EP0008234A1 - Dispositif calendrier électronique - Google Patents

Dispositif calendrier électronique Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP0008234A1
EP0008234A1 EP79301616A EP79301616A EP0008234A1 EP 0008234 A1 EP0008234 A1 EP 0008234A1 EP 79301616 A EP79301616 A EP 79301616A EP 79301616 A EP79301616 A EP 79301616A EP 0008234 A1 EP0008234 A1 EP 0008234A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
month
display
calendar
counter
day
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP79301616A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Colin John Wilson
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Mackay Simon Brooke Baron Tanlaw
Original Assignee
Mackay Simon Brooke Baron Tanlaw
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Mackay Simon Brooke Baron Tanlaw filed Critical Mackay Simon Brooke Baron Tanlaw
Publication of EP0008234A1 publication Critical patent/EP0008234A1/fr
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09D—RAILWAY OR LIKE TIME OR FARE TABLES; PERPETUAL CALENDARS
    • G09D3/00—Perpetual calendars
    • G09D3/12—Perpetual calendars electrically operated
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04G—ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES
    • G04G9/00—Visual time or date indication means
    • G04G9/02—Visual time or date indication means by selecting desired characters out of a number of characters or by selecting indicating elements the position of which represent the time, e.g. by using multiplexing techniques
    • G04G9/025—Visual time or date indication means by selecting desired characters out of a number of characters or by selecting indicating elements the position of which represent the time, e.g. by using multiplexing techniques provided with date indication

