JP2016145801A - Electronic timepiece, electronic timepiece system, and method of controlling electronic timepiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic timepiece capable of operating hands with rich expression while facilitating the setting of operation control, an electronic timepiece system, and a method of controlling an electronic timepiece.SOLUTION: Hands 34, 36, and 38 are rotation-driven along a display plate. Driving portions drive the hands 34, 36, and 38. An obtaining portion 48 obtains commands for controlling the hands 34, 36, and 38 regardless of time. A control portion outputs control signals for controlling the driving portions, on the basis of the commands obtained by the obtaining portion 48.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece, an electronic timepiece system, and an electronic timepiece control method.

  Conventionally, an analog electronic timepiece mounted on a portable electronic device is known (for example, cited reference 1). When the power source of the portable electronic device has a voltage sufficient for operation, the analog electronic timepiece controls the hands based on a signal for moving the hands transmitted by the portable electronic device. On the other hand, in the case of a power supply voltage at which the portable electronic device cannot operate, control of moving the hands of the analog electronic timepiece is performed by the own device. As a result, the analog electronic timepiece continues without stopping the time-keeping operation.

JP 2010-271239 A

However, in an analog electronic timepiece mounted on a conventional portable electronic device, in order to control the movement of the hands such as the minute hand and the hour hand, the load of the hands and the train wheel and the characteristics of the motor serving as the driving source are taken into consideration. Setting is necessary, and setting of complicated hand movement control has not been easy.
The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an electronic timepiece, an electronic timepiece system, and an electronic timepiece control method capable of operating hands in an expressive manner while facilitating setting of hand movement control. One of the purposes is to provide.

  In order to solve the above problems, an electronic timepiece according to the present invention obtains a hand that is rotationally driven along a display plate, a drive unit that drives the hand, and a command for controlling the hand regardless of time. And a control unit that outputs a control signal for controlling the drive unit based on the command acquired by the acquisition unit. According to the present invention, the needle can be operated in an expressive manner.

  The electronic timepiece of the invention includes a hand that is rotationally driven along a display plate, a drive unit that drives the hand, an acquisition unit that acquires a command for controlling the hand regardless of time, and the acquisition And a control unit that outputs a control signal for controlling the drive unit based on a command acquired by the unit.

  In the electronic timepiece of the invention, the driving unit is a stepping motor that operates based on a pulse, and includes a storage unit that holds a correspondence relationship between the command and a physical quantity corresponding to a control item of the stepping motor, and the control unit Can refer to the correspondence relationship held by the storage unit using the command acquired by the acquisition unit and control the stepping motor based on the obtained physical quantity.

  In the electronic timepiece of the invention, the control items may include items related to the hands to be controlled, the number of steps of the stepping motor according to the target driving angle of the hands, the rotation direction of the hands, and the rotation speed of the hands. .

  The electronic timepiece of the present invention includes a hand position detection unit that can detect the current angle of the hand by detecting the position of the hand, and the physical quantity corresponding to the control item compares the drive target angle with the current angle. A physical quantity based on the difference can be included.

  In the electronic timepiece of the invention, the acquisition unit can acquire at least one of a first command and a second command as the command, and the storage unit has a first command corresponding to the first command as the correspondence relationship. One motor control setting table and a second motor control setting table corresponding to the second command can be stored at least.

In the electronic timepiece of the invention, the correspondence relationship may be configured by the physical quantity set as a value capable of performing a function including notification of mail reception and a countdown timer.
The electronic timepiece of the present invention acquires information indicating a correspondence relationship, and the control unit can cause the storage unit to hold information indicating the correspondence relationship acquired by the acquisition unit.

  An electronic timepiece system of the present invention can include the above-described electronic timepiece, and a communication unit that can communicate with the acquisition unit and can transmit and receive the command, and can include an electronic device stacked on the electronic timepiece. .

  In the electronic timepiece system of the present invention, the electronic timepiece can transmit a request signal to the electronic device so that the command is transmitted to the acquisition unit.

  In the electronic timepiece system of the invention, the electronic timepiece receives a control completion signal for notifying the completion of the control in accordance with the command in a state where the control of the driving unit based on the control item and the physical quantity corresponding to the command is completed. Can be transmitted to the electronic device.

  In the electronic timepiece system of the present invention, the electronic device may include a power source, and the electronic timepiece may include a power source different from the power source.

  In the electronic timepiece system of the present invention, the electronic device can be mounted on a mounting portion that allows the electronic timepiece to be mounted on a user's arm in a state where the electronic timepieces are stacked.

  The electronic timepiece control method of the present invention obtains a command for controlling the hands that are rotationally driven along the display board regardless of the time, and corresponds to the control items of the command and the drive unit that drives the hands. It is possible to hold a correspondence relationship with a physical quantity, refer to the correspondence relation based on the acquired command, control the drive unit based on the obtained physical quantity, and drive the needle.

  According to the present invention, since the electronic timepiece can control the drive unit based on the acquired command, it is possible to operate the hands in an expressive manner regardless of the simple instruction content from the outside.

1 is a perspective view of an electronic timepiece system 1. FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of an electronic timepiece system 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing executed by the electronic timepiece system 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the electronic timepiece 30. The data structure figure of the electronic timepiece system. The figure which shows an example of a motor control setting table. The figure for demonstrating a mode that a needle | hook is controlled based on a motor control setting table. The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which rotates. The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which opens. The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement gathered in one place. The figure for demonstrating stopwatch operation | movement. The figure for demonstrating countdown timer operation | movement. The figure for demonstrating the operation | movement which becomes time. The external view of 30 A of electronic timepiece units of 2nd Embodiment. The functional block diagram of 30 A of electronic timepiece units of 2nd Embodiment. The sequence diagram which shows the flow of the process performed by the electronic timepiece system 1 in 2nd Embodiment. The figure for demonstrating the case where a command is acquired from an external apparatus etc. FIG. The figure which shows an example of a motor control setting table.

