JP3067235B2 - Timing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a clock device for displaying, by a mechanical display means, a measured time obtained by an integrated measurement by an electrical measuring means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a time measuring device such as an analog electronic stopwatch or an analog electronic timepiece with a chronograph function, which displays on a mechanical display means a time measured by an electric measuring means as shown in FIG. During normal measurement, the step motor is driven to rotate forward in accordance with the measured value.To reset the measurement and return the display pointer to the initial state, move the step motor forward until the display pointer is at the initial position. In general, a method of fast-forward driving by rotation was used.

As shown in FIG. 3, during normal measurement, the step motor is driven to rotate forward in accordance with the measured value, and when the measurement is reset to return the display pointer to the initial state, the display pointer is moved to the initial position. In order to reduce the time required to return the hand to the initial position, when the hand position of some or all of the display hands is above a certain value, the step motor is driven forward in a forward rotation until the position of the display hands returns to the initial position. However, when the position of the hand of the display pointer is less than a certain value, a method of fast-forward driving the stepping motor by reverse rotation until the position of the display pointer becomes the initial position has been adopted.

[0004]

However, in the conventional system as shown in FIG. 2, the number of display divisions is large, for example, a single motor drives a 12-hour meter in units of minutes with 720 divisions of display. If the system resets the measurement in a state where the measured value is as short as 10 minutes, the step motor must be driven for 710 steps to return the display pointer to the initial position. However, there is a problem that current consumption is increased.

In the system shown in FIG. 3, in the above case, the display pointer is returned to the initial position by simply driving the 10-step motor in order to return the display pointer to the zero position by the reverse rotation drive. It is possible to do.

However, as disclosed in the embodiment of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-138895, in a two-pole step motor generally used for a timepiece, a stopwatch or the like, a special reverse rotation pulse is applied to the step motor in order to reversely drive the step motor. Must be input, and the maximum drive frequency at which fast forward can be performed is smaller than that in the forward drive. Therefore, even if the number of driving steps is small, the time required for hammering is long.

In addition, there is another problem that a comparison means for determining whether the position of the needle of the display pointer is equal to or more than a certain value is required and the structure becomes complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a timekeeping device capable of quickly resetting a display pointer with a simple configuration.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a timing device in which mechanical display means is rotationally driven by a motor, wherein the motor is driven in reverse during time measurement, and the mechanical display means is initialized. When the motor is reset to the normal rotation mode, the motor is driven to rotate forward, and the maximum frequency that can be driven in the forward rotation drive is higher than that in the reverse rotation drive.
Further, the motor is a step motor. Further, the motor is a two-pole step motor.

[0010]

According to the above construction of the present invention, the motor is driven in reverse during time measurement, and is driven forward when the mechanical display is reset to the initial state. Generally, in a two-pole step motor used for a timepiece, a stopwatch, or the like, the maximum frequency that can be driven by the forward rotation drive is higher than that by the reverse rotation drive. Therefore, even if the measurement time is short, resetting to the initial state can be performed in a short time.

[0011]

(Embodiment 1) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5. FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a timing device according to this embodiment.
FIG. 4 is an external view, and FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing voltage waveforms at various parts in FIG.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 403 denotes a second hand for displaying a second measured in 60 divisions per revolution.
Driven by When the step motor 114 rotates forward, the 403 rotates clockwise, and is driven in the forward direction both during measurement and during resetting to the initial state, as in the first conventional example.

Reference numeral 401 denotes a minute hand for displaying the time measured in 60 divisions per revolution, and 402 denotes an hour hand for displaying the time measured in 720 divisions per rotation. These are driven by a two-pole step motor 121 in mechanical cooperation. Is done. Step motor 121
Are rotated forward and 401 and 402 rotate counterclockwise,
As described below, the motor is driven by the reverse rotation during the measurement and by the normal rotation during the return of the needle to the initial state.

Reference numerals 108 and 109 are switches for controlling start, stop, and reset of the clock function.

The mode control circuit 105 outputs the switch signal 15
The reset signal 154 and the start signal 153 are output according to the inputs of 1 and 152.

The coincidence detection circuit 116 has an hour / minute counter 115
When the output from the counter and the output from the hour / minute hand position up / down counter 117 match, an L level signal is output. When the output does not match, an H level signal is output.

Hour / minute hand position up / down counter 117
Counts up by the reverse rotation pulse synchronization signal 160 and counts down by the normal rotation pulse synchronization signal 158.

When the switch signal 151 is input when the clocking function is in the reset state, the start signal 152 output from the mode control circuit 105 rises and the reset signal 153 falls as shown in FIG. As a result, the reset of the second counter 104 and the hour / minute counter 115 is released, and the clock signal 150 is input to the second counter 104, so that the timing starts.

When the second counter 104 counts 60, a clock signal is applied to the hour / minute counter 115, and the measured value of the hour / minute counter becomes 1. At this time, since the measured value of the hour / minute hand position up / down counter 117 is 0, the match detection circuit 116 outputs an H level signal indicating mismatch. As a result, the clock signal 156 prohibited by the AND gate 123 passes through 123, and the reverse pulse synchronizing signal 160 is input to the reverse pulse generating circuit 122.
Output a reverse rotation pulse 160 to the motor driver 120. As a result, a reverse motor drive pulse 161 is output to the step motor 121, the 121 reversely rotates by one step, and the minute hand 401 and the hour hand 402 rotate clockwise by one step. At this time, the hour / minute hand up-counter 117 uses the reverse rotation pulse synchronization signal 160 as a clock and measures 1, so that the output of the coincidence detection circuit 116 becomes L level and the reverse rotation pulse synchronization signal 160 is inhibited.

When the switch signal 151 is input again, the mode control circuit 105 causes the start signal 153 to fall and the clock input to the second counter 104 is inhibited.

