GB2159303A - An electronic audio-visual timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic timepiece has a display in which time is indicated by the movement of parts 45-48 of a character's body, e.g. by means of a plurality of minute segments and hour segments, and has a voice synthesiser whereby the character's voice audibly tells the time, the display being driven in synchronism with the voice synthesiser so that e.g. the character's mouth 56, 57 appears to move in time with the speech. The different body, e.g. mouth, positions accompanying speech may be provided by a stack of alternating transparent members and liquid crystal members or by a dot matrix display. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An electronic audio-visual timepiece This invention relates to an electronic audiovisual timepiece and more particularly to an electronic audio-visual timepiece which uses the synthetically-produced voice of a character to audibly tell the time and which has an animated display of the character showing his body's movement in order to visually indicate the time with his body's movement being in synchronization with his voice.

U.S. Patent No. D82,245 entitled Watch Dial, issued to Irving Breger on October 14, 1 930 teaches an ornamental design for a dial of a watch in the arms of a cartoon figure function as the hands of the watch.

U.S. Patent No. 3,747,330 entitled Animated Time Piece, issued to Henry Tupone on July 24, 1 973 teaches a timepiece which has animated motion resulting from an annular member which is mounted slidably around an eccentrically mounted, rotatable wheel. A time mechanism rotates a shaft on which the wheel is eccentrically mounted at the rate of one rotation per minute. The timepiece also has a rotatable disc which is concentrically mounted on the shaft and which has an animated appearing object disposed thereon.

U.S. Patent No. 3,461,665 entitled Animated Novelty Clock, issued to Edward F.

Cielaszyk on August 19, 1 969 teaches a spring wound novelty clock which has a decorative design and which is equipped with a characterised object which is animated for a predetermined period immediately following each time the clock is wound.

U.S. Patent No. 3,796,043 entitled Continuous Wipe-Out Clocks, issued to Ronal William Ebdon on March 12, 1 974 teaches a timing device which provides a pictorial representation of the passage of time.

U.S. Patent No. 4,310,909 entitled Analog Electronic Time Piece, issued to Masanori Fujita on January 12, 1 982 teaches an analog time which has a plurality of optical displaying elements in the form of pointers which are radially disposed. The pointers are displayed optically in response to a clocking output. The short pointer is displayed separately by lighting up either one of the short displaying segment adjacent to the lighted long pointer displaying segment in order to prevent the longer pointer from being displayed alone when the displaying segments for the long and short pointers to be lighted up coincide thereby enabling the long and short pointers to be easily distinguished.

U.S. Patent No. 3,998,045 entitled Talking Solid State Timepiece, issued to Robert W.

Lester on December 21, 1976 teaches a talking timepiece which will have all the same characteristics of a normal wrist watch, but with the read-out a spoken tone, which will actually give the time to the nearest minute, in a voice composed from sufficient information bits to be a reasonably faithful reproduction of either the owner's voice or the voice of a person of his selection. The voice may be recorded in any language with or without other extraneous information.

U.S. Patent No. 4,287,584 entitled Speech Synthesizer Timepiece, issued to Akira Tanimoto and Kashihara Mituhiro on September 1, 1 981 teaches a speech synthesizer timepiece which provides audible sounds indicative of time and/or calendar information. The audible sounds are followed by an adjective phase which represents such a unit of the preceding time and/or calendar information as month, day, day of the week, hours and minutes.

U.S. Patent No. 4,279,030 entitled Speech Synthesizer Timepiece, issued to Sigeaki Masuzawa on July 14, 1 984 teaches a speech synthesizer timepiece which produces audible sound indicative of updated time information.

U.S. Patent No. 4,280,209 entitled Electronic Alarm Clock, issued to Jac A. Mooney on July 21, 1 981 teaches an electronic alarm clock which includes a microprocessor for comparing the existing time expressed as digital data with the stored digital value.

U.S. Patent No. 3,870,818 entitled Solid State Digital Automatic Voice Response System, issued to William A. Barton and John E.

Stork on March 11, 1975 teaches a signalling system for providing an automatic voice announcement of a condition being monitored.

U.S. Patent No. 4,266,096 entitled Audible Output Device for Talking Timepieces, Talking Calculators and the Like, issued to Tomohiro Inoue and Siegeaki Masuzawa on May 5, 1981 teaches an audio output device which is useful in timepieces or calculators and which features a prestored and preselected order of digital codes representing speech words and pauses. These digital codes are outputted through gate circuitry responsive to pause codes.

U.S. Patent No. 4,294,516 entitled Moving Picture Apparatus, issued to Philip A.

Brooks on October 31, 1981 teaches an apparatus for creating the effect upon a viewer of a three-dimensional moving image which includes a stacked array of a plurality of alternating transparent and liquid crystal members.

