GB2137002A - Electronic Scale - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic scale has numeric input keys (11), a scale key (13), shift keys (15, 16) and a pitch key (17). Calculating circuitry controls a scale display (6) in response to key inputs to display marks or line segments with selected positions/lengths/pitch (so e.g. a segment need not start at the origin). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Electronic Scale The present invention relates to an electronic scale for displaying a key input numeric value or a calculated value on a scale. An electronic scale, known in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No.

54-33,749, displays in an analog form a line segment having a calculated value obtained by entering the numeric value which corresponds to a length to be measured. However, in this electronic scale, the starting point of the line segment to be displayed is zero. If a user wishes to display a plurality of line segments on the scale at intervals, the electronic scale cannot be used since an embodiment for providing a starting point for each line segment is not disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Disclosure No. 5433,749. This conventional electronic scale is inconvenient in practice.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above situation. Its object is to provide an electronic scale capable of displaying a plurality of lengths (to be measured) in an analog form on a single scale such that starting points of line segments, representing the plurality of lengths, are provided at different points on the single scale.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic scale comprising: input means including numeric keys, a scale key and shift keys; calculating means, connected to said input means, for calculating a starting point of a length to be measured on a scale section; and displaying means, connected to said calculating means, for displaying on the scale section the starting point of the length to be measured, calculated by said calculating means, in accordance with numeric data entered at said input means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic scale comprising: input means including numeric keys, a scale key and a pitch key; calculating means, connected to said input means, for calculating positions which represent a plurality of intervals of predetermined pitches on a scale section; and displaying means, connected to said calculating means, for displaying on the scale section said positions which represent said plurality of intervals of the predetermined pitches, calculated by said calculating means, in accordance with numeric data entered at said input means.

Since the electronic scales have the above arrangements, a plurality of lengths to be measured can be displayed with simple key operations in an analog form as line segments having starting points at different points on the single scale. Furthermore, a plurality of points is displayed at equal intervals, which can be conveniently used for displaying a scale having a constant scale spacing. In addition, line segments having the same length can be displayed in an analog manner at equal intervals, resulting in convenience in practice.

This invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of an electronic scale according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic circuit of the electronic scale shown in Figure 1; Figures 3(A) to 3(D) are representations showing the key operations, corresponding storage contents of the registers, and corresponding display states on the scale; Figure 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the electronic circuit shown in Figure 2; Figure 5 is a block diagram of an electronic circuit of an electronic scale according to another embodiment of the present invention;; Figures 6(A) and 6(B) are representations showing the key operations, corresponding storage contents of the registers, and corresponding display states on the scale shown in Figure 5; and Figure 7 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the electronic circuit shown in Figure 5.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figure 1, a scale section 2, a digital display section 3, a keyboard 4 and a power switch 5 are arranged on a case 1. The scale section 2 is disposed along one side of the case 1. The scale section 2 comprises a mark portion 6 and a scale display portion 7. The mark portion 6 is constituted by printed marks from 0 mm to 150 mm in units of millimeters. The scale display portion 7 comprises a liquid crystal display element. A linear segment electrode is arranged at the origin, and 1 50 segment electrodes each having a length of 1 mm are linearly aligned parallel to the mark portion 6. Numerals "O", "50", "100" and "150" are marked in the scale section 2 at intervals of 50 mm.

The digital display section 3 can display a numeral having 8 digits. An exponent display portion 3a can display a 2-digit exponent.

The keyboard 4 has numeric keys 11 and various function keys 12. The function keys 12 include various calculation keys and other keys such as a scale key 13 (illustrated as S in Figure 1), a conversion key 14 (illustrated as INV in Figure 1 ) for selecting one of the modes of each double function key, a right shift key 1 5 for shifting the origin of the scale to the right, a left shift key 1 6 for shifting the origin of the scale to the left, and a pitch key 1 7 (illustrated as P in Figure 1) for setting a desired pitch.

The arrangement of the electronic circuit in the case 1 will be described with reference to Figure 2. Referring to Figure 2, reference numerals 20 denotes a key input section constituting the keyboard 4. Input data from the key input section 20 is supplied to a key discriminator 21. The key discriminator 21 discriminates between whether one of the numeric keys 11 , the scale key 1 3, and the right shift key 1 5 is used to enter the input signal. The result is supplied to a control section 22 through output lines 21 a to 21 c.