Embodiments of an electronic timepiece, an electronic timepiece system, and an electronic timepiece control method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic timepiece system 1. FIG. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of the electronic timepiece system 1. The electronic timepiece system 1 includes an information unit (electronic device) 10, an electronic timepiece unit (electronic timepiece) 30, and a display unit 80. In the electronic timepiece system 1, for example, the information unit 10, the electronic timepiece unit 30, and the display unit 80 are stacked in this order. The direction in which the layers are stacked is the rotational axis direction of the hour hand 34 to be described later.

  The information unit 10 is a smart watch as an electronic timepiece having, for example, a wireless communication function and capable of installing an application program. Therefore, the information unit 10 takes the form mounted in the wristband (mounting part) 100 with which a user's arm etc. are mounted | worn. Note that the information unit 10 may be integrated into the wristband 100 and configured as one smart watch product. The information unit 10 is an electronic device in which an operating system (OS) for controlling and operating the information unit 10 is installed. The information unit 10 is an electronic device that can install an application program from the outside via the external communication unit 22 and can execute the installed program. The information unit 10 can communicate with other communication devices such as a smartphone that can access the network. The information unit 10 may be an electronic device that can access a base station or a network.

  The information unit 10 includes a power supply unit 12, an oscillation circuit 14, a storage unit 16, a communication unit 18, a display communication unit 20, an external communication unit 22, an information operation unit 24, and an information control unit 25. . The power supply unit 12 is, for example, a storage battery. The power supply unit 12 supplies power for operating the information unit 10 for one day to several days with one charge, for example. The oscillation circuit 14 includes a crystal oscillator, for example. The oscillation circuit 14 outputs a signal for ticking time in the information unit 10 to the information control unit 25. The storage unit 16 stores information based on instructions from the information control unit 25. The storage unit 16 stores an application program installed by a user or an API (Application Programming Interface). The communication unit 18 communicates with the communication unit 48 of the electronic timepiece unit 30. The display communication unit 20 communicates with the display unit 80. The display communication unit 20 performs communication by being connected to the display unit communication unit 82 by wire, for example. The external communication unit 22 communicates with other communication devices such as a smartphone. For example, a communication method based on the Bluetooth (registered trademark) standard can be adopted. The external communication unit 22 has a function of connecting to an access point such as a base station, a wireless LAN, or Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity). The information operation unit 24 outputs a signal based on the operation input by the operator to the information control unit 25.

  The information control unit 25 includes a display control unit 26, a signal control unit 27, and a processing unit 28. The information control unit 25 executes the application program to generate a control signal corresponding to an operation input to a GUI (Graphical User Interface) switch displayed on the information operation unit 24, and sends the generated signal to the electronic timepiece unit 30. Output. The display control unit 26 outputs a signal for controlling the display unit 80 to the display unit 80. The signal control unit 27 outputs a signal for controlling the electronic timepiece unit 30 to the electronic timepiece unit 30. The processing unit 28 controls each unit of the information unit 10.

  The electronic timepiece unit 30 includes a display plate 32, an hour hand 34, a minute hand 36, a second hand 38, a power supply unit 40, an oscillation circuit 42, a storage unit 44, a control switching storage unit 46, an operation unit 47, The communication part 48, the timepiece control part 50, and the hand drive parts 52A-C are provided. Each function unit of the timepiece control unit 50 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) included in the electronic timepiece unit 30 executes a program stored in a program memory. Further, some or all of the functional units of the timepiece control unit 50 may be hardware functional units such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). The storage unit 44 and the control switching storage unit 46 are storage devices such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and a flash memory, for example.

  The display board 32 is a board on which, for example, characters, symbols, numbers, and the like indicating time are displayed. The hour hand 34 indicates the time at the time, for example, and the minute hand 36 indicates the minute at the time, for example. The second hand 38 indicates the second at the time. When the hour hand 34, the minute hand 36, and the second hand 38 are not distinguished, they are simply expressed as “clock hands” or “hands”.

  The power supply unit 40 supplies power for driving each unit of the electronic timepiece unit 30. The power supply unit 40 is, for example, a primary battery or a secondary battery (including a solar battery that generates power using light or the like). In the case of using a primary battery or a secondary battery, the primary battery or the secondary battery can supply, for example, power that can operate the electronic timepiece unit 30 for several days to several years without replacement or charging. Have Even when the voltage of the information unit 10 becomes a predetermined value or less, the electronic timepiece unit 30 can continue to operate by supplying power from the power supply unit 40.

  The oscillation circuit 42 includes, for example, a crystal oscillator. The oscillation circuit 42 outputs the hand movement timing to the timepiece control unit 50. The storage unit 44 stores information based on the control of the timepiece control unit 50. The control switching storage unit 46 stores a hand movement control mode. That is, in the control switching storage unit 46, the clock hands are controlled at the timing transmitted by the oscillation circuit 42 of the electronic clock unit 30, or the clock hands are controlled based on the control signal acquired from the information unit 10. Is remembered. The operation unit 47 is, for example, a crown, and outputs an operation result operated by the user (for example, a rotation operation or a pressing operation) to the timepiece control unit 50.

For example, the communication unit 48 is connected to the communication unit 18 of the information unit 10 by wire and communicates with each other. For example, a communication standard such as a serial interface, I ² C (Inter-Integrated Circuit), or SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) is used for communication. The communication unit 48 may perform wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) with the communication unit 18 of the information unit 10. The communication unit 48 may have a function of communicating with another communication device, a base station, or an access point for accessing the network.

