JPH1173831A - Switch device and electronic equipment having switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance reactivity and reliability in on-off switching operation of illumination by forming a pair of electrodes facing at the specified intervals within a unit case on a circular arc-shaped electrode surface having a radius same as a globular electric conductor movably housed. SOLUTION: A switch box 1 is formed in a frame body of a rectangular parallelepiped, one side of the electrode 3, 4 side is formed higher than other sides, and the boundary surface between inclined surface 6, 7 becomes the highest. In the normal using state of a wristwatch using this device, a globular electric conductor 2 is positioned by dead load on the opposite side of the electrodes 3, 4 within the switch box 1 of a unit case, and separated from the electrodes 3, 4 to stably keep an off state. When the wristwatch is inclined toward the user side for confirming time, the globular electric conductor 2 rolls on the inclined surfaces 6, 7 comes in contact with the electrodes 3, 4 and is stabilized in a conductive state. The contact area is increased and malfunction caused by chattering is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a switch device which is built in a wristwatch or the like and which outputs when a specific posture is detected, and an electronic apparatus provided with the switch device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many wristwatches using a liquid crystal display panel have become widespread. Since the liquid crystal display panel cannot recognize the display in darkness such as at night, a lighting device for illuminating the display unit is incorporated. This lighting device is turned on by manually operating a lighting switch. There is also provided a wristwatch that includes a posture detection switch and automatically turns on the illumination by judging that the user has tilted his / her arm to look at the display on the display unit.

[0003] Such a switch device and electronic equipment are disclosed in JP-A-8-22755, column 5-6-6 column 1
This is described in two lines and in FIG.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional attitude detection switch device, it takes time until the spherical conductor stabilizes on the electrode, and it is erroneously detected, and there is a problem in reactivity and reliability. Was.

[0005] In addition, the conventional electronic device equipped with the attitude detection switch device has a problem that the wrong lighting is turned on or not turned on.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a posture detection switch device having improved responsiveness and reliability.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device, such as a wristwatch, which eliminates a switch operation that hinders a sport competition.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a switch device comprising: a unit case; and a pair of electrodes which are installed in the unit case so as to face each other at a predetermined interval.
A spherical conductor movably accommodated in the unit case, wherein the pair of electrodes are formed with arc-shaped electrode surfaces having a radius substantially equal to that of the spherical conductor. It is a feature.

According to the above configuration, the contact area between the electrode and the spherical conductor is increased, so that the switch is prevented from being turned on / off unintentionally, and the reliability of the switch is improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the switch device, the pair of electrodes are provided at one end of a unit case, and the unit case has an inclined contact surface having a “mountain” cross section with respect to a horizontal plane from one end to the other end. It is characterized by being formed.

According to the above configuration, the spherical conductor is housed in a position other than the switching operation, and the spherical conductor is easily housed in the switch operation position, thereby improving the reliability of the switch.

A switch device according to a third aspect of the present invention provides a posture detecting means for detecting a specific posture and outputting a detection signal;
Holding width measuring means for measuring the detection signal width, first output means for outputting when the holding width measuring means is equal to or longer than a preset first time width, and when the first output means does not output. ,
It is characterized by having a second output means for outputting when the time is equal to or longer than a predetermined second time width.

According to the above configuration, the detection time for when the switch operation is stable and the detection time for when the switch operation is unstable are changed, so that the posture detection time when the switch operation is stable can be shortened, and the electronic device with less burden on the user. Is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a display section for displaying information; lighting means for illuminating the display section; and control means for controlling lighting of the lighting means.
The switch device according to claim 1 or 2 is used as a switch device for sending an ON signal of the lighting unit to the control unit.

According to the above arrangement, the information displayed on the display means can be obtained without the need for the user to search for a switch or perform a switch operation for turning on an illuminating means that hinders running even in running in the dark. Can be easily visually recognized.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device, the control means turns off the lighting means for a predetermined time after lighting the lighting means.

According to the above configuration, since the lighting means is automatically turned off, the power consumption of the electronic device can be saved.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus comprising: a voice output unit for reporting information; and a notification control unit for controlling the notification of the voice output unit, and sends an ON signal of the voice output unit to the notification control unit. The switch device according to claim 1 or 2 is used as the switch device.

