it is 
possible to exactly set the alarm time in the time unit of minute or 
second and to freely decide the design for the timepiece. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an analogue 
alarm electronic timepiece constructed to easily enable the addition of an 
to advanced function, such as the function for setting and storing a 
plurality of alarm times. 
It is a feature of the analogue alarm electronic timepiece of the present 
invention that in order to realize the above described objects, special 
indicating hands, a position detecting device and any similar devices are 
not required. 
Other objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent 
from the following description when taken in conjunction with the 
accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Prior to the detailed explanation of the present invention, the operation 
and manipulation of the embodiments of the present invention will be 
generally described. 
An analogue alarm electronic watch embodying the present invention has two 
time-indicating hands and these hands are incrementally moved every ten 
seconds. A time correcting operation and an alarm time setting operation 
are not achieved by directly operating a display mechanism by use of an 
outer-operation mechanism, but instead these operations are carried out by 
applying an electrical signal produced by the operation of the 
outer-operation mechanism (e.g., a winding stem 18 or button 19) to an 
electronic circuit and a motor and the time hands are moved in relation to 
the content of a counter in the electronic circuit. 
When correction of the present time is required, the button 19 should be 
positioned at a first pull-out position and the winding stem 18 should be 
positioned at a second pull-out position. After these operation, the 
present time correction is carried out by rotating the winding stem. The 
motor rotates in the forward direction or the reverse direction in 
accordance with the rotational direction of the winding stem 18. As a 
result, the time hands rotate in the forward or reverse direction. 
Displaying and setting an alarm time can be carried out by rotating the 
winding stem 18 under the condition that the winding stem 18 is positioned 
at a first pull-out position and the button 19 is positioned at a second 
pull-out position in the same way as described above. When the button 19 
is pulled out, a time hand 20 is moved from the position indicating the 
present time to the position indicating the alarm time, and then, the 
correcting operation for an alarm time can be carried out. At this time, 
the rotational direction of the time hand is automatically decided in such 
a way that the moving time thereof is the shortest. Although the motor is 
reversible, due to mechanical limitations, the time hand is moved at the 
rate of 128 steps/sec in the forward direction and the time hand is moved 
at the rate of 32 steps/sec in the reverse direction. Therefore, in order 
to minimize the time required for moving the time hand, the hand is 
rotated in the forward direction when the difference in time between the 
alarm time and the display time indicated by the hand is less than nine 
hours and thirty-six minutes, and is rotated in the reverse direction when 
the difference in time is more than that time. For the same reason, in the 
case that the button 19 is pushed to be positioned at the first pull-out 
position when displaying and setting the alarm time, the motor is rotated 
in the reverse direction when the difference in time between the display 
time indicated by the time hands and the present time is more than two 
hours and twenty-four minutes and the display time becomes the present 
time. When the difference is less than two hours and twenty-four minutes, 
the motor is rotated in the forward direction to display the present time. 
Consequently, in the case that the alarm time or the present time is 
displayed by using the same time hand, it is required to find the relative 
time differences among the alarm time, the present time and the display 
time indicated by the time hands (hereinafter referred to as a display 
time). However, it is not necessary to memorize the three kinds of 
relative time differences obtained from the three kinds of time. If any 
two kinds of the relative time difference are stored, the remaining one 
can be found by a simple calculation. 
Moreover, it is not necessary to find the absolute value of the three kinds 
of the times. 
Some embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described in 
more detail. 
Referring to FIG. 2, an oscillating circuit 1 is a high frequency signal 
source and is controlled by a quartz crystal. The high frequency signal is 
applied to a frequency dividing circuit 2 which divides down the high 
frequency signal to a lower frequency signal which is applied to the 
subsequent circuits. An operation section 12 produces an electronic signal 
in response to the operation of the winding stem 18, the button 19 or the 
like. 
In a control circuit 11, either the present time correcting state or an 
alarm time setting state is judged from the signal from the operation 
section 12, and a time signal from the frequency dividing circuit 2 and 
the signals produced by operating the operation section are processed to 
control the circuitry described hereinafter. A time difference counter 13 
is a 4320-counter for counting and storing the value corresponding to the 
difference in time between the alarm time and the present time. The value 
of 4320 is based on the following calculation; 
EQU 12(hour).times.60[minutes].times.6[steps/minutes] 
The content of the counter 13 is decreased or increased by correcting the 
present time or setting the alarm time and is decreased by one every time 
of the application of the time signal produced every 10 seconds. 
A display-time difference counter 15 is a 4320-counter for calculating and 
storing the value corresponding to the difference in time between the 
display time and the present time, and the content of the counter is 
decreased or increased when the time hands are moved. In the alarm time 
displaying state, the counter counts down by one on response to each 
application of the time signal which is produced every 10 seconds. A 
discriminating circuit 17 has the function for discriminating whether or 
not the difference time between the content of the time difference counter 
13 and the content of the display-time difference counter 15 is more that 
3456 (which corresponds to nine hours and thirty-six minutes), the 
function for discriminating whether or not the content of the display-time 
difference counter is more than 864 (which corresponds to two hours and 
twenty-four minutes) and, the function for detecting whether or not the 
content of the time difference counter is coincident with the content of 
the display-time difference counter. An alarm circuit 14 synthesizes the 
output signals from the frequency dividing circuit 2 to produce an alarm 
driving signal, and outputs the alarm driving signal for a predetermined 
duration when the content of the time difference counter 13 becomes zero. 