Definitions

  • This invention relates to calendars.
  • calendar clocks and watches which provide an indication of both the time and the date is well established, but with these devices it is still necessary to consult a conventional printed calendar in order to determine on which day of the week a particular date will fall.
  • these printed calendars usually comprise twelve sheets, one for each month of the year, with each sheet having the dates of the month arranged in a rectangular array with seven columns or rows corresponding respectively with days of the week.
  • the present invention consists in an electronic calendar device comprising a fixed array of numerals arranged for the display of selected portions thereof; means adapted to count clock pulses and to generate thereby calendar information and a display driver arranged to select on the basis of the calendar information an appropriate portion of the array for display as a calendar for the month.
  • the numerals of the array are arranged in thirteen columns or thirteen rows, the portion selected for display by the display driver in a particular month comprising an appropriate seven consective columns or rows.
  • the thirteen columns or rows of the array are carried on respective and separately energisable display devices.
  • a clock 2 of generally conventional form comprises a quartz crystal oscillator 4 providing a 32 Hz signal at output 4a and a 0.5 Hz signal at output 4b.
  • the 32 Hz signal is suitably amplified and shaped to provide a square wave signal X, the purpose of which will be described hereinafter.
  • the 0.5 Hz signal at output 4b is fed, again after suitable amplification and shaping, to series connected counters 6 and 8 which together perform a division by 30 x 60 x 24 to reduce the 0.5 Hz signal to one pulse per day.
  • the one pulse per day signal from the clock 2 is supplied to a day counter 10 which performs a division by 7, and to a date counter 12 which can be programmed by month length selector 14 to divide by 28, 29, 30 or 31.
  • the date counter 12 is arranged to drive a date display (not shown) through decoders 16 and, in addition, provides a one pulse per month signal to month counter 18 and to start of month store 20.
  • the one pulse per month signal is used to update the start of month store 20 with the prevailing state of day counter 10 so that store 20 always holds the day of the week corresponding to the first day of the month.
  • Month counter 18 performs a division by 12 to generate a one pulse per year signal which is counted by year counter 22.
  • This counter 22 drives a year display (not shown) through decoders 24.
  • the month counter 18 also drives a 1 of 12 decoder 26 which in turn drives a month display 28, and provides month length selector 14 with the correct month of the year.
  • the month length selector 14 also requires information as to whether the year is a leap year and this information is provided by a leap year detector 30 driven from the year counter 22.
  • the leap year detector 30 functions by separating the year number into a century number and a year number in the century. A leap year will be detected if the year number in the century is divisible by four and - in the case where the year number in the centure is zero - if the century number is divisible by four. This check for divisibility by four can be performed quite simply.
  • the display portion of the circuit includes thirteen columns each carrying four numerals and each comprising a single liquid crystal display (LCD). With the exception of the numerals 29, 30 and 31 which because of variations in month length have to be treated separately, the thirteen four numeral columns represent all possible columns appearing in the conventional calendar arrangement. Separate LCD's carrying the numerals 29, 30 and 31 are positioned at the foot of the 1 8 15 22, 2 9 16 23 and 3 lO 17 24 columns respectively. This follows the ordering of the remainder of the array. The additional 30 and 31 LCD's that are required to complete the array are, however, positioned at the top rather than at the foot of the appropriate columns 2 9 16 23 and 3 10 17 24 to avoid extending the array into six rows. This is a common practice in printed calendars.
  • LCD liquid crystal display
  • Each LCD that is to say each of the thirteen four numeral LCD's and the five single numeral LCD's, comprises a layer of liquid crystal sandwiched between front and back plate electrodes.
  • the application of a potential difference between these electrodes causes a change in optical state of the liquid crystal and results in the display of the numeral or numerals carried by the device.
  • the LCD's of the display share a common wafer of liquid crystal and a common back plate; the separate LCD's being delimited by the dimensions of the front plate in each case.
  • the common back plate of the LCD's is supplied with the square wave voltage signal X provided by the clock circuit 2.
  • Each front plate is driven, as will be described in more detail hereinafter, through an exclusive-OR gate one input of which also receives the square wave X. It will be appreciated that if the remaining input to the exclusive-OR gate is held at logic 1, the output of the leap year detector 30 functions by separating the year number into a century number and a year number in the century. A leap year will be detected if the year number in the century is divisible by four and - in the case where the year number in the centure is zero - if the century number is divisible by four. This check for divisibility by four can be performed quite simply.
  • the display portion of the circuit includes thirteen columns each carrying four numerals and each comprising a single liquid crystal display (LCD). With the exception of the numerals 29, 30 and 31 which because of variations in month length have to be treated separately, the thirteen four numeral columns represent all possible columns appearing in the conventional calendar arrangement. Separate LCD's carrying the numerals 29, 30 and 31 are positioned at the foot of the 1 8 15 22, 2 9 16 23 and 3 10 17 24 columns respectively. This follows the ordering of the remainder of the array. The additional 30 and 31 LCD's that are required to complete the array are, however, positioned at the top rather than at the foot of the appropriate columns 2 9 16 23 and 3 10 17 24 to avoid extending the array into six rows. This is a common practice in printed calendars.
  • LCD liquid crystal display
  • Each LCD that is to say each of the thirteen four numeral LCD's and the five single numeral LCD's, comprises a layer of liquid crystal sandwiched between front and back plate electrodes.
  • the application ' of a potential difference between these electrodes causes a change in optical state of the liquid crystal and results in the display of the numeral or numerals carried by the device.
