JP2002107467A - Radio wave correcting clock and reception display method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio wave correcting clock and a reception display method therefor which is restrained in electric power consumption by disusing a lighe emitting display and which clearly and easily understandable in display change. SOLUTION: A reception discriminating means 64 discriminates the receiving state of a radio wave. A driving control means 52 displays a receiving state by moving the second hand step by step at an interval longer than usual in a reception completed state at ON input time of an alarm setting input means 66 on the basis of the receiving state. The receiving state is displayed by moving the hand step by step at an ordinary interval or stopping the moving of the hand in an unreceiving time. Thus, the light emitting display is disused to reduce the electric power consumption.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention obtains accurate time information by receiving a standard time signal indicating Japan Standard Time,
The present invention relates to a radio-controlled timepiece that automatically corrects a display time at a time corresponding to the time information, and particularly to a radio-controlled timepiece capable of displaying a radio wave reception state and a method of displaying and receiving the time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of radio-controlled timepiece automatically corrects time based on time information obtained by receiving radio waves.
Unless it is indicated whether or not the radio wave has been successfully received, it may not be possible to determine whether the currently displayed time is the time before the reception or the correct time corrected after the reception. . Therefore, in conventional radio-controlled watches,
A display indicating whether or not a radio wave was received was provided.

The reception display indicating whether or not the radio wave has been received indicates the reception state by turning on or blinking an LED provided on the front of the timepiece. That is,
In some cases, two LEDs having different emission colors are provided, for example, a red LED is turned on when no reception is performed, and a green LED is turned on when reception is completed. In addition, when receiving, the LED blinks so as to light once per second, when reception is completed, blinks so as to light once every two seconds, and when reception is not possible, the light is turned off.
Some display the reception status.

[0004]

In general, in consideration of environmental issues, in portable electronic devices and the like, power consumption is reduced as much as possible to extend battery life, and power sources other than batteries such as generators are used. The use of is becoming widespread. The same is true for radio-controlled timepieces, and there is a demand for reducing power consumption as much as possible. However,
Providing a light-emitting display for displaying by constantly turning on an LED as in the above-described prior art increases power consumption and requires improvement.

[0005] Further, even if the reception state is displayed by a light-emitting display at night, many users are sleeping and the display is useless, and furthermore, some users feel that blinking light is alarming. Many users wanted other display methods.

[0006] Further, there is also a demand for immediately knowing whether or not the current time display is an accurate display for receiving a radio wave, or for seeing a moment at which a radio wave is received more clearly than a reception display by blinking an LED. There has been a need to develop a reception display that can respond to a user's request.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and eliminates luminous display to suppress power consumption. It provides a display method.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for displaying and displaying a radio-controlled timepiece, wherein the time is indicated by a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand based on time information obtained by receiving a radio wave, and has an alarm function. In the radio-controlled timepiece, when the radio wave is being received when the alarm setting input means is turned on, it is displayed that the second hand is step-moved at a longer interval than usual and received, and the radio wave is received. If it has not been received, the second hand step is moved in steps at regular intervals to indicate that it has not been received.

[0009] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a radio-controlled timepiece having a function of displaying a time with a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand based on time information obtained by receiving a radio wave and having an alarm function. , When receiving the radio wave at the time of ON input of the alarm setting input means,
It indicates that the step of the second hand is stepped at a longer interval than usual and is being received, and if the radio wave is not received, the second hand is stopped at a predetermined position and it is not received. To display.

Further, the radio-controlled timepiece of the present invention includes a receiving means for receiving a radio wave to obtain time information, a time measuring means for measuring time based on the time information obtained by the receiving means, a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand. Pointer driving means for driving, reception determination means for determining the reception state of the reception means, alarm means for notifying an alarm at a set time, alarm setting input means for setting activation / stop of the alarm means, While controlling the driving of the pointer driving means based on the time measured by the time counting means, when the alarm setting input means ON input, when it is determined that the reception determination means is receiving,
The second hand step is stepped at a longer interval than usual to indicate that the signal is being received, and if the reception discriminating means determines that the signal has not been received, the second hand step is stepped at a regular interval and the signal is not received. And drive control means for displaying that