According to the above configuration, there is an effect that the user can easily confirm the time information even when the user does not perform a switch operation even in the dark running or the like.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of a first embodiment of the switch device according to the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG.
It is arrow sectional drawing. The state of the switch is off.
The switch device is a box-type device. The configuration of the switch device will be described. The switch box 1 includes a spherical conductor 2 movably housed in the switch box 1 and a pair of mirror-symmetric electrodes 3. , 4, output terminals 3 a, 4 a for transmitting the switch output of these electrodes to the outside by soldering or the like, and fixing the switch box 1 to a main body (a clock unit or the like), and a switch for closing the upper opening of the switch box 1. And a cover 5. The switch cover 5 is put on the switch box 1 and fixed by a known means such as an adhesive or ultrasonic welding. The switch box 1 and the switch cover 5 constitute a unit case of the switch device. Switch box 1
Is a rectangular frame, one side of the electrodes 3 and 4 is formed higher than the other side, and inclined surfaces 6 and 7 are provided. The boundary between the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 has the highest "mountain" shape. The electrodes 3 and 4 have a contact surface having a radius substantially equal to that of the spherical conductor 2. Each shape of the contact surface is obtained by dividing the spherical conductor 2 into four equal parts, providing a gap without changing the radius on the sides facing each other, and dividing the conductive body.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the ON state of the switch device of FIG. The electrodes 3 and 4 are short-circuited by the spherical conductor 2, and the electrodes 3 and 4 are connected. This result is transmitted to the outside through the output electrodes 3a and 4a.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a digital electronic wristwatch to which the switch device of the present invention is applied. The unit case of the switch device is housed in the wristwatch so that the output electrodes 3a and 4a are located at the 6 o'clock side of the wristwatch 10 at the lower right position in FIG. When the display portion of the wristwatch is in a horizontal state, the spherical conductor 2 in the unit case is housed in the wristwatch so as to be held by the end face on the 12 o'clock side.

Next, the operation will be described. The wristwatch 10 of the present embodiment is used while worn on a human arm, and in a normal use state in which the walking or running arm repeatedly swings back and forth, the 9:00, 12:00, and 3 o'clock directions are used. The wristwatch 10 is tilted in the lowest direction, the spherical conductor 2 of the switch device is positioned by its own weight on the opposite side of the electrodes 3 and 4 of the unit case, and the electrodes 3 and 4 are separated.

Therefore, when the wristwatch 10 is in a normal use state, the switch device is stably maintained in the off state.

On the other hand, when the wristwatch 10 is tilted toward the user in order to check the time (look at the display section), the 12 o'clock side is turned upward, and when the tilt angle exceeds the angle of the inclined surface 6, the spherical conductor 2 Rolls on the inclined surface 6 and is guided by the inclined surface 7 and comes into contact with the electrodes 3 and 4 to be stabilized in a conductive state. The spherical conductor 2 has the same radius as the spherical conductor 2, and has electrodes 3 and 4.
Because the contact area is large, the contact area is large, and switch malfunction due to chattering can be prevented.

Therefore, at the position where the display of the wristwatch 10 can be read, the electrodes 3 and 4 are short-circuited by the spherical conductor 2, and the switch is stably maintained in the ON state.

In the embodiment, the electrode portion is a spherical conductor 2
, But can be made up to a maximum of approximately two divided shapes. However, the electrode radius needs to be larger than the radius of the spherical conductor 2 as the shape approaches the two-part shape.

According to the above-described configuration, since the electrode portion has substantially the same radius as the spherical conductor, the contact area is increased, chattering can be prevented, and a stable contact structure can be realized.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of an electronic apparatus according to the fourth and fifth aspects provided with the switch device according to the third aspect of the present invention. The configuration of the arithmetic unit 21 includes a parallel processing arithmetic circuit, a time base counter, an input / output port, a liquid crystal (LCD) driver, an oscillator connection terminal for oscillation, an oscillation circuit, a frequency dividing circuit, and the like. R
AM22 is a data RAM and ROM2 for storing various information.
3 is a program ROM, and the oscillator 24 is a crystal oscillator. The attitude detection switch 25 is a switch device of the present invention. The display unit 26 is a liquid crystal display device, and displays time information and time information. The button switch 27 is a push button switch, and performs mode change, time correction, and the like. The illumination device 28 includes an EL backlight that illuminates the display unit 26. Microcomputer 29 is provided with arithmetic unit 21 and RA
M22 and ROM23 are integrated in one chip.