  The timepiece control unit 50 controls each part of the electronic timepiece unit 30. The timepiece control unit 50 updates the time information based on the hand movement timing transmitted from the oscillation circuit 42 and controls the hand driving units 52A to 52C. In addition, the timepiece control unit 50 determines whether the own device controls the clock hands or based on a signal transmitted from another device, and controls the hand drive units 52A to 52C based on the determined mode. Control. Details of the processing executed by the clock control unit 50 will be described later.

  The hand driving units 52A to 52C are driving units that operate the clock hands. The needle drive units 52A to 52C include motor drive circuits 54A to 54C, motors 56A to 56C, wheel needles 58A to 58C, and needle position detection units 60A to 60C, respectively. In the case where the constituent functions included in these units are not distinguished, the notations A to C attached after the reference numerals are omitted. In the present embodiment, the electronic timepiece 30 is described as a configuration including the hand position detection units 60A to 60C. However, the electronic timepiece 30 may not include the hand position detection units 60A to 60C, and among the hand position detection units 60A to 60C. , Any one or two needle position detectors may be provided.

  The motor drive circuit 54 generates a drive pulse for driving the motor 56 based on the signal output from the timepiece control unit 50. The motor 56 rotates based on the drive pulse generated by the motor drive circuit 54. The motor 56 is, for example, a stepping motor that operates in synchronization with a drive pulse. When the stepping motor rotates by a unit angle (180 degrees), the clock hand rotates once through the ring hand 58. This unit angle is one step. The wheel needle 58 is a wheel train (gear assembly) connected to the rotation shaft of the motor 56. In the ring needle 58, each gear is rotated by the rotation of the rotation shaft of the motor 56, and the hour hand 34, the minute hand 36, or the second hand 38 is rotated.

  The hand position detection units 60 </ b> A to 60 </ b> C detect the positions of the hour hand 34, the minute hand 36, and the second hand 38, respectively, and output the detection results to the timepiece control unit 50. The needle position detection unit 60 includes, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The light emitting surface of the light emitting element and the light receiving surface of the light receiving element are arranged so as to face each other with a gear having a position detection hole interposed therebetween. The hand position detection unit 60 detects the position of the clock hand based on the reception of light emitted from the light emitting element by the light receiving element. Further, the hand position detection unit 60 may acquire the drive pulse generated by the motor drive circuit 54 and detect the position of each clock hand based on the acquired drive pulse.

  The display unit 80 includes a display unit communication unit 82, a display unit control unit 84, a display drive unit 86, an operation display unit 88, and an operation detection unit 89. The display unit communication unit 82 can communicate with the display communication unit 20 of the information unit 10. The display unit control unit 84 outputs a display control signal for controlling the display driving unit 86 based on the signal acquired from the display unit communication unit 82. The display drive unit 86 controls the operation display unit 88 based on the display control signal.

  The operation display unit 88 is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Electroluminescence). The operation display unit 88 is, for example, a transparent LCD, and when the control signal is not output from the display unit control unit 84, the display plate 32 of the superimposed electronic timepiece unit 30, the clock hands, and the like can be visually recognized. The operation display unit 88 displays an image corresponding to a signal transmitted from the information unit 10 under the control of the display driving unit 86, a GUI switch for operation, and the like. The operation detection unit 89 is provided so as to overlap the operation display unit 88. The operation detection unit 89 detects the touch position on the operation display unit 88 of the operator by the coordinate detection mechanism, and transmits the detection result to the information unit 10 via the display unit communication unit 82. Further, the operation detection unit 89 generates an operation signal corresponding to the operation and outputs the operation signal to the display unit control unit 84 when detecting a flick operation or a swipe operation on the GUI. A signal whose detection result is transmitted to the information unit 10 via the display unit communication unit 82 can be processed as an operation input from the information operation unit 24 through a path (not shown).

  FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing executed by the electronic timepiece system 1. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a command stored in the information unit 10 and a motor control setting table stored in the electronic timepiece unit 30.

  First, the signal control unit 27 of the information unit 10 selects a command for controlling the clock hands of the electronic clock unit 30 (step S100). For example, one of the plurality of commands SC1 to SC3 in FIG. 5 is selected. The command may be generated internally or obtained from the outside. The signal control unit 27 of the information unit 10 outputs the command SC to the electronic timepiece unit 30 via the communication unit 18 (step S102). For example, when a user inputs an operation to the operation display unit 88 of the display unit 80, the signal control unit 27 selects a command. The command is, for example, a signal for controlling the clock hands regardless of the time, and the command includes identification information of a motor control setting table described later. Further, simple control information such as the number of times of repeating the operation related to the control program for controlling the motor based on the motor control setting table may be included.

  Next, the timepiece control unit 50 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 acquires the command SC via the communication unit 48, reads the motor control setting table corresponding to the acquired command SC from the storage unit 44, and drives the motor (step). S104, S106). As shown in FIG. 5, the storage unit 44 stores a plurality of motor control setting tables, and a desired table T is selected according to the identification information included in the command SC acquired by the communication unit 48.

  FIG. 6 shows a format of a table T1 (first motor control setting table) as an example of a motor control setting table of a motor that drives a needle including a minute hand. The table T is provided for each command type, for example. Here, the motor control setting table is information for instructing, for example, continuous operation of the clock hands. For example, information for controlling the needles 34, 36, 38, etc. is stored for each slot that defines the operation timing. In this case, the timepiece control unit 50 operates the hands by controlling the hand driving unit 52 based on the information stored in the slots 1 to N as shown. The information stored in the slot is, for example, a control hand indicating a control hand, a control hand indicating a control target hand, a hand driving frequency (speed), a rotation direction of the clock hand, a hand driven by processing by one slot Drive counter indicating the driving target (clock hand rotation angle), position for starting the operation of the clock hand, interval indicating the time until the next processing starts, slot number for specifying the next processing slot, etc. is there. These physical quantities corresponding to the control items are specified respectively.

