JP3024210B2 - Electronic clock - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece.

[Prior art and its problems] Conventionally, in order to increase the functionality of a pointer-type electronic timepiece, an electro-optical display device such as a liquid crystal display device is provided. Devices that switch and display information are in practical use. By the way, in this type of electronic timepiece, even when information is not displayed on the electro-optical display device, the electro-optical display device is exposed, and thus the appearance is impaired. To solve this drawback, for example, see
In -242987, a liquid crystal display device which can be seen through a display window formed on a dial is provided, and a lid or a shutter plate is attached to the display window so as to be openable and closable, and only when information is displayed on the liquid crystal display, a switch is provided. A device has been proposed in which a pulse motor is driven by operation to move and open the shutter plate.

However, in the case of the improvement as described above, the shutter plate is formed into a disk shape and an opening is formed at a predetermined position, and the opening of the shutter plate is made to coincide with the display window of the dial by operating a switch. However, it merely exposes the liquid crystal display device so that it can be seen, and it is necessary to provide a pulse motor, a moving mechanism, and the like merely to hide the display window.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic timepiece in which the shutter plate provided for hiding the display window and the opening and closing mechanism are effectively used, and the information displayed on the electro-optical display device can be easily read.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, at least a part of a shutter plate is formed of a transparent member, and the transparent member is provided with an upper surface of an electro-optical display device as the shutter plate moves. The main point is that the auxiliary display such as the figure, symbol, or line segment located in is printed and formed.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on an example shown in the drawings.

Configuration FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the present embodiment. That is, a hand indicator 3 covered with a watch glass 2 is provided on the front of the watch case 1, and the hand display 3 is provided with an hour hand 4, a minute hand 5, a second hand 6, and a dial 7. .
In addition, the dial 7 has a wide arc-shaped opening having a center angle of about 120 ° around the center of rotation of the hands, that is, a display window 7.
a is formed, and behind the display window portion 7a,
A liquid crystal display panel 10 having the same shape as the display window 7a and capable of viewing the entire surface via the display window 7a under certain conditions as described later is provided. As will be described in detail later, a disk-shaped shutter plate 8 that rotates about the center of rotation of the hands is provided behind the dial 7 and in front of the liquid crystal display panel 10.

A mode changeover switch SM is provided on the side of the watch case 1.
And other push button switches SA to SC and a band mounting portion 11 are provided.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the present embodiment. That is,
The main part is a train wheel mechanism 15 that moves the hour hand 4, minute hand 5, and second hand 6.
And a shutter opening / closing device 16. The wheel train mechanism 15 is driven by a pointer driving step motor (not shown) to move the hands, and a fourth wheel & pinion 19 is rotatably mounted between the main plate 17 and the wheel train receiver 18. The center wheel & pinion 20 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 19a of the center wheel & pinion 19, and the hour wheel 21 is rotatably mounted on the cylindrical shaft 20a of the center wheel & pinion 20 on the main plate 17. In this case, the fourth car
Reference numeral 19 denotes a hand for moving the second hand 6, the shaft 19a of which protrudes above the main plate 17, and the second hand 6 is attached to the protruding tip.
The rotation of the stepping motor is transmitted via an intermediate wheel (not shown), thereby moving the second hand 6. The second wheel 20 moves the minute hand 5, and its cylindrical shaft 20a protrudes above the main plate 17, and the minute hand 5 is attached to the protruding tip.
The rotation of 19 is transmitted via a third wheel (not shown), thereby moving the minute hand 5. The hour wheel 21 moves the hour hand 4 and the hour hand 4 is attached to the upper end of the hour wheel 21a, and the rotation of the center wheel & pinion 20 is transmitted via a Hino minute wheel (not shown). Move the hour hand 4.

The shutter opening / closing device 16 rotates the shutter plate 8, and includes a shutter driving step motor 22 mounted on the main plate 17 and a wheel train mechanism 23. Is the train wheel mechanism 23 the rotor of the stepper motor 22 for driving the shutter?
A first gear 23a meshing with the first gear 23, a second gear 23b fixed to the shaft of the first gear 23a, and a third gear 23c rotatably mounted on the projection 17a of the base plate 17 and meshing with the second gear 23b. It is configured.

