JP2002372592A - Radio controlled clock and its receiving state confirmation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a radio controlled clock capable of instantaneously grasping the goodness/badness of a receiving state and environment and to provide its receiving state confirmation method. SOLUTION: Receiving result of a radio wave signal is stored in a storage means 6 by relating it to a receiving time. A display drive means 10 is controlled by a control means 4 and displays the receiving result and receiving time related information on a display 8. The receiving result and its receiving time related information are thus displayed on the display 8 displaying the time so that the goodness/badness of the receiving environment can be easily determined by taking account of circumferential states, etc., performing the receiving action.

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 corrects and displays time by receiving a standard radio signal including time information, and more particularly to a digital display type radio wave used in automobiles and the like. The present invention relates to a clock and a method for checking a reception state thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A radio-controlled timepiece corrects and displays an accurate time by receiving a radio signal. If it is not possible to confirm whether or not reception has been performed reliably, the displayed time is displayed. Cannot be determined to be accurate.
Therefore, conventionally, in a radio-controlled timepiece, a reception mark imitating a radio wave tower is provided in a liquid crystal display device, or a light-emitting display including an LED is provided, and when reception is successful, the reception mark is turned on or the light-emitting display is performed at regular intervals. It blinked to indicate that the reception was successful.

[0003]

Generally, a radio controlled watch has one
The receiving operation is performed several to several tens of times a day to receive a radio signal, and the time is corrected based on the received time information.
Even if the reception is performed many times as described above, in the above-described conventional technology, if the reception was successful once or more within 24 hours, it indicates that the reception was successful. It was not possible to confirm whether the reception was successful in the receiving operation.

As described above, conventionally, it was not possible to confirm at what time the reception operation was successful or how many times the reception was successful within 24 hours. It was not possible to determine whether the reception environment around the clock was appropriate or inappropriate, such as the generation of noise. In particular, in a reception environment in which reception can be performed only once within 24 hours, it is likely to be impossible to receive even once in 24 hours due to generation of noise, which is inappropriate as a reception environment. Conventionally, it was displayed that the reception was successful, so that it was never known that the reception environment was inappropriate.

[0005] Also, if the display indicates that reception has failed during manufacturing, sales, repair, inspection, etc., it may be that the reception failed due to ambient noise or the like.
It was not possible to immediately judge whether the location was bad and reception was not always possible, or there was a problem with the watch, and it took a very long time to confirm this.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and displays reception time information such as the reception time and the time from the current time to the reception time together with the reception state. An object of the present invention is to provide a radio-controlled timepiece capable of immediately grasping the state and the quality of a reception environment, and a method of confirming the reception state thereof.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A radio clock according to the present invention is a radio clock which receives a radio signal including time information and digitally displays the time on a display device. Storage means for storing the reception result of the radio signal by the means in association with the reception time, display drive means for driving the display device to display the time and the reception result, and the storage means for controlling the display drive means And control means for causing the display device to display the reception result read from the display device in association with the reception time. Further, the display device in the radio timepiece has an hour display section and a minute display section for displaying hour and minute digits of time, respectively, and displays a reception result on one of the hour display section and the minute display section. On the other hand, the reception time related information is displayed. Further, the radio timepiece has an external operation member, the external operation member includes a plurality of switches, and when the plurality of switches are simultaneously turned on, a reception result is displayed on the display device. I have.

[0008] A method for confirming a reception state of a radio timepiece according to the present invention relates to a radio timepiece which receives a radio signal including time information and digitally displays the time on a display device, and associates a reception result of the radio signal with a reception time. And displays the reception result and the reception time related information stored in the display device. The reception results in the method for recognizing the reception state of a radio-controlled timepiece are sequentially displayed based on the reception time-related information.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In a radio timepiece according to the present invention, a reception result indicating whether a reception operation has been performed and a radio signal has been successfully received and a reception time or a current time when the reception operation has been performed are described. Reception time related information such as the time until the reception time is stored for each reception operation. In this radio timepiece, the stored reception result and the reception time related information are sequentially displayed on a display device that displays the time.

The reception of such a radio signal is performed by the receiving means, and the result of the reception is stored in the storage means in association with the reception time. The display device for displaying the time and the reception result is driven by the display driving unit, and the control unit controls the display driving unit to display the reception result and the reception time related information.

As described above, since the reception result and the reception time related information are displayed on the display device for displaying the time, the quality of the reception environment is determined in consideration of the surrounding situation when the reception operation is performed. It is possible to easily determine. Further, by displaying the reception result and the reception time related information on the hour display section and the minute display section of the display device, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated display section for displaying the reception result and the like. Furthermore, by using existing switches such as a time adjustment switch, a forced reception switch, and an engine key of a vehicle, and turning on some of them at the same time to switch the display from the time to the reception result, the display can be switched. It is not necessary to provide a dedicated switch for the operation.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a radio timepiece according to one embodiment of the present invention. The main part of the radio-controlled timepiece in the present embodiment is configured by a combination of a microcomputer and an electronic circuit.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a receiving means, which comprises a long-wave receiving circuit or the like. The receiving means 2 receives a standard radio signal including time information.

