JPH024873B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to a stopwatch.

In general, in athletic events such as track and field or swimming that compete for time, when practicing, the practitioner will be asked to compare his or her target time with his or her current record time. is one of the most wanted information.

However, with conventional stopwatches, when comparing the time you set as your goal with the time you recorded, each time you read the displayed measured time and compare it with the target time to see if it is better or worse. It was a hassle because I had to decide. Furthermore, at competitions, spectators, athletes, etc. cannot know whether the record has been updated or not until the current record time is displayed on the bulletin board and the announcer announces that it is a new record, which is inconvenient.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a stopwatch that can immediately determine whether or not a record has been updated without reading the measured time.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an electronic timepiece with a stopwatch function to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, numeral 1 is an oscillation circuit that oscillates and outputs a 32.768 Hz clock signal, 2 is a frequency dividing circuit that divides the clock signal into 100 Hz signal a, 1 Hz signal b, and 0.5 Hz signal c, and 3 is the 1 Hz signal signal b
4 is a time counter that obtains time information in hours, minutes, and seconds by counting 1
By counting the carry signal once per day, the month, day,
This is a calendar counter that obtains date information for the day of the week.
The time information obtained by the time counter 3 and the date information obtained by the calendar counter 4 are sent via an AND gate 5 to a liquid crystal display device 6 that digitally displays the input information.

On the other hand, reference numerals S ₁ to _{S 5} indicate manual switches provided outside the timepiece, and operation signals from each of the switches S ₁ to _{S 5} are applied to corresponding one-shot circuits 7 to 11 to output pulse signals. The pulse signal output from this one-shot circuit 7 is a binary flip-flop (hereinafter abbreviated as T-FF).
12 and inverts its output state. The side output signal of this T-FF12 is
It is given to the AND gate 5 as a gate control signal, and its Q side output signal is supplied from the frequency divider circuit 2.
AND gate 1 to which 0.5Hz signal c is input
3 as a gate control signal, and also to AND gate 14 as a gate control signal. This AND gate 13 supplies the 0.5 Hz signal c to the liquid crystal display device 6 as a blinking display signal E, and causes predetermined information inputted to the liquid crystal display device 6 to be displayed blinking. Further, the pulse signal output from the one-shot circuit 8 is applied to the T input terminal of the T-FF 15, and its output state is inverted. This T-FF
The Q side output signal 15 is given as a gate control signal to the AND gate 16 to which the 100 Hz signal a is inputted from the frequency dividing circuit 2, and causes the AND gate 16 to output the 100 Hz signal a. The 100 Hz signal a output from the AND gate 16 is applied to a time measuring circuit (stop watch counter) 17 and counted. This time measurement circuit 17
When the 100Hz signal a is input, the time measurement operation is started, and when the input of the 100Hz signal a is prohibited, the time measurement operation is stopped, and the input 100Hz signal a is counted. According to
For example, it is possible to obtain time information up to 59 minutes, 59 seconds, and 99 seconds.

The time information obtained by this time measurement circuit 17 is
The OR gate 19 and the AND gate 1 together with any time information preset and stored in the time storage section 18.
4 to the liquid crystal display device 6, and both time information are displayed on the liquid crystal display device 6 at the same time.
Note that the OR gate 19 is a gate circuit that simply provides the contents of the time measurement circuit 17 and the time storage section 18 to the AND gate 14. Further, the Q-side output signal of the T-FF 15 is given to a one-shot circuit 20, which outputs a pulse signal in synchronization with the rising edge of the one-shot circuit 20. This pulse signal is given as a gate control signal to an AND gate 21 to which time information is input from the time measurement circuit 17 and an AND gate 22 to which time information is input from the time storage section 18, respectively. These AND gates 21 and 22 simultaneously output time information from the time measurement circuit 17 and time information from the time storage section 18 in synchronization with the timing at which the pulse signal is input from the one shot circuit 20, and provide the same to the comparison circuit 23. Therefore, comparison circuit 2
3 is given time information obtained by the time measuring circuit 17 when the measuring operation of the time measuring circuit 17 is stopped.

This comparison circuit 23 compares the temporal magnitude of the inputted time information, and the time measurement circuit 1
When the time information No. 7 is smaller than the time information preset and stored in the time storage section 18, an alarm command signal is outputted and given to the melody generation circuit 24. This melody generating circuit 24 stores musical tone codes for organizing melody tones of a predetermined song title, and when the tone command signal is input, the musical tone code is read out and converted into a musical tone signal of a predetermined frequency, and then, This musical tone signal is sent to the electromagnetic buzzer 25, and the electromagnetic buzzer 2
5 generates a melody sound.