  Next, the setting of control items in the table T1 will be described. The control item as “control needle” indicates the needle number to be controlled. Here, “hour hand”, “minute hand”, “second hand”, and other “small hands” are designated as physical quantities. The small needle is embodied as a small needle 64 of a second embodiment described later. In the control item “start position”, a counter value indicating the start position of the needle is set. By setting 1 counter to 1.5 ° and the 12 o'clock position to 0 °, the angle of the start position is set. For example, when the count value is “120”, it indicates 180 ° (position at 6 o'clock). The count is set to “0” to “239”, which means 0 ° to 358.5 °, and “current position”, which means the position where the current hand is present. That is, when the current position is designated, the needle position detected by the needle position detection unit 60 is not considered, the detection itself is not performed, or the needle position detection unit is not mounted.

  As the control item as “drive frequency”, “16”, “32”, “64”, “128”, and the like can be set as values. The unit is Hz. Although it may be designated as “fastest”, in this case, the value of the drive frequency is indefinite, and is the fastest speed that can be set by the electronic timepiece unit 30 in consideration of the motor 56, the train wheel 58, and the like. . The control item as “drive counter” is an item that is valid only when the start position is designated as the “current position” described above. The motor 56 is driven in the range of 1 to 240 steps, and the needle is moved. Can move. One-step driving by the motor corresponds to a needle operating angle of 1.5 °. For example, the needle can be moved 6 ° in 4 steps. For example, if 30 is specified in the drive counter, it means that 45 ° is set as the target rotation angle. The control items for “Rotation direction” are “Normal” for forward rotation (clockwise), “Reverse” for reverse rotation (counterclockwise), and “Forward” when you want to set the drive counter (target rotation angle) to a smaller direction. Can be specified.

  The control item “interval” indicates the time until the processing of the next slot is started. For example, if the sampling frequency is 10 Hz and the interval is specified as 10, (1/10) × 10 count = 1 second, and processing of the next slot is started after 1 second has elapsed. The control item “next slot number” indicates the number of the slot to be processed next. For example, when the slot 1 is being processed, “1” can be designated to execute the slot 1 that is the same slot, and “2” can be designated to execute the slot 2 that is the next slot.

  In this way, control items corresponding to the characteristics of the motor that drives the hands of the timepiece are set in the motor control setting table T. For this reason, it is possible to add control in consideration of the motor characteristics to the movement of the needle requested by the command SC acquired by the communication unit 48. Thereby, the information unit 10 on the side of transmitting the command SC controls the hands of the electronic timepiece unit 30 to a desired movement while making it unnecessary to create a command based on the detailed characteristics of the motor of the electronic timepiece unit 20. can do.

  The motor control setting table may be stored in the storage unit 44 in advance, or may be stored or updated by being acquired via the communication unit 48. Acquisition and update of the motor control setting table are executed by the timepiece control unit 50 based on, for example, an operation input of the operation unit 47 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 or a signal transmitted from the information unit 10 or another information device.

Next, details of steps S104 and S106 processed by the electronic timepiece unit 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a processing flow for realizing the movement of the needle according to the motor characteristics based on the motor control setting table selected by the command.
Here, regarding the control for operating the hands (36, etc.) of the electronic timepiece unit 30 so that the user can easily see in accordance with the notification content (for example, notification of mail reception) from the information unit 10 as a smart watch. explain.

  Referring to FIG. 4A, the timepiece control unit 50 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 reads out the motor control setting table T1 (hereinafter, table T1) corresponding to the command SC1 (first command) received in step S102 from the storage unit 44, The value of the control item for slot 0 is acquired (step S502). Next, the values of the needle positions of the needles 34, 36, and 38 are acquired (step S504). Note that step S504 may be before step S502. Subsequently, the start position of each target needle is read (step S506). If the target value is not “current position”, the process proceeds to step 510 (Y in S506), and if it is “current position”, the process proceeds to step 514 (N in S506). In slot 0, the target is to move the hour hand to 270 ° (9 o'clock), the minute hand to 90 ° (3 o'clock), and the second hand to 0 ° (12 o'clock).

  In step S508, the difference between the needle position and the target start position is calculated. The difference calculated in the forward direction is referred to as difference A, and the difference calculated in the reverse direction is referred to as difference B. Next, it is determined whether or not the designation of the rotation direction is “forward / reverse” (step S510). If the designation is “forward / reverse” (Y in S510), the process proceeds to step S512, and the smaller one of the absolute value of the difference A and the absolute value of the difference B, the rotation direction, and the drive frequency are Write to register. If the designation in the rotation direction is forward rotation or reverse rotation (N in S510), the process proceeds to step S514, and the designated rotation direction, the value of the drive counter, and the drive frequency are written in the register of the motor drive circuit 54. Even if the start position is designated as “current position” in step S506, the process proceeds to step 514, and these data are written in the register.

Next, a drive command is issued to the motor drive circuit 54 (step S516). The motor drive circuit 54 drives the motor corresponding to each needle based on the data written in the register in response to the drive command interruption (step S532).
In FIG. 4B, the motor drive circuit 54 that has received the interrupt command generates a drive pulse for driving the stepping motor in accordance with the value of the register (step S534). Next, the drive pulse is output to the motor (step S536). Next, when the pulse output for the drive counter specified in slot 0 is completed (step S538), the process returns from the interrupt (step S540).