Further, the radio-controlled timepiece of the present invention comprises a receiving means for receiving a radio wave to obtain time information, a time measuring means for measuring time based on the time information obtained by the receiving means, a second hand,
Pointer driving means for driving the minute hand and the hour hand, reception discriminating means for discriminating the reception state of the receiving means, alarm means for notifying an alarm at a set time, and alarm setting for setting operation / stop of the alarm means Input means, and while driving the hand driving means based on the time measured by the clock means, when the alarm setting input means ON input, when it is determined that the reception determination means is receiving, the second hand of the second hand The step is moved at a longer interval than usual to display the reception by displaying the hand, and when the reception determining means determines that the reception is not performed, the second hand is stopped at the determined position to display that the reception is not performed. Drive control means for causing the

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The time based on the received time information is displayed by driving the second hand, the hour hand and the minute hand, respectively. In this radio-controlled timepiece, when the alarm setting input unit is turned on, it is determined whether the radio wave reception state is the non-reception state or the reception completion state. In the reception completion state, the second hand is set at a longer interval than usual. A reception display method is used in which the hands are moved stepwise, and in the case of a non-reception state, the hands are moved stepwise at regular intervals. Therefore, the power consumption can be reduced by eliminating the light emitting display, and the power consumption does not increase because the display is performed by the second hand.

In the present invention, as described above, the reception state is determined by the ON input of the alarm setting input means. Since the alarm is generally set before going to bed, the reception state is surely set together with the alarm setting. It is configured so that it can be checked. In addition, at this time, if the reception is completed, the second hand moves stepwise at an interval longer than a normal step, so that noise related to driving the second hand at bedtime can be reduced.

In a radio-controlled timepiece having a function of stopping the second hand at night, the power consumption is further reduced by stopping the second hand when no reception is made.

Further, the radio-controlled timepiece having a function based on the above-mentioned reception display method has a reception discriminating means for discriminating the above-mentioned reception state, and the drive control means is operated by the second hand step based on the discrimination reception state. The hand operation state is switched. At this time, in the case of the reception completion state, the reception is indicated by moving the second hand, for example, once every 10 seconds for 10 steps so as to be recognizable at a glance, so as to be recognized at a glance, If not received,
The normal hand movement, that is, moving the second hand one step at a time once per second or stopping at the 12 o'clock position indicates that no reception has been made. Then, when the alarm setting input means is turned off, the state shifts to a normal hand operation state.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional explanatory view showing a configuration of a radio-controlled timepiece according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the radio-controlled timepiece.

As shown in FIG. 2, the circuit configuration of the radio-controlled timepiece according to the present embodiment has a reception circuit 1 comprising a crystal oscillation circuit 4, an antenna 6, and reception control means 8 with a CPU 2 as a center.
0, motors 12 and 14 for driving the hands,
An external operation including wheel trains 16 and 18 and second hand 20 and hour / minute hand 22 driven by the motor 14, a motor driving buffer 24 for driving the motors 12 and 14, an alarm setting switch (sound stop switch) 26 and an operation switch 28. The member 30, a ROM 32 and a RAM 34 for storing information necessary for alarm notification and the like, and information about the input time and the hand movement state, a coincidence detection circuit 36 for detecting coincidence between the time measured by the CPU 2 and the set time. A digital display unit 38 for displaying an arbitrary time or the like input to the CPU 2, a notification sound generation circuit 40 driven when the match detection circuit 36 detects a match, and a speaker for generating an alarm sound or the like based on a signal from the notification sound generation circuit 40 Reference numeral 42 generally comprises a sensor 44 made of CdS or the like for detecting the brightness around the clock.

The radio-controlled timepiece of this embodiment having the above circuit configuration has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. That is, 46
Is a receiving means for receiving a standard signal, and includes a receiving circuit 10.

Reference numeral 48 denotes a time measuring means for measuring the time.
The function includes the function of the PU 2 and the function of the crystal oscillation circuit 4. In the present embodiment, the time is always corrected to an accurate time based on time information obtained from the standard signal received by the receiving means 46. .