An electric acoustic transducer 16 receives the alarm driving signal to 
produce an alarm sound. 
A driving circuit 3 receives the output signals from the control circuit 11 
to produce driving pulses for rotating a motor 4 in the forward or reverse 
direction. The mechanical output from the motor 4 is transmitted to the 
time hands via gears to display the time. 
The oscillating circuit 1, the frequency dividing circuit 2, the control 
circuit 11, the driving circuit 3, a memory 22 comprised of the time 
difference counter 13 and the display-time difference counter 15, a 
discriminating circuit 17 and an alarm circuit 14, which are enclosed with 
a dash line 21, are all fabricated as a single electronic circuit. 
The operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described 
in conjunction with the detailed circuit arrangement. Since the 
oscillating circuit 1, the frequency dividing circuit 2, the electric 
acoustic transducer 16 and the display mechanism 5 are well known, a 
detailed description of these devices is omitted. 
At first, one example of the reversible motor which is an important element 
in the present invention, will be described. FIG. 4 illustrates a 
perspective view of a stepping motor which is used in the present 
invention. The stepping motor has a coil 24, a magnetic core 27, a stator 
23, and a rotor 25 having two magnetized poles. In order to decide the 
stational position of the rotor 25, as shown in FIG. 6, a pair of notches 
28 are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the stator 23 which 
faces the rotor 25. Therefore, since the magnetic poles are produced in 
the stator 23 when the driving pulses illustrated by a reference numeral 
30 in FIG. 5 are applied to the coil terminals 26a and 26b, the rotor 25 
is rotated for 180.degree. in the direction shown by an arrow mark. 
Similarly the reverse magnetic poles are produced in the stator 23 when 
driving pulses 31 of opposite polarity are applied to the coil and, the 
rotor 25 is further rotated for 180.degree. in the same direction as that 
indicated by the arrow mark. As a result, the rotational position of the 
rotor 25 becomes the original position shown in FIG. 6. After this, it is 
possible to continue the rotating operation of the rotor 25 by 
sequentially applying the alternating pulse signal to the coil 24. 
Hereinbefore, the forward rotating operation has been described. 
Next, the driving operation of the motor in the reverse direction will be 
described. 
In FIG. 7, the waveform of a reverse direction driving pulse is 
illustrated. A series of pulses 32 including pulses P.sub.1, P.sub.2 and 
P.sub.3 is used for rotating the motor in the reverse direction by one 
step increments. The rotor 25 starts to rotate in the forward direction by 
the application of the pulse P.sub.1, as shown in FIG. 8A. Then, when the 
pulse P.sub.2 is applied to the motor, the rotor 25 is once stopped and 
then starts to rotate in the reverse direction as shown in FIG. 8B. The 
application of the pulse P.sub.3 aids the rotor 25 to rotate in the 
reverse direction. Finally, the rotor 25 is positioned in stable condition 
at the position shown rotated in the reverse direction for 180.degree. 
from the position shown in FIG. 8A, and positioned in stable condition at 
the position shown in FIG. 8D. The rotor 25 is rotated in the reverse 
direction by the application of a reverse driving pulse train 33 which has 
an opposite polarity to the pulse train 32. 
The operation of the driving circuit 3 will be described in conjunction 
with FIG. 9, FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B. A clock input terminal C of a D type 
flipflop is connected to an input terminal 48 and to input terminals of an 
AND gates 51 and 52. Output terminals Q and Q thereof are connected to the 
other input terminals of the AND gates 51 and 52, respectively, and a date 
input terminal D is connected to the terminal Q. The output terminals of 
the AND gates 51 and 52 are connected to input terminals of Ex-OR gates 53 
and 54, respectively. The other input terminals of the Ex-OR gates 53 and 
54 are commonly connected to a terminal 49, and output terminals thereof 
are respectively connected to the input terminals of inverter 55 and 56. 
Output terminals of the inverter 55 and 56 are respectively connected to a 
coil 24 of the motor via terminals 26a and 26b. 
FIG. 10A illustrates a timing chart at the time of the driving operation 
for forward rotation. The output level of the D type flipflop 50 is 
changed every time one pulse is applied to the input terminal thereof when 
the signals shown in FIG. 10A are applied to the terminals 48 and 49. As a 
result, the pulses with pulse width of PF shown by 26a and 26b of FIG. 10A 
are alternately applied to the coil terminals 26a and 26b from the 
inverters 55 and 56. The voltage applied to the coil 24 is equal to the 
potential difference between both end terminals of the coil, that is, the 
voltage difference between the voltage value of the outputs 26a and 26b. 
Consequently, the stepping motor is rotated in the forward direction in 
stepwise fashion. 
FIG. 10B illustrates a timing chart at the time of the reverse rotating 
operation of the stepping motor. 
As in the case of the forward rotating operation, the output level of the D 
type flipflop 50 is changed every time when one pulse is applied to the 
terminal 48. However, since the output levels from Ex-OR gates 53 and 54 
are inverted at the time of the rising edge of the pulses applied to the 
terminal 49, the driving pulse train having a waveform shown by the 
reference (26a-26b) of FIG. 10B is applied to the coil 24. Therefore, as 
described above, the motor is rotated in the reverse direction in stepwise 
fashion. 
