JP2002181963A - Radio-wave corrected timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio-wave corrected timepiece of which operation and characteristics and various measurement can be speedily and easily confirmed. SOLUTION: A normal timepiece mode setting means 54 is for performing normal timepiece operation by skipping the radio wave reception performed by a forcible receiving means 52 and the time correction when power-on or resetting operation is done. Consequently, when the operation and characteristics are confirmed when the timepiece is manufactured and shipped, it is not necessary to wait for the forcible reception to the end. Accordingly, the work can speedily be advanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radio-controlled timepiece which receives a standard time radio wave including a time signal and corrects the time based on the time signal. The present invention relates to a device that receives radio waves and corrects time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A radio-controlled timepiece normally receives radio waves by performing automatic reception at a preset time and corrects the time based on a time signal included in the received radio signal to always obtain an accurate time. The time is displayed.

In such a radio-controlled timepiece that corrects the time by receiving radio waves, when the power of a battery or the like is turned on or reset, instead of waiting until the preset time as described above, automatic reception is performed. In order to display the correct time as quickly as possible, the system is configured to automatically perform forced reception for instantaneously receiving radio waves.

[0004]

In this type of radio-controlled timepiece, it takes several minutes at the earliest to receive the radio wave and complete the time correction. The same applies to the forced reception. When the power is turned on or reset for operation confirmation at the time of manufacture or shipment, it takes several minutes until the forced reception operation is started and time correction is completed. During such a reception operation, since the microcomputer for controlling various operations is operating, a larger amount of current flows than in a normal clock operation, and the operation may be different from a normal operation state. Therefore, when it is necessary to measure the values in the normal state, such as the current consumption, the operation of the liquid crystal display, and the operating voltage, the measurement is performed after the forced reception operation is completed, and the measurement is performed in the normal operation state. It was necessary. For this reason, it takes a very long time to measure various values and check the operation, which has been a factor that greatly reduces the work efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and enables the setting to perform a normal clock operation without performing a forced reception operation by external setting, thereby confirming operation and characteristics. Another object of the present invention is to provide a radio-controlled timepiece capable of performing various measurements quickly and easily.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A radio-controlled timepiece according to the present invention is a radio-controlled timepiece which receives a standard time radio wave and corrects the time. Means and a normal clock mode setting means for performing a normal clock operation without performing radio wave reception and time correction by the forcible receiving means in response to external setting.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The radio-controlled timepiece of the present invention is provided with a normal timepiece mode setting means. The normal clock mode setting means skips radio wave reception and time correction performed by the forced reception means when the power is turned on or a reset operation is performed, and immediately performs a normal clock operation. In order to prevent forced reception at the time of turning on the power in this way, it is limited to special cases such as at the time of manufacturing and shipping. I have. That is, an external operation means such as a test button is provided, and the setting is made so that the forced reception is not performed in response to the operation or a combination operation thereof. With this configuration, when confirming the operation and measuring the characteristics at the time of manufacturing and shipping, it is possible to proceed quickly without waiting until the forced reception ends.

[0008]

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

First, the circuit configuration of the radio-controlled timepiece will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the radio-controlled timepiece according to the present embodiment is provided with various circuits and mechanisms, such as a receiving unit, a pointer driving and correcting unit, around a control circuit 2 composed of a microcomputer. The set function and the function of each circuit and the like interact with each other to automatically receive a radio signal and to detect and correct the pointer position. That is, as a receiving unit for receiving a radio wave, a receiving circuit 6 for converting a radio wave signal received by the antenna 4 into an electric signal, and sampling the electric signal with a 32 Hz signal from a timer circuit described later to read time information. A decoding circuit 8 which converts the signal into a code signal and supplies it to the control circuit 2; and a timer circuit 10 which counts a reception time and stops automatic reception if the decoding circuit 8 cannot read a series of time information within a predetermined time. And a time counter 1 that counts the time and outputs the time for automatic reception, etc.
2 are provided.

The hour hand / minute correction button 14 for manual time correction and the reception button 16 for forced reception, a motor drive circuit 18, and a second hand wheel provided in the movement 20 are provided as the hands driving and correcting unit. A second hand motor 22 for driving the train, an hour / minute hand motor 24 for driving the hour and minute hand wheel trains, and a photo sensor 26 for detecting a pointer position from the state of the wheel train are provided.