Further, the pulse signal output from the one-shot circuit 9 is transmitted to an AND gate 26 to which the Q side output signal of the T-FF 12 is input as a gate control signal.
is applied to the reset terminal R of the time measuring circuit 17 through the reset terminal R to clear its contents.

Further, the pulse signal output from the one-shot circuit 9 is sent to the 4-bit shift register 2 via an AND gate 28 to which the Q-side output signals of the T-FFs 12 and 27 are respectively input as gate control signals.
9 and shifts its contents one bit at a time. The output state of the T-FF 27 is inverted when the pulse signal output from the one-shot circuit 11 is input to its T input terminal, and the output signal on that side is applied to the reset terminal R of the shift register 29. and reset its contents. Among the bit outputs of the shift register 29, the second bit output is the minute digit selection signal X,
Further, the output of the third bit is applied as a digit selection signal Y in units of seconds, and the output of the fourth bit is applied as a digit selection signal Z in units of 1/100 seconds to a decoder 30 having an AND gate function. In addition to the digit selection signals X, Y, and Z, this decoder 30 is also given a pulse signal from the one-shot circuit 10 and a Q-side output signal of the T-FF 27.
Each time a pulse signal is input from , the preset signals X',
Y' and Z' are outputted and given to the time storage section 18. Each time a preset signal X', Y', Z' is inputted from the decoder 30, the contents of the corresponding digit are incremented by 1 in the time storage section 18.

Next, the operation of the electronic timepiece configured as described above will be explained.

First, when the side output signal of the T-FF 12 is set to the binary logic level "1", the AND gate 5 is deregulated, so the time information of the time counter 3 and the date information of the calendar counter 4 are displayed on the LCD. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the current time and date are "12:34:57".
and “October 25th FR (Friday)” are displayed digitally.

In this normal timepiece mode, when the switch _S1 is operated once, the output state of the T-FF 12 is inverted, its Q side output signal is set to "1", and the mode is switched to the stopwatch mode. As a result, the AND gate 14 is released, and the contents of the time measurement circuit 17 and time storage section 18 are sent to the liquid crystal display device 6. In this case, assuming that the contents of the time measurement circuit 17 and the time storage section 18 have been reset, "0" is digitally displayed in each display digit of the liquid crystal display device 6.

In this stopwatch mode, if you operate switch _S5 to invert the output state of T-FF27 and set its Q side output signal to "1",
The AND gate 28 is deregulated and enters the preset possible mode. In this preset possible mode, the AND gate 13 is deregulated, so
The 0.5 Hz signal c taken out from the frequency dividing circuit 2 is applied to the liquid crystal display device 6 via the AND gate 13, and the digit corresponding to the contents of the shift register 29 is displayed blinking. When the switch _S3 is operated, a pulse signal is output from the one-shot circuit 9 and is applied to the shift register 29, so that the contents of the shift register 29 are shifted in accordance with the number of times the switch _S3 is operated. At this time, the liquid crystal display device 6 flashes the digit corresponding to the contents of the shift register 29, so by operating the switch _S3 while visually observing the flashing display, the shift register 2
9 can be set to the desired content. For example, when a signal of "1" is set in the second bit of the shift register 29, the digit selection signal X is output from the shift register 29.
By operating the switch _S4 an arbitrary number of times, the decoder 30 outputs a one-shot pulse preset signal X' each time the switch _S4 is operated, and the contents of the minute digit of the time storage section 18 are incremented by 1. .
Therefore, time information in minutes from 1 to 59 minutes is preset in the minute digit of the time storage section 18 depending on the number of times the switch _S4 is operated. Similarly, when a signal of "1" is set in the 3rd or 4th bit of the shift register 29, the signal is set in units of seconds from 1 to 59 seconds, or from 1/100 to 1/100 seconds, depending on the number of operations of switch _S4 . 99/10
Time information in units of 1/100 seconds of 0 seconds is preset in a predetermined digit of the time storage section 18. This time storage section 18
For example, "00 minutes 26"
"Second 30/100" is displayed on the liquid crystal display 6 as shown in Figure 3.
At this time, since the time measurement circuit 17 is in a reset state, each display digit in the upper row of the liquid crystal display device 6 remains at "0".

After completing the operation of presetting the desired time information in the time storage section 18 in this way, the switch _S5 is operated once again. By this,
The output state of the T-FF 27 is inverted and the preset enable mode is released, and at the same time, the contents of the shift register 29 are reset.

However, in stopwatch mode,
When the switch _S2 is operated once, the output state of the T-FF 15 is inverted and the Q side output signal is set to "1". As a result, AND gate 16 is deregulated, and 100
The Hz signal a is output and given to the time measurement circuit 17, and therefore the time measurement circuit 17 starts a measurement operation and starts counting the 100Hz signal a.

