ELECTRONIC ANALOG TIMEPIECE

Abstract: An electronic analog timepiece has a power source (2) and time indicating hands (11,12,13) for providing a time indication. A voltage detecting circuit (7) produces a number of outputs in dependence upon the voltage of the power source and a waveform synthesising circuit (5) generates driving pulses for a step motor (6) corresponding to the outputs of the voltage detecting circuit (7). A counter circuit (10) memorises amounts or distances by which one of the time indicating hands, for example the seconds hand, is moved from a given position corresponding to the outputs of the voltage detecting circuit (7). An external operation member, for example a crown (14), enables a voltage checking operation of the voltage detecting circuit (7).

Description: This invention relates to electronic analog timepieces. In a conventional electronic analog timepiece, voltage of a power source, e.g. a battery, is indicated by a battery life display. That is, when a battery driving the electronic analog timepiece is becoming exhausted, the distance by which a seconds hand is moved each step is changed automatically to inform the user of the necessity to renew the battery. However, the user is not informed of the necessity to renew the battery until time indicating hands of the electronic analog timepiece are just about to stop. The electronic analog timepiece is thus very inconvenient to use. This is a more serious problem in the case of an electronic analog timepiece of the charging type (a so-called semi-permanent timepiece) employing a secondary cell or capacitor instead of the battery. With the conventional battery life display as mentioned above, the user is not informed of the remaining life of the battery unless the end of its life is approaching. As soon as there is an indication, the user is forced to renew the battery immediately involving cumbersome operation. This becomes a serious problem in the above mentioned electronic analog timepiece of the charging type because, a secondary cell or capacitor is used as the power source. The power source, however, has a capacity that is very much smaller than that of a primary battery. Therefore, the duration for which the timepiece is driven by the power source from its fully charged condition to when a battery life display is produced is relatively short. Consequently, battery life displays may be produced frequently and this is a great inconvenience for the user who is forced to perform a charging operation. For instance, during office hours, at bedtime, or in conditions where the user is not free to perform the charging operation readily, the user feels uneasy if he thinks that his electronic analog timepiece is going to cease to function at any time soon. Moreover, once the time indicating hands are stopped, the user must carry out a cumbersome operation to adjust the time indication after the power source has been recharged. This happens frequently when use is made of a secondary cell or capacitor as the power source having a capacity very much smaller than that of a primary battery. The present invention seeks to provide an electronic analog timepiece where the voltage of a power source can be checked by the user at will and where a signal generated as a result of a voltage checking operation is transformed into motion of one of the time indicating hands to indicate to the user the amount of energy remaining in the power source. The present invention also seeks to provide an electronic analog timepiece where the hand which indicates the voltage of the power source is not driven for a predetermined period when the voltage checking operation is initiated. The user is now liberated from the uncertainty where the battery life display is suddenly produced and where the electronic analog timepiece may cease to operate in circumstances where the user is not free to perform immediately a charging operation such as during office hours or at bedtime. That is, with an analog electronic timepiece according to the present invention when the power source voltage has dropped to some extent, the user may perform the charging operation at any convenient time. This avoids the cumbersome operation of adjusting the time indication after the time indicating hands of the electronic analog timepiece have stopped. Moreover, when the voltage checking operation is effected the hand which indicates the voltage of the power source stops at a given position for a predetermined period of time, making it possible to read correctly the amount by which the hand is moved. Furthermore, the time indication can be adjusted without involving the voltage checking operation that is usually performed at a first step of movement of a crown (though only for a brief period of time) in the case where the crown is pulled out by two steps. Namely, it is easy to stop the seconds hand at any position. According to the present invention there is provided an electronic analog timepiece having a power source and time indicating hands for providing a time indication, characterised by comprising: a voltage detecting circuit for producing a plurality of outputs in dependence upon the voltage of the power source; a waveform synthesising circuit for generating driving pulses for a step motor corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit; a counter circuit for memorising amounts or distances by which one of the time indicating hands is moved from a given initial position corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit; and an external operation member for enabling a voltage checking operation of said voltage detecting circuit. Preferably said one of the time indicating hands is a seconds hand. Said external operation member may be a crown. The amount of movement of said one of the time indicating hands may be smaller than 360° from the given position. Preferably, in operation, the voltage checking operation is carried out with the external operation member in a first position. In operation of the preferred embodiment, quick feed pulses from