When the wristwatch is tilted toward the user to check the time (look at the display unit), the 12 o'clock side of the wristwatch is turned up, and when the posture detection switch 25 is turned on,
The posture detection switch 25 notifies the arithmetic unit 21 of this.
The microcomputer 29 measures the on-time of the attitude detection switch 25, and if it is determined that the attitude is on (the inclination is maintained) for a predetermined time or more, the microcomputer 29 turns on the lighting device 28 for a fixed time.

According to the above-described configuration, the information on the display unit can be viewed by turning on the illumination device without performing a button operation in the dark.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an illumination control process for an electronic device according to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, comprising the switch device according to the third aspect of the present invention. The microcomputer 29 periodically (for example, 16
Hz), the switch processing 40 is executed. First, "lit?" (S41), which determines whether the lighting device is lit, is executed. When it is not lit, the process proceeds to “switch detected?” (S42), which determines whether the attitude detection switch 25 is on. When the switch is in the ON state, the process proceeds to “flag set?” (S43), which determines whether the time of the lighting is up. When the flag has not been set, "Timer 2 in operation?" (S44) is executed to determine whether the timer 2 is in operation. When the timer 2 is operating, it is determined whether the timer 2 has reached the set time.
Proceed to. Here, when the time is not up, "timer 2 + 1" (S46) for adding 1 to timer 2 and "timer 1 + 1" (S47) for adding 1 to timer 1 are executed.
Then, "time-up?" (S48) for determining whether the timer 1 has reached the set time is executed. If the time is not up, the process proceeds to "end" (S66), and the interruption ends. When the time is up in S45, the process proceeds to “lighting” (S51) for lighting the lighting device 28. Then, "timer 3 set" (S52) for setting a timer for turning on the lighting device 28 for a fixed time is executed, "timer 2 clear" (S53) for clearing the timer 2 (non-operation and reset), and timer 1 Is executed (S54) to clear (non-operation and reset) the timer. When the timer 2 is not operating in S44, the timer 1
"Timer 1 is in operation?" (S49)
Proceed to. Here, when the timer 1 is operating, it is determined whether the timer 1 has reached the set time.
Proceed to (S50). When time is not up here,
"Timer 1 + 1" (S56) for adding 1 to timer 1 is executed. When the timer 1 is not operating in S49, the timer 1
To reset / start “Timer 1 set” (S5
Execute 5). When the posture detection switch 25 is in the off state in S42, the process proceeds to “Timer 1 is operating” (S57), which determines whether the timer 1 is operating. During operation, the timer 2 is reset and started.
Execute 8). When the operation is not performed in S57, "flag reset" (S59) for resetting the flag is executed. Then, the process proceeds to “timer 2 clear” (S60) for clearing (non-operating and resetting) timer 2. When the lamp is turned on in S41, the timer 3 is incremented by one.
Execute 1). Here, the process proceeds to “time-up?” (S62) to determine whether the timer 3 has reached the set time. When the type is up, the process proceeds to "non-lighting" (S63) for turning off the lighting device 28. Then, “timer 3 clear” (S
64), “flag setting” for setting a flag (S6)
Execute 5).

That is, assuming that the timer is 1: 200 ms and the timer is 3: 3 seconds, the arm (wrist) is rotated in order to see the display on the wristwatch, and the wristwatch is tilted in the direction in which the 6 o'clock direction becomes the lowest. The electrodes 3, 4 are made conductive by the spherical conductor 2 moved in the 6 o'clock direction. When this is detected in S42, the timer 1 is set in S43, S44, S49 and S55. In the next interrupt switch processing S40, the timer 1 is counted up in S56, and this processing operation is performed by the timer 1
Continues until the timer counts up. When the timer counts up, the lighting device is turned on in S51, and the timer 3 for automatically turning off the lighting time is started in S52. Thereafter, the count-up of the timer 3 is monitored in S62, and when the time is up, the lighting device is turned off in S63. When 200 ms continuous ON is detected by the attitude detection switch, automatic illumination for 3 seconds is performed. If the attitude detection switch is still on even after the lighting device is turned on, the result is YES in S43 and the lighting is not performed again.

When the posture detection switch is repeatedly turned on / off in a short time due to the instability of the wristwatch case or the like, the timer 1 is set by S55 at the first on, and S57 and S58 at the subsequent off. Sets the timer 2. Therefore, after that, the processes of S44 to S48 are performed, and the subsequent processes are the same as the above.