When confirming that the interval time designated by the interval item has elapsed and that the interrupt return of step S540 has been received (step S518), the timepiece control unit 50 proceeds to step S520. In step S520, it is confirmed whether or not the value of the next slot No is the same as the currently processed slot number. If they are the same (Y in S520), the process returns to step S516, and the motor drive circuit 54 performs the same drive again by executing the motor drive command. In slot 0 of FIG. 6, since the next slot No. is designated as 1, the control item of slot 1 is shifted to.
In step S526, it is determined whether or not there is an external process end signal. If there is an external signal, the process ends (Y in step S526). The processing end signal from the outside can be a signal based on an input from the operation unit 47 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 or an input from the information operation unit 24 of the information unit 10 or the like. In the case of N in step S526, the process is continued, and the process corresponding to the control item of the slot number of the next slot No is started (step S502).

  As described above, the electronic timepiece unit 30 that has received the command SC enables driving control of the timepiece according to the motor characteristics by referring to the table T1 included therein. At this time, the information unit 10 is not required to know the motor characteristics.

  Thereafter, similarly, the clock hands are driven and controlled according to the control items in the table T1. By the control based on slot 0, the hour hand 34 is moved to the 9 o'clock direction and the minute hand 36 is moved to the horizontal line (180 °) in the horizontal direction (180 °). 36 is moved in the 4:30 direction. That is, the hour and minute hands are tilted to the right while keeping a straight line. At this time, the second hand 38 continues to point in the 7 o'clock direction. Next, by the control based on the slot 2, the hour hand 34 is moved in the 7:30 direction and the minute hand 36 is moved in the 1:30 direction. That is, the hour and minute hands are tilted to the left while being in a straight line. Next, by the control based on the slot 3, the hour hand 34 is moved in the 10:30 direction and the minute hand 36 is moved in the 4:30 direction. That is, the hour and minute hands are tilted to the right while keeping a straight line. Here, since the next slot No. of slot 3 is designated as 2, the next control is based on slot 2. By repeating the control of slot 2 and slot 3, the hour and minute hands continue to swing left and right, and the user wearing the electronic timepiece system 1 visually notices that the mail has been received. Can do. For example, it operates as shown in FIG. In addition, illustration of the small needle was abbreviate | omitted in FIG.

  Next, when completing the corresponding control, the timepiece control unit 50 transmits a control completion signal SA indicating that the control related to the command is completed to the information unit 10 (step S108). Next, the information unit 10 acquires the control completion signal SA (step S110). Thereby, the process performed by the electronic timepiece system 1 is completed.

  The timepiece control unit 50 may acquire a plurality of commands at one time, or may acquire another command while executing control corresponding to the acquired command. In this case, the acquired command may be stored in the storage unit 44, the commands stored in the storage unit 44 may be read sequentially, and control corresponding to the command may be executed. That is, buffer processing is executed.

  With reference to FIG. 8 to FIG. 13, the case where the clock hands of the electronic clock unit 30 operate based on the command transmitted from the information unit 10 is illustrated. The information unit 10 can appropriately select a command SC corresponding to the following operation from the plurality of commands SC. The electronic timepiece unit 30 includes, for example, a turning operation, an opening operation, an operation for returning to the original position, an operation for gathering at one place, a stopwatch, instead of or in addition to the operation described above. The operation, the countdown timer operation, and the operation for the time are executed. In the following, the motor control setting table T is illustrated as the table T2 (second motor control setting table) only for the countdown timer operation, but the table T ( These may be used as a second motor control setting table) and stored in the storage unit of the electronic timepiece unit 30. It should be noted that expressing the motor control setting table as “first” and “second” means that a plurality of tables T can be stored, and is not limited to the contents of the table.

(Move around)
The turning operation is an operation in which the clock hand rotates based on the control program. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the rotating operation. The control program stores control information such as the speed, direction, and rotation speed of the clock hands. When the turning operation is performed, the clock control unit 50 controls the clock hands based on the control program. Thereby, the hour hand 34-1 before control shown in the figure is controlled to rotate a predetermined number of times in the right direction like the hour hand 34-2, for example. Further, the pre-control minute hand 36-1 shown in the figure is controlled to rotate a predetermined number of times in the right direction like the minute hand 36-2, for example.

(Open action)
The opening operation is an operation in which, for example, the clock hand opens 180 degrees based on the control program. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the opening operation. In the figure, θ = 0 to θ = 270 indicate angles 0 (360) degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees, respectively. The control program stores control information such as the speed and direction of rotation when the clock hand opens. Further, the control program includes control information for causing the timepiece control unit 50 to detect the current position of the timepiece and to move the hour hand 34 and the minute hand 36 from the detected position of the timepiece to a position where the hour hand 34 and the minute hand 36 are opened (linear). It is remembered. For example, as shown in the left figure, the minute hand 36 positioned at θ = 180 degrees operates so that the hour hand 34 and the minute hand 36 open 180 degrees by rotating to the position of θ = 90 degrees as shown in the right figure. .

(Operation to return to the original position)
The operation of returning to the original position is an operation of returning the clock hands to the original position, for example, based on the control program. The control program stores control information such as a speed and a direction that operate when the clock hand returns to the original position. Further, the control program stores control information for controlling the clock control unit 50 to return the clock hands to the original position with reference to the original position stored in the storage unit 44. As a result, the minute hand 36 positioned at θ = 90 degrees shown in the right diagram of FIG. 9 is moved back to the original position, and the original position shown in the left diagram at θ = 180 degrees. Return to.

(Operations that gather in one place)
The operation that collects at one point is an operation in which, for example, clock hands gather at one place based on the control program. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining operations that gather in one place. The control program stores control information such as the speed, direction, and collection position that operate when the clock hands are gathered in one place. As a result, for example, the hour hand 34, the minute hand 36, and the second hand 38, which are at different positions as shown in the left figure, gather at a position of θ = 0 degrees as shown in the right figure.