When the depressed key is one of the numeric keys at the key input section 20, the key discriminator 21 transfers corresponding numeric data to an X register 23. The data held in the X register 23 is supplied to a T register 24 through a gate G1 and to an input terminal B of an operation circuit 25 through a gate G2. At the same time, the data held in the X register 23 is supplied to a display processing section 26 and to a V register 27 through a gate G3. The data held in the T register 24 is supplied to an input terminal A of the operation circuit 25 through a gate G4 and to a U register 28 through a gate G5. Furthermore, the data held in the T register 24 is supplied to a flash processing section 29. An output from the operation circuit 25 is fed back to the T register 24 through the gate G1 and is supplied to the V register 27 through the gate G3.The data held in the V and U registers 27 and 28 and an output from the flash processing section 29 are supplied to the display processing section 26.

The display processing section 26 has a O to 150 bit scale display register 30. The numeric data from the X register 23 is supplied to a display section 31 through an output line 26a. The scale data held in the scale display register 30 is supplied to the display section 31 through an output line 26b. The display section 31 comprises the digital display section 3 and the scale display portion 7. The control section 22 supplies control signals to the display section 31, the display processing section 26 and the operation circuit 25. In addition, the control section 22 supplies both a numeric code of "1" to the gate G2 and gate control signals a to h to the gates G1 to G5.

Furthermore, the control circuit 22 supplies set and reset signals to a flip-flop 32. The flip-flop 32 is set when an operator presses the right shift key 1 5. A Q output from the flip-flop 32 is supplied to the control section 22 and is supplied as an ON signal to the flash processing section 29.

In the above embodiment, an operation will be described wherein a plurality of line segments are simultaneously displayed on the scale display portion 7. Figures 3(A) to 3(D) show the key operations, corresponding contents of the registers, and corresponding display states of the scale display portion 7. Assume that a first line segment having a length of 10 mm is displayed from the "0" position as the origin of the scale or the start point of the line segment to be displayed.

As shown in Figure 3(A), the operator enters numeric value "10" with the numeric keys 11 and then presses the scale key 1 3. The operation is then performed in accordance with a flow chart shown in Figure 4.

In step A1, the key discriminator 21 discriminates between which of the numeric keys 11, scale key 13, and the right shift key 1 5 has or have been depressed. The result is supplied to the control section 22. When it is first discriminated that the numeric keys 11 are pressed, the numeric value "10" is written in the X register 23, as shown in Figure 2, and is displayed on the digital display section 3. When it is then discriminated that the scale key 1 3 is pressed, the depressed key is acknowledged in step A1. The flow advances to step A3. It is checked in step A3 as to whether or not an output from the flip-flop 32 is set to be logic "1". In this case, the flip-flop 32 is held in the reset state. It is therefore determined in step A3 to be NO. The routine then advances to step A4.In step A4, the gate G5 is opened to write data "0" of the T register 24 in the U register 28. The data in the U register 28 indicates the starting point of the line segment to be displayed. In step A5, the gate control signal f is supplied to the gate G3, so that the numeric data "10" is transferred from the X register 23 to the V register 27. The data in the V register 27 indicates the end point of the line segment to be displayed. Thereafter, the flow advances to step A6 wherein data "1" is written in a predetermined bit or bits of the display register 30 in the display processing section 26 in accordance with the data held in the U and V registers 28 and 27.

Since the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27 are given to be "0" and "10", respectively, data "1" is written in bits 0 to 10 of the display register 30. In step A7, the portion of the scale display portion 7, which corresponds to bits 1 to 10, is driven. In other words, as shown in Figure 3(A), Oth bit data (logic "1") of the display register 30 is used to display an origin mark "0", and 1 st to 10th bit data (all logic "1") are used to drive the diplay elements of the scale display portion 7, which are positioned from 0 to 10 mm.

In this manner, the first line segment, starting from the origin "0", is displayed on the scale.

A starting point for the second line segment is specified in the following manner. Assume that the second line segment is displayed from the 20 mm position. As shown in Figure 3(B), the operator enters a numeric data "20" with the numeric keys 11 and presses the right shift key 1 5. When the numeric data "20" is entered, the flow advances from step Al to step A2 in Figure 4. The input numeric data "20" is written in the X register 23 and is displayed on the digital display section 3. Depression of the right shift key 15 is detected by the key discriminator 21 in step Al.

The routine advances to step A8. In this step, the gate control signal b is supplied from the control section 22 to the gate G1, and the data "20", held in the X register 23, is written in the T register 24 through the gate G1. The flow advances to step A9 wherein the flip-flop 32 is set in response to the set signal from the control section 22. As a result, an output signal from the flip-flop 32 is set to be logic "1".

