Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04G—ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES
  • G04G17/00—Structural details; Housings
  • G04G17/08—Housings
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04C—ELECTROMECHANICAL CLOCKS OR WATCHES
  • G04C3/00—Electromechanical clocks or watches independent of other time-pieces and in which the movement is maintained by electric means
  • G04C3/001—Electromechanical switches for setting or display
  • G04C3/004—Magnetically controlled
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04G—ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES
  • G04G17/00—Structural details; Housings
  • G04G17/02—Component assemblies
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G04—HOROLOGY
  • G04G—ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES
  • G04G21/00—Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces

Definitions

• the invention relates to a watch case, comprising a housing in which is rotated at least in rotation at least one control wheel of a display or a function of the watch, said wheel being arranged to be directly manipulated by the user of the watch at a peripheral contact surface, said housing being arranged to allow a limited translational movement, between an inner limit switch and an external limit switch, of at least a portion of said wheel according to a radial direction of said box, against elastic return means which are arranged to move said part away from the inside of said box, and said box comprising at least a first control detection means arranged to detect the presence of said part of said wheel closer to the center of said box during a support imposed by a user, or at the end of internal stroke, said first detection means being arranged to activate or deactivate sensor means that includes said box near said housing, which sensor means are arranged to detect, during a rotational movement printed by the user to said wheel, the passage of emitting means that comprises said wheel.
• the invention also relates to a watch comprising such a box.
• the invention relates to the field of watch function control mechanisms for watches.
• the user interface includes a display screen and a telescope surrounding the display screen.
• the telescope is designed to move relative to the display screen in one or more axes.
• the bezel can pivot around the display screen, pivot about a pivot point, or be moved in a flat direction.
• a cursor displayed in the display screen reacts to the movement of the telescope.
• the Swatch roup Research & Development Ltd describes a timepiece comprising a middle part closed by a bottom and an ice in which an electronic system is arranged, the middle part comprising a peripheral shoulder comprising a base and a wall parallel to the central axis of the middle part, the timepiece comprising a telescope locked in rotation around the central axis on the peripheral shoulder, this ring has at least one degree of freedom allowing the electronic system to control the timepiece .
• EP 0 974 879 A1 SEIKO discloses an information processing device to which data can be input by the use of a rotating bezel.
• a pulse number detection unit and a rotation direction detecting detection unit read an optical pattern which is formed by the rotating bezel to generate a series of pulse signals.
• the pulse number detection unit and the rotation direction detecting unit are arranged so that a phase difference occurs between their signals, so that it is possible to determine the direction of rotation of the pulse. the rotating bezel.
• a data signal generating element generates a data signal based on the detected rotation angle and the number of pulses generated by the pulse number detecting unit.
• the document FR 2 763 710 A1 JDC Electronic describes a device mounted in a timepiece and comprising means generating a variable inductive magnetic current consisting of a movable member comprising a portion made of conductive magnetic current conducting material and a non-magnetic portion. conductive.
• the device comprises means for detecting the variable inductive magnetic current, means for processing the signals from said detection means and means for controlling the watch functions. This device allows the control of a timepiece without requiring the passage of an element through the housing, so that the timepiece can be sealed.
• the document CH 514 877 A SPILLMANN describes a waterproof rotating bezel watch, in which the ice and the rotating bezel are fixed by one and the same annular piece, which bezel shape and has a cylindrical mantle engaged by force in a groove of the middle part , an inner bearing of this piece holding the ice by its heel and an outer bearing holding the rotating bezel.
• the aim of the invention is to provide a new user interface that is more suited to a watch, in particular to a smart watch with electronic and / or communication functions, than these conventional solutions, which can also operate in a humid environment, or even in a computer. water, or with wet hands, while having good protection against shocks.
• the invention relates to claim 1.
• the invention also relates to a watch comprising such a box, arranged to enclose a watch movement, whose display or watch functions are arranged to be controlled by sensor means that includes this box.
• FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a watch case according to FIG. invention, comprising a housing for receiving a wheel, interrupted by an opening in which is movable a pusher;
• FIG. 2 shows schematically and in plan, the box of Figure 1, equipped with a detection means near the pusher, and sensor means near the housing;
• FIG. 3 schematically represents, in plan, the box of FIG. 2, equipped with the wheel in its housing, with a clockwork movement, and with control means connected to the detection means and with the means sensors, in a position of rest of the wheel;
• FIG. 4 shows, schematically, and in plan, the box of Figure 3, in an activated position of the wheel by a support of a user;
• FIG. 5 shows, schematically, and in perspective, the box of Figure 3, in a variant where a cover of revolution encloses the wheel
• - Figure 6 shows, schematically, and in perspective, a raised ring intended to be inserted into the housing of the box under the wheel, for a notching effect
• FIG. 7 shows, schematically, and in perspective, the box of Figure 1, wherein is inserted the toothed ring of Figure 6;
• FIG. 8 shows, schematically, and in perspective, the box of Figure 7, wherein the wheel is inserted above the toothed ring of Figure 6;
• FIG. 9 schematically represents, in perspective, a wheel comprising emitter means constituted by magnets, and having, in the lower part, reliefs constituted by vee-shaped lugs arranged to cooperate with the broken line profile of FIG. the toothed ring of Figure 6;
• FIG. 10 shows, schematically, and in perspective, the cooperation of the wheel of Figure 9 and the toothed ring of Figure 6;
• Figure 1 1 shows, schematically, and in plan, the housing detail of the box of Figure 1;
• FIGS. 15 to 20 show, schematically, the principles of some variants of the invention:
• FIG. 15 a box with openings for the wheel at 3h, 6h, 9h, 12h;
• FIG. 17 a box with two openings at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, with a pusher facing each of these openings;
• FIG. 19 a box having sensor means housed in a horn, cooperating with the peripheral surface of the wheel;
• a pusher combined with sensor means comprising a pinion cooperating with a toothing that includes the wheel;
• FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a watch comprising a movement and a box according to the invention.
• FIG. 22 represents a box comprising a mini-wheel impinging very little on the geometrical grip of the movement.
• the invention relates to a watch case 1, comprising a housing 2 in which is movable, at least in rotation, at least one control wheel 3 of a display or a function of the watch.
• This wheel 3 is arranged to be handled directly by the user of the watch at a peripheral contact surface 4.
• the denomination "box" is to be taken in the broad sense: this box 1 can naturally be a middle or the like .
• Figures 1 and 2 show such a box 1, wherein the housing 2 is a groove-shaped groove, with, on either side of a bottom 20, an inner partition 21 and an outer wall 22.
• This partition 22 is interrupted between two edges 23 and 24, arranged to define an opening by which a user can operate a knob 3 inserted into the housing 2, as shown in Figure 5.
• the geometry of the housing 2 allows the insertion, with play, of such a knob 3, and allows in particular that the wheel 3 can rotate and translate a small distance, for example and not limited to the direction 3h-9h on the box 1 illustrated by the figures, and with an opening so that the user of the watch can perform two movements: push the wheel 3 radially, and rotate it.
• this housing 2 is arranged to allow a limited movement of translation, between an inner end-stop and an outer end-of-travel, of at least one part 30 of the wheel 3 in a radial direction of the box 1 , opposite elastic return means 5 which are arranged to move the part 30 away from the inside of the box 1. It is understood that the part 30 is not always the same: it is only the part of the wheel 3, which faces at a given instant at the opening, defined in the figures by the two edges 23 and 24 .
• the figures illustrate a particular variant, where the housing 2 of the wheel 3 is in the immediate vicinity of the periphery of the box 1.
• the wheel 3 surrounds a movement 100, without direct contact with it.
• the elastic return means 5 provide the repulsion function of the wheel 3 towards the outside of the box 1 at rest, at the opening.
• the box 1 also comprises at least a first control detection means 7, which is arranged to detect the presence of the part 30 of the wheel 3 closer to the center of the box 1 during a user-imposed support, including the end of internal race.
• the box 1 may be provided with a pusher 54 constituting these elastic return means 5, which constrains the wheel 3 in an extreme position in the direction where it can translate, in the 3h position in the particular case of the figures. More particularly, this pusher 54 comprises a head 53 in the form of a pad to facilitate the rotation of the wheel 3. On the inside of the box 1, this pusher 54, which passes through the inner partition 21, has a tail arranged to cooperate with a first control detection means 7. Because of its small dimensions, such a pusher 54 poses little problem of sealing.
• Figure 3 shows the system at rest, the pusher 54 keeps the wheel 3 to the position at 3 o'clock.