(Stopwatch operation)
The stopwatch operation is an operation in which, for example, a clock hand measures time based on a control program. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining the stopwatch operation. In the control program, after the clock hands are first gathered at a predetermined position, the rotation of the predetermined clock hands is started when the measurement start signal is input, and the clock hands are rotated when the measurement end signal is input. Control information that operates to stop the clock hands is stored. As a result, as shown in the left figure, for example, after the clock hands gather at θ degrees, when the measurement start signal is input, the clock hands rotate so as to correspond to the passage of time, and as shown in the right figure, the measurement end signal Is input, it stops at a position of θ = 90 degrees corresponding to the input measurement end signal.

  The measurement start signal and the measurement end signal may be acquired via the communication unit 48 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 or may be input by operating the operation unit 47. In addition, the measurement start signal is a signal that is input first after the clock hands are gathered at a position of θ = 0 degrees, for example, by a stopwatch operation, and the measurement end signal is a signal that is input after the measurement start signal is input. It is.

(Countdown timer operation)
The countdown timer operation is an operation for measuring the remaining time until the target value based on the control program. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the countdown timer operation. The control program collects the clock hands at the timer start position, then starts the rotation of the corresponding clock hands when a timer start signal is input, and ends the operation when the clock hands return to the timer start position. Control information to be stored is stored. Thus, as shown in the left figure, as the timer start position, for example, after the clock hands are gathered at θ degrees, when the timer start signal is input, the clock hands rotate counterclockwise so as to correspond to the passage of time. When the clock hand returns to the timer start position θ = 0 °, the operation stops. Similar to the stopwatch operation, the timer start signal may be acquired via the communication unit 48 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 or may be input by operating the operation unit 47. That is, the timepiece control unit 50 may be configured such that the control corresponding to the signal input by the user is different depending on the type of the control program.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining a motor control setting table (table T2) in an example of a countdown timer. The information unit 10 transmits, from the communication unit 18, a command SC2 (second command) including a variable relating to “countdown timer” and “countdown time” among the plurality of commands SC (step S102). In this case, the contents of the command SC2 are to execute a 45-second countdown timer. The communication unit 48 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 receives the command SC2. The electronic timepiece unit 30 reads a table T2 corresponding to the command SC2 for the countdown timer as shown in FIG. 18 from the storage unit 44 (step S104). Thereafter, processing is executed based on the processing flow of FIG.

In FIG. 18, in the slot 1 where the start position is set, the hands to be controlled are the hour hand, the minute hand, and the second hand. The starting position is a position of 270 °. The drive frequency is the fastest speed that can be set by the electronic timepiece unit 30 in consideration of the motor 56, the train wheel 58, and the like. The drive counter is not set. For example, when the detection result by the hand position detection unit 60 is a position of 240 ° (8 hours for the hour hand, 40 minutes for the minute hand, 40 seconds for the second hand), the rotation direction is 30 ° in the forward rotation. Since it is 330 ° (220 counts) in reverse rotation (20 counts), forward rotation, which is the direction in which the drive counter is small, is designated. The interval is specified as 1 second (10 counts at 10 Hz).
With these settings, the motor 56 is driven, and the hour hand 34 is stopped at the time of 9 o'clock (270 °), the minute hand 36 at 45 minutes (270 °), and the second hand 38 at 45 seconds (270 °).

Here, since the next slot No. 2 is designated, after the processing of the slot 1 is completed, the processing of the next slot, slot 2, is executed. At this time, since the next processing interval is specified as 1 second, the processing based on slot 2 is executed after 1 second has elapsed.
In the control items of slot 2, items different from the control items of slot 1 are items of start position, drive counter, and rotation direction. The start position is not specified because the detection result of the needle position detection unit is not considered. The drive counter is set to 4, and the needle movement is specified as 6 °, that is, 1 second. The reverse direction is designated as the rotation direction. Thus, the motor register is set and the motor is driven. Since the next slot No. is designated 2, the driving is repeated. Therefore, it is possible to perform a countdown timer operation in which the hour hand 34, the minute hand 36, and the second hand 38 are reversed by 6 ° every second by the same behavior.

(Operation that becomes time)
The operation that becomes the time is an operation in which the clock hands display the time based on the control program. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the operation for time. The control program stores control information for controlling the clock hands so as to correspond to the time information updated by the clock control unit 50. As a result, the clock hands are controlled from the initial position (left figure, 0: 0) so that the clock hands point to, for example, 8:10, as shown in the middle figure. Further, when a control program stored to advance the clock hand by 1 hour is executed, the clock hand is controlled to advance by 1 hour and to indicate 9:10 as shown in the right figure (advance by 1 hour). Operation).

As described above, the electronic timepiece unit 30 controls the operation of the timepiece by using the motor control setting table based on the command acquired from the information unit 10. Therefore, the information unit 10 can operate the hands of the electronic timepiece in a wide variety only by selecting or setting a command. In addition, the user wearing the information unit 10 can intuitively know the contents of notification by visually recognizing such variation hand movement.
Here, the command may be associated with, for example, information held in the information unit 10. The command includes, for example, communication radio wave intensity, mail reception result, presence / absence of incoming call, and the like. The clock hands of the electronic clock unit 30 operate based on the transmitted command, thereby expressing the information held by the information unit 10 using the clock hands. For example, the user recognizes the association between the movement of the clock hand and the information expressed by the movement in advance, and thus can recognize the information by the movement of the clock hand.