This signal of logic "1" is supplied to the flash processing section 29. The flash processing section 29 causes the bits of the display register 30, which correspond to the numeric value "20", to be logic "1" in step A10. In step Al 1, the flash processing section 29 flashes the 20 mm position of the scale display portion 7. By this flashing display, the starting point of the second line segment is indicated, as shown in Figure 3(B).

In order to display the line segment of a length of 30 mm from the flashing point on the scale display portion 7, the operator enters a numeric value "30" with the numeric keys 11 and then presses the scale key 13. The numeric input data "30" is written in the X register 23 in step A2 of Figure 4 and is displayed on the digital display section 3. Subsequently, the operator presses the scale key 13, so that the flow advances from step Al to step A3. It is then checked in step A3 to see whether or not the output from the flip-flop 32 is set at logic "1". At this moment, the flip-flop 32 is set, so that it is determined in step A3 to be YES.

The routine then advances to step A12. In this step, the flip-flop 32 is reset. In step Al 3, all bits of the display register 30, which correspond to the data "20", are cleared. Thereafter, the routine advances to step A14 wherein the gate control signals d and c are supplied from the control section 22 to the gates G2 and G4, respectively.

The data "30" of the X register 23 and the data "20" of the T register 24 are added by the operation circuit 25. A sum "50" is written in the V register 27 through the gate G3. The flow advances to step Al 5. In this step, the control section 22 generates the control signals a, c, e, and the code signal of "1" and transfers the content "20" of the T register 24 to the operation circuit 25 to increment it by one. A result "21" is fed back to the T register 24. In step Al 6, the content "21 " of the T register 24 is written in the U register 28 through the gate G5. Thereafter, the flow advances to step A6 as described above. The corresponding bits of the display register 30 are set at logic "1" in accordance with the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27.In this case the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27 are "21" and "50", respectively, so that the 21 th to 50th bits of the display register 30 are set to at logic "1 ". In step A7, the display elements of the scale display portion 7, which are located between 0 mm and 10 mm and between 21 mm and 50 mm, are driven in accordance with the content of the display register 30, as shown in Figure 3(C).

In order to display a third line segment, the starting point of the line segment is specified in the same manner as in Figure 3(B). Assume that the third line segment is displayed from the 60 mm position. As shown in Figure 3(D), the operator enters a numeric value "60" with the numeric keys 11 and presses the right shift key 15. The same operation as in Figure 3(B) is performed, so that the 60-mm position of the scale display portion 7 flashes as the starting point of the third line segment. In the same manner as described above, a plurality of line segments is displayed at predetermined intervals on the scale display portion 7.

Another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 6 and 7.

In this embodiment, a plurality of dots, having a constant pitch, or a plurality of line segments, having the same length and equal intervals therebetween, are displayed on a single scale. The front view of the case of the electronic scale is the same as that in Figure 1, and a detailed description of the arrangement of the second embodiment will be omitted. The arrangement of an electronic circuit of the electronic scale of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figure 5.

Referring to Figure 5, a key input section 20 constitutes a keyboard 4. Data entered at the key input section 20 is supplied to a key discriminator 21. The key discriminator 21 discriminates between whether one of numeric keys 11, a scale key 1 3 and a pitch key 1 7 has been depressed.

The discrimination result is supplied to a control section 22 through output lines 21 a to 21 c.

When the depressed key is one of the numeric keys 11, the key discriminator 21 supplies the numeric input data to an X register 23. The data held in the X register 23 is supplied to an input terminal B of an operation circuit 25 through a gate G1 and to a display processing section 26.

Meanwhile, the control section 22 supplies control signals to the display processing section 26, the operation circuit 25, and a display section 31, constituted by a scale display portion 7, and supplies gate control signals a to g to a gate G1 and gates G2 to G5 to be described later. Furthermore, the control section 22 supplies count-up and reset signals to a counter 50. An output from the counter 50 is supplied as a digit designation signal to a pitch data storage register 51 and to an input terminal A of the operation circuit 25 through the gate G2. The operation circuit 25 processes the input data in accordance with the control signal from the control section 22. The operation result is supplied as pitch data to the register 51 and is written in a digit specified by the counter 50.

The data stored in the register 51 is supplied to the display processing section 26, a decision circuit 52, and to the input terminal A of the operation circuit 25 through the gate G2. The display processing section 26 has a O to 150 bit scale display register 30. When the pitch key 17 is depressed, the bits of the display register 30, which correspond to the data supplied from the register 51, are set at logic "1". The decision circuit 52 determines whether or not the data read out from the register 51 is less than the MSB designation address "150" of the display register 30. The decided result is supplied to the control section 22. An output from the operation circuit 25 is supplied to a U register 28 through the gate G4 and to a V register 27 through the gate G5.