FIG. 11 illustrates an input circuit which is arranged between the 
operation sectin 12 and the control circuit 11. A switch S.sub.1 is turned 
on when the winding stem 18 is pulled-out. A switch S.sub.3 is turned on 
when the winding stem 18 is rotated in the reverse or opposite direction, 
and a switch S.sub.4 is turned on when the winding stem 18 is rotated in 
the forward direction. A switch S.sub.2 is turned on when the button 19 is 
pulled-out. Input signal waveforms from the switches are respectively 
applied to chattering protection circuits 40a, 40b, 40c and 40d to shape 
these input signal waveforms, and wave-shaped signals are produced 
therefrom in synchronization with a signal of 32 Hz applied to a clock 
input terminal 47. The output from the chattering protection circuit 40a 
is applied to a NOR gate 41, an inverter 130 and a terminal 43. The output 
from the chattering protection circuit 40b is applied to the NOR gate 41 
and an AND gate 131. The output from the inverter 130 is applied to the 
AND gate 131, and the output from the NOR gate 41 is applied to a terminal 
42 and an inverter 132. The output from the AND gate 131 is applied to a 
terminal 44, and the output from the inverter 132 is applied to AND gates 
133 and 134. The outputs from the chattering protection circuits 40c and 
40d are applied to the input terminals of the AND gates 133 and 134, 
respectively . The outputs from the AND gates 133 and 134 are applied to a 
terminal 44 and a terminal 45, respectively. The signals appearing on the 
terminals 42, 43 and 44 represent the operation states in the operation 
section 12. The relationships among each of the states of the switches and 
the signal level conditions of the terminals are shown in Table 1. 
TABLE 1 
______________________________________ 
ter- S.sub.1 OFF S.sub.1 ON 
minal S.sub.2 OFF 
S.sub.2 ON S.sub.2 OFF 
S.sub.2 ON 
______________________________________ 
42 H L L L 
43 L H L L 
44 L L H L 
______________________________________ 
The level of the terminal 42 becomes high in the condition of the present 
time display state, the level of the terminal 43 becomes high in the 
condition of the alarm time display/set state, and the level of the 
terminal 44 becomes high in the condition of the present time correction 
state. These high level states appear relatively and exclusively. 
A more detailed description of the time difference counter 13, the 
display-time difference counter 15 and the discriminating circuit 17 will 
be described in conjunction with FIG. 12. 
The time difference counter 13, the display-time difference counter 15 and 
a counter 29 forming part of the discriminating circuit 17 are 
4320-counters. Each of the 4320-counters consists of 864-up/down counters 
111, 113 and 115, and 5-up/down counter 110, 112 and 114, respectively, as 
shown in FIG. 12. The carry signal terminals C of the 864-counters are 
connected to the up-terminals U of the 5-counters corresponding thereto, 
and the borrow signal terminals B of the 864-counters are connected to the 
down-terminals D of the 5-counters corresponding thereto, respectively. 
Each 864-counter and corresponding 5-counter operates as 4320-counter. In 
addition, the counter 29 is presetable. A terminal 60 is connected to the 
up-input terminal U of the time difference counter 13 and an input 
terminal of an OR gate 116, and a terminal 61 is connected to the 
down-input terminal D of the time difference counter 13 and an input 
terminal of an OR gate 117. A terminal 62 is connected to the up-input 
terminal U of the display-time difference counter 15 and the other input 
terminal of the OR gate 117, and a terminal 63 is connected to the 
down-input terminal D of the display-time difference 15 and the other 
input terminal of the OR gate 116. The output terminals of the OR gates 
116 and 117 are connected the up-input terminal U and the down-input 
terminal D of the counter 29, respectively. All of the binary-coded output 
terminals Q of the time difference counter 13 are connected to the input 
terminals of a NOR gate 120 and coresponding present data terminals L of 
the counter 29, and the output of the NOR gate 120 is connected to a 
terminal 64. 
All of the binary-coded output terminals Q of the display-time difference 
counter 15 are connected to the input terminals of a NOR gate 118, and the 
binary-coded, output terminals of the 5-counter 114 are connected to the 
input terminals of an OR gate 119. The output terminal of the NOR gate 118 
is connected to the present clock terminals S of the counter 29 and is 
connected to a terminal 67 via an inverter. The output terminal of the OR 
gate 119 is connected to a terminal 68. 
All of the binary-coded output terminals Q of the counter 29 are 
respectively connected to the input terminals of a NOR gate 121, and the 
output terminal of the NOR gate 121 is connected to a terminal 66. The 
most significant digit of the binary-corded output from the 5-counter 112 
is supplied to a terminal 65. 
The arrangement of the circuit will be now described. The time difference 
counter 13 carries out a count up or down operation in accordance with the 
state of the pulses applied thereto from the terminals 60 and 61, and a 
zero detecting signal is produced from the terminal 64 when the content of 
the counter 13 becomes zero. The zero detecting signal is applied to the 
alarm circuit as a coincidence detecting signal which shows the fact that 
the present time is coincident with the present alarm time. The 
display-time difference counter 15 carries out the count up or down 
operation in response to the state of the pulses applied from the 
terminals 62 and 63 and when the content of the counter 15 becomes zero, a 
zero detecting signal appears on the terminal 67, and when the count 
content becomes more than 863, a magnitude detecting signal appears on the 
terminal 68. The content of the time difference counter 13 is transferred 
in the counter 29 when the content of the display-time difference counter 
15 is zero. Then, the counters are operated as an up-counter by the 
application of the time difference counter-up signal from the terminal 60 
and the display-time difference counter-down signal. The counters are also 
operated as a down counter by the application of the down signal for the 
time difference counter 13 from the terminal 61 and the up signal for the 
display-time difference counter 15 from the terminal 62. 