  In the first embodiment described above, the clock control unit 50 controls the clock hands more freely based on the command for controlling the clock hands regardless of the time acquired via the communication unit 48. The clock hands can be operated in an expressive manner.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described. Here, the difference from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the description of the functions and the like common to the first embodiment will be omitted. In the second embodiment, the electronic timepiece unit 30 requests the information unit 10 to transmit a command.

  FIG. 14 is an external view of the electronic timepiece unit 30A. FIG. 15 is a functional configuration diagram of an electronic timepiece unit 30A according to the second embodiment. In addition to the functional configuration of the electronic timepiece unit 30 of the first embodiment, the electronic timepiece unit 30A further includes a small hand operation unit 49, a small hand driving unit 62, a small hand 64, a small hand display unit 65, and a calendar driving unit 66. And a calendar display unit 68. The small needle operation unit 49 is an operation unit to which an instruction to drive the small needle driving unit 62 is input. When the small needle operation unit 49 is pressed, for example, the small needle driving unit 62 is driven and the small needle 64 is driven. The small needle drive unit 62 and the small needle 64 function as a chronograph mechanism. The calendar display unit 68 displays the date by operating by driving the calendar driving unit 66.

  Similar to the needle driving unit 52, the small needle driving unit 62 and the calendar driving unit 66 have a motor driving circuit, a motor, a wheel needle, and a needle position detecting unit. Since these functions are the same as the functions described in the first embodiment, description and illustration are omitted. The calendar driving unit 66 includes a display unit position detection unit instead of the hand position detection unit. The driving of the small hand drive unit 62 and the calendar drive unit 66 is controlled by the control of the timepiece control unit 50.

  The storage unit 44 stores a program that requests the information unit 10 to transmit a command for executing the control program based on a predetermined condition. The control program is associated with physical quantities for operating the clock hands, the calendar display unit 68, or the small hands 64. Further, the electronic timepiece unit 30 may request that a command be transmitted when an installed application program operates. In this case, the storage unit 44 stores an installed application program or API (Application Programming Interface) acquired through the communication unit 48.

  FIG. 16 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing executed by the electronic timepiece system 1 in the second embodiment. First, the timepiece control unit 50 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 generates a request signal SQ that requests transmission of a command to the information unit 10 (step S200), and transmits the generated request signal SQ to the information unit 10 (step S200). S202). The request signal SQ is generated when the timepiece control unit 50 detects that the small hand operation unit 49 is pushed, for example. Further, the clock control unit 50 may generate at a preset time interval based on a program stored in the storage unit 44.

  Next, the information control unit 25 of the information unit 10 acquires the request signal SQ via the communication unit 18, generates a command SC corresponding to the acquired request signal SQ (step S204), and sends it to the electronic timepiece unit 30. Transmit (step S206). The command may be generated by associating a command corresponding to the request signal in advance by an operation input to the application program by the user, or by generating a random number and transmitting a command corresponding to the generated random number.

  Next, the timepiece control unit 50 of the electronic timepiece unit 30 performs the control stored in the control program based on the acquired command SC (step S208). For example, when the command SC corresponds to a control program based on a table related to a turning operation, one or more of the clock hands, the small hands 64, and the calendar table 68 rotate based on the control program.

  Next, when the execution of the control program is completed, the clock control unit 50 transmits a notification SA indicating that the control program is completed to the information control unit 25 of the information unit 10 (step S210). . Thereby, the process performed by the electronic timepiece system 1 is completed.

  Note that, in the present embodiment, the case of performing the operation of turning by the control program has been described, but the operation of the first embodiment may be executed. The operations of the clock hands, the small hands 64, and the calendar display unit 68 may be different for each information held or acquired by the information unit 10. In this case, the information unit 10 stores in advance a correspondence table in which correspondence between information and commands is stored. For example, when it is desired to notify that the information unit 10 has received a mail, a command corresponding to the mail reception is transmitted to the electronic timepiece unit. As a result, the clock hands of the electronic clock unit 30 execute an operation corresponding to mail reception. Since the user recognizes the correspondence between the movement of the clock hand and the information held in the information unit 10 in advance, the user recognizes the information held in the information unit 10 by the movement of the clock hand. can do.

  The electronic timepiece unit 30 according to the second embodiment described above transmits a request signal for requesting transmission of a command to the information unit 10, receives a command corresponding to the request signal from the information unit 10, and receives the received command. Since the control program corresponding to is executed, the clock hands of the own device can be controlled spontaneously.

(Third embodiment)
Hereinafter, a third embodiment will be described. Here, the difference from the first embodiment will be mainly described, and the description of the functions and the like common to the first embodiment will be omitted. In the third embodiment, the electronic timepiece unit 30 acquires a command transmitted from the smartphone 90 or another device such as the base station 92 via the information unit 10, and the timepiece is set so as to correspond to the acquired command. Control the needle.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a case where a command is acquired from an external device or the like. The base station 92 is connected to the network NW, for example, by wire, and can communicate with other base stations and terminal devices connected to the network NW. The smartphone 90 can wirelessly communicate with the base station 92 and the electronic timepiece system 1. The smartphone 90 and the electronic timepiece system 1 communicate using a communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark). When a command is transmitted from the smartphone 90 to the smart electronic timepiece system 1, the electronic timepiece unit 30 acquires the command transmitted from the smartphone 90 via the information unit 10, and performs control based on the table corresponding to the acquired command. The clock hand is operated by executing the program.

  In the electronic timepiece system 1 according to the third embodiment described above, the timepiece control unit 50 acquires commands from other devices, and controls the clock hands based on the acquired commands, thereby improving versatility. Can do.