The data held in the V register 27 is supplied to a decision circuit 53. The decided circuit 53 determines whether or not the data in the V register 27 is 150 or less. The decided result is supplied to the control section 22. The data of the U and V registers 28 and 27 are supplied to the display processing section 26. When the scale key 1 3 is depressed, the display processing section 26 sets the bits of the display register 30 to be logic "1" in accordance with the data held in the U and V registers 28 and 27. The display processing section 26 supplies both the numeric data of the X register 23 to the digital display section 3 through an output line 26a and the data of the display register 30 to the scale display portion 7 through an output line 26b.

In the electronic scale having the arrangement described above, an operation will be described wherein line segments having the same length are displayed at equal intervals. Specified pitch marks are displayed upon operation of the numeric keys 11 and the pitch key 1 7. For example, in order to set the pitch mark to be 20 mm, the operator enters a numeric value "20" with the numeric keys 11 and presses the pitch key 1 7 as shown in Figure 6(A). The operation will be performed in accordance with a flow chart, shown in Figure 7, under the control of the control section 22.

When the operator enters the numeric data "20" with the numeric keys 11, the key discriminator 21 discriminates in step Al between whether one of the numeric keys, the scale key 13 and the pitch key 1 7 has or have been depressed. The results of the discrimination is supplied to the control section 22. When the key discriminator acknowledges that two of the numeric keys are pressed, the routine advances to step A2. In step A2, the input data "20" is written in the X register 23. The numeric data "20", written in the X register 23, is supplied to the display processing section 26 and is displayed on the digital-display section 3. Subsequently, when the operator presses the pitch key 1 7, the depression of the pitch key 1 7 is detected in step Al, and the flow advances to step A3.In step A3, a reset signal is supplied from the control section 22 to the counter SO, so that the count of the counter 50 is reset to be zero. Thereafter, in step A4, entry data X of the X register 23 and a count n of the counter 50 are supplied to the operation circuit 25 through the gate G2. The entry data X is multiplied by the operation circuit 25 with the count n. In this case, X is 20 and n is 0, so that X n=20x0=0. The multiplication result "0" is supplied to the U register 28 through the gate G3.

In this case, since the count n of the counter 50 is given to be "0", the SO-th digit of the register 51 is specified, and the output "0" of the operation circuit 25 is written in this digit.

The data written in the SO-th digit is supplied to the display processing section 26 and the decision circuit 52. In step A5, the decision circuit 52 determines whether or not the output from the register 51 is "1 50" or less. The output from the register 51 is "0", which is less than "1 50", so that the flow advances to step A6 in response to the control signal from the control section 22. The bit of the display register 30, which corresponds to the content of the SO-th digit, is set to be logic "1 ". In this case, the content of the SO-th digit of the register 28 is "O", so that the 0th bit of the display register 30 is set at logic "1".Thereafter, in step A7, the count "0" of the counter 50 is incremented by one in response to the count-up signal from the control section 22, and the flow returns to step A4. In step A4, the operation circuit 25 performs a multiplication "X n". At this moment, since the count of the counter n is set to be "1", a multiplication result becomes 20 (20x1=X n). The multiplication result "20" is written in the S1-th digit specified by the counter 50. The routine advances to step A6 through the decision step A5, so that the 20th bit of the display register 30, which corresponds to the content "20" of the S1 -th digit of the register 51, is set at logic "1".Thereafter, in step A7, the count "1" of the counter 50 is incremented by one, and the flow returns to step A4.

The same operation as described above is repeated. As shown in Figure 6(A), the contents "0", "20", "40",..., obtained by addition in units of the entry data "20", are respectively written in the SO-th, S1-th, S2-th . ., and Sn-th digits of the register 51. The bits of the display register 30, which correspond to these data, are set at logic "1". When the data written in the register 51 exceed 1 50, the overflow state is detected by the decision circuit 52. The decided result is supplied to the control section 22. The routine advances from step A5 to step A8. In step A8, the signals of logic "1" are written in the display register 30 in units of 10 bits and are used to drive the corresponding elements of the scale display portion 7.As shown in Figure 6(A), marks are displayed at a pitch of 20 mm from 0 mm to 1 50 mm.

A length of the line segment is then specified upon operations of the numeric keys 11 and the scale key 13. For example, in order to display 10 mm line segments, the operator enters a numeric value "10" with the numeric keys 11 as shown in Figure 6(B). Thereafter, the operator presses the scale key 13. When the numeric data "10" is entered with the numeric keys 11, the routine advances to step A2 through step Al in Figure 7.