U.S. Patent No. 4,312,057 entitled Electronic Timepiece Providing Audible and Visible Time Indications, issued to Kazunari Kume on January 19, 1 982 teaches an audio-visual electronic timepiece which includes an oscillator circuit, a frequency divider which is electrically coupled to the oscillator circuit, a minutes-counter which is electrically coupled to the frequency divider, an hours-counter which is electrically coupled to the minutescounter, a decoder which is electrically coup led to the minutes-counter and the hourscounter, and a display which is electrically coupled to the decoder.The audio-visual electronic timepiece also includes an identification circuit which is electrically coupled to the minutes-counter and the hours-counter, an information signal generation circuit which is electrically coupled to the frequency divider, a control circuit which is electrically coupled to the identification circuit and the information signal generation circuit, a switch circuit which is electrically coupled to the control circuit and a sound-producing element which is electrically coupled to the information signal generation circuit.

U.S. Patent No. 4,205,517 entitled Alarm Electronic Timepiece, issued to Fumikazu Murakami and Takuro Fukuichi on June 3, 1 980 teaches an alarm electronic timepiece which includes a seconds-counter and days-counter.

U.S. Patent No. 3,665,700 entitled Watch with Ornamental Running Indicator, issued to James S. Ditello on May 30, 1 972 teaches a wrist watch which includes a case having a radial casing extension which houses a pendulum visible concurrently with and adjacent to the face of the watch. The pendulum is connected to an extension of the pallet arbor of the watch to be oscillated during the operation of the watch so that the pendulum provides a moving indication that the watch is operating and also provides and ornamental effect.

U.S. Patent No. 4,355,381 entitled Electronic Timepiece with Electro-Optic Display, issued to Masanori Fujita on October 19, 1 982 teaches an electronic timepiece which includes an optical display having number of separate display elements in the shape of time-indicating hands, a clock pulse generator which generates clock pulses, time counter which counts the clock pulses and generates time data and a selector which receives the time data and provides selected outputs of time units which are representative of time.

U.S. Patent No. 4,309,701 entitled LSI Device Including a Liquid Crystal Display Drive, issued to Toshio Nishimura on January 5, 1 982 teaches a circuit for driving a liquid crystal display device.

U.S. Patent No. 4,308,534 entitled Multiplexing Liquid Crystal Display Device having Different Display Formats, issued to Tomoo Yamamoto on December 29, 1981 teaches a multiplexing liquid crystal display device for displaying a figure.

U.S. Patent No. 4,338,600 entitled Liquid Crystal Display System Having Temperature Compensation, issued to Jeraldo G. Leach on July 6, 1 982 teaches a data processing system for a liquid crystal display.

U.S. Patent No. 4,289,383 entitled Light Dot Matrix Display, issued to Jack Schwarzschild on September 15, 1 982 teaches an electro-optic display of the type operable to provide an image viewable either in the transmissive or reflective modes.

It is the main object of the present invention to provide an electronic audio-visual timepiece which uses the synthetically-produced voice of a character to audibly tell the time and which has an animated display of the character showing his body's movements in order to visually indicate the time with his body's movements being in synchronization with his voice.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic audio-visual timepiece which used an electronically programmable read only memory to select and create a synthetically-produced voice for a character to audibly tell the time.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an electronic audio-visual timepiece which uses an electronically programmable read only memory to select and create an animated display of the character showing his body's movements in order to visually indicate the time with his body's movements.

According to the invention there is provided an electronic audio-visual timepiece which incorporates a synthetically produced voice of a character to audibly tell the time and an animated display of the character so that the character's body movement visually indicate the time and may be in synchronization with the character's voice, said electronic audiovisual timepiece comprising a housing having a face plate; time updating means for producing updated time information and for generating an updated time output signal, said time updating means being disposed in said housing; processing means for processing said updated time output signal and for generating an audio drive input signal and a visual drive input signal, said processing means being disposed in said housing; speech generating means for generating the synthetically produced voice of the character in a predetermined speech pattern in order to audibly tell the time in response to said audio drive input signal, said speech generating means being disposed in said housing; and visually displaying means for visually displaying the character's body movements in order to visually indicate the time in response to said visual drive input signal, said visually displaying means being disposed in said housing, wherein the character's body movements may be in synchorinization with the character's voice.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic drawing of an electronic audio-visual timpiece of the invention using a synthetically produced voice of a character to tell the time audibly and having an animated display of the character in which his body movements visually indicate the time with his body's movements being in synchronization with his voice.