As a result, the content of the counter 29 corresponds to the difference 
value between the contents of the time difference counter 13 and the 
display-time difference counter 15, that is, between the alarm time and 
the present time. When the content of the counter 29 becomes zero, that 
is, the alarm time is coincident with the present time, a coincidence 
detecting signal is produced from the terminal 66. The magnitude detecting 
signal is produced from the terminal 65 when the content of the counter 29 
is more than 3456. 
Now, the arrangement and the function of the control circuit 11 will be 
described. 
The input terminals 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 shown in FIG. 13 are connected to 
the corresponding output terminals of the input circuit shown in FIG. 11, 
respectively. 
The terminals 48 and 49 are connected to the respective input terminals of 
the driving circuit shown in FIG. 9. 
The terminals 70 through 76 are connected to the output terminals of the 
waveform synthesizing circuit (not shown) which produce signals with any 
desired waveforms by synthesizing the output signals from the frequency 
dividing circuit 2. The signals having the waveforms shown by the 
reference numerals 71 to 76 of FIG. 14 are continuously applied to these 
input terminals without the time from a timing pulse for moving the hands 
every 10 seconds, which is shown by the reference numeral 70 of FIG. 14, 
to the time of 31.3 (m sec). 
The terminals 62, 63, 60, 61, 65, 66, 67 and 68 are connected to the memory 
22 and the discriminating circuit 17. 
In the normal operation, the level of the terminal 42 is high, and the 
level of the terminals 43 to 46 is low. Therefore, when the level of the 
terminal 67 is low, that is, the time being indicated by the hands 
coincides with the present time, the timing pulse for moving the hands 
every ten seconds, which is applied to the terminal 70, is supplied to the 
driving circuit. As a result, the motor is rotated in the forward 
direction every ten seconds, and the down-input signal for the time 
difference counter 13 is produced from the terminal 61. When the level of 
the terminal 67 is high, that is, the time being indicated by the hands is 
not coincident with the present time (when the hands are moving from the 
display position for indicating the alarm time to the display position for 
indicating the present time), the normal ten-second movement of the hands 
is stopped. In this case, when the level of the terminal 68 is high (when 
the content of the display-time difference counter 15 is more than 864, 
the pulses for moving the hands in the forward direction are supplied to 
the driving circuit, and the up signal for the display-time difference 
counter is produced from the terminal 62. The pulses for moving the hands 
in the forward direction comprise the pulses of 128/sec supplied from the 
terminal 71. When the level of the terminal 68 is low, that is, the 
content of the display-time difference counter is less than 864, the 
pulses for moving the hands in the reverse direction, which comprise the 
pulses of 32/sec supplied from the terminals 72 and 75, are applied to the 
driving circuit 3. At the same time, the down signal for the display-time 
difference counter 15 is output from the terminal 63. The moving operation 
of the hands is continued until the content of the display-time difference 
counter 15 becomes zero. Even if the hands are moving, the down signal for 
the time difference counter 13 is produced from the terminal 61 every one 
second. 
In the present time correction state, the level of the terminal 44 is high 
and the level of the terminals 42 and 43 is low. At this time, pulses can 
be applied to the terminals 45 and 46 by rotating the winding stem. 
In this condition, normal ten-second movement of the hands is stopped, and 
the level of the terminal 46 becomes high when the winding stem 18 is 
rotated in the forward direction. Therefore, the forward rotating 
correction pulse of 16 pulses/sec supplied from the terminal 73 is applied 
to the driving circuit 3, and the down signal for the time difference 
counter 15 is produced from the terminal 61. When the winding stem 18 is 
rotated in the opposite direction, the level of the terminal 45 becomes 
high, and the reverse rotating correction pulse supplied from the 
terminals 74 and 76 is applied to the driving circuit 3. At the same time, 
the up signal for the time difference counter 13 is produced from the 
terminal 60. Therefore, the present time is corrected, and the relative 
time difference between the alarm time and the present time is maintained 
at the exact value by using the time difference counter 13 as an up 
counter or a down counter. 
In the alarm time display/set state, the level of the terminal 43 is high 
and the level of the terminals 42 and 44 is low. Therefore, pulses are 
applied to the terminals 45 and 46 by rotating the winding stem 18. In 
this condition the time hands are moved. Since the level of the terminal 
65 is changed to a low level by the discriminating circuit 17 when the 
difference between the alarm time and the present time is less than 3456, 
the forward rotating pulses for moving the hands, which are pulses of 128 
pulses/sec supplied from the terminal 71, are initially applied to the 
driving circuit 3, and the up signal for the display-time difference 
counter 15 is obtained from the terminal 62. When the difference between 
the alarm time and the present time is more than 3546, the level of the 
terminal 65 becomes high. Then, the pulses for moving the hands in the 
reverse direction, which are pulses of 32 pulses/sec suppled from the 
terminals 72 and 75, are applied to the driving circuit 3, and the down 
signal for the display-time difference counter 15 is produced from the 
terminal 63. Movement of the time hands is continued until the alarm time 
is coincident with the present time and the level of the terminal 66 
becomes low. 
