Hand display-type electronic timepiece

• US 6,072,752 A
• Filed: 12/05/1996
• Issued: 06/06/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd. (Citizen Electronics Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Citizen Watch Co Limited (Citizen Electronics Company Limited)
• Inventors: Mochida, Kunikazu, Fujita, Kenji, Igarashi, Kiyotaka
• Primary Examiner(s): Roskoski, Bernard
• Application Number:
  US08/759,640
• Time in Patent Office: 1,279 Days
• Field of Search: 368/74, 368/203, 368/204, 368/10, 368/89, 368/107-113
• US Class Current: 368/80
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 10/04 with means for indicating the condition of the power supply in general G01R31/36
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/14 incorporating a stepping motor G04C3/02 - G04C3/12 take precedence generating timing pulses G04F5/00, G04G3/00; setting G04G5/00; synchronisation G04G7/00; generating commutating pulses in masterclocks G04C13/0463, G04C13/02; slave clocks actuated intermittently by electromechanical step advancing mechanisms G04C13/10; control circuits for stepping motors in general H02P8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 3/146 incorporating two or more stepping motors or rotors

Abstract

To provide a hand display-type electronic timepiece which is simply constructed, enables the manufacturer or the user of the analog electronic timepiece to easily and correctly accomplish synchronism between the hands and the timing counter, and does not require an operation for bringing the hands and the timing counter into synchronism when the cell is renewed by the user, eliminating the problems inherent in the aforementioned prior art. That is, in a hand display-type electronic timepiece 1 constituted by a cell 2, a time signal generating means 10, a motor drive control means 25, a pulse motor drive means 17, a pulse motor 18, hands 19 driven by the pulse motor, and a hand position data generating means 3 which generates hand position data corresponding to the hands, and in which the drive control of the hands is executed according to the data from the hand position data generating means 3, an analog hand display-type electronic timepiece further comprises a hand drive stop means 11 which stops the hands 19 and the hand position data generating means 3 under the condition in which synchronism is maintained therebetween, a nonvolatile memory 4 for storing hand position data generated from the hand position data generating means 3, a hand drive data control means 5 which controls the nonvolatile memory 4 and the hand drive stop means 11, and a data storage instruction means 6 which operates the control means 5, wherein in response to an instruction signal from the data storage instruction means 6, the hand drive stop means 11 stops the hands 19, and the hand drive data control means 5 writes the data stored in the hand position data generating means 3 into the nonvolatile memory 4.

Claims

1. A hand display electronic timepiece having a battery cell serving as a power source, comprising:

time signal generating means;

a pulse motor connected to drive hands of the hand display;

means for driving the pulse motor;

means for controlling the pulse motor driving means;

volatile hand position data generating means for generating volatile hand position data corresponding to the position of said hands, the drive control of the hands being executed according to the generated hand position data;

hand drive stop means, when operated, for stopping said hands and said hand position data generating means under a condition in which synchronism is maintained therebetween;

a non-volatile memory for storing the generated hand position data;

hand drive data control means for controlling at least said non-volatile memory and said hand drive stop means; and

data storage instruction means for generating a storage instruction signal to operate the hand drive data control means, the hand drive data control means being responsive to the storage instruction signal to write the volatile hand position data into the non-volatile memory by activating an installed booster circuit, to operate the hand drive stop means and further to erase the data in said non-volatile memory by activating the installed booster circuit.

2. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand position data generating means includes at least a timing counter and a hand position counter.

3. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand drive data control means controls said hand position counter and said motor drive control means in a manner in which they are linked together.

4. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 2, wherein said motor drive means includes a waveform generating means and a drive polarity storage means which changes an output signal from said waveform generating means into a motor drive signal having a different polarity and stores the polarity thereof.

5. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 2 wherein the data of said hand position counter are written into said non-volatile memory.

6. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 4, wherein the hand position data of said hand position counter and the polarity data of said drive polarity storage means are written into said non-volatile memory.

7. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 6, wherein when a storage instruction signal is output from said data storage instruction means, said hand drive data control means is operated to drive said hand drive stop means, whereby movement of said hands is stopped, the hand position data of said hand position data generating means and the polarity data of the drive polarity storage means are written into said nonvolatile memory, and then the hand display-type electronic timepiece discontinues all of its functions by itself.

8. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand drive stop means is between the time signal generating means and said hand position data generating means.

9. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7, wherein said data storage instruction means is a voltage detecting means capable of detecting a drop in the cell voltage, and said data storage instruction signal is a voltage detect signal of said voltage detecting means.

10. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 9, wherein said voltage detecting means includes a delay means.

11. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 10, wherein after said voltage detecting means has been operated, said voltage detect signal is output after the passage of a predetermined delay time determined by said delay means.

12. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 11, wherein said delay time is a given period of time selected from a range of one to seven days after the operation point of said voltage detecting means.

13. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7, wherein the data storage instruction means is a cell attach/detach detecting means which functions being linked to the operation of attaching or detaching the cell, and the attach/detach signal from said cell attach/detach detecting means includes a data storage instruction signal.

14. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 13, wherein the cell attach/detach detecting means has an attach/detach notice detecting means which notifies the removal of the cell from the hand display-type electronic timepiece, and an attach/detach notice detecting signal from said attach/detach notice detecting means is the data storage instruction signal.

15. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 14, wherein said attach/detach notice detecting means is a switching means which is linked to the operation for removing the cell pushing plate that is pushing the cell under the condition where the cell is maintaining electrical connection.

16. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 14, wherein said attach/detach notice detecting means is a switching means which is linked to the operation for removing the back of the hand display-type electronic timepiece.

17. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said data storage instruction means is constituted by a cell voltage detecting means which detects a drop in the cell voltage and a cell attach/detach detecting means which functions by being linked to the operation of attaching or detaching of the cell, and said hand drive data control means controls said hand drive stop means in response to either a voltage detect signal from the cell voltage detecting means or an attach/detach data signal from the cell attach/detach detecting means, in order to stop the hands and to write the data stored in the hand position data generating means into the nonvolatile memory.

18. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7, wherein provision is made of a cell load instruction means which outputs a cell load signal that indicates the loading of a new cell, and said hand drive data control means reads the data stored in the nonvolatile memory into said hand position data instruction signal from said cell load instruction means.

19. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 18, wherein said cell load instruction means is constituted by a plurality of buttons provided for the hand display-type electronic timepiece, and said cell load instruction signal is the one that is generated by simultaneously depressing said plurality of buttons.

20. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 18, wherein said cell load instruction means is a power-on reset circuit.

21. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 18, wherein said hand drive data control means has a delay means which de-energizes said hand drive stop means so that the hands start moving when a predetermined delay time has passed after the data stored in the nonvolatile memory had been read into the hand position data generating means in response to the load instruction signal.

22. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 21, wherein said delay time has been set to a period of from when predetermined data are read from said nonvolatile memory into said hand position data generating means until when said hand position data generating means is electrically stabilized.

23. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 21, wherein said hand drive data control means executes the operation for erasing the content of the nonvolatile memory when a predetermined delay time has passed after the data stored in said nonvolatile memory had been read into said hand position data generating means.

24. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 18, wherein said hand drive data control means writes the hand position data stored in said nonvolatile memory into the hand position counter in response to the cell load instruction signal, and writes the polarity data into the drive polarity storage means.

25. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 24, wherein said hand drive data control means writes the hand position data stored in said nonvolatile memory into the timing counter in response to said cell load instruction signal.

26. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 18, wherein provision is made of a demonstration circuit which generates a demonstration signal in response to said cell load instruction signal, and the hands are allowed to execute a predetermined demonstration motion in response to said demonstration signal.

27. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 26, wherein said demonstration circuit outputs a predetermined number of quick-feed pulses as said demonstration signals.

28. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 26, wherein said demonstration circuit is operated by an output signal from the delay means which is operated by said cell load instruction signal.

29. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 27, wherein said demonstration signal is a quick-feed signal which quickly feeds said hands by one turn.

30. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 2, wherein said hand display-type electronic timepiece has a receiving circuit that receives time data, and the time data received by said receiving circuit are written into said timing counter.

31. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand drive data control means activates said booster circuit after operating said hand drive stop means, in order to erase the data in said non-volatile memory before writing the volatile hand position data into the non-volatile memory.

32. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 13, wherein said hand drive data control means erases the data in said nonvolatile memory at a predetermined time.

33. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 13, wherein said hand drive data control means erases the data in said nonvolatile memory at predetermined time intervals.

34. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 33, wherein the cell attach/detach detecting means includes an attach/detach notice detecting means which notifies the removal of the cell from the hand display-type electronic timepiece, and an attach/detach notice detecting signal from said attach/detach notice detecting means is the data storage instruction signal.

35. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand drive data control means activates said booster circuit at a predetermined time in order to erase the data in said non-volatile memory.

36. A hand display-type electronic timepiece according to claim 1, wherein said hand drive data control means activates said booster circuit at predetermined time intervals in order to erase the data in said non-volatile memory.