• FIG. 4 shows the system during a pressing on the wheel 3 by a user: his local area 30 translates from a position at 3 o'clock to the 9 o'clock position, the pusher 54 is pushed towards the inside of the box 1. For example, this pressure is detected by an electronic module in the movement 100 of the watch 200.
• This first detection means 7 is arranged to activate or deactivate sensor means 8 that includes the box 1 near the housing 2, which sensor means 8 are arranged to detect, during a rotational movement printed by the user at the wheel 3, the passage of emitter means 9 that comprises the wheel 3.
• the emitter means 9 are discontinuous, and arranged in different angular increments around the wheel 3.
• the sensor means 8 are kept remote from the emitter means 9, it is then a contactless interaction.
• At least one of the sensor means 8 is arranged to detect the direction of passage or / and the reversal of the direction of passage of an emitter means 9.
• At least one of the sensor means 8 is arranged to detect the angular difference between two successive emitter means 9.
• At least two of the sensor means 8 are arranged to detect the passage of the same transmitter means 9.
• At least one of the sensor means 8 is arranged to measure the rotation angle of the wheel 3, traveled since a control detection performed by the first detection means 7.
• At least one of the sensor means 8 is arranged to change position during the passage of a transmitter means 9 to its vicinity. More particularly, such a sensor means 8 constitutes a mechanical rocker, arranged to control a mechanical or electronic function of a clockwork movement 100 contained in the box 1.
• the mechanism according to the invention can thus, in a particular variant, be completely mechanical.
• the combination of the mobile trip and stop components can also be sequential. For example, any movement of rotation of the wheel can trigger successively, on a chronograph mechanism, the start, stop, and reset.
• the box 1 comprises control means 10, which are arranged to manage the signals transmitted and received at the first detection means 7 and the sensor means 8, to activate or deactivate these sensor means 8, and for when the sensor means 8 are activated, analyzing the number of emitter means 9 identified by the sensor means 8, and / or the angular deviation of the emitter means 9 two by two, and / or the direction of passage of the emitter means 9, to turn the result of the analysis into an order display or activation of a function of the watch, addressed to a watch movement 100 contained in the box 1. More particularly, the detection means 7, and / or the sensor means 8, and / or the control means 10 are of the electronic type.
• the wheel 3 is flexible and constitutes itself the elastic return means 5.
• the housing 2 may consist of a groove of revolution, perfectly annular, and the pusher 54, arranged for the detection of the bearing pressure, advantageously plays the additional role of a tensioner of this flexible wheel 3, and locally gives the circular shape to this flexible wheel 3.
• the wheel 3 is rigid, and the elastic return means 5 comprise a pusher 54, which is arranged to bear on the wheel 3 by its head 53.
• the wheel 3 is annular, and the housing 2 is an oval having two half-rings connected by two straight sections, as visible in Figure 1 1.
• each half-ring is not strictly of revolution, but the outermost circle, leading to the opening, comprises an eccentricity, a little greater than the value of the offset between the two inner circles, of so that the wheel 3 protrudes from one side of the middle but not from the other.
• housing for example substantially elliptical, or substantially annular, of variable width, and whose projection on any parallel to the radial direction of the box 1 is at least equal to the difference between the end of inner race and the outer race.
• the housing 2 is shaped such that the game is as small as possible between the wheel 3 and the inner 21 and outer 22 walls, without causing excessive friction.
• the first detection means 7 is a switch actuated by the elastic return means 5 or a pusher 54 that comprise the elastic return means 5.
• the wheel 3 is provided with magnets which constitute the emitter means 9, in particular but not exclusively, arranged in a regular manner all around its periphery, which allows the detection of the rotation. of the wheel 3, via one or more sensors inside the middle part which constitute the sensor means 8.
• the sensor means 8 are magnetic sensors, which are arranged to detect, once activated, the passage of magnets 91 that comprise the emitter means 9. More particularly, these magnets 91 are arranged in a step constant angle around the wheel 3.
• these magnets 91 are arranged in different angular increments around the wheel 3.
• the wheel 3 comprises, on a face arranged to cooperate with the bottom 20 of the housing 2, a relief 31 which is arranged to cooperate with a complementary relief 21 that comprises the bottom 20, for braking by notching during the rotation of the wheel 3.
