Radio pager with high speed clock of controlled rise time

• US 5,283,568 A
• Filed: 12/12/1991
• Issued: 02/01/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Muramatsu, Akira, Asai, Takayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Yusko, Donald J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): GIUST, JOHN
• Application Number:
  US07/805,627
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• Field of Search: 340/311.1, 340/825.44, 340/825.47, 340/825.48, 455/13.4, 455/32.1, 455/38.2, 455/38.3, 455/127, 455/343
• US Class Current: 340/7.33
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/229 with other provisions not elsewhere provided for

Abstract

A radio pager having means for automatically adjusting the rising time of a high-speed clock. The pager includes a plurality of circuit elements for adjusting the rising time of the high-speed clock, i.e., for compensating the degree of stability of a high-speed clock generating circuit. On the start of a low-speed clock, the high-speed clock generating circuit sequentially selects and connects the circuit elements to thereby count the resulting rising times of the high-speed clock. One of the circuit elements having resulted the shortest rising time is written to a storage. When the high-speed clock is needed, e.g., when a message should be displayed, the stored circuit element is connected to the high-speed clock generating circuit.

Claims

1. A radio pager comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) section for demodulating an RF signal coming in through an antenna to produce a digital paging signal;

a decoding section for decoding said digital paging signal, to produce an address signal;

a ROM for storing an address assigned to said radio pager;

control means for performing selective reception control by comparing said address signal decoded by said decoding section and said address stored in said ROM and for producing an alerting signal when said address signal and said address are coincident;

a battery accommodated in a battery holder disposed in said radio pager for supplying a power source voltage;

a low-speed clock generating circuit for generating a low-speed clock, said low-speed clock being supplied to said decoding section and said control means as an operation clock; and

a high-speed clock generating circuit for generating a high-speed clock, said high-speed clock being supplied to said control means as an operation clock instead of said low-speed clock during a predetermined operation, wherein

said high-speed clock generating circuit comprises;

a plurality of circuit elements each associated with a rising time of said high-speed clock; and

selecting means for selecting one of said plurality of circuit elements which minimizes said rising time.

2. A radio pager as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of circuit elements comprise resistors each having a particular resistance, said selecting means determining said resistor which minimizes said rising time by sequentially selecting said resistors in the order in which the resistance increases.

3. A radio pager as claimed in claim 2, wherein said selecting means comprises:

timer means for counting the rising time of said high-speed clock which is generated every time one of said resistors is selected;

amplitude voltage detecting means for comparing an amplitude voltage of said high-speed clock with a predetermined threshold value and, if said amplitude voltage is higher than said threshold value, generating a detection signal;

recording means for reading, on receiving said detection signal, the time having been counted by said timer means to thereby output the rising time of said high-speed clock; and

comparing means for comparing a plurality of times fed thereto from said recording means to determine the shortest rising time and selecting one of said resistors associated with said shortest rising time as said resistor which minimizes said rising time.

4. A radio pager as claimed in claim 3, wherein said selecting means starts up immediately after the mounting of said battery and ends the operation for selecting said resistor before said predetermined operation which needs said high-speed clock begins.

5. A radio pager as claimed in claim 4, further comprising means for connecting said selected resistor to said high-speed generating circuit when said high-speed clock generating circuit starts on said predetermined operation.

6. A radio pager as claimed in claim 1, wherein said high-speed clock generating circuit comprises frequency adjusting means for finely adjusting the frequency of said high-speed clock, the operation for selecting said circuit element being performed after the fine adjustment of said frequency.

7. A radio pager as claimed in claim 1, wherein said selecting means starts up on receiving said low-speed clock and ends the operation for selecting said circuit element before said predetermined operation which needs said high-speed clock.

8. A radio pager as claimed in claim 7, further comprising means for connecting said selected resistor to said high-speed clock generating circuit when said high-speed clock generating circuit starts on said predetermined operation.

9. A radio pager comprising:

an RF section for demodulating an RF signal coming in through an antenna to produce a digital paging signal;

a decoding section for generating an address signal in response to said digital paging signal;

a ROM for storing an address assigned to said radio pager;

selective reception control means for comparing said address signal decoded by said decoding section and said address stored in said ROM and for delivering an alerting signal if said address signal and said address are coincident;

a battery accommodated in a battery holder disposed in said radio pager for supplying a primary voltage;

a low-speed clock generating circuit for generating a low-speed clock, said low speed clock being used in said decoding section and said selective reception control means; and

a high-speed clock generating circuit for generating a high-speed clock, said high-speed clock being used in said selective reception control means instead of said low-speed clock during a rapid processing mode, wherein