Reference numeral 4 denotes control means, which comprises a microcomputer or the like. The control unit 4 corrects the time based on the received time information, and stores the reception result in a storage unit described later in association with the reception time. The operation of receiving a radio signal is automatically performed several times at a preset time, automatically received 24 times a day, forcibly received by a user operating a button, or used in an automobile radio timepiece. It is set to receive when the engine key is turned off so as not to be affected by noise of the engine or the like, and the control of this receiving operation is also performed by the control means 4. In this embodiment, a case where the receiving operation is performed at every hour will be described as an example.

Reference numeral 6 denotes storage means, which comprises a RAM or the like.
The reception result from the control means 4 is stored in association with the reception time. This storage means 6 contains FIG.
As shown in the figure, 24 storage areas A0 corresponding to the hour
0 to A23 are provided. Each storage area A00-A
23 stores a reception result in a reception operation performed every hour from 00 to 23:00. In this embodiment, since the storage unit 6 is set to store the reception results for 24 times, after storing the reception results for 24 times, the contents are overwritten for each storage area corresponding to the reception time. Go being.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a display device, which in this embodiment performs digital display using a liquid crystal display device or a fluorescent display tube. As shown in FIG. 3, the display device 8 includes an hour display section 8a and a minute display section 8b for displaying the hour and minute digits of the time, respectively, and the hour display section 8a and the minute display section 8b. Is provided with a colon display section 8c disposed therebetween.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a display driving means, which comprises one function of a microcomputer and a driving circuit. The display driving means 10 includes an hour display section 8a and a minute display section 8b of the display device 8.
Is driven based on a signal from the control means 4 to display an accurate time based on the received time information and to display a reception result and a reception time.

In this embodiment, when the display driving means 10 displays the reception result and the reception time on the display device 8 by the signal from the control means 4, the reception result is displayed on the hour display section 8a, and the reception is performed. The displayed time is displayed on the minute display section 8b. That is, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, "B" is turned on using four segments S0 arranged in a "B" shape below the temporary digit of the hour display portion 8a. Is set to indicate that the reception was successful, and to indicate that the reception was unsuccessful by lighting "-" using one segment S1 in the horizontal direction of the segment S0. In addition, the minute display section 8b displays the reception time at which the reception was performed at “08”.
(Indicating 8 o'clock) and "13" (indicating 13:00).

As described above, the reception result of the reception operation performed every hour is stored in the storage means 6 in correspondence with the time.
As shown in FIG. 5, the control means 4 sequentially and cyclically displays the reception result and the reception time on the hour display section 8a and the minute display section 8b to display all the stored contents. Control.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a reception button as an external operation member. The reception button 12 is for forcibly causing the control means 4 to perform a reception operation regardless of the reception time. In addition, as the external operation member, a correction switch or the like for manually correcting the time may be provided. In the present embodiment, the engine key is set as an external operation member for displaying the time and the like on the display device 8.

Next, the operation of the radio timepiece having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, a display processing operation for displaying the current time, the reception result, and the reception time on the display device 8 will be described. In FIG. 6, when the processing operation is started in step ST1, the control means 4 determines whether or not the ACC output of the engine key is turned on in step ST2, and receives in step ST3 that the ACC output is on. It is determined whether or not the button 12 has been turned on. Here the receive button 12
If is not turned on, the control means 4 controls the display drive means 10 to display the current time on the display device 8 to display the current time on the display device 8 in step ST4. Then, while continuing such time display processing, it is determined in step ST5 whether or not the ACC output of the engine key is on. If the ACC output is off, the process returns to step ST2 and ends the time display mode.

On the other hand, when the two switches are simultaneously turned on such that the reception button 12 is simultaneously turned on when the engine key is turned on, the control means 4 turns off the ACC output of the engine key in step ST2. It is determined that there is, and it is determined in step ST3 that the reception button 12 is also turned on. Thus, in step ST6, the control unit 4 reads the reception result and the reception time from the storage unit 6 to display the reception result and the reception time on the display device 8, and controls the display driving unit 10 to display the reception result and the reception time. Display the reception result and reception time. As shown in FIG. 5, the display at this time is to sequentially display the reception result and the reception time by the reception operation performed every hour within 24 hours on the display device 8 within 24 hours. Then, while continuing such display processing of the reception result, it is determined in step ST7 whether or not the ACC output of the engine key is in the on state. When the ACC output is in the off state, the process returns to step ST2 to end the reception result display mode. I do. Thus, when the engine key and the reception button 12 are simultaneously turned on, the reception result and the reception time are displayed on the display device 8.