On the other hand, a dial 7 is fixed on the base plate 17, a shutter plate 8 is rotatably disposed below the dial 7, and a liquid crystal display is disposed below the shutter plate 8. Panel 10 is arranged, but this liquid crystal display panel 10
Has a wide arc shape having a central angle of 120 ° as described above. The dial 7 has a through hole 7b at the center thereof into which the cylindrical shaft 21a of the hour wheel 21 is inserted, and a display window 7a having the same shape as the liquid crystal display panel 10 and overlapping therewith. . The shutter plate 8 has a disk shape as described above, and a through hole 8a into which the protruding portion 17b of the ground plate 17 is inserted is formed at the center thereof, and a transparent portion 9 described later is further formed. Further, a ring-shaped internal gear 8b is bonded to the vicinity of the outer periphery of the lower surface of the shutter plate 8, and the internal gear 8b meshes with the third gear 23c. Therefore, when the shutter driving step motor 22 rotates, this rotation is performed by the rotor pinion 24, the first gear 23a, the second gear 23b, the third gear 23c,
The rotation is transmitted to the internal gear 8b, and the shutter plate 8 rotates.

FIG. 3 shows the shutter plate 8 in detail. That is, the shutter plate 8 is made of a disc-shaped transparent synthetic resin, and the above-described through hole 8a into which the protruding portion 17b of the base plate 17 is inserted is formed at the center thereof. The back surface of the shutter plate 8 has a mask portion 8c having the same color tone as the ground color of the dial plate 7 except for a wide arcuate transparent portion 9 having a central angle of 240 °.
Is printed on the back side of the shutter plate 8 and an outward arrow 9a is printed and displayed in the radial direction at the center of the transparent portion 9 in the radial direction.

As described above, the ring-shaped internal gear 8b is bonded to the outer peripheral portion of the rear surface of the shutter plate 8.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the relationship between the liquid crystal display panel 10 and the shutter plate 8 in detail, with the hands and the dial 7 removed to make the relationship between the two easy to understand.
That is, the protrusion of the main plate 17 fixed to the watch case 1
The shutter plate 17b is inserted into the through hole 8a of the shutter plate 8, and the shutter plate 8 is rotatable about the protrusion 17b as a rotation axis. Also, the liquid crystal display panel 10 fixed to the base plate 17
Overlaps with the transparent portion 9 of the shutter plate 8 as the shutter plate 8 rotates, and the display data of the liquid crystal display panel 10 can be seen through the transparent portion 9. The rotation force from the shutter driving step motor 22 is applied to the first gear 23.
b, the third gear 23c and the internal gear 8b are transmitted, and when the shutter plate 8 rotates, the arrow 9a of the transparent portion 9 sequentially points to information displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 10, that is, a specific digit of a numerical value. Will be. The liquid crystal display panel 10 is composed of two 7-segment displays, each of which is provided with seven display pairs for displaying one numerical value at an interval of 18 °. Since it is located directly below the display window 7a, the display window 7a and the liquid crystal display panel 10
When the transparent part 9 moves between, the liquid crystal display panel
The numerical value of the display unit pair 10 is visible, and when the mask unit 8c moves between the display window 7a and the liquid crystal display panel 10, the numerical value disappears.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration of the present embodiment. That is, the present embodiment has a configuration in which another circuit unit is connected to the CPU 30 as a center. The CPU 30 is a circuit that processes and processes the transmitted data, sends the data, and sends signals to each circuit unit to control them.

The oscillation circuit 31 is a circuit that constantly sends out a signal of a constant frequency. The frequency dividing circuit 32 is a circuit section which divides the signal from the oscillation circuit 31 to a predetermined frequency and sends it to the clock circuit 33 and the motor driving circuit. Total clock circuit
33 counts the signal from the frequency dividing circuit 32 and calculates the current time T, the date D of the day, and the day value Y representing the day of the week (0 for Sunday, 1 for Monday, and 6 for Saturday in the same manner). ), And sends them to the CPU 30 and sends out a day carry signal every time 12:00 pm is counted.

The motor drive circuit 34 obtains a signal from the frequency divider 32,
A circuit that drives the step motor 35
35 is driven by a motor drive circuit 34 to rotate and apply a rotational force to the hands 36 via the wheel train mechanism 15 to move the hands 36.