During this measurement operation, switch _S2
When is operated again, the output state of the T-FF 15 is reversed and the measurement operation of the time measurement circuit 17 is stopped. At the same time, one shot circuit 2
A pulse signal is output from 0, and the AND gate 21
and 22 are deregulated at the same time, both time information from the time measurement circuit 17 and the time storage section 18 are input to the comparison circuit 23. Therefore, the comparison circuit 23 compares the magnitude of both input time information, and when the measurement operation is stopped, the time measurement circuit 1
When it is determined that the time information obtained in step 7 is smaller than the time information preset in the time storage section 18, a sound alarm command signal is outputted and given to the melody generation circuit 24. Therefore, a predetermined melody tone is emitted from the electromagnetic buzzer 25 for a certain period of time.

Therefore, for example, in an athletic competition in which time is competed, the time storage unit 18 stores the highest record time to date.
If the melody sound is preset, the measurement time is shorter than the preset time, so the generation of the melody sound immediately indicates that a new record has been achieved.

Also, when the measurement operation is stopped, the time measurement circuit 1
Time information obtained in step 7, for example, "00 minutes 25 seconds 27"
As shown in Figure 3, the preset time is 00 minutes.
26 seconds 30" is displayed digitally. Therefore,
By reading the displayed measured time and comparing it with the preset time, you can find out exactly how much time-wise your current record is better than your best record.

However, after that, when you operate Switch S ₃ ,
The contents of the time measurement circuit 17 are cleared by a one-shot pulse signal output from the AND gate 26. Therefore, when a new time measurement is to be performed, the contents of the time measurement circuit 17 are cleared and then the switch _S2 is operated again. In this case, the time information once preset in the time storage section 18 is stored and held until a new preset operation is performed. Furthermore, in stopwatch mode, by operating switch _S1 , it is possible to switch to clock mode and view time information regardless of whether time is being measured or not.

In the above embodiment, a melody sound generation circuit was used to generate a melody sound, but an audio signal generation circuit was used instead of the melody sound generation circuit to generate a certain specific word (for example, "new record"). It may be generated as a voice, or of course may be a single sound of a predetermined frequency.

Further, in the above embodiment, for example, the measured time of one athlete and the preset time are compared, but by providing a plurality of time recording units and time measurement circuits, it is possible to compare the measured time and preset time of a plurality of athletes. Alternatively, a plurality of time measurement circuits may be provided for one time storage section and compared.

Further, in the above embodiment, the comparison result between the measured time and the preset time is announced by sound, but optical notification means may also be used, and this may be notified by display means such as a blinking display. It's okay. In this case, it is effective to configure the display device in the form of a dot matrix and display the fact that it is a new record using English letters, Chinese characters, or the like.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the stopwatch was applied to an electronic timepiece built into the electronic timepiece.
It may be incorporated into a small electronic computer or the like, or of course may be a stand-alone device. It can also be applied to large stopwatches installed in stadium structures. In this case, by playing a song such as Juan Juare from a large speaker, it is possible to inform the audience that a new record has been achieved.

As described in detail above, the present invention is configured to compare the measurement time obtained when the measurement operation is stopped and the preset time preset, and to notify the comparison result. It is possible to know that the measured time was smaller than the preset time without reading the measured time. Therefore, at competitions, etc., competitors, users, and spectators can instantly know whether a new record has been achieved or not, and by presetting a predetermined time, it can be used as a timer device. Effects can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of an electronic timepiece with a stopwatch to which the invention is applied, and FIGS. 2 to 4 show the display state of the display section of this electronic timepiece with a stopwatch. This is a diagram. 6...Liquid crystal display device, 17...Time measurement circuit,
18... Time storage unit, 23... Comparison circuit, 24...
...melody sound generation circuit, 25...electromagnetic buzzer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Clock signal generation circuits 1 and 2 that generate a reference clock signal, a time measurement circuit 17 that counts the clock signals to measure time information, and the start of a measurement operation in this time measurement circuit 17. Control means S ₂ , 8, 15, 16 for performing stop control
and switch means S ₃ , S ₄ , 2 for inputting time information.
8, 29, 30 and the switch means S ₃ , S ₄ , 2
8, 29, and 30;
a comparison circuit 2 that compares the magnitude of the time information measured by the time information and the time information stored in the time storage section 18;
3, and sending the time information measured by the time measurement circuit 17 and the time information stored in the time storage section 18 to the comparison circuit 23 during the stop operation by the control means S ₂ , 8, 15, and 16; The time information measured by the time measuring circuit 17 is stored in the time storage section 18 by comparing the comparison control means 20, 21, 22 that perform a comparison operation with the comparison circuit 23.
A stopwatch comprising notification means 24 and 25 for notifying that the time information is smaller than the time information stored in the stopwatch.