REAL TIME CLOCK AND METHOD FOR RECORDING DATA IN REAL TIME CLOCK

• US 20120166138A1
• Filed: 03/02/2012
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: SHIROTORI, Toru, Usuda, Toshiya
• Granted Patent: US 8,458,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/178
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/14 Time supervision arrangements, e.g. real time clock
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 3/00 Registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus, other than vehicles

Abstract

A real time clock for outputting data indicating a time of day includes: an event detection circuit for detecting that an event detection signal has been inputted from outside; a timing circuit for generating the time-of-day data according to a signal outputted from an oscillator circuit; a memory; and a control circuit for, if the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal, recording event data in the memory, the event data including additional data indicating an operating state of the real time clock and the time-of-day data generated by the timing circuit.

Claims

1. A real time clock for outputting data indicating a time-of-day, comprising:

an event detection circuit for detecting that an event detection signal has been inputted from outside;

a timing circuit for generating the time-of-day data according to a signal outputted from an oscillator circuit;

a memory; and

a control circuit for, if the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal, recording event data in the memory regardless of whether a reduction in an applied voltage has been detected, the event data including additional data indicating an operating state of the real time clock and the time-of-day data generated by the timing circuit.

2. The real time clock according to claim 1, further comprising

a voltage reduction detection circuit for detecting a reduction in a power supply voltage applied to a power supply terminal, wherein

the additional data includes voltage reduction information indicating a reduction in the power supply voltage detected by the voltage reduction detection circuit.

3. The real time clock according to claim 2, wherein

the voltage reduction detection circuit includes a first voltage comparison unit for detecting that the power supply voltage is lower than a first threshold, and

the voltage reduction information includes information indicating whether, when the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal, the first voltage comparison unit of the voltage reduction detection circuit has detected that the power supply voltage is lower than the first threshold.

4. The real time clock according to claim 3, wherein

the voltage reduction detection circuit further includes a second voltage comparison unit for detecting that the power supply voltage is lower than a second threshold, the second threshold being set to a value lower than the first threshold, wherein

the voltage reduction information includes information indicating whether the second voltage comparison unit of the voltage reduction detection circuit detects that the power supply voltage is lower than the second threshold.

5. The real time clock according to claim 1, further comprising

an oscillation stop detection circuit for detecting that the oscillator circuit has stopped oscillating, wherein

the additional data includes oscillation stop information indicating whether the oscillation stop detection circuit detects the oscillation stop.

6. The real time clock according to claim 2, further comprising

a setting register in which any one of rising edge detection mode and falling edge detection mode is set, the rising edge detection mode detecting a rising edge of a voltage waveform of the event detection signal, and the falling edge detection mode detecting a falling edge of the voltage waveform of the event detection signal, wherein

the additional data includes detection information indicating which of the rising edge detection mode and the falling edge detection mode has previously been set in the setting register when the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal.

7. The real time clock according to claim 2, further comprising

a plurality of terminals for receiving the event detection signal, wherein

if the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal, the control circuit records the event data in the memory, the event data including the additional data, the time-of-day data, and a port number of one of the terminals, the one of the terminals having received the event detection signal.

8. A method for recording data in a real time clock having a function of recording data indicating a time of day of occurrence of an event in a memory, the method comprising

recording, as event data, data including the time-of-day data and additional data, the additional data including a determination about an operating state of the real time clock at the time of occurrence of the event.

9. The method for recording data in a real time clock according to claim 8, wherein

the additional data includes information indicating a determination whether a power supply voltage applied to a power supply terminal is lower than a threshold.

10. The method for recording data in a real time clock according to claim 8, wherein

the additional data includes information indicating a determination within which of a plurality of voltage ranges the applied voltage falls.

11. The method for recording data in a real time clock according to claim 8, wherein

the additional data includes information indicating whether a stop of oscillation of an oscillator circuit of the real time clock has been detected.

12. A real time clock for outputting data indicating a time-of-day, comprising:

an event detection circuit for detecting that an event detection signal has been inputted from outside;

a timing circuit for generating the time-of-day data according to a signal outputted from an oscillator circuit;

a memory; and

a control circuit for, if the event detection circuit detects input of the event detection signal, recording event data in the memory regardless of whether no reduction in an applied voltage has been detected, the event data including additional data indicating an operating state of the real time clock and the time-of-day data generated by the timing circuit.