  • the LCD's of the display share a common wafer of liquid crystal and a common back plate; the separate LCD's being delimited by the dimensions of the front plate in each case.
  • the common back plate of the LCD's is supplied with the square wave voltage signal X provided by the clock circuit 2.
  • Each front plate is driven, as will be described in more detail hereinafter, through an exclusive-OR gate one input of which also receives the square wave X. It will be appreciated that if the remaining input to the exclusive-OR gate is held at logic 1, the output of the exclusive-OR gate, and thus the voltage at the front plate of the LCD, will beX. Since the voltages at the front and back plates are then equal but out of phase, the liquid crystal will "see" a resulting potential difference and the corresponding numeral or numerals will be displayed.
  • the binary signal at output 20a representing the day of the week corresponding with the start of the month, is supplied to a BCD to decimal decoder 50.
  • the truth table for this decoder is as follows:-
  • the six outputs of decoder 50 are taken to respective exclusive OR gates 52a to 52f.
  • the first gate 52a receives as its second input the square wave X, the remaining gates each having the output of the preceding gate as their second input.
  • the outputs of gates 52a to 52f are connected respectively to the front plates of the LCD's forming the first six columns of the display.
  • the columns will be referred to as column 1, column 2 etc according to their positions from left to right as shown in Figure 1. It will then be understood that the output of gate 52a is connected to column 1, the output of gate 52b to column 2 and so on up to gate 52f, the output of which is connected to column 6.
  • the first six columns are respectively connected through NOT gates 54 with the last six columns, column 1 being connected with column 8 and so on.
  • a further series of exclusive OR gates 56p to 56u each receive as one input the square wave X.
  • the second inputs of the first five gates 56p to 56t are respectively connected with outputs B to F of decoder 50.
  • Gate 56u is continuously supplied with logic level 1 at its second input.
  • the outputs of the first five gates 56p to 56t are used to control five of the seven LCD's 58 which provide the days of the week display.
  • These week day display LCD's each bear the identical legend S M T W T F S but are staggered so as to align with- respective sets of seven consecutive columns.
  • the uppermost week day display is connected in parallel with column 1, the next following five displays are connected respectively with outputs of gates 56p to 56t, whilst the lowermost week day display is connected in parallel with column 13.
  • the output of gate 56u is connected with column 7 which, it will be noted, is not connected with any of the gates 52a to 52f or with any NOT gates 54.
  • the gates 52a to 52f serve the function of exclusive OR gates driving LCD's as described above.
  • the interconnection of the gates, rather than the separate connection of each gate with its associated LCD enables the selection of seven consecutive columns without the need for any further logic circuitry save the NOT gates 54.
  • the output states of the exclusive OR gates 52a to 52f can best be illustrated in a truth table.
  • the 29, 30 and 31 LCD's must be selected for display as appropriate.
  • the information required for performing this selection is the length of the month, which is available at output 14a of the month length selector 14 and also the state (displayed or not displayed) of columns 1 and 2. This latter piece of information is necessary to enable the appropriate one of the two 30 displays and the two 31 - displays to be chosen and is conveniently available at outputs A and B of decoder 50.
  • the five single numeral displays are distinguished by the number of the column with which they are aligned.
  • each of the single numeral LCD's is driven through an exclusive OR gate in a manner anologous with gates 56p to 56t.
  • resetting controls can be provided for setting up the correct time and date. Since resetting will be a comparatively rare procedure, these controls can be located internally of the device, though it would be convenient to have an external control providing a summertime adjustment.
  • the internal resetting controls would be similar to those employed in an electronic watch though an additional, normally redundant, display will be required of the state of the day counter since the state of this counter is not ascertainable from the normal display.
  • an electronic calendar device will normally be combined with an electronic clock.
  • the full display of the combined clock and calendar devices might then comprise the time in hours, minutes, seconds; the date; the month; a summertime indicator; the year and the appropriate month's calendar.
  • an additional display could be arranged to flash or light up when a particular date, which has been previously set up in memories provided for this purpose, is reached. Such an additional display could serve as a useful reminder of one or more dates of particular importance.
  • FIG. 2 A modification to the calendar device of Figure 1 is shown in Figure 2.
  • the purpose of this modification is to enable the device to display selected calendars for months both future and past.
  • Figure 2 shows only that part of the device which is responsible for counting clock pulses and providing calendar information for the display decoder. The remainder of the device is identical with that illustrated in Figure 1.
  • Those elements of Figure 2 which correspond with elements of Figure 1 are referenced with the same numerals used in Figure 1 and will not be described in any detail.
  • a switch 60 is arranged, when actuated by push button for example, to replace the one pulse per day clock signal with a 0.5 MH.z signal.
  • the forward movement is halted for, say, a half second pause at preselected intervals of a month, a year or a decade.
  • an advance movement control unit 62 counts "monthly" pulses from the date counter and inhibits the forward movement for half a second when the preset count is reached.
  • the control unit includes dividers by 12 and by 10 so that periods of 12 months and 120 months replace years and decades respectively.
  • control unit 62 In order to select a calendar for a particular month in the future, the user merely presets in control unit 62, by push button for example, intervals of months, years or decades and holds down switch 60 until the desired month is displayed. Memories are provided (but not shown in Figure 2) to store the present date to which the display will return when reset.
EP79301616A 1978-08-11 1979-08-09 Dispositif calendrier électronique Ceased EP0008234A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB3312478 1978-08-11
GB7833124 1978-08-11