The RAM 38 is a circuit unit that is controlled by the CPU 30 to store data from the CPU 30 and sends the stored data to the CPU 30.The RAM 38 is also provided with a mode register M and a shutter position register SR. . Mode register M
Is a register for specifying the mode. When 0 is set, the display window 7a is closed by the shutter unit 8 and the clock 36 is used to specify the clock mode in which the current time is displayed. When 1 is set, Specifies the date display mode in which the shutter section 8 is opened and the date and current time of the day are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 10, and when 2 is set, the calendar for the current week is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 10 Specify the calendar display mode. The shutter position register SR is a register in which the number of steps 0 to 60 indicating the rotational position of the shutter plate 8 is set.
When the display window portion 7a is completely closed by the mask portion 8c, the number of steps is set to 0, and thereafter, the number of steps is increased by 1 each time the camera is rotated leftward by 6 °, that is, forward rotation. The switch unit 39 includes the above-described push button switches SA to SD, and is a circuit unit that sends a corresponding switch input signal to the CPU 30 when any of them is operated.

The motor drive circuit 40 is a circuit that receives the forward rotation signal R or the reverse rotation signal L from the CPU 30 and drives the shutter drive step motor 22 to rotate in the forward or reverse direction by a predetermined angle each time. The rotation of the step motor 22 is given to the shutter plate 8 via the wheel train mechanism 23, and the shutter plate 8 is rotated. In this case, the shutter plate 8 rotates by 6 ° each time the forward rotation signal R or the reverse rotation signal L is sent from the CPU 30. The display drive circuit 41 starts driving in response to a display start signal DS from the CPU 30 to display data from the CPU 30 on the liquid crystal display panel 10 of the liquid crystal display device 42, and receives a display stop signal DE from the CPU 30 to This is a circuit for stopping the operation.

Operation Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 6 is a general flowchart showing an outline of the operation of the present embodiment, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the switch processing (step S2) in FIG. 6 in detail, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of a shutter correction process (step S8) in FIG. Less than,
Operations in various states will be described based on these flowcharts.

(B) Operation in the clock mode Now, the mode register M is set to 0 and the mode is the clock mode, and the shutter position register SR is set to 0. As shown in FIG. It is assumed that the shutter plate 8 is closed by the mask portion 8c. At this time, unless there is a switch operation, it is determined in step S1 that there is no switch input, and the mode register M
Is set to 0, and it is determined that the watch mode is set (step S3), and thereafter, the operation of returning to step S1 is repeated.

If a switch operation has been performed, it is determined in step S1 that a switch input has been made, and the process proceeds to step S2, that is, the flowchart of the switch process in FIG. The switch operated in step S10 is the mode switch S
If the mode switch is not the mode switch SM, the process proceeds to step S28 to execute a corresponding switch process.If the mode switch is the mode switch SM, the value of the mode register M is reset to 0. Then, the date and time display mode is set to 1 which is larger by 1 (step S11). Next, in step S12, it is determined that the value of the mode register M does not exceed 2, and the flow advances to step S15 to determine whether the value of the mode register M is 0, 1, or 2, that is, which mode is set. . Since 1 is set in the mode register M and the mode is the date and time display mode, the process proceeds from step S15 to step S21, where the motor driving circuit
A forward rotation signal R is given to 40 and a stepping motor for driving a shutter
22 is rotated by one step, whereby the shutter plate 8 is normally rotated by 6 °. Thereafter, in order to store the rotation, the value of the shutter position register SR is increased by one, that is, from 0 to 1 in this case (step S22). Then, it is determined that the value of the shutter position register SR has not yet reached 20. Judge and return to step S21. Hereinafter, in the same manner as described above, when the shutter plate 8 is rotated forward by 6 °, the operation of increasing the value of the shutter position register SR by 1 is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR becomes 20, that is, the display window portion 7a and the transparent portion are transparent. Until the portion 9 and the liquid crystal display panel 10 overlap and the entire surface of the liquid crystal display panel 10 can be seen (in this case, the positional relationship between the liquid crystal display panel 10 and the transparent portion 9 is as shown in FIG. 4), the process is repeated (steps S21 to S23). ), When the value of the shutter position register SR reaches 20, it is determined in step S23.
Then, the process proceeds to step S24, where the display start signal DS is sent to the display drive circuit 41, and the liquid crystal display panel 10 of the liquid crystal display device
Is displayed, and the process proceeds to step S3 in FIG. In this step S3, it is determined that the value of the mode register M is not already 0, and then the value of the mode register M becomes 1
Is determined to be in the date and time display mode, and the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the date and time D and the current time T from the clock circuit 33 are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 10 of the liquid crystal display device 42, and the process returns to step S1. For example, if it is currently 10:08 on August 15, a display as shown in FIG. 9B is made on the liquid crystal display panel 10, which can be seen through the display window 7 a and the transparent part 9.