When the switch signal 152 is input in this state, the reset signal 154 rises by the mode control circuit 105, and the second counter 104 and the hour / minute counter 115 are reset. At this time, for example, if the hour / minute hand up / down counter 117 counts 2, the coincidence detection circuit 117 outputs an H level, the clock signal 155 passes through the AND gate 118, and the normal pulse synchronization signal 1
58 is input to the normal rotation pulse generation circuit 119, and a normal rotation pulse 159 is output from 119 to the motor driver 120. As a result, a forward motor drive pulse 162 is output to the step motor 121, the 121 rotates forward two steps, and the minute hand 401 and the hour hand 402 rotate counterclockwise two steps to return to the initial position. At this time, the hour / minute hand up counter 1
In 17, the forward pulse synchronizing signal 158 is down-clocked and 2 is subtracted and becomes 0, so that the output of the coincidence detecting circuit 116 becomes L level and the forward pulse synchronizing signal 158 is inhibited.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a timepiece according to the present invention realized by a CPU system. The appearance is the same as that of FIG. 4 of the first embodiment, and the second hand 403 is driven by a two-pole step motor 607 in one division of 60. Reference numeral 403 rotates clockwise when the step motor 607 rotates forward, and is driven to rotate forward during both measurement and resetting to the initial state as in the first conventional example.

The minute hand 401 is divided into 60 per revolution and the hour hand 402 is divided into 720 per revolution. These are mechanically linked and driven by a two-pole step motor 611. 401 and 40
Numeral 2 rotates counterclockwise when the step motor 611 rotates forward, and is driven by reverse rotation during measurement and forward rotation during reset return to the initial state as described below.

The RAM 614 stores measured values, positions of display pointers, and the like. The CPU 612 executes functions such as clocking and hand movement according to a program stored in the ROM 613.

The operation during measurement will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When a 1-Hz timer interrupt signal 650 from the frequency dividing circuit 602 is input to the CPU 612, the CPU 612 causes the motor pulse selecting circuit I60
5, a forward rotation pulse is selected, and one forward rotation motor drive pulse is output from the motor driver I606. Next, RAM61
Adds 1 to the hexadecimal second counter composed of a part of 4,
If there is a carry, the motor pulse selection circuit II6
At step 09, a reverse rotation pulse is selected, one reverse rotation motor drive pulse is output from the motor driver II 610, and the step motor 611 is rotated one step reversely. As a result, the hour hand 40
The 2 and minute hands 401 rotate clockwise by one step. Next, 1 is added to the hour / minute counter constituted by a part of the RAM 614.

The operation of resetting the measurement and returning the display pointer to the initial position will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. If the switch # 618 is input when the measurement is in the stop state, the CPU 612 selects the normal rotation pulse by the motor pulse selection circuit I605 and issues the normal rotation motor drive pulse (60-second measurement value) from the motor driver I606. Is output, and the second hand 403 is returned to the initial position. Next, the second counter is reset to zero. Thereafter, the forward rotation pulse is selected by the motor pulse selection circuit II609, the forward rotation motor drive pulse (minute measurement value) is output from the motor driver II610, and the minute hand 401 and the hour hand 402 are returned to the initial positions. Finally, the hour / minute counter is reset to zero.

[0029]

As described above, the timing device of the present invention
In a timing device in which mechanical display means is rotationally driven by a motor, the motor is driven to rotate reversely during time measurement, and the motor is driven to rotate forward when resetting the mechanical display means to an initial state. The drive is characterized in that the maximum driveable frequency is higher than the reverse rotation drive.

In a two-pole step motor generally used for a timepiece, a stopwatch or the like, the maximum frequency that can be driven by the forward drive is higher than that by the reverse drive. for that reason,
With the timekeeping device of the present invention, even when the measurement time is short, resetting to the initial state can be performed in a short time.

As the actual use of a stopwatch or the like, since the measurement is considerably shorter than the maximum measurement time, the time required for resetting to an average initial state in actual use is greatly reduced. You.

Therefore, immediately after the end of a certain measurement, the next measurement can be started immediately. Therefore, the risk of missing a measurement opportunity is small.

Also, if the mechanical display means such as display pointers return quickly to the initial state, the operational feeling is good and the commercial value is increased.

Further, since the number of steps for driving the motor is reduced on average, current consumption can be reduced, and wear of mechanical parts is also reduced. This reduces the frequency of battery replacement,
Product life is also extended.

Further, as compared with a method in which the reset to the initial state is performed by the forward rotation drive or the reverse rotation drive depending on the position of the display means, no comparison means is required, so that the configuration can be simplified. Therefore, current consumption can be reduced. Further, C
In the time measuring device based on the PU method, the software execution time can be reduced, so that the software design is facilitated, and the processing delay and the like are reduced.

According to the present invention, since these advantages can be obtained with a simple structure, the effect is great.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a timing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a conventional clock device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a conventional clock device.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a timing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of the timekeeping device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 oscillation circuit 102 frequency dividing circuit 103 AND gate 107 coincidence detecting circuit 110 AND gate 111 second hand position counter 112 forward rotation pulse generating circuit 113 motor driver 601 oscillation circuit 602 frequency dividing circuit 604 forward rotation pulse generating circuit 608 reverse rotation pulse generating circuit 616 input Circuit 617 Switch I

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A timing device in which a mechanical display means is rotationally driven by a motor, wherein the motor is driven to rotate reversely during time measurement, and the motor is driven to rotate forward when resetting the mechanical display means to an initial state. And a maximum driving frequency of the forward rotation drive is higher than that of the reverse rotation drive. 2. The timing device according to claim 1, wherein the motor is a step motor. 3. The timekeeping device according to claim 1, wherein the motor is a two-pole step motor.