JP2002156476A - Electronic timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that, when a computing and processing operation takes many hours in a multifunctional watch using a sensor, a clocking processing operation is delayed, that a clocking operation is delayed and that a time display is irregular so as to lock unattractive. SOLUTION: The computing and processing operation is divided into units which are shorter than a clocking minimum unit, and it is executed in synchronization with the clocking processing operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, multifunctional timepieces have been developed which provide various useful information, for example, water depth, altitude, temperature and the like to a user using various sensors. The basic configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional example and the present invention. 1 is a crystal oscillator, 2 is a crystal oscillator,
A reference signal S1 for clock measurement is created. Reference numeral 3 denotes frequency dividing means for dividing the frequency of the reference signal S1 from the crystal oscillator 2 to generate various signals. Among them are a reference clock for CPU operation and a signal HR indicating a minimum unit of time measurement.
MC is included. Normally, the clock signal HRMC is generated every 0.5 seconds or 1 second. In this conventional example, 0.5
It shall occur every second.

A CPU 4 executes a program stored in a ROM 5 and uses a RAM 6 to realize a function as a clock.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a sensor driving means, which is a CPU 4
The sensor 8 is driven in response to a sensor drive command CS from the controller 8 and outputs sensor data SED to the input port 7.
At the same time, the sensor driving means 14 outputs a driving end signal HRSE to the CPU 4. The data SWD of the switch 9 is also input to the input port 7. The input port 7 transmits sensor data SED and switch data SWD to the CPU 4
To communicate. The CPU 4 processes information from the input port 7 and performs control as a clock and converts sensor data into valid information.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a motor driver,
, The motor 11 is driven to display the time hands. 12 is an LCD driver,
The LCD 13 is driven to perform digital display of time.

Next, an actual processing procedure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1A is a time chart showing a processing procedure of a conventional example. In general, a low-power microcomputer used in a clock uses a source oscillation of 32768 Hz as a reference clock in order to suppress current consumption. Normally, the HALT state is entered, the reference clock stops, the microcomputer stops, and the HALT state is released only when the operation is necessary for timekeeping, etc., the reference clock is generated, the microcomputer operates, and when the processing is completed, HALTRELEASE to be in HALT state
(Hereinafter, HR) control is performed.

The clock signal HRMC is supplied from the frequency dividing means 3 to the CPU.
4, the CPU 4 starts operating. CPU4
Executes a clock, outputs a motor drive command CM every second, and displays seconds by a pointer. If the result of the timing is that the sensor drive timing is reached, the CPU 4 outputs a sensor drive command SM to the sensor drive means 14 to drive the sensor. At the same time, the HALT state is set.

When the sensor driving is completed, the sensor driving means 14 outputs a sensor driving end signal HRSE to the CPU 4 and outputs the sensor data SED to the input port 7. The CPU 4 outputs a sensor drive end signal HRS
The operation is started by being HR by E, the sensor data SED is taken in from the input port 7, and the arithmetic processing is executed.
After the completion of the arithmetic processing, the HALT state is set again.

[0010]

In the prior art, the clocking process and the arithmetic process are realized by the low-power microcomputer by the control as described above. By the way, the arithmetic processing of the sensor usually involves an arithmetic operation using a complicated mathematical expression, so that the arithmetic operation time is long. In addition to this, the low-power microcomputer has a slow oscillation and its operation itself is slow. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 1B, the arithmetic processing may take a time of one second or more.

In this case, the clock signal HRMC is
Occurs, and the CPU 4 cannot immediately respond to the occurrence of HRMC, resulting in a time delay. As one of means for avoiding this, there is a method in which the timekeeping processing is made an interrupt processing by the signal of the timekeeping signal HRMC. However, interrupt processing is difficult to control, and care must be taken when using it on software. In some microcomputers, the interrupt control itself is not provided in hardware.

As another avoiding means, there is a method of monitoring the clock signal HRMC at an appropriate timing of the arithmetic processing, executing the clock processing when the clock signal HRMC is received, and restarting the arithmetic processing again. In this regard, FIG.
This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 together with FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a sensor calculation process in a conventional example. First, as a premise, in this conventional example, the sensor calculation processing is divided into S0, S1, S2, and S3, which are well-divided blocks. However, each block is only divided by the degree of delimitation, and has nothing to do with the generation interval of the clock signal MC. The processing MC is interposed between the blocks and at the end of S3.

The processing MC is a subroutine for checking whether or not the clock signal HRMC has been generated, and executing the corresponding processing when the clock signal HRMC has been generated. Specifically, first, a 0.5 second counter in the RAM 6 is incremented. The 0.5 second counter is binary, and is set so that a time of 0 is a second. If the result of the counting is the second, the motor drive command CM is output, and at the same time, the increment to the second or more is executed, and the timekeeping process is performed.

From the HALT state, the sensor drive end signal H
When HR is performed by the RSE, the CPU 4 executes a process S0. After the execution of S0 is completed, the process MC is executed. Here, since the clock signal MC has already been generated, the processing MC increments the 0.5 second counter after clearing the HRMC. However, since it is not the second, the process MC ends here.

Next, after executing the processing MC, the processing S1 is executed and the processing MC is executed again. At this time, the clock signal HRM
Since C has not occurred, the processing MC ends without doing anything.

Further, after the execution of the processing MC, the processing S2 is executed, and the processing MC is executed again. At this time, the clock signal HR
Since MC has occurred, the processing MC increments the 0.5 second counter after clearing HRMC. Since this time corresponds to the second, the motor drive command CM is output, and at the same time, the increment to the second or more is executed, and the timekeeping process is performed. After that, the processing S3 and the processing MC are executed, HALT is performed, and the arithmetic processing ends.