After this operation, it is possible to correct the alarm time by rotating 
the winding stem 18. Since the level of the terminal 46 becomes high when 
the winding stem 18 is rotated in the forward direction, the forward 
rotating time correction pulses are obtained from the terminal 60 as the 
up signal for the time difference counter. As a result, the content of the 
time difference counter 13 becomes larger than that of the display-time 
difference counter 15 by one. Therefore, the time-indicating hands are 
moved in the forward direction, and the hands are advanced by one step. 
When the winding stem 18 is rotated in the opposite direction, the level 
of the terminal 45 becomes high so that the reverse rotating correction 
driving pulses supplied from the terminal 74 are obtained from the 
terminal 61 as the down signal for the time difference counter 13. As a 
result, the hands are moved in the reverse direction by one step. 
Under the alarm time display/set state, the pulses for moving the hands 
every ten seconds are not produced. However, the down signal for the time 
difference counter 13 and the down signal for the display-time difference 
counter 15 are produced from the terminals 61 and 63 every ten seconds. 
Since the watch has the above mentioned functions, it is possible to store 
the relative relationship among the alarm time, the present time and the 
display time. Consequently, as described above, when the present time 
display state is selected, the hands are moved until the content of the 
display-time difference counter 15 becomes zero, and the present time can 
be exactly displayed. 
In accordance with the invention the present time and the alarm time can be 
displayed by using a single display mechanism by using the relative time 
differences among the present time, the alarm time and the display time. 
Although there are three relative time differences, if any two relative 
time differences are known, the remaining one can be calculated on the 
basis of the two known relative time differences. When the operating 
conditions and the combination of the relative time differences to be 
stored are properly decided, it is required to carry out only a relatively 
simple operation, such as detecting whether or not the relative time 
differences become zero, or detecting whether or not one relative time 
difference is coincident with the other relative time difference. 
Therefore, it is also possible to eliminate the necessity of calculating 
the remaining relative time difference. Hereinafter, two embodiments, 
wherein the above mentioned principles are employed, will be described. 
FIG. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present 
invention. 
The output from an oscillating circuit 1 is applied to a frequency dividing 
circuit 2, and the outputs from the circuit 2 are supplied to a control 
circuit 11 and an alarm circuit 14. 
The control circuit 11 is connected to an operation section 12, a driving 
circuit 3, a time difference counter 13, a display-time counter 15, a 
coincidence detecting circuit 133 and a zero detecting circuit 132. The 
output from the driving circuit 3 is applied to a motor 4, and the 
mechanical output from the motor 4 is transmitted to a display mechanism 
5. The output from the display-time difference counter 15 is applied to 
the coincidence detecting circuit 133 and the zero detecting circuit 132. 
The output from the time difference counter 13 is applied to the zero 
detecting circuit 131 the output of which is applied to an alarm circuit 
14. 
The operation of the embodiment will be generally described. 
The time difference counter 13 is the counter in which the time difference 
between the present time and an alarm time is calculated and stored. The 
display-time difference counter 15 is the counter in which the time 
difference between the alarm time and the display time is calculated and 
stored. 
In the case that the time-indicating hands are moved from the position 
indicating the present time to the position indicating the alarm time, the 
display-time difference counter 15 is counted down or up in response to 
the movement of the hands, and the hands are moved until the content of 
the counter 15 becomes zero. In the case that the hands are moved from the 
position indicating the alarm time to the position indicating the present 
time, the display-time difference counter 15 is counted down or up in 
response to the movement of the hands, and the hands are moved until the 
content of the counter 15 is coincident with the content of the time 
difference counter 11. When the present time is coincident with the alarm 
time, the content of the time difference counter 13 becomes zero, and a 
signal is applied to the alarm circuit 14 to produce an alarm second. The 
operation will be explained in more detail below. 
FIG. 16 illustrates a circuit diagram of the operation section 12 of the 
FIG. 15 embodiment. A set of input switches S1 to S4 are opened or closed 
by pulling-out the button 19 and/or the winding stem 18 or by rotating 
them. One of the terminals of the switches S1 to S4 is maintained at a 
high level. The other terminals of the switches S1 to S4 are respectively 
connected to the input terminals of chattering protection circuits C1 to 
C4 and are grounded through resistors. The output from the chattering 
protection circuit C4 is produced as an alarm display output 221 and the 
output is input to an AND gate G5. The output from the chattering 
protection circuit C2 is applied to the input terminals of AND gates G3, 
G4 and G5. Similarly, the output from the chattering protection circuit C3 
is applied to the input terminals of AND gates G1 and G3, and the output 
from the chattering protection circuit C4 is applied to the input terminal 
of AND gates G2 and G4. A forward rotation quick feeding output 228 is 
applied via a terminal 28 to the output terminals of the AND gates G1 and 
G3, and a reverse rotation quick feeding output 227 is applied via a 
terminal 27 to the input terminals of the AND gates G2 and G4. The output 
of the AND gate 5 is connected to the inputs of the AND gates G1 and G2, 
and to the input of an inverter N1. The output from the inverter N1 is 
applied to the AND gates G3 and G4. The outputs from the AND gates G1 to 
G4 are used for a forward rotating output 222 for correcting the alarm 
time, a reverse rotating output 223 for correcting the alarm time, a 
forward rotating output 224 for correcting the present time, and a reverse 
rotating output 225 for correcting the present time, respectively. The 
outputs from the AND gates G3 and G4 are supplied to an OR gate G20, and 
the output from the OR gate G20 is used as a time correction driving 
output 226. 