In step A2, the numeric data "10" is written in the X register 23. The numeric data "10", stored in the X register 23, is supplied to the display processing section 26 and is displayed on the digital display section 3. Thereafter, when the operator presses the scale key 13, the depression of the scale key 1 3 is detected in step Al. The routine advances to step A10. The display register 30 and the counter 50 are reset to be "O" in response to the control signal from the control section 22. In this case, the storage content of the register 51 remains the same. Instep Al 1, the numeric code "1" is supplied from the control section 22 to the gate G1.The control section 22 also generates to the gate control signals b, d and x and supplies an addition command to the operation circuit 25. For this reason, the content "O" at the SO-th digit of the register 51 and the numeric code "1" from the control section 22 are supplied to the operation circuit 25. The operation circuit 25 performs an addition such that S0+1=0+1=1. A sum "1" is written in the U register 28 through the gate G4. In step Al 2, the control section 22 generates the gate control signals a, d and g and supplies an addition command to the operation circuit 25. The content "O" at the SO-th digit of the register 51 and the content "10" of the operation circuit 25 are added by the operation circuit 25. A sum "10" is written in the V register 27 through the gate G5.

Data written in the V register 27 is supplied to the decision circuit 53. It is checked in step A13 whether or not the content of the V register 27 is 1 50 or less. If YES in step Al 3, the routine advances to step Al 4. The corresponding bits of the display register 30 are set at logic "1" in accordance with the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27. In thjs case, since the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27 are "1" and "10", respectively, the first to 1 0th bits of the display register 30 are set at logic "1", as shown in Figure 6(B). Thereafter, the flow advances to step Al 5 wherein the content "0" of the counter 50 is incremented by one, and the flow returns to step Al 1.In step Al 1, the content "20" at the S1-th digit of the register 51, which is specified by the counter 50, is read out and is incremented by one. A result "21" is written in the U register 28. The routine advances to step A12 wherein an addition is performed such that S1 +X=20+10=30. A sum "30" is written in the V register 27. The routine advances to step Al 4 through step Al 3.The 21 st to 31st bits of the display register 30 are set at logic "1" in accordance with the contents of the U and V registers 28 and 27. Thereafter, in step Al 5, the count of the counter 50 is incremented by one, and the flow returns to step Al 1. The same operation as described above is repeated, and the signals of logic "1" are supplied to the display register 30 in units of 10 bits under the assumption that the position represented by the storage data of the register 28 is given as the origin. In step A13, when it is determined that the content of the V register 27 is greater than 1 50, the flow advances to step A8. In this display step A8, the corresponding element of the scale display portion 7 are driven in accordance with the contents of the display register 30. As shown in Figure 6(B), the 10 mm line segments are displayed such that the starting points of the segments are set at positions of "0", "20", "40", "60",.,., and "140" on the scale display portion 7.

Claims (8)

1. An electronic scale comprising: input means including numeric keys, a scale key and shift keys; calculating means, connected to said input means, for calculating a start point of a length to be measured on a scale section; and displaying means, connected to said calculating means, for displaying on the scale section the starting point of the length to be measured, which is calculated by said calculating means, in accordance with numeric data entered at said input means.

2. A scale, according to claim 1, wherein said calculating means comprises means for calculating the starting point of the length which excludes an origin of the scale section when one of said shift keys is operated, and said displaying means comprises means for flashing only the starting point calculated by said calculating means.

3. A scale, according to claim 1, wherein said calculating means includes means for detecting a predetermined order of operations of said numeric keys, said shift keys, and said scale key of said input means to display starting points of line segments which correspond to a plurality of lengths at different points on the scale section.

4. A scale, according to claim 1, wherein said displaying means comprises a processing section for receiving calculated data from said calculating means and converting the data to data to be displayed, and a display section for displaying the data to be displayed.

5. An electronic scale comprising: input means including numeric keys, a scale key and a pitch key; calculating means, connected to said input means, for calculating positions which represent a plurality of intervals of predetermined pitches on a scale section; and displaying means, connected to said calculating means, for displaying on the scale section said positions which represent said plurality of intervals of the predetermined pitches and which are calculated by said calculating means, in accordance with numeric data entered at said input means.

6. A scale, according to claim 5, wherein said calculating means includes means for detecting a predetermined order of operations of said numeric koys, said pitch key and said scale key of said input means to display a plurality of line segments having the same length at predetermined intervals on the scale section.

7. A scale, according to claim 5, wherein said displaying means comprises a processing section for receiving calculated data from said calculating means and converting the data to data to be displayed, and a display section for displaying the data to be displayed.

8. An electronic scale, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.