(B) Operation in the calendar display mode To switch the mode from the date and time display mode to the calendar display mode, operate the mode switch SM. At this time, the operation is detected in step S10 in FIG. 7, and the value of the mode register M is increased by 1 to 2 to set the calendar display mode (step S11). Then, the value of the mode register M still exceeds 2 It is determined that there is not (step S12), and the process proceeds to step S15. This step S15
In this case, the value of the mode register M is 2, and it is determined that the calendar display mode has already been set, and the forward rotation signal R is sent to the motor drive circuit 40 to switch the shutter drive step motor 22, that is, the shutter plate 8. After the rotation, the operation of increasing the value of the shutter position register SR by 1 is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR becomes 40− (3 × Y) (where Y is the day of the week value Y). is there). In this case, the value of the shutter position register SR is 40−
(3 × Y) means that the value of the shutter position register SR is 40 and the arrow 9a points to the display body pair at the left end of the liquid crystal display panel 10, so that (3 × Y)
This is the position where the step returns. In addition, as described above, 1
Since the rotation angle of the shutter plate 8 corresponding to the step is 6 ° and the interval between the display body pairs is 18 °, the distance between the display body pairs corresponds to three steps. Therefore, assuming that the dates of Sunday (Y = 0), Monday (Y = 1), Tuesday (Y = 2)... Of this week are sequentially displayed from the leftmost display body pair, respectively, the above 40- (3)
× Y) indicates an arrow on the display pair displaying the date of the day.
9a is the number of steps of the shutter position register SR to be pointed. As described above, after the switch processing is completed, the value of the mode register M becomes 0 in step S3 in FIG.
That is, it is determined that the mode is not the clock mode, and it is further determined in step S4 that the value of the mode register M is not 1 and the mode is not the date and time display mode. In step S6, each date of this week is displayed on the seven display pairs of the liquid crystal display panel 10 (Sunday date is displayed on the leftmost display pair, and thereafter, each display pair is sequentially displayed. Month, Tuesday, ..., and displays the date of each day of the week). For example, if this week starts on the 13th and today is Tuesday the 15th, the display on the liquid crystal display panel 10 is as shown in FIG. 9 (c). After the above processing, the total clock circuit 33
It is determined whether a day carry signal has been sent from (step S7).
Returning to step S1, if it has been sent, the process proceeds to step S8, that is, the shutter correction process in FIG. Then, in step S30, it is checked whether the day value Y from the clock counting circuit 33 is 0, that is, whether the week has changed to Sunday and the day value Y
Is 0, a forward rotation signal R is sent to the step motor 22 for driving the shutter, the shutter plate 8 is rotated forward (to the left) by 6 ° (step S31), and the value of the shutter position register SR is set to 1 (Step S3
2) The operation is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR becomes 40 and the arrow 9a of the shutter plate 8 points to the date of Sunday (step S33). When the state is reached, it is detected in step S33 and the sixth state is detected. Return to step S1 in the figure. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S30 that the day value Y has become a value other than 0, that is, when it is determined that the day of the week has just changed within the same week, the reverse rotation signal L is sent to the shutter driving step motor 22 and the shutter is driven. The plate 8 is reversed (rotated to the right) by 6 ° (step S34), and the shutter position register S
The operation of reducing the value of R by 1 (step S35) is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR becomes 40− (3 × Y) (step S36). In this case, the day value Y is 1
Therefore, the above operation is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR becomes smaller by 3. That is, the above-described repetitive operation is performed only three times, the shutter plate 8 is reversed by 18 ° (the angle between each pair of display bodies in the liquid crystal display panel 10 as described above), and the arrow 9a is after the day carry signal is transmitted. Will point to the new date. After determining in step S36 that the value of the shutter position register SR has reached 40- (3 * Y), the process returns from step S36 to step S1 in FIG.