FIG. 17 illustrates a circuit diagram of the control circuit 11, a memory 
circuit including the time difference counter 13 and the display-time 
difference counter 15, the zero detecting circuit 131, the zero detecting 
circuit 132, the coincidence detecting circuit 133 and a circumferential 
circuit. 
The output of an AND gate G6, to which are fed as inputs the forward 
rotating output 222 for correcting the alarm time and the output from an 
inverter N2, is connected to an up-count input of the time difference 
counter 13 and to the input of an OR gate G24. 
The output from an AND gate G7, to which are fed as inputs the reverse 
rotating output 223 for correcting the alarm time and the output of the 
inverter N2, is input to an OR gate G21. The normal hand moving output 232 
is applied to the other input of the OR gate G21. The output of the OR 
gate G21 is connected to the down-count input of the time difference 
counter 13 and to the input of the OR gate G24. 
The time difference counter 13 and the display-time difference counter 15 
are a 4320-counter and a 8640-counter, respectively, and the count 
capacity of these counters corresponds to twelve hours and twenty-four 
hours, respectively. These count numbers can be freely selected in 
accordance with the period of hand movement and the period of the alarm. 
The output of the coincident detecting circuit 133 can be obtained by 
carrying out the exclusive OR operation of the Q outputs in each of the 
stages of the display-time difference counter 15 and the time difference 
counter 13 (not shown). 
The zero detecting circuit 131 carries out the OR operation of the Q output 
in each of the stages of the time difference counter 13 and the output 
therefrom is output as an alarm output 239. 
The output of the coincidence detecting circuit 133 is connected to the 
input of an AND gate G8. The zero detecting circuit 132 consists of an OR 
gate to which is fed the Q output from each of the stages of the 
display-time difference counter 15, and the output thereof is connected to 
the inputs of the inverter N2, an AND gate G9 and an AND gate G11. 
A reverse rotating quick feed output 227 and the output from an inverter 
N3, to which the alarm display output 221 is applied, are input to the 
input of the AND gate G8. The output of the AND gate G8 is connected to 
the up-count input of the display-time difference counter 15 and the input 
of the OR gate G24. 
A forward rotating quick feed output 228 and the alarm display output 221 
are input to the input of the AND gate G9, and the output thereof is 
connected to the input of the OR gate G24. The output of the AND gate G9 
is also input to an OR gate G22 to which the output of the AND gate G11 is 
applied, and the output of the OR gate G21 and the output of the zero 
detecting circuit 132 are applied to the AND gate G11. The output of the 
OR gate G22 is connected to the down-count input of the display-time 
difference counter 15. 
The outputs from the AND gates G7 and G8 are applied to an OR gate G23, and 
the output of the OR gate G23 is used as a reverse rotating output 229 for 
moving the time-indicating hands. The output of the OR gate G24 is 
likewise used as an output 230 for moving the hands. 
FIG. 18 is a circuit diagram of the motor driving circuit 3 of the FIG. 15 
embodiment, and the circuit is arranged in such a way that the output of 
an OR gate G27, to which the output 230 for moving the time hands and the 
driving output 226 for correcting the present time are applied, is 
connected to a T input of a T flip-flop F1, and moreover, a Q output and a 
Q output of the T flip-flop F1 are input to OR gates G29 and G30, 
respectively. 
The output of an OR gate G28, to which the reverse rotating output 229 for 
moving the hands and the reverse rotating output 225 for correcting the 
present time are applied, is applied to an AND gate G10 to which a pulse 
output 231 for reverse rotation is also input. 
The output of the AND gate G10 is commonly input to Ex-OR gates G15 and G16 
and moreover, the outputs of the OR gates G29 and G30 are respectively 
applied thereto. The outputs therefrom are used as motor driving outputs 
236 and 237 through buffers B1 and B2. 
The operation of this embodiment will be now described. 
In the normal operation for the present time display state, as illustrated 
by a time chart of FIG. 19, a normal hand moving output 232 with a period 
of 10 seconds is applied to the motor driving circuit 3 through the OR 
gates G21, G24. As a result, the stepping motor 4 is driven, and the 
display mechanism 5 indicates the time in the ten-second mode in which the 
hands move every ten seconds. 
The forward rotation quick feeding output 228 shown in FIG. 19 is a signal 
with a frequency of 32 Hz, and the pulse width of the signal is selected 
in view of the electric characteristic of the motor. The reverse rotation 
quick feeding output 227 has a frequency of 32 Hz, and is combined with 
the reverse rotating pulse output 231 to form the reverse rotation driving 
waveform for the motor 4. The motor driving outputs 236 and 237 in FIG. 19 
show the motor driving waveform at the time of the reverse rotation. 
Next, the method of alarm setting and the alarm operation will be 
described. 
In the normal condition, that is, in the time display state, the content of 
the time difference counter 13, in which the difference between the alarm 
time and the present time is stored, is coincident with the content of the 
display-time difference counter 15, in which the difference between the 
alarm time and the display time is stored. Since the output level of the 
coincidence detecting circuit 133 is high when one counter content is not 
equal to the other counter content, the AND gate G8 is opened and the 
reverse rotation quick feeding output 227 is counted up in the 
display-time difference counter 15 until the output level of the circuit 
133 becomes low, in other words, one content is equal to the other 
content. 