Reference numeral 50 denotes a hand driving means for driving the second hand 20 and the hour hand / minute hand 22. The motor driving buffer 24, the motors 12, 14 and the wheel trains 16, 1 driven by them.
8 includes the respective functions.

Reference numeral 52 denotes drive control means for controlling the drive state of the hands, which is constituted by the function of the CPU 2. The drive control unit 52 controls the normal hand movement, for example, the second hand at one second.
A normal hand moving means 54 for driving control such as moving the hand one step at a time, and a hand moving state in which the second hand is stepped at a longer interval than the normal step when the reception is completed, for example, 10 steps every 10 seconds. Reception hand movement means 56 for driving and controlling the hands to move in steps, hand movement stop means 60 for stopping the second hand at the 12 o'clock position in accordance with the detection state of the light / dark detection means 58 comprising the sensor 44, and hand movement switching means 62 for switching the hand movement state. have.

Reference numeral 64 denotes a reception judging means for judging the completion of reception from the reception state of the receiving means 46, and is constituted by the function of the CPU 2. The receiving means 60 gives the result of the determination to the hand movement switching means 62 to determine the hand movement switching state.

Reference numeral 66 denotes an alarm setting input means for inputting ON / OFF of an alarm function, and includes a function of the CPU 2 and an alarm setting switch 26. In response to the input from the alarm setting input means 66, the hand movement switching means 62 switches the hand movement state.

Reference numeral 68 denotes an alarm unit having the following functional configuration. The time setting means 70 includes the external operating member 30
Input from the alarm time input means 78 consisting of
The alarm time is set, and includes the functions of the CPU 2 and the functions of the ROM 32 and the RAM 34. The coincidence detecting means 72 includes the function of the CPU 2, and the time measured by the time measuring means 48 and the time setting means 70
To detect the coincidence with the time set in. The alarm notification control means 74 includes a function of the CPU 2 and a function of the alarm sound generation circuit 40 and the like.
Includes the function of the speaker 42. The alarm notification control means 74 controls the notification means 76 to notify an alarm when the coincidence detection means 72 detects coincidence.

Next, the operation of the radio-controlled timepiece of this embodiment having the above-mentioned functional configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of the display operation shown in FIG. 3 and the explanatory diagram showing the second hand operation shown in FIG. First, in step ST1, when the alarm setting input means is turned on to set an alarm,
In step ST2, it is determined that the alarm function has been turned on by the operation, and the hand movement switching means 62 is in a state of switching the movement of the second hand. At this time, step ST3
When the reception determining means 64 determines that the reception of the radio wave is completed, the hand movement switching means 62 switches the hand operation by the reception hand operation means 56 in step ST4. As a result, the second hand is in a state of being moved by 10 steps once every 10 seconds, indicating that the reception is completed. Then, at the alarm set time, an alarm sound is notified by the alarm means 68, and when the alarm setting input means 66 is turned off, it is determined in step ST2 that the input has been turned off. The means 62 switches to the hand movement by the normal hand movement means 54 and returns to the normal one-second step movement.

The operation of the second hand is as shown in FIG. That is, the alarm function is set to ON at 10:59 PM, and at this point, the second hand is moved in 10 second steps. Thereafter, at 6:00 AM, the alarm function is turned off, and the second hand returns to the one-second step.

If the reception display is set to be performed by the hand movement stopping means 60 by a setting by an external operation or the like, the hand movement switching means 62 switches to the stop of the hand movement by the hand movement stopping means 60 in step ST3. In ST4, the movement of the second hand is stopped at the 12 o'clock position. In this case, as in the case of the above-described 10-second step, when the alarm function is turned off, the process returns to the normal one-second step.

On the other hand, if the reception discriminating means 64 determines in step ST3 that no reception has been made, the hand movement switching means 62 continues the hand movement by the normal hand moving means 54 in step ST6. Then, if it is in a non-receiving state, the hand movement is performed in a normal state. FIG. 4B shows the hand movement state at this time. Here, as usual, the hand movement stop means 60 operates from PM 11:00 to PM 6:00 in response to the detection of the dark state from the light / dark detection means 58. This indicates that the function of stopping the hand operation is also working.