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0008234A1 true EP0008234A1 (fr) 1980-02-20

Family

ID=10499007

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP79301616A Ceased EP0008234A1 (fr) 1978-08-11 1979-08-09 Dispositif calendrier électronique

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0008234A1 (fr)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0063771A1 (fr) * 1981-04-22 1982-11-03 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Système pour compensation pendant des années bissextiles
EP0306576A1 (fr) * 1987-09-11 1989-03-15 Tetsuya Seki Calendrier à effeuiller électronique
GB2254940A (en) * 1991-04-20 1992-10-21 Epsom Display Ltd Display device
US8173248B2 (en) * 2005-04-27 2012-05-08 Sheffield Hallam University PVD coated substrate
CN110703582A (zh) * 2019-09-25 2020-01-17 天津大学 用于时间数字转换器的温度计码转二进制码电路

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2156015A1 (fr) * 1971-10-05 1973-05-25 Seiko Instr & Electronics
US3792541A (en) * 1972-10-16 1974-02-19 R Engle Electronic perpetual calendar
USRE29250E (en) * 1971-06-06 1977-06-07 Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha Digital electronic watch having calendar display arrangement
JPS5357067A (en) * 1976-11-02 1978-05-24 Citizen Watch Co Ltd Electronic watch

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
USRE29250E (en) * 1971-06-06 1977-06-07 Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha Digital electronic watch having calendar display arrangement
FR2156015A1 (fr) * 1971-10-05 1973-05-25 Seiko Instr & Electronics
US3792541A (en) * 1972-10-16 1974-02-19 R Engle Electronic perpetual calendar
JPS5357067A (en) * 1976-11-02 1978-05-24 Citizen Watch Co Ltd Electronic watch

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, Vol. 2, No. 92, July 28, 1978, page 4325E78 & JP-A-53 057 067 (24.05.1978) *

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0063771A1 (fr) * 1981-04-22 1982-11-03 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Système pour compensation pendant des années bissextiles
US4447160A (en) * 1981-04-22 1984-05-08 Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Leap year compensation circuit
EP0306576A1 (fr) * 1987-09-11 1989-03-15 Tetsuya Seki Calendrier à effeuiller électronique
GB2254940A (en) * 1991-04-20 1992-10-21 Epsom Display Ltd Display device
US8173248B2 (en) * 2005-04-27 2012-05-08 Sheffield Hallam University PVD coated substrate
CN110703582A (zh) * 2019-09-25 2020-01-17 天津大学 用于时间数字转换器的温度计码转二进制码电路

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US3928959A (en) Electronic timepiece
US4355380A (en) Electronic timepiece with auxiliary digital display
US3333410A (en) Electronic clock-calendar
US3797222A (en) Digital electronic timepiece having a perpetual calendar display device
US4398834A (en) Electronic watch with demonstration display mode
CA1044025A (fr) Montre a semiconducteurs
US3762152A (en) Reset system for digital electronic timepiece
EP0008234A1 (fr) Dispositif calendrier électronique
DE2649185A1 (de) Elektronische uhr
US3988886A (en) Time setting device for an electronic watch
US4428681A (en) Date display device
US4184319A (en) Digital display type electronic time piece
US3939641A (en) Electronic circuit for individually correcting each digit of time displayed
US3942318A (en) Time correction device for digital indication electronic watch
GB1377534A (en) Liquid crystal display electronic timepieces
JPS6037437B2 (ja) カレンダ表示装置
GB1480548A (en) Electronic timepieces
US4117657A (en) Electronic timepiece calendar circuit
US4182108A (en) Electronic timepiece correction circuit
JPS5831552B2 (ja) 電子時計の表示方法
GB2062302A (en) Electronic timepieces
US3800524A (en) Digital electronic timepiece
US4176516A (en) Arrangement for putting an electronic timepiece right with minute indication advanced at first
US4114362A (en) Electronic timepiece
DE3816605A1 (de) Zeituhr mit mehrstelliger tages-zaehleinrichtung

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

AK Designated contracting states

Designated state(s): AT BE CH DE FR GB IT LU NL SE

17P Request for examination filed
STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN REFUSED

18R Application refused

Effective date: 19831015

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: WILSON, COLIN JOHN