Figure 2 is a front plan view of the electronic audio-visual timepiece of Fig. 1, and Figure 3 is a schematic drawing of the animated display of the electronic audio-visual timepiece of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1 an electronic audiovisual timepiece 10 includes an oscillator circuit 11, a frequency divider 1 2 which is electrically coupled to the oscillator circuit 11, a seconds-counter 1 3 which is electrically coupled to the frequency divider 12, a minutes-counter 14 which is electrically coupled to the seconds-counter 13, an hours-counter 1 5 which is electrically coupled to the minutes-counter 14, a days-counter 1 6 which is electrically coupled to the hours-counter 15, a decoder 1 7 which is electrically coupled to the seconds-counter 13, the minutes-counter 14, the hours-counter 15, and the days-counter 16, and a display 1 8 which is electrically coupled to the decoder 1 7. The electronic audio-visual electronic time-piece 10 also includes an identification circuit 1 9 which is electrically coupled to the seconds-counter 1 3, the minutes-counter 14, the hours-counter 1 5 and the days-counter 16, a control circuit 20 which is electrically coupled to the identification circuit 1 9 and to an information signal generation circuit 22 and a switch circuit 21 which is electrically coupled to the control circuit 20.The electronic audio-visual electronic timepiece 10 further includes the information signal generation circuit 22, which is electrically coupled to the frequency divider 12, and a sound-producing system 23, which is electrically coupled to the information signal generation circuit 22, which form a speech synthesizer. U.S. Patent No. 4,312,057 and U.S. Patent No. 4,205,517 teach similar combined speech synthesizers and electronic timepieces.

Referring to Fig. 2 in conjunction with Fig.

1 the electronic audio-visual timepiece 10 incorporated the synthetically produced voice of a character for audibly telling the time with an animated display of the character so that the character's body movements also visually indicate the time and are in synchronization with the character's voice. The electronic audio-visual timepiece 10 also includes a housing 25 having a face plate 26. The time updating system is disposed in the housing 25 and produces updated time information and generates an updated time output signal.

The decoder 1 7 which may be a microprocessor processes the updated time output signal and generates an audio drive input signal and a visual input signal. The speech synthesizer generates the synthetically produced voice of the character in a predetermined speech pattern in order to audibly tell the time in response to the audio drive input signal and the display 1 8 visually displays the character's body movements in order to visually indicate the time in response to the visual drive input signal. The character's body movements are in synchronization with the character's voice, such as the voice of Mickey Mouse.

Referring again to Fig. 1 which is the information signal generation circuit 22 includes a word select network 31 which is electrically coupled to the frequency divider 1 2 and the control circuit 20 and which selects words in order to form a sentence telling time which the synthetically produced voice of the character's voice uses to audibly tell the time in response to the audio drive input signal, a read only memory 32 which is electrically coupled to the word select network 31 and which generates a plurality of digital input signals representing the sentence telling time, and a digital to analog converter 33 which is electrically coupled to the read only memory 32 and which converts the plurality of digital input signals to a plurality of analog input signals.The sound-producing system 23 includes a shaping filter 41 which is electrically coupled to the digital to analog converter 33 and which shapes and filters the plurality of analog input signals, an audio amplifier 42 which is electrically coupled to the shaping filter 41 and which amplifies the plurality of shaped and filtered analog input signal and a piezo-electric speaker 43 which is electrically coupled via the audio amplifier 42. The read only memory 32 may be electronically programmable and the word select network 31 may further include a processing circuit which generates a sentence telling time which is electrically coupled to the electronically programmable read only memory 32 on which data providing the words and speech patters of a character's voice is stored. U.S.Patent No. 4,266,096 teaches an audio output device which is useful in timepieces and which features a prestored and preselected order of digital codes representing speech words and pauses.

Referring to Fig. 3 in conjunction with Fig.

1 and Fig. 2 the display 1 8 of the electronic audio-visual timepiece 10 includes a drawing of the body of Mickey Mouse without his hands and arms, a plurality of first minute light segments 45 and second minute light segments 46 and a plurality of first hour light segments 47 and second hour light segments 48. The first minute light segments 45 and the first hour light segments 47 are in the shape of the arms of Mickey Mouse. The second minute light segments 46 and the second hour light segments 48, which are shorter than the second minute light segments 46 are in the shape of the forearms and hands of Mickey Mouse. U.S. Patent No.

4,310,909 teaches a similar electronic timepiece which has a plurality of optical displaying elements in the form of pointers which are radially disposed. U.S. Patent No. 4,355,381 also teaches a similar electronic timepiece which includes an optical display having a number of separate display elements in the shape of time-indicating hands.