The alarm setting operation will now be described. At first, the input 
switch S1 is closed when the button 19 is pulled-out, and the signal level 
of the alarm time display output 221 becomes high. As a result, the AND 
gate G9 is opened and the display-time difference counter 15 is counted 
down by the application of the forward rotation quick feeding output 228. 
The output 228 is also applied to the motor 4 through the OR gate G24 to 
rotate the motor in the forward direction. 
For example, assuming that the present time is twenty minutes past one 
o'clock and the content of the display-time difference counter 15 and the 
time difference counter 13 is 180 (which corresponds to thirty minutes) 
before the operation, the display mechanism 5 is driven in the forward 
direction until the content of the display-time difference counter 15 
becomes zero minute, that is, the output level of the zero detecting 
circuit 132 becomes zero to close the AND gate G9. At this time, it is ten 
minutes to two o'clock. 
In this case, if it is required to set the alarm time to be two o'clock, 
the winding stem 18 should be furthermore pulled-out to change the output 
level of the AND gate G5 to the high level. As a result, when the signals 
from the input switches S3 and S4, which are operated by the rotation of 
the winding stem 18 in the right or left direction, are applied to the AND 
gates G1 and G2, the forward rotation and reverse rotation quick feeding 
outputs 227, 228 are output as the alarm time forward rotation and reverse 
rotation correcting outputs 222, 223. When the alarm set time 
corresponding to ten minutes should be advanced, the winding stem 18 is 
operated to close the input switch S3 in such a way that 60 pulses of 
forward rotation output 222 for correcting the alarm time, the 60 pulses 
correspond to ten minutes due to the fact that the hands move at 
ten-second increments, is output therefrom. 
At this time, since the forward rotation output 222 for correcting the 
alarm time is supplied from the AND gate G6, the time difference counter 
13 is counted up by the amount corresponding to ten minutes and the amount 
corresponding to forty minutes is stored therein. 
During this time, after a lapse of more than ten seconds, pulses are 
applied by the application of the normal hand moving output 232 so that 
the time difference counter 13 is counted down. Therefore, the difference 
between the alarm set time and the present time is always stored in the 
time difference counter 13. 
At this time, since the display mechanism 5 indicates two o'clock, which is 
the alarm time, and the amount corresponding to forty minutes is stored in 
the time difference counter 13, which content shows the difference between 
the alarm time and the present time, the operation described hereinafter 
is carried out in the case that the present time is indicated again, that 
is, the button 19 is returned to the its original position. 
Returning the button 19 to its original pushed-in position makes the input 
switch S1 to open, and the level of output 221 for displaying the alarm 
time which is the output from the chattering protection circuit C1 becomes 
low. As a result, since the output level of the inverter N3 shown in FIG. 
17 becomes high, the AND gate G8 is opened to produce the reverse rotation 
quick feeding output 227 as the up-count input for the display-time 
difference counter 15. At this time, the OR gates G23, G24 output the 
reverse rotation output 229 for moving the hands and the hand moving 
output 230 to rotate the motor 4 in the reverse direction. 
The reverse rotation output 229 for moving the hands and the hand moving 
output 230 continue until the content of the time difference counter 13 is 
coincident with that of the display-time difference counter 15 so that the 
output level of the coincidence detecting circuit 133 becomes low to close 
the AND gate G8. Therefore, the display mechanism 5 is rotated in the 
reverse direction by the amount corresponding to forty minutes so that 
display time becomes the present time of twenty minutes past one o'clock, 
and the amount corresponding to forty minutes is stored in the 
display-time difference counter 15. 
After this, since the time difference counter 13 and the display-time 
difference counter 15 are counted down by the application of the normal 
hand moving output 232 which is produced every ten seconds, the content of 
the time difference counter 13 becomes zero after a lapse of forty minutes 
which corresponds to the content of the time difference counter 13 which 
is used for indicating the difference between the alarm time and the 
present time. Consequently, the output level of the zero detecting circuit 
131 becomes low to drive the alarm circuit 14, and the alarm sound is 
produced from the electric acoustic transducer 16. 
At this time, the display mechanism 5 indicates two o'clock and the 
contents of the time difference counter 13 and the display-time counter 15 
become zero. 
Although displaying, recognizing and correcting for alarm time is carried 
out as described above, in the normal time correction, only the winding 
stem 18 shown in FIG. 16 is pulled-out to close the input switch S2, and 
the output level of the chattering protection circuit C2 becomes high. 
Since the outputs from the chattering protection circuits C1 and C2 are 
applied to the AND gate G5, the output level of the AND gate G5 is 
maintained at low level and the output level of the inverter N1 becomes 
high. At this time, the forward rotation quick feeding output 228 and the 
reverse rotation quick feeding output 229 are derived from the AND gates 
G3 and G4 as the forward rotation output 224 for correcting the present 
time and the reverse rotation output 225 for correcting the present time 
in dependence on the ON-OFF conditions of the input switches S3 and S4 
which are operates by rotating the winding stem 18 in the right or left 
direction. For this reason, the motor 4 is driven by the motor driving 
circuit 3 shown in FIG. 18 to correct the present time. 
The driving output 226 for correcting the present time which is obtained by 
carrying out the OR operation between the forward rotation output 224 for 
correcting the present time and the reverse rotation output 225 for 
correcting the present time, and the hand moving output 230 which is 
obtained by carrying out the OR operation among the normal hand moving 
output 232 and the up inputs and down inputs for the time difference 
counter 13 and the display-time difference counter 15, are input to the OR 
gate G27 in the motor driving circuit 3. The OR gate G27 gathers all of 
the driving outputs for the motor 4 and the output thereof is applied to 
the T flip-flop F1. The T flip-flop F1 alternately distributes the output 
from the OR gate G27, which is the driving output for the motor 4, to the 
OR gates G29 and G30 in such a way that the output from the OR gate G27 
can be used as the reverse rotation output for the motor 4. 