said high-speed clock generating circuit comprises;

a plurality of resistors;

selecting means comprising means for sequentially selecting said resistors one by one in response to a control signal, and means for selecting, on receiving an identification signal identifying one of said resistors, said one resistor;

a high-speed clock generator constituted by a ring-like connection of an inverter, a crystal oscillator and said selected resistor for generating said high-speed clock, a capacitor being connected in parallel with said crystal oscillator;

timer means for counting the rising time of said high-speed clock by receiving said control signal every time one of said resistors is connected to said high-speed clock generator;

amplitude voltage detecting means for comparing the amplitude voltage of said high-speed clock with a predetermined threshold value and, if said amplitude voltage is higher than said threshold value, generating a detection signal;

recording means for reading, on receiving said detection signal, the time having been counted by said timer means to thereby produce the rising time of said high-speed clock;

comparing means for comparing a plurality of times fed thereto from said recording means to determine the shortest one of said rising times, and storing one of said resistors associated with said shortest rising time and said identification signal representative of said one resistor;

means for generating said control signal in response to a resistor selection start signal fed thereto from said selective reception control means; and

means responsive to a high-speed clock request signal from said selective reception control means for reading said identification signal out of said comparing means and sending said identification signal to said selecting means.

10. A radio pager as claimed in claim 9, wherein the selection of said resistor by said selecting means occurs after the frequency of said high-speed clock has been adjusted by the adjustment of the capacitance of said capacitor.

11. A radio pager as claimed in claim 10, wherein said resistor selection start signal is fed on the generation of said low-speed clock which occurs when said battery is mounted.

12. A radio pager comprising:

an RF section for demodulating an RF signal coming in through an antenna to produce a digital paging signal;

a decoding section comprising a decoder for generating an address signal in response to said digital paging signal;

a ROM for storing an address assigned to said radio pager;

reception control means for performing selective reception control by comparing said address signal decoded in said decoding section and said address stored in said ROM and, if said address signal and said address are coincident, outputting an alerting signal;

a battery accommodated in a battery holder housed in said radio pager for supplying a primary voltage;

a low-speed clock generating circuit for producing a low-speed clock, said low speed clock being supplied to said decoding section and to said reception control means as an operation clock; and

a high-speed clock generating circuit for producing a high-speed clock, said high-speed clock being supplied to said reception control means as an operation clock instead of said low-speed clock during a predetermined operation period, wherein

said high-speed clock producing circuit comprises;

a plurality of resistors;

selecting means for selecting one of said plurality of resistors in response to each of a plurality of selection control signals;

a high-speed clock generator for generating said high-speed clock by connecting an inverter, a crystal oscillator and selected one of said resistors in a ring-like configuration;

a capacitor connected in parallel with said crystal oscillator for constituting an element for adjusting the frequency of said high-speed clock;

a storage means for storing the rising time of said high-speed clock together with an identification signal identifying one of said resistors associated with said rising time;

a time counting means for counting the rising time of said high-speed clock every time one of said selection control signals is applied to said selecting means;

comparing means comprising means for storing the shortest one of a plurality of rising times counted by said time counting means in said storage means together with said identification signal, and means for sending a count end signal when said comparing means completes the storage; and

control means comprising means for sequentially sending said plurality of selection control signals one by one in response to a selection start signal from said reception control means, means for reading said identification signal out of said storage means in response to a high-speed clock request signal from said reception control means, and means for sending a selection control signal matching said identification signal to said selecting means.

13. A radio pager as claimed in claim 12, wherein said time counting means comprises:

timer means for starting counting time when connected to said high-speed clock generator;

detecting means for detecting the amplitude voltage of said high-speed clock; and

recording means for comparing said amplitude voltage with a predetermined threshold value and, if said amplitude voltage is higher than said threshold value, reading the time having been counted by said timer means as a rising time.

14. A radio pager as claimed in claim 12, wherein said comparing means comprises:

means for comparing a rising time received from said recording means and a rising time stored in said storage;

rewriting means for substituting shorter one of said two rising times for said rising time stored in said storage; and

means for sending said count end signal to said control means if said rising time stored in said storage is longer than said rising time received from said recording means.

15. A radio pager as claimed in claim 12, wherein said plurality of resistors are commonly connected at one end thereof;

said selecting means comprising;

deciding means for identifying each of said plurality of selection control signals and turning one of output terminals associated with said identified selection control signal to a high level; and

gates having input terminals thereof commonly connected to the output terminal of said inverter, having output terminals thereof connected one-to-one to the other ends of said resistors, and having control terminals thereof connected one-to-one to said output terminals of said deciding means.