the waveform synthesising circuit driving the said one of the time indicating hands have a period of greater than 4Hz but less than 128Hz. The arrangement may be such that the amount or distance by which the said one of the time indicating hands is moved during the voltage checking operation is longer when the power source voltage is high than when the power source voltage is low. Preferably the electronic analog timepiece includes a temporary stop circuit for inhibiting the output of the driving pulses from said waveform synthesising circuit for a predetermined period of time when the voltage checking operation is initiated. Said predetermined period of time may be longer than one second but shorter than five seconds. The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of an electronic analog timepiece according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a plan view of an electronic analog timepiece according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a logic diagram of a temporary stop circuit of the electronic analog timepiece of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of the temporary stop circuit of Figure 3. Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic analog timepiece according to the present invention comprising a charging circuit 1 which is provided with light or other form of energy from an external generator or source, a power source 2 consisting of a secondary cell or capacitor which receives and stores electrical energy from the charging circuit 1, an oscillation circuit 3 which employs an oscillation element, such as a quartz crystal element, and which produces an output signal of a predetermined frequency, a frequency dividing circuit 4 which frequency divides the output signal from the oscillation circuit 3, and a waveform synthesising circuit 5 which forms signals with various periods and pulse widths to drive a step motor 6 which drives time indicating hands. Next, briefly described below is a voltage checking operation which detects the voltage of the power source 2 and changes the distance of movement of a seconds hand or changes the amount of movement of the seconds hand depending upon the power source voltage. A voltage detecting circuit 7 detects the voltage of the power source 2, and produces different outputs depending upon the voltage detected. For ease of explanation reference will be made to the seconds hand and a utilisable voltage range of from 1.2V to 3.0V, the range from 1.2V to 1.5V (being the battery life display), the range from 1.5V to 2.0V being a condition A, the range from 2.0V to 2.5V being a condition B and the range from 2.5V to 3.0V being a condition C. Under these conditions the seconds hand will be stepped as follows: condition A - 10 seconds steps, condition B -20 seconds steps, condition C - 30 seconds steps. This will be explained with reference to Figure 2. Figure 2 shows an hours hand 11, a minutes hand 12, a seconds hand 13, and a crown 14. The crown has an ordinary position a , a first position b and a second position c . Usually, a day of the week indication and a date indication (visible through a small window (not shown)) are adjusted in the first position. If the crown is located in the ordinary position ( a ), the seconds hand performs one step each second. When the seconds hand has arrived at a position P1 (3 o'clock), the crown 14 is pulled out to the first position b to check the power source voltage. If the power source voltage is under condition B, the seconds hand 13 is moved to a position P2 (7 o'clock) under the influence of quick feed pulses of a frequency of, for example, 32Hz. The seconds hand 13 remains at position P2 until 20 seconds has elapsed, and it then moves to position P3 (11 o'clock) under the influence of the quick feed pulses. Thus, the seconds hand is moved in steps each corresponding to 20 seconds to indicate that the power source voltage is under condition B, i.e. the power source voltage is in the range of from 2.0V to 2.5V. Similar operations are also carried out under conditions A and C. Reverting to Figure 1, an operation (hereinafter referred to as a temporary stopping operation) to stop the movement of the seconds hand for a predetermined period of time will be described. If a voltage checking operation only is to be carried out as described above, a circuit which consists of the charging circuit 1 through to the step motor 6 described earlier needs simply to be provided with the voltage detection circuit 7 to detect the voltage of the power source 2, an external switch 9 such as the crown 14 to control the voltage checking operation, and a counter circuit 10 which counts the time from which the seconds hand is in a standby condition. In order to temporarily stop operation of the seconds hand only when the voltage checking operation is carried out, however, it is necessary to provide a temporary stop circuit 8. Figure 3 is a logic diagram of the temporary stop circuit 8, and Figure 4 is a time chart illustrating its operation. An input S1 consists of a signal which is sent from the external switch 9, which assumes a low (L) level when the seconds hand is ordinarily moved in one second steps and which assumes a high (H) level during the voltage checking operation. In this embodiment, the seconds hand is inhibited from being driven for two to three seconds. An input S2 consists of a signal of 1Hz. The signal of 1Hz is applied from an AND gate 15 to an input terminal T of a T-type flip-flop 17 which is rendered operative by the input S1. In this case, however, it is not obvious that the input S1, that permits the introduction of the input S2, will assume H level. Therefore, referring to Figure 4, for instance, the output of the AND gate 15 becomes as shown when the input S1 is changed at t₁, i.e. when the input S1 is changed at the moment when the input S2 of 1Hz is assuming H level. Here, if it is assumed that the T-type flip-flop 17 is of the negative edge operation type, the output Q of the T-type flip-flop 17 changes at the negative edge of the output of