Next, the operation of receiving and storing the reception result will be described. In FIG. 7, when the processing operation starts in step ST8, it is determined in step ST9 whether the reception button 12 has been turned on. When the receiving button 12 is turned on, the control unit 4 starts forced reception in step ST10, and corrects and displays the time based on the signal received by the receiving unit 2. On the other hand, if the receiving button 12 has not been turned on, the process proceeds to step ST11.
, It is determined whether or not it is the hour. If it is not the hour, a time counting process in which the counting of the time counted by the control means 4 proceeds as it is in step ST12. In the case of the hour, the receiving means 2 receives the radio signal in step ST13, and receives a series of time information such as time and calendar in step ST14 to determine whether the reception is completed. Step ST15 until reception is completed here
The control means 4 counts the time and the time keeping process is continued.
When the reception is completed, it is determined in step ST16 whether the reception was successful.

Whether or not the reception has been successful is determined by whether or not the control means 4 has detected a marker or specific information included in the received time information,
If all the time information cannot be read even after a certain period of time, such as 10 minutes, it is determined that reception has failed. If it is determined in step ST16 that the reception was successful, the reception result of the successful reception is stored in the storage unit 6 in the storage area corresponding to the reception time in the storage unit 6 in step ST17. And
The time is corrected based on the time information received in step ST18. On the other hand, if it is determined in step ST16 that the reception has failed, in step ST19, the reception result of the reception failure is stored in the storage area corresponding to the reception time in the storage means 6, and the time is returned from step ST9 without correcting the time. A receiving process is performed.

As described above, the reception operation is performed at every hour, and the reception result is stored in the storage areas A 00 to A
23 is stored in correspondence with the reception time, and the reception result and the reception time are sequentially displayed on the display device 8 by the display processing operation described above.

In the above embodiment, the reception time is displayed on the display device 8 together with the reception result as shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, but instead of the reception time, the current time to the reception time are displayed. May be changed to display the time. In this way, it is possible to grasp at a glance how many hours ago the reception was successful.

In the above embodiment, the storage means 6
As shown in FIG. 2, the result of the reception operation performed every hour
It is set to store four (for one day). For example, by storing forty-eight (for two days),
Eight reception results and reception times may be set to be displayed cyclically. At this time, in order to distinguish between the reception result and the reception time from the current time to 24 hours before or the reception result and the reception time from 24 hours to 48 hours before, as shown in FIG. When the two points of the colon are turned on using the colon display section 8c of FIG. 8 (FIG. 8A), the reception result and the reception time from 24 hours to 48 hours ago, one of the two points of the colon When (for example, the lower side) is turned on (FIG. 8B), the display is distinguished as indicating the reception result and the reception time from the current time to 24 hours before.

Further, in the above embodiment, when both the engine key and the reception button 12 are turned on, the reception result is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to these switches. This may be the case where both the time adjustment switch and the like and the reception button 12 are turned on.

[0029]

According to the present invention, the reception result can be stored in association with the reception time and the reception result and the reception time-related information can be displayed, so that the quality of the surrounding reception environment can be immediately grasped. Can be. For this reason, the cause of the reception failure can be immediately determined not only at the time of selecting the setting place, but also at the time of manufacture, repair, inspection and the like.

Further, since the reception result and the reception time related information are displayed using the hour display section and the minute display section of the display device for displaying the time, the function can be performed without changing the display device of the ordinary clock. Can be added.

Further, since the time display is switched to the reception result display by simultaneously turning on a plurality of switches, the reception result can be displayed without providing a switch for switching the display mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a storage area of a storage unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the display device shown in FIG.

4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a reception result and a reception time using an hour display unit and a minute display unit of the display device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a reception result and a reception time displayed on the display device shown in FIG. 3;

6 is a flowchart showing a display processing operation of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the reception and reception result storing operation of the radio-controlled timepiece shown in FIG. 1;

8 is a diagram showing the reception result and the reception time between the current time and 24 hours before using the colon display part of the display device shown in FIG.
It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display which distinguishes the reception result and reception time from 4 hours ago to 48 hours ago.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Receiving means 4 Control means 6 Storage means 8 Display device 10 Display driving means 12 Receive button

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A radio-controlled timepiece which receives a radio signal including time information and digitally displays the time on a display device, comprising: a receiving unit for receiving the radio signal; Storage means for associating and storing; display driving means for driving the display device to display a time and a reception result, respectively; and controlling the display driving means to associate the reception result read from the storage means with the reception time. Control means for displaying on the display device, a radio controlled timepiece. 2. The display device has an hour display section and a minute display section for displaying an hour digit and a minute digit of time, respectively, and displays a reception result on one of the hour display section and the minute display section and the other on the other. 2. The radio-controlled timepiece according to claim 1, wherein the reception time-related information is displayed on the display. 3. An external operating member comprising a plurality of switches, and when the plurality of switches are simultaneously turned on, a reception result is displayed on the display device. Item 1. The radio controlled clock according to item 1 or 2. 4. A radio timepiece that receives a radio signal including time information and digitally displays the time on a display device, wherein the reception result of the radio signal is stored in association with the reception time, and the reception result stored in the display device is provided. And receiving time related information of the radio clock. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the reception results are sequentially displayed based on the reception time related information.