Further, a test button 28 is provided which is used for confirming the operation at the time of manufacturing and shipping and measuring the characteristics of each part. By operating the test button 28, a normal clock operation can be started when the power is turned on or reset, without performing a forced reception operation of automatically performing radio wave reception and correcting the time.

In addition, a light / dark sensor 36 for detecting light / dark, which comprises a CdS 32 and a transistor 34 for driving the CdS 32,
A reception state display device 38 including an LED and a transistor for driving the LED, a melody circuit 30 and a speaker 31 are provided. The reception status display device 38 blinks once every two seconds according to a signal from the control circuit 2 when radio waves are normally received, and turns off when radio waves cannot be received or during correction. It has become. Also,
The melody circuit 30 stores a melody and the like necessary for reporting, and drives the speaker 31 based on a signal output from the control circuit 2 when the brightness sensor 36 detects a bright state. It's time to do it.

Next, a functional configuration of a main part of the radio-controlled timepiece having the above circuit configuration will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 40 denotes a reference signal generating means, which includes an oscillator 42 connected to the control circuit 2 and one function of the control circuit 2 and divides a signal from the oscillator 42 to supply a pulse signal of a predetermined frequency as a reference signal. And pulse generating means 44 for performing the operation.

Numeral 45 is a reception correcting means for receiving a radio signal and correcting the time, and includes a receiving means 46 and a correction control means 48.
have. The receiving means 46 includes one function of the receiving circuit 6, the decoding circuit 8, the timer circuit 10, the time counter 12, and the control circuit 2. By the function of the receiving means 46, a radio signal is received and time information is read. The correction control means 48 has the function of the control circuit 2. This correction control means 48
Determines whether or not a detection signal from the photo sensor 26, which will be described in detail later, matches a pattern indicating a preset time, and based on the time information obtained by the receiving means 46 by receiving the radio wave. The difference between the current time and the time when the hands reach the set time is calculated, and the difference is calculated. Based on the calculated difference, the output of the correction driving pulse is instructed to the driving pulse control means for driving the hands to be described later. Is what you do.

Reference numeral 50 denotes an automatic receiving means, which comprises one function of the control circuit 2. This automatic receiving means 50
A plurality of preset times (12, 1, 1 in this embodiment)
(2, 3, 4, 8 o'clock, etc.) to make the reception correction means 45 perform reception and time correction.

Reference numeral 52 denotes a forced receiving means, which comprises one function of the control circuit 2 and causes the reception correcting means 45 to perform reception and time correction when the power of a battery or the like is turned on or reset. In this embodiment, forcible reception is performed even when the reception button 16 is operated.

Reference numeral 54 denotes a normal clock mode setting means, which has one function of the control circuit 2 and sets a normal clock mode in which a normal clock operation is performed without performing forced reception when the power is turned on. This normal clock mode setting means 54
Is set to a normal timepiece mode in response to an external setting, and in this embodiment, it operates in response to the operation of the test button 28.

Reference numeral 56 denotes second hand driving means for driving the second hand.
Reference numeral denotes an hour / minute hand driving means for driving the hour hand and the minute hand, and includes a motor drive circuit 18, a second hand motor 22, an hour / minute hand motor 24, and one function of the wheel train and the control circuit 2, which will be described in detail later. The second hand driving means 56 includes a driving pulse control means 60 for controlling the output of the first driving pulse for driving the second hand, and the supply of the correction pulse at the time of stopping and correcting, and the first driving pulse from the driving pulse control means 60. And a second hand drive mechanism 62 that operates to drive the second hand. The hour / minute hand driving means 58 includes a driving pulse control means 64 for controlling output of a second driving pulse for driving the hour hand and the minute hand and supply of a correction pulse at the time of correction, and a second driving pulse control means 64 And an hour / minute hand drive mechanism 66 which is driven by the drive pulse of the second hand to drive the hour hand and minute hand.