the AND gate 15. The same holds true for a subsequent T-type flip-flop 18. However, since a master output M is used, the waveform is as represented by T-FF 18M in Figure 4. A D-type flip-flop 19 has its data terminal D connected to level V DD and an output S3 assumes H level at the moment when the output M of the T-type flip-flop 18 is turned to L level. That is, since the output S3 assumes H level at the moment when the negative edge of the input S2 is inputted three times after the input S1 has assumed H level, the circuit composed of the flip-flops 17,18,19 operates as a two to three seconds counter. Thus, the temporary stop circuit 8 has a drive inhibition time of two to three seconds. In the electronic analog timepiece described above, the power source voltage is indicated by the amount by which the seconds hand is moved from a given position by the quick feed pulses. Therefore, the electronic analog timepiece exhibits the advantages described below when compared with the conventional electronic analog timepiece that has a battery life display function only. The power source voltage can be confirmed by the user at any time. Therefore, a charging operation of the power source can be performed at will when the amount of energy remaining in the power source becomes small and well before all the stored energy has been consumed. Therefore, the disadvantages of the conventional battery life display can be avoided in circumstances where it is not possible to perform readily the charging operation (such as during office hours or at bed time). Therefore, it is easy to avoid the worst case where the time indicating hands cease to move and it is possible to provide an electronic analog timepiece which is highly reliable without requiring adjustment of the time indicating hands. Moreover, the seconds hand is prevented from moving for a predetermined period of time by the output from the temporary stop circuit when the voltage checking operation is initiated, eliminating problems in that the position of the seconds hand is ambiguous when the operation is restarted, or the amount by which the seconds hand is moved is ambiguous, or it is difficult to stop the seconds hand at the position of 12 o'clock when adjusting the time indication. That is, in the former case, the power source voltage condition can be seen at a glance. In the latter case, the seconds hand can be easily stopped at any position desired by the user when adjusting the time indication. Furthermore, the seconds hand is used to indicate the power source voltage contributing greatly to simplifying the construction of the electronic analog timepiece without using new additional parts and to decreasing markedly manufacturing costs.

Claims: An electronic analog timepiece having a power source (2) and time indicating hands (11,12,13) for providing a time indication, characterised by comprising: a voltage detecting circuit (7) for producing a plurality of outputs in dependence upon the voltage of the power source; a waveform synthesising circuit (5) for generating driving pulses for a step motor (6) corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit (7); a counter circuit (10) for memorising amounts or distances by which one of the time indicating hands is moved from a given initial position corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit (7); and an external operation member for enabling a voltage checking operation of said voltage detecting circuit (7). An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that said one of the time indicating hands is a seconds hand (13). An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in claim 1 or 2 characterised in that said external operation member is a crown (14). An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the amount of movement of said one of the time indicating hands is smaller than 360° from the given position. An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that, in operation, the voltage checking operation is carried out with the external operation member in a first position. An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that, in operation, quick feed pulses from the waveform synthesising circuit driving the said one of the time indicating hands have a period of greater than 4Hz but less than 128Hz. An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that the arrangement is such that the amount or distance by which the said one of the time indicating hands is moved during the voltage checking operation is longer when the power source voltage is high than when the power source voltage is low. An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in any preceding claim characterised by including a temporary stop circuit (8) for inhibiting the output of the driving pulses from said waveform synthesising circuit (5) for a predetermined period of time when the voltage checking operation is initiated. An electronic analog timepiece as claimed in claim 8 characterised in that said predetermined period of time is longer than 1 second but shorter than 5 seconds. In an electronic analog timepiece comprising: a power source (2) and driving hands (11,12,13) for indicating the time, the improvement comprising: a voltage detecting circuit (7) for producing several kinds of outputs that change depending upon the power source voltage, a waveform synthesising circuit (5) for generating driving pulses for a step motor (6) in several kinds of period corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit (7), a counter circuit (10) for memorising a distance for carrying the hand as an indicator or an amount by which the hand is moved from a given position on a dial corresponding to the outputs of said voltage detecting circuit (7), and an external operation member for enabling, the voltage checking operation of said voltage detecting circuit (7).

Inventors: INOUE, YUICHI, KIYONO, YOSHIHIKO, OCHIAI, HITOSHI, ODAGIRI, HIROSHI, OTAWA ,SHUJI
Applicants: SEIKO INSTRUMENTS INC.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G04C10
IPC codes: G04C10