• the wheel 3 comprises, on a face arranged to cooperate with the bottom 20 of the housing 2, a relief 31 which is arranged to cooperate with a ring 39 in relief interposed between the wheel 3 and the bottom 20, for a braking by detent during the rotation of the wheel 3.
• this ring 39 in relief is an elastic ring.
• this ring 39 in relief comprises at least one tab 38 of radial stop, arranged to cooperate in a complementary manner with a recess 28 of the housing 2.
• the box 1 comprises a cover 19 or a telescope or a bottom, or an additional spacer, this component being arranged to enclose the wheel 3 in the box 1, as visible in FIG.
• Figure 17 illustrates a box 1 with two openings at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, with a pusher 54 facing each of these openings.
• the wheel 3 is accessible at 3 and 9 o'clock, and the presence of a pusher 54 on each side allows navigation in the menus: rotation detection detection at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, then "validation ok” at 3 o'clock and “return” at 9am (or vice versa).
• FIGS. 15 and 16 Another box variant, illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16, comprises four non-detailed pushbuttons (some of which are without detection of rotation) and a suitable geometry of the wheel to dispense with a piece for vertical locking (not glasses or bottom ring).
• FIG. 18 illustrates an example with two wheels 3X and 3Y, the box 1 having for example but not limited to two diametrically opposed openings , one for each wheel.
• the same housing 2 may contain several wheels 3, or each wheel 3 may have a separate housing 2.
• FIG. 19 illustrates a box variant comprising sensor means 8 housed in a horn 18, cooperating with the peripheral surface 4 of the wheel 3, either by mechanical frictional contact or by direct drive if, for example, this peripheral surface 4 is fluted or the like, either by magnetic interaction, or the like.
• FIG. 20 illustrates a variant in which the pusher comprises, in place of a shoe, a pinion gear 57 cooperating with a toothing 37 which then comprises the wheel 3, or which is attached to the wheel, the push rod then allows the detection of translation and rotation.
• the invention also relates to a watch 200 comprising such a box 1, arranged to enclose a watch movement 100, whose display or watch functions are arranged to be controlled by sensor means 8 of the box 1.
• the mechanism according to the invention has different advantages.
• the zones to be sealed concerning known and controlled systems, such as the links ice / box and push / box.
• the sensor that detects the pressure is mounted on the movement and is activated by the pusher which is easy to seal.
• the Sensors that detect rotation are on the move. As magnetic sensing is non-contact, there is no sealing problem.
• the repulsion function of the wheel can be provided by a pusher that does not open on the inside of the box or the middle part.
• an appropriate dimensioning of the notch, the force and the position of the magnets, and the position of the magnetic sensors allows the detection of the translation and the rotation of the wheel.
• Other other non-contact solutions in particular galvanic or optical, are feasible, but of less economic realization.
• the use of a deformable partition, for a watch plastic box in particular, allows a detection of the translation without contact.
• Another advantage of the invention is, in the preferred but nonlimiting variant of magnetic detection, the possibility of using the watch under water or in a humid environment.
• the area available for the finger of the user to actuate the wheel is extended, which allows a good resolution of the detection: in the case of an electronic watch or a connected or smart watch, the user does not is not obliged to make many laps to scroll through the menus (compared to an electronic crown for example). This advantage comes from the fact that the wheel is all around the movement.
• the notching system allows a good feeling to the user to determine how many steps he is moving forward.
• the invention is usable for crowns, glasses, and with wheels of different sizes: glasses surrounding all or part of the movement, or mini-wheels encroaching as little as possible on the geometric grip of the movement.

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• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Electric Clocks (AREA)
• Electromechanical Clocks (AREA)

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• 2016
  • 2016-12-16 EP EP16204651.0A patent/EP3336618A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2017
  • 2017-11-22 US US16/097,490 patent/US11353829B2/en active Active
  • 2017-11-22 WO PCT/EP2017/080086 patent/WO2018108472A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2017-11-22 JP JP2018562204A patent/JP6694526B2/ja active Active
  • 2017-11-22 CN CN201780036638.2A patent/CN109313413B/zh active Active
  • 2017-11-22 EP EP17803928.5A patent/EP3440516B1/de active Active
  • 2017-11-22 KR KR1020187034550A patent/KR102151864B1/ko active IP Right Grant

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