To end the use in the calendar display mode and return to the clock mode, operate the mode switch SM. At this time, the operation is detected in step S10 of FIG. 7, and it is assumed that the value of the mode register M is increased by 1 (step S11). Thereafter, the value of the mode register M exceeds 2. (Step S12), the value of the mode register M is set to 0, and the mode is returned to the clock mode (Step S1).
3). Next, in step S15, it is determined that the value of the mode register M has already become 0, and it is determined that the mode has returned to the timepiece mode. After the rotation, the operation of increasing the value of the shutter position register SR by 1 is repeated until the value of the shutter position register SR reaches 60 (steps S16 to S18). As a result, the display window 7a
Is completely closed by the mask portion 8c of the shutter plate 8,
It returns to the state of FIG. And the shutter position register
When the value of SR reaches 60, it is detected in step S18 and the value of the shutter position register SR is set to 0 (step
S19) Then, a display stop signal DE is sent to the display drive circuit 41 to stop the display operation on the liquid crystal display panel 10 which is already invisible by the mask portion 8c of the shutter plate 8 (step S20). It returns to step S1 of FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the shutter plate is formed by a transparent member, and the mask portion and the arrow are formed by printing. Therefore, when the shutter plate is formed by an opaque member, it is not necessary to form a necessary opening, and the manufacture of the shutter plate is extremely easy. It is.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the entire shutter plate was formed of a transparent member, but the shutter plate was formed of metal or the like,
It goes without saying that an arc-shaped opening may be formed, a transparent member having the same shape and the same size as the opening may be formed, and the transparent member may be fitted into the opening.

In the present embodiment, the date of the day is indicated by an arrow printed on the transparent portion of the shutter plate.
As shown in FIG. 10, the remaining time of 30 minutes, 25 minutes, 20 minutes... 0 minutes is displayed on the electro-optical display device, and one line in the radial direction is displayed on the transparent portion of the shutter plate. May be printed, and this line may be moved with the right rotation of the shutter plate, so that a subtraction timer indicating the current remaining time may be used.

Further, the movement of the shutter plate in the present embodiment is based on the rotation about the center as the center of rotation, but it goes without saying that the movement may be performed by parallel movement in the horizontal direction.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, at least a part of the shutter plate is formed of a transparent member, and the transparent member is located on the upper surface of the electro-optical display device with the movement of the shutter plate. Since the present invention relates to an electronic timepiece in which auxiliary displays such as figures, symbols, and line segments are printed and formed, a shutter plate provided for hiding a display window and an opening / closing mechanism are effectively used, and an electro-optical device is provided. It is possible to provide an electronic timepiece that can easily read information displayed on a display device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing the external appearance of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part structure of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the shutter plate shown in FIG. 2 in detail. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the shutter plate and the liquid crystal display panel of FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the circuit configuration of the above embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the switch processing in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the shutter correction processing in FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is an external view accompanying a mode transition. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a change in display and FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention. 3 ... pointer display, 6 ... second hand, 7a ... display window, 8 ...
… Shutter plate, 8b… Internal gear, 9… Transparent part, 10…
Liquid crystal display panel, 15 Wheel train mechanism, 16 Shutter opening / closing device, 17 Main plate, 17a Projection, 19th wheel, 19a
…… Axle, 20 …… Second wheel, 20a …… Cylinder shaft, 21 …… Hour wheel, 21a
…… Cylinder shaft, 22 …… Shutter drive step motor, 23
... wheel train mechanism, 24 ... rotor, 23a ... 1st gear, 2
3b 2nd gear, 23c 3rd gear, 30 CPU, 31
Oscillator circuit, 32: frequency divider circuit, 34: motor drive circuit, 35
…… Step motor, 36 …… Pointer, 38… RAM, 40 ……
Motor drive circuit 41 Display drive circuit 42 Liquid crystal display device R Forward signal L Reverse signal M Mode register SR Shutter position register

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G04C 3/00 G04G 9/00 303 G09F 9/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pointer display device for indicating a time by driving a pointer on a dial by a step motor; an electro-optical display device provided below a display window formed on the dial; A shutter plate provided on the upper side of the electro-optical display device to open and close the display window, and a movement control means for moving the shutter plate to open and close the display window, wherein the shutter plate is at least A part is formed of a transparent member, and the auxiliary display such as a figure, a symbol or a line segment located on the upper surface of the electro-optical display device is formed by printing on the transparent member with the movement of the shutter plate. An electronic watch featuring