That is, assuming that the timer 1 is 200 ms, the timer 2 is 300 ms, and the timer 3 is 3 seconds, the 200 ms timer 1 operates when the attitude detection switch is first turned on. If the attitude detection switch is turned off during this 200 ms, the timer 2 for 300 ms operates. When the ON time of the attitude detection switch is detected continuously for 300 ms,
The illumination device is illuminated for 3 seconds. Therefore, the lighting device operates up to 500 ms after the first on.

Further, since the lighting device is not necessary in a state where the contents of the display unit can be sufficiently recognized in the daytime or the like, it is desirable to have a means for manually turning on / off automatic control of the lighting device by a switch. There is also a method of measuring the brightness of the display unit and automatically switching ON / OFF according to the brightness.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram of an electronic apparatus according to the fourth and fifth aspects provided with the switch device according to the third aspect of the present invention. The difference from FIG. 6 is that when the watch is tilted toward the user to check the time, the 12 o'clock side of the watch is turned up, and when the posture detection switch 25 is turned on, the posture detection switch 25 calculates this. Notify part 21. The microcomputer 29 measures the on-time of the attitude detection switch 25 and, when determining that it is on (the inclination is maintained) for a predetermined time or more, converts the time data into a sound source data storage ROM, a D / A converter, and a low-pass filter. And the like, and informs the measurer of the measurement time via the speaker 72.

According to the above-described configuration, time data can be known by voice without performing button operations in the dark.

[0040]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

According to the first aspect, since the pair of electrodes are formed in an arc shape having a radius substantially equal to that of the spherical conductor, a stable switching operation can be performed.

According to the second aspect, since the inclined surface having a cross section of "mountain" with respect to the horizontal plane is formed in the unit case from one end to the other end, a stable switch operation can be performed.

According to the third aspect, since two kinds of time widths of the holding width measuring means for measuring the width of the posture detection signal are provided, the posture can be detected in a short time and the switch device which does not affect the usability of the user can be provided. Can be provided.

According to the fourth and fifth aspects, the lighting and non-lighting of the lighting are controlled in accordance with the posture of the device, so that the display contents can be easily visually recognized only in the posture change even in darkness.

According to the sixth aspect, the measurement content is notified by voice according to the posture of the equipment, so that the measurement time can be known without disturbing the competition even in a marathon or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an embodiment of a switch device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an on state of the switch device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an external view of a digital electronic wristwatch to which the switch device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a circuit block diagram of a digital electronic wristwatch to which the switch device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a lighting control process of the electronic apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram of a digital electronic wristwatch to which the switch device of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Switch box 2 Spherical conductor 3, 4 Electrode 3a, 4a Output terminal 5 Switch cover 6, 7 Inclined surface 21 Operation part 22 RAM 23 ROM 24 Quartz vibrator 25 Attitude detection switch 26 Display part 27 Button switch 28 Illumination device 29 Micro Computer 71 Voice synthesis IC 72 Speaker

Claims (6)

[Claims] A unit case, a pair of electrodes installed in the unit case facing each other at a predetermined interval, and a spherical conductor movably housed in the unit case. A switch device, wherein the pair of electrodes has an arc-shaped electrode surface having a radius substantially equal to that of the spherical conductor. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of electrodes are provided at one end of a unit case, and the unit case has an inclined contact surface having a cross-section "mountain" with respect to a horizontal plane from one end to the other end. The switch device according to claim 1, wherein 3. An attitude detecting means for detecting a specific attitude and outputting a detection signal, a holding width measuring means for measuring the width of the detection signal, and a first time width which is equal to a predetermined first time width. A switch comprising: a first output means for outputting in the above case; and a second output means for outputting when the first output means does not output a signal when a predetermined second time width or more is exceeded. apparatus. 4. An electronic apparatus having a display unit for displaying information, illumination means for illuminating the display unit, and control means for controlling lighting of the illumination means, wherein a switch for sending an ON signal of the illumination means to the control means. An electronic apparatus comprising the switch device according to claim 1 or 2 as the device. 5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said control means turns off said lighting means for a predetermined time after lighting said lighting means. 6. An electronic apparatus having a sound output means for notifying information and a notification control means for controlling notification of the sound output means, wherein the switch device sends an on signal of the sound output means to the notification control means. Electronic equipment using the switch device according to 1 or 2.