  In the present embodiment, the display unit is described as being provided, but the display unit 80 may be omitted. Further, the display unit 80 has been described as being provided on the upper surface of the electronic timepiece unit 30, but the information unit 10, the display unit 80, and the electronic timepiece unit 30 may be stacked in this order. In this case, the information displayed on the display unit 80 can be visually recognized by the user by forming the outer surface of the casing included in the electronic timepiece unit 30 with a skeleton structure. In the present embodiment, the electronic timepiece system 1 has been described as a configuration in which the information unit 10 and the electronic timepiece unit 30 are stacked as an example, but the information unit 10 and the electronic timepiece unit 30 are not stacked, It is good also as a structure provided with the electronic timepiece unit 30. FIG. Further, for example, the electronic timepiece unit 30, the information control unit 25, and the communication unit 18 may be stacked, or the electronic timepiece unit 30, the information control unit 25, and the communication unit 18 may be provided without being stacked. When the electronic timepiece unit 30, the information control unit 25, and the communication unit 18 are stacked, the information control unit 25 and the communication unit so that the display plate 32 and the clock hands of the electronic timepiece unit 30 are visible to the user. 18 may be stacked on the electronic timepiece unit 30. For example, the electronic timepiece unit 30 may be stacked on a part of the side surface of the electronic timepiece unit 30 or the surface on the display panel 32 side.

  Further, for example, the control program may be executed so that the clock hands dance to the music. When a command corresponding to the music selected by the user is acquired from the information unit 10, the smartphone 90, a karaoke device having a communication function, or the like, the control program corresponding to the command is executed, so that the clock hands dance. To work. Further, instead of operating the clock hands to dance, the clock hands may be operated to indicate the tempo of the music, such as a metronome.

  In the third embodiment described above, the clock control unit 50 controls the clock hands so as to correspond to the commands generated by other devices and the like, so that it is more convenient for the user. improves.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the embodiments can be combined.
For example, an embodiment combining the first embodiment and the second embodiment, an embodiment combining the first embodiment and the third embodiment, the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the third embodiment. Combination embodiments can be employed. Further, the hands can be controlled to display the time by the command and the motor control setting table. That is, although the electronic timepiece system has a time function, it is possible to control the operation of the hands not related to the time by a command. The command SC may be set for each slot. That is, the “next slot No.” of each table T is deleted, a plurality of tables including other control items are prepared, and a command corresponding to each table is transmitted from the information unit 10 to the electronic timepiece unit 30. Also good.
For example, the operation unit 47 may be provided in the information unit 10. Alternatively, the operation unit 47 may be deleted. Thereby, the electronic timepiece unit 30 can be reduced in size.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic timepiece system, 10 ... Information unit (electronic device), 12 ... Power supply part, 25 ... Information control part, 20 ... Display communication part, 22 ... External communication part, 30 ... Electronic timepiece unit (electronic timepiece), 34 ... Hour hand, 36 ... minute hand, 38 ... second hand, 40 ... power supply unit, 44 ... storage unit, 48 ... communication unit (acquisition unit), 49 ... operation unit, 50 ... clock control unit, 52A-52C ... hand drive unit, 60A- 60C ... Needle position detection unit, 62 ... Small needle drive unit, 64 ... Small needle

Claims (13)

A needle that is rotationally driven along the display board;
A drive unit for driving the needle;
An acquisition unit for acquiring a command for controlling the hands regardless of time;
A control unit that outputs a control signal for controlling the drive unit based on the command acquired by the acquisition unit;
Electronic watch with The driving unit is a stepping motor that operates based on a pulse,
A storage unit that holds a correspondence relationship between the command and the physical quantity corresponding to the control item of the stepping motor;
The control unit refers to the correspondence held by the storage unit using the command acquired by the acquisition unit, and controls the stepping motor based on the obtained physical quantity.
The electronic timepiece according to claim 1. The control items include items related to the needle to be controlled, the number of steps of the stepping motor according to the target drive angle of the needle, the rotation direction of the needle, and the rotation speed of the needle.
The electronic timepiece according to claim 2. It has a needle position detector that can detect the current angle of the needle by detecting the position of the needle,
The physical quantity corresponding to the control item includes a physical quantity based on a difference obtained by comparing the drive target angle and the current angle.
The electronic timepiece according to claim 3. The acquisition unit can acquire at least one of a first command and a second command as the command, and the storage unit includes a first motor control setting table corresponding to the first command as the correspondence relationship, At least a second motor control setting table corresponding to the second command is stored;
The electronic timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The correspondence is configured by the physical quantity set as a value capable of performing a function including notification of mail reception, a countdown timer,
The electronic timepiece according to claim 1. The acquisition unit acquires information indicating the correspondence relationship,
The control unit causes the storage unit to retain information indicating the correspondence acquired by the acquisition unit.
The electronic timepiece according to claim 1. An electronic timepiece according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
An electronic device that is communicable with the acquisition unit and capable of transmitting and receiving the command, and is stacked with the electronic timepiece;
An electronic clock system. The electronic timepiece transmits a request signal to the electronic device to transmit the command to the acquisition unit;
The electronic timepiece system according to claim 8. In response to the command, the electronic timepiece transmits a control completion signal notifying the completion to the electronic device in a state where the control of the drive unit based on the control item and the physical quantity corresponding to the command is completed.
The electronic timepiece system according to claim 8 or 9. The electronic device includes a power source, and the electronic timepiece includes a power source different from the power source.
The electronic timepiece system according to claim 8. The electronic timepiece system according to claim 8, wherein the electronic device is mounted on a mounting portion that can be mounted on a user's arm in a state where the electronic timepieces are stacked. Get commands to control the hands that are driven to rotate along the display board regardless of the time,
Maintaining the correspondence between the command and the physical quantity corresponding to the control item of the drive unit that drives the needle,
Based on the acquired command, refer to the correspondence, control the drive unit based on the obtained physical quantity, and drive the needle,
Electronic clock control method.

Images