Describing the operation of the reverse rotation of the motor, since the 
reverse rotation output 229 for moving the time-indicating hands which is 
obtained by carrying out the OR operation between the down input for the 
time difference counter 13 and the up input for the display-time 
difference counter 15 and the reverse rotation output 225 for correcting 
the present time, are input to the OR gate G28, the pulse is produced when 
the motor 4 is rotated in the reverse direction. 
Since it is required that the reverse rotation pulse output 231 be produced 
at the same time when the reverse rotation quick feeding output 227 is 
applied to the motor 4, it is applied to the Ex-OR gates G15 and G16 
through the AND gate G10 if the output of the OR gate G28 is produced. 
The outputs of the Ex-OR gates G16 and G17, in this case, are illustrated 
as the motor driving outputs 236 and 237 shown in FIG. 19, and the motor 4 
is rotated in the reverse direction by the application of these outputs. 
In the forward rotating operation, the output level of the AND gate G10 is 
kept at a low level so that the outputs from the OR gates G29 and G30 are 
derived as the motor driving outputs 236 and 237. 
FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a third embodiment of the present 
invention. 
A counter 250 has the function of counting and storing the time difference 
between the display time and the present time, and the content of the 
counter 250 is increased or decreased at the time of the hand moving 
operation for changing a display time or at the time of the alarm time 
correction. The content of the counter 250 is decreased by one at every 
regular hand movement timing in the display state other than the present 
time display state. A counter 251 stores the time difference between the 
display time and the alarm time, and the content of the counter 251 is 
increased or decreased at the time of the hand moving operation for 
changing a display time or at the time of the correcting operation for the 
present time. The content of the counter 251 is increased by one at every 
regular hand moving timing used in hand moving for displaying the present 
time in the present time display state. 
The operation of the FIG. 20 embodiment will be described. 
When it is required to move the time indicating hands from the position 
corresponding to the present time to the position corresponding to the 
alarm time, at first, whether or not the content of the counter 251 being 
more than a predetermined value is discriminated, the hands are moved in 
such a direction that the moving time is minimized. At the same time, each 
of the contents of the counters 250 and 251 is increased or decreased, and 
the hand moving operation is continued until the content of the counter 
251 becomes zero. In the operation for correcting the alarm time, the 
content of the counter 251 is maintained at zero and the counter 250 is 
counted up or down in accordance with the movement of the hands. During 
this time, the counter 250 is counted down by one at every regular hand 
movement timing. 
When it is required to change the display mode to the present time display 
state, the moving direction of the hands is decided according to the 
content of the counter 250. The counters 250 and 251 count down or up in 
accordance with the movement of the hands, and the hand moving operation 
is continued until the content of the counter 250 becomes zero. In the 
operation for correcting the present time, the content of the counter 251 
is maintained at zero and the counter 250 is counted up or down. The 
counter 251 is counted up by one at every regular hand movement timing. As 
a result, the time when the counters 250 and 251 become zero indicates the 
time when the alarm time is coincident with the present time. Therefore, 
if the AND operation is carried out between the outputs from zero 
detecting circuits 252 and 253 in an AND gate 245, it is possible to 
detect the alarm time. 
As will be seen from the above mentioned second and third embodiments, if 
only two sets of the relative time differences each of which is obtained 
by selecting any two times from the group consisting of the present time, 
the alarm time and the display time, are stored, it is not necessary to 
calculate the remaining relative time difference. 
Although these embodiments are described by taking the case of an analogue 
alarm electronic watches to which the most simple specifications are 
required, the present invention is likewise applicable to analogue alarm 
electronic watches which have more complex and a higher degree of 
functions. Although the timepieces having two time hands which are moved 
every ten seconds are shown in the disclosed embodiments, the present 
invention is also applicable to other types of the analogue alarm 
electronic watches. 
It is a very important feature of the present invention that the operations 
for correcting the time are not carried out mechanicaly, but are carried 
out by the use of an electronic circuit. If the operations for correcting 
the time are carried out by the use of the any mechanism, such as a 
sliding mechanism, it follows that the display time is not changed in 
connection with the contents of the relative time differences stored in 
the electronic circuit. Although, in order to solve this drawback, it 
might be possible to use a mechanism which inputs the information of the 
display time by indicating the hands or the moving amount of the hands to 
the electronic circuit; however, to do so, the mechanism of the watch of 
the present invention becomes complex so that the advantages of the 
present invention will be lost. 
In the above described embodiments, all of the electronic circuits are 
realized by the use of fixed logic circuits, however, the electronic 
circuits can be realized by the use of the logic operation processing 
circuit employing the stored program system. In this case, although the 
description in this specification does not describe such a stored program 
system, it should be noted that the timepiece employing the logic 
operation processing circuit is in the scope of the present invention. 
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to 
provide an analogue alarm electronic timepiece in which only a simple 
mechanism is required without the need of a complex additional mechanism, 
such as a coincidence detecting mechanism which is complex and low in 
reliability, so that it is possible to provide a timepiece having 
reliability and commercial worth.