As described above, it is possible to avoid a delay in timekeeping by appropriately dividing the arithmetic processing and interposing the processing MC for monitoring the timekeeping signal therebetween. However, as described above, since the break of the arithmetic processing is not synchronized with the generation interval of the clock signal MC, the processing M is performed immediately after the generation of the clock signal HRMC.
Since C cannot cope, there is a slight delay in timing. For this reason, the update timing of the time display varies,
The bad effect that the appearance is not good occurs.

When checking the timing accuracy, it is common to pick up a leakage magnetic field from the motor 11 in analog quartz or combination quartz. However, as described above, there is a variation in motor driving during sensor driving.
Inspection becomes impossible. For functions that do not normally operate the sensor, such as altimeters and depth gauges, measurement can be performed without the sensor being driven.However, for functions that require constant sensor driving, such as temperature compensation for crystal oscillators, avoid this. Can not.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to prevent a time variation from occurring even in a timepiece for performing a long-time arithmetic processing without adding special hardware. It is the purpose.

[0021]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a crystal oscillation circuit, frequency dividing means for dividing a reference signal from the crystal oscillation circuit, a sensor, and a microcomputer. Then, the microcomputer receives the data signal from the sensor, performs arithmetic processing and outputs necessary information, and in an electronic timepiece that counts a time signal output from the timekeeping unit for each minimum time unit and performs timekeeping, The microcomputer divides the arithmetic processing into units ending in a time within the minimum unit of timekeeping, and executes each divided processing in synchronization with the timekeeping signal.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the block diagram is the same as that of the conventional example, and the description is omitted. FIG. 1C is a time chart illustrating the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a calculation process according to the present invention. Note that, also in the present invention, the clock signal HRMC is generated every 0.5 seconds.
The arithmetic processing for the sensor in the timepiece of the present invention is about 1.5 seconds. Therefore, three clock signals HRMC are generated during the arithmetic processing. This arithmetic processing is summarized into blocks of 0.5 second or less, and each of them is SF0, SF1, SF2,
Called SF3.

The processing up to the end of driving the sensor is the same as in the conventional example. Upon receiving the sensor drive end signal HRSE,
U4 performs the arithmetic processing SF0. SF0 is set shorter than other divided arithmetic processes in consideration of the sensor drive time, and is terminated before the next clock signal HRMC is generated. After the execution of SF0, the flag F1 indicating the process to be executed next is set on the RAM 6, and the RAM 6 enters the HALT state.

When HR is made by the clock signal HRMC, the CPU
4 carries out processing MC. Clock signal H in HALT state
Since the RMC occurs, the processing MC can reliably execute the time counting processing and the hand movement processing including the increment of the 0.5 counter. Therefore, timekeeping processing can be performed without delay from generation of the timekeeping signal HRMC. At this timing, since the time is not the second, the processing is terminated only by the count of the 0.5 second counter.

After completing the processing MC, the CPU 4 checks the internal flag. Since F1 is set as a result of the investigation, the CP
U4 executes the arithmetic processing SF1, resets F1 and sets F2 after the execution is completed, and enters the HALT state. At this time,
Since the arithmetic processing does not exceed 0.5 seconds, the CPU 4 maintains the HALT state until the next clock signal HRMC is generated.

Similarly, when HR is performed by the clock signal HRMC,
The CPU 4 performs a process MC. Since the clock signal HRMC is also generated in the HALT state this time, the processing MC is 0.5
Timing processing and hand movement processing, including incrementing the counter, are reliably executed. Since this time is the second, the clocking process is executed simultaneously with the execution of the motor drive command CM. Also at this time, since the clock signal HRMC is generated in the HALT state, the processing MC is executed immediately after the generation of the clock signal MC, so that the hand movement is performed without largely deviating from the clock signal MC. After processing MC, the internal flag is checked and
Since 2 has been set, the arithmetic processing SF2 is executed,
After the execution of SF2, F2 is reset and F3 is set.

The SF3 processing is also executed in the same manner as the processing described above. Since the arithmetic processing to be processed in SF3 ends,
All internal flags are reset, and the next timekeeping signal HRM
The processing related to C is only the timekeeping processing.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the arithmetic processing having a length equal to or longer than the minimum timekeeping unit is divided into several blocks, and each block is operated for each timekeeping processing.
It is now possible to perform timekeeping processing at the time of occurrence of a timekeeping signal without using interrupt processing that is difficult to process in software and that is not provided depending on hardware. As a result, the time display update timing does not vary during the arithmetic processing, and the appearance of the multifunction timepiece can be improved.

Further, since the hand movement timing can always be kept constant during the arithmetic processing, the motor can be operated without setting a special inspection mode even when the sensor is always operated such as temperature compensation of the crystal unit. Inspection of time accuracy by the leakage magnetic field became possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a time chart showing a processing state inside a microcomputer according to an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional example.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention and a conventional example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing state inside a conventional microcomputer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing state inside a microcomputer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Crystal oscillator 2 Crystal oscillator 3 Dividing means 4 CPU 5 ROM 6 RAM 7 Input port 8 Sensor 10 Motor driver 14 Sensor driving means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A crystal oscillation circuit, a frequency dividing means for dividing a reference signal from the crystal oscillation circuit, a sensor, and a microcomputer, wherein the microcomputer receives a data signal from the sensor and performs arithmetic processing. In an electronic timepiece that performs necessary timekeeping while outputting necessary information and counting a timekeeping signal output from the timekeeping means for each timekeeping minimum unit, the microcomputer terminates the arithmetic processing in a time within the timekeeping minimum unit. An electronic timepiece which is divided into units and executes each divided processing in synchronization with a clock signal. 2. An electronic timepiece according to claim 1, further comprising a pointer display means and a pointer display drive means driven by a microcomputer.