The second hand driving mechanism 62 and the hour / minute hand driving mechanism 66 are configured as follows, as in JP-A-2000-162335. As shown in FIG. 3, the second hand driving mechanism 62 includes a first stepping motor 68 as a first driving source, and a first fifth wheel & pinion 70 in which a large-diameter gear 70a meshes with a rotor pinion 68a.
And a second hand wheel 72 meshed with the small-diameter gear 70b of the first fifth wheel & pinion 70. As shown in FIG. 3, the hour / minute hand driving mechanism 66 includes a second stepping motor 74 as a second driving source and a second fifth wheel & pinion 76 in which a large-diameter gear 76a meshes with a rotor pinion 74a.
A third wheel 78 in which a large-diameter gear 78a meshes with a small-diameter gear 76b of the second fifth wheel & pinion 76;
The minute wheel 82 of the minute wheel 80b of the minute wheel 80 meshes with the large diameter gear 82a, and the small gear 8 of the minute wheel 82 of this day
An hour wheel 84 meshes with 2b.

The photo sensor 26 outputs a detection signal having a pattern indicating a pointer position based on the operation of the gears in the second hand drive mechanism 62 and the hour / minute hand drive mechanism 66 having the above-described configuration. This photo sensor 26 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the light emitting device includes a light emitting element 26a attached to the upper case 3 and the like, and a light receiving element 26b attached to the lower case 1 and the like so as to face the light emitting element 26a. As shown in FIG. 3, the photo sensor 26 is arranged at a position where the first fifth wheel 70, the second wheel 72, the third wheel 78, the minute wheel 80, and the hour wheel 84 all overlap at the same time. . Then, the through holes 70c of the first fifth wheel & pinion 70, 3
When the through-hole 78c of the center wheel 78, the through-hole 72c of the second hand wheel 72, the through-hole 80c of the minute hand wheel 80, and the through-hole 84c of the hour wheel 84 overlap each other, the detection light emitted from the light emitting element 26a receives the light receiving element 26b. And the detection light is interrupted by the movement of the through-hole due to the rotation of each gear.
8 is output.

Reference numeral 90 denotes a time measuring means for measuring time and the like.
It includes one function of the time counter 12 and the control circuit 2. The clock 90 is constantly updated to the correct time based on the received time information.

Reference numeral 86 denotes a time notifying means, and the melody circuit 30
, The speaker 31 and one function of the control circuit 2. The notifying unit 86 performs a notifying operation when the hour is reached while the light / dark sensor 36 is detecting a bright state.

Reference numeral 91 denotes display means, which has a display section 92 and a display drive means 94. The display unit 92 is a digital display unit provided in addition to the time display unit using hands. The display unit 92 displays calendar information such as the time, date, and day of the week sent from the clock unit 90. The display drive unit 94 drives the display unit 92, and is constituted by one function of the control circuit 2. The display driving means 94 in the present embodiment drives the display unit 92 based on the display contents set in advance when the normal clock mode is set, and displays the display.

Next, the operation of the radio-controlled timepiece with an illumination function having the above-described functional configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, when the power is turned on by battery replacement or a reset start is performed (step ST1), the microcomputer performs an initial setting (step ST2), and determines whether predetermined external settings such as the test button 28 have been performed. Or normal clock mode means 5
The determination is made in step 4 (step ST3).

If the predetermined external setting has not been made, the forced reception is started by the forced reception means 52, and the reception means 46 receives the radio signal (step ST).
4). Then, the correction control means 46 or the like operates the hour / minute correction button 1
4 (FIG. 2) is determined to be operated (step ST5),
If no operation has been performed, the receiving means 46 measures the reception time and determines whether or not reception was possible within a predetermined time (step ST).
6) If it is within the time, the correction control means 48 detects the pointer position based on the signal from the photo sensor 26 (step ST7), and controls the hour / minute hand driving means 58 and the like based on the time information based on the forcibly received radio signal. The fast forward is corrected (step ST8). If the hour / minute correction button 14 is operated or the reception is not completed within a fixed time, only the pointer position is detected by the correction control means 48 (step ST).
9) When the user operates the hour / minute correction button 14, the hour / minute hand driving means 58 is operated to perform the manual adjustment. Thereafter, the receiving state is set in the receiving means or the like depending on whether or not the receiving has been successful (step ST1)
0).