Further, even if the reception discriminating means 64 has determined that the signal has not been received in step ST3, the receiving means 46 performs automatic reception at night and completes the reception of the radio wave in step ST7. In this case, in step ST8,
The reception determining means 64 determines that the reception has been completed, and proceeds to step ST4.
Then, the hand movement switching means 62 switches to the 10-second step movement by the reception hand movement means 56 in response to the completion of reception in the alarm-on state. As shown in FIG. 4C, even if the hand movement is stopped in the normal state at this time, if the hand movement is switched to the 10-second step movement,
It is possible to confirm that the automatic reception has been performed.

[0030]

According to the present invention, at the time of alarm setting input, the state of radio wave reception can be displayed by the movement of the second hand, so that it is possible to display without providing a light-emitting display, thereby reducing power consumption. Can be suppressed.

In addition, the hand movement state of the second hand is received by the user because step movement is performed at intervals longer than normal hand movement during reception, and the movement is performed by inputting an alarm setting at bedtime. Not only can this be immediately recognized, but also the noise caused by driving the second hand when sleeping can be reduced.

Further, by using the reception display by switching the hand movement of the second hand in combination with the second hand stop function at night,
Useless reception display during sleep can be omitted, and power consumption can be further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional explanatory diagram showing a functional configuration of a radio-controlled timepiece according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional explanatory diagram showing a circuit configuration of a radio-controlled timepiece according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a reception display operation of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a hand operation state of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 CPU 4 Crystal oscillation circuit 10 Receiving circuit 12, 14 Motor 16, 18 Wheel train 20 Second hand 22 Hour hand / Minute hand 26 Alarm setting switch 32 ROM 34 RAM 46 Receiving means 48 Clocking means 50 Hand driving means 52 Drive control means 64 Receiving judgment means 66 Alarm setting input means 68 Alarm means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A radio-controlled timepiece having a function of displaying time with a second hand, a minute hand, and an hour hand based on time information obtained by receiving a radio wave and having an alarm function. Is received, it indicates that the step of the second hand is step-moved at a longer interval than usual and is being received.If the radio wave is not received, the step of the second hand is stepped at a regular interval. A reception display method for a radio-controlled timepiece, wherein a hand is operated to indicate that no reception has been performed. 2. A radio-controlled timepiece having a function of displaying time with a second hand, a minute hand, and an hour hand based on time information obtained by receiving a radio wave and having an alarm function. When the second hand is received, it indicates that the second hand is being moved by moving the step of the second hand at a longer interval than usual, and if the radio wave has not been received, the second hand is stopped at a predetermined position. And displaying that the radio signal is not yet received. 3. Receiving means for receiving radio waves to obtain time information, clocking means for measuring time based on the time information obtained by the receiving means, hand driving means for driving a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand; Reception determination means for determining the reception state of the reception means; alarm means for notifying an alarm at a set time; alarm setting input means for setting activation / stop of the alarm means; While controlling the driving of the pointer driving means based on the above, at the time of ON input of the alarm setting input means, if it is determined that the reception determination means is receiving, the second hand step is stepped at a longer interval than usual. The reception is displayed, and if the reception determination unit determines that the reception has not been received, the second hand step is moved at step intervals at a regular interval to indicate that the reception has not been performed. A radio-controlled timepiece comprising: drive control means for displaying; 4. Receiving means for receiving a radio wave to obtain time information, clocking means for measuring time based on the time information obtained by the receiving means, hand driving means for driving a second hand, a minute hand and an hour hand; Reception determination means for determining the reception state of the reception means; alarm means for notifying an alarm at a set time; alarm setting input means for setting activation / stop of the alarm means; While controlling the driving of the pointer driving means based on the above, at the time of ON input of the alarm setting input means, if it is determined that the reception determination means is receiving, the second hand step is stepped at a longer interval than usual. Driving to display that the reception is being performed, and when the reception determination unit determines that the reception has not been performed, the second hand is stopped at a predetermined position to display that the reception has not been performed. A radio-controlled timepiece comprising: control means;