Still referring to Fig. 3 in conjunction with Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 the diplay 18 of the electronic audio-visual timepiece 10 also includes a visual display apparatus 50 having a stacked array of a plurality of alternating transparent members 51, 52, 54 and 55 and liquid crystal members 56 and 57 with a set of different body positions of the character and liquid crystal driving circuit selectively and repetitively driving each of the plurality of liquid crystal members to provide animated movement of the character's body. The visual display apparatus also has a controller 58 which is electrically coupled to the liquid crystal members 56 and 57 in order to repetitively turn them on and off. In the preferred embodiment the liquid crystal members 56 and 57 represent the mouth of Mickey Mouse in the open and closed position, respectively.

U.S. Patent No. 4,294,516 teaches a similar display apparatus which includes a stacked array of a plurality of alternating transparent and liquid crystal members and which creates the effect upon a view of a three-dimensional moving image.

In the alternative embodiment the visual display apparatus may include a dot matrix lighting display which provides a plurality of lighted and unlighted dots and a dot matrix driving circuit which selectively and repetitively lights and unlights each of the plurality of lighted and unlighted dots in order to form different body position of the character and to provide animated movement of the character's body. The dot matrix driving circuit includes a processing circuit which includes an electronically programmable read only memory on which data controlling the shape and positions of the character's body is stored and which generates row input signals and column.The dot matrix driving circuit also includes a row selecting circuit which selects which rows of dots are to be lighted of the dot matric lighting display in response to the row input signals and a column selecting circuit which selects which columns of the dots are to be lighted of the dot matrix lighting display in response to the column input signals. U.S.

Patent No. 4,289,383 teaches an electrooptic display of the type operable to provide an image viewable either in the transmissive or reflective modes. The dot matrix driving circuit may also include a microprocessor which has an electronically programmable read only memory, on which data for controlling the shape and positions of the character's body is stored, and which generates different sets of row input signals and column input signals in response to the program stored on the electronically programmable read only memory in order to form animated displays of different characters.

From the foregoing it can be seen that an electronic audio-visual timepiece has been described. It should be noted that the sketches are not drawn to scale and that distance of and between the Figures are not to be considered significant.

Claims (8)

1. An electronic audio-visual timepiece incorporates a synthetically produced voice of a character to audibly tell the time and an animated display of the character so that the character's body movement visually indicate the time and may be in synchronization with the character's voice, said electronic audiovisual timepiece comprising a housing having a face plate; time updating means for producing updated time information and for generating an updated time output signal, said time updating means being disposed in said housing; processing means for processing said updated time output signal and for generating an audio drive input signal and a visual drive input signal, said processing means being disposed in said housing; speech generating means for generating the synthetically produced voice of the character in a predetermined speech pattern in order to audibly tell the time in response to said audio drive input signal, said speech generating means being disposed in said housing; and visually displaying means for visually displaying the character's body movments in order to visually indicate the time in response to said visual drive input signal, said visually displaying means being disposed in said housing, wherein the character's body movements may be in synchronization with the character's voice.

2. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 1, wherein said speech generating means comprises word selecting means for selecting words which will form a sentence telling time which the synthetically produced voice of the character's voice uses to audibly tell the time in response to said audio drive input signal; a read only memory which is electrically coupled to said word selecting means and which generates a plurality of digital input signals which represent the sentence telling time; a digital to analog converter which is electrically coupled to said read only memory and which converts said plurality of digital input signals to a plurality of analog input signals; shape filtering means for shaping and filtering said plurality of analog input signals; amplifying means for amplifying said plurality of shaped and filtered analog input signals; and a miniature speaker which is electrically coupled to said amplifying means.

3. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said visually displaying means comprises a stacked array of a plurality of alternating transparent and liquid crystal members with a set of different body positions of the character, and liquid crystal driving means for selectively and repetitively driving each of said plurality of liquid crystal members to provide animated movement of the character's body.

4. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said visually displaying means comprises a dot matrix lighting means for providing a plurality of lighted and unlighted dots, and dot matrix driving means for selectively and repetitively lighting and unlighting each of said plurality of lighted and unlighted dots in order to form different body positions of the character and to provide animated movement of the character's body.

5. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 4, wherein said dot matrix driving means comprises a processing means, including an electronically programmable read only memory on which data controlling the shape and positions of the character's body is stored, for generating row input signals and column, row selecting means for selecting which rows of said dots are to lighted of said dot matrix lighting means in response to said row input signals, and column selecting means for selecting which columns of said dots are to be lighted to said dot matrix lighting means in response to said column input signals.

6. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 2, wherein said read only memory is electronically programmble and said speech generating means also comprises processing means for generating the sentence telling time, said processing circuit being electrically coupled to said electronically programmable memory, on which data providing the words and speech patterns of a character's voice is stored.

7. An electronic audio-visual timepiece according to Claim 4, wherein said visually displaying means also comprises an analog/quartz movement including an hour-hand and minute-hand which also function as the character's arms.

8. An electronic audio-visual timepiece substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.