After the time is corrected by the above-described forced reception operation, the normal clock operation starts. That is, the time is measured by the time counting means 90, and the time counter 12 is added every minute by determining whether it is the first second (steps ST11 and ST12). Then, the time code based on the content of the time measurement is output from the time measurement means 90 (step ST13). Here, the timing unit 86 determines whether the light / dark sensor 36 has detected a light state (step ST14).
When the hour signal is output from the timer 90 in the bright state, the time starts (step ST15). Also, a driving pulse for driving the second hand is output (step ST16), the second hand driving means 56 drives the second hand every one second, and the hour / minute hand driving means 58 performs the normal hand operation of driving the hour / minute hand every 10 seconds. Start (step ST17).

Thereafter, the reception state display device 38 (FIG. 2) is turned on or off based on the set reception state (step ST18), and the light / dark sensor 36 is periodically driven to perform a detection operation (step ST19). ). afterwards,
It is determined whether or not the hour / minute correction button 14 has been operated at regular intervals (for example, every second) (step ST20). If not, an automatic reception operation is performed. That is, the times 12, 1, 2, 3, and 3 preset by the automatic receiving means 50
One of four hours, eight o'clock, etc. is determined (step ST21). If it is not any time, the process returns to step ST11 to perform a normal operation. Automatic reception is performed (step ST2)
2). Then, the reception state is set, and whether or not the reception has been performed is displayed (step ST23). After that, the normal clock operation is performed again. Step ST20
If the hour / minute correction button 14 is operated at, the button correction operation is performed (step ST24), and the reception operation is set (step ST23).

The above operation is performed by operating the test button 28 or the like.
This is the case where the predetermined external setting is not performed, and when the operation of the test button 28 is performed, the normal clock mode setting means 54 sets the normal clock mode. That is, it is determined in step ST3 that the predetermined external setting has been made, and the correction operation by forced reception (steps ST4 to ST1) is performed.
0) is skipped, and the timing means 90 performs timing.
By judging whether it is the second or not, the time counter 12
Are added (steps ST11 and ST12). And
As described above, the necessary operation is performed at the time of reporting by the reporting unit 86 (steps ST13 to ST15).
6 and the hour / minute hand driving means 58 are driven (step ST1).
6, ST17).

As described above, if all the correction operations (steps ST4 to ST10) due to the forced reception are skipped, it is possible to immediately confirm the operation in the normal hand operation and measure the characteristics of each part without waiting for the time required for this operation. It becomes possible.

In this embodiment, in order to confirm the operation of the display means 91, it is determined whether or not there is an external setting in step ST3.
A calendar display is displayed on the display means 91 based on preset data so that the operation can be confirmed (step ST25).

In this embodiment, the test button 28 is provided. However, the test button 28 may be arranged inside the watch, or only the terminal may be provided without such a test button, or the correction button may be provided. It is preferable that a special combination operation of a plurality of switches is required so that a general user cannot operate it.

[0032]

According to the present invention, by setting externally, normal clock operation can be performed without performing forced reception operation, so that operation and characteristics can be confirmed and various measurements can be performed promptly. Can be done easily

Even before the radio-controlled timepiece is completed, that is, in a state where radio waves cannot be received, such as a circuit board, it is possible to confirm the operation and perform quality control before the assembly. Product quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a schematic circuit configuration of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a pointer driving mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG. 1;

5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Control circuit 6 Receiving circuit 8 Decoding circuit 10 Timer circuit 12 Time counter 14 Hour / minute correction button 16 Receive button 18 Motor drive circuit 22 Second hand motor 24 Hour / minute hand motor 26 Photosensor 28 Test button 40 Reference signal generation means 45 Reception correction Means 46 Receiving means 48 Correction control means 50 Automatic receiving means 52 Forced receiving means 54 Normal clock mode setting means 56 Second hand driving means 58 Hour / minute hand driving means 90 Clocking means 91 Display means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A radio-controlled timepiece which receives a standard time radio wave to correct the time, comprising: a forced reception means for forcibly receiving a radio wave at least when the power is turned on to correct the time; A radio-controlled timepiece comprising: a normal clock mode setting means for performing a normal clock operation without performing radio wave reception and time correction by a receiving means.