JPS6015896B2 - electronic clock - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sounding body driving system for a portable watch with a timer function.

The timer function is a function that is closely related to the clock function, can be configured with a relatively simple mechanism, and is ideal as an additional mechanism to a portable watch because of its ease of use.

However, the timer function has a sounding body for external notification, and the sounding body requires much more energy than the clock function itself requires. This is an extremely disadvantageous condition for a portable watch. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a timer function sounding body drive method that reduces the burden on the energy source built into a portable watch due to the timer function drive.

The present invention will be explained using specific examples.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a portable watch with a timer, and a conventional timer function sounding body driving system will be explained.

The clock function consists of standard oscillation section 1, frequency division section 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7. Consists of an AND circuit 8 for generating a step motor drive signal and its drive circuit 9, a step motor 10, a wheel train 11, and an analog display mechanism 18, and a timer function is provided for the reference car 1.
4 and hour wheel 15, a starting lever 16, a starting switch 17, a sounding body drive section 19, a sounding body 20, and an AND circuit 21. Note that the wheel train drive source is not particularly limited to a step motor, and may be a general fin mechanical converter. The conventional timer function is accomplished as follows.

The rotational driving force of the step motor 10 is transmitted to the hour wheel 15 through the wheel train 11, causing the hour wheel 15 to rotate once in one lifetime. The hour wheel 15 and the indicator wheel 14 connected to the sound time setting hand 13 are provided with three projections and holes each having a clutch function, and the projections and holes match only once during one revolution of the adjustment wheel 15. It is supposed to be done. At that time, that is, the hour hand 12 and the sounding time setting hand 13 interlock with the hour wheel 15.
When the two match, the starting lever 16 pushes up the hour wheel 15 and closes the starting switch 17. When the start contact 17 closes, the AND circuit 21 passes a signal of an appropriate frequency output from the frequency divider 2, and the drive circuit 19 excites the sounding body 20 at the frequency. According to this method, once the reference car 1
When the hole No. 4 and the protrusion of the hour wheel are aligned and the start switch is closed, this state will continue for several tens of minutes, during which time the sounding element will continue to be excited. However, in a portable watch, energy is consumed due to the excitation of the sounding body in a much shorter period than this time. Furthermore, the power consumption in the sounding body driving section 19 during sounding body excitation is much larger than that consumed in the clock function. Therefore, the internal resistance of the energy source generally increases and the voltage decreases, which adversely affects the entire electrical system. In the worst case, this may cause an abnormality in the drive of the step motor, or may cause noise that disturbs the regular operation of the electronic frequency divider. Even if the purpose of adding a timer function to a portable watch is to increase its usefulness, it is not acceptable to compromise the original functions of the watch.

Therefore, a specific example of the sounding body driving system according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the block diagram of FIG. Regarding the clock function, the configuration is similar to that of the specific example described above.

Note that the wheel train drive source is not particularly limited to a step motor, and may be a general electro-mechanical converter. Regarding the timer function, a first control circuit section 33 for electronically controlling the sound generation time and a second control circuit section 34 for eliminating the temporal overlap between the drive time of the step motor and the sound generation time have been newly added. establish. The operating situation will be explained using the time chart shown in FIG. Note that the signal Sn is the output of the electronic circuit indicated by the number n. The signal from the standard signal generator 1 is frequency-divided by frequency dividers 2 and 3 to generate a signal S3. Signal S
3 further passes through frequency dividers 4, 5, 6, and 7, and the output signal thereof is frequency-divided into S4, flea, and S6, and finally output as a 1-second signal S7. A one-second signal S8 for driving the step motor is shaped by an AND circuit 8 and sent to a step motor drive circuit 9. The analog display mechanism 18 is operated by the drive of this step motor, and when the positions of the hour hand 12 and the sound time setting hand I3 coincide, the start switch 17 is closed and a coincidence signal S,7 is generated, and the differentiating circuit 22 is activated by the signal S, 7 differential signal S22 is generated, and the flip-flops 24, 25
, 26, 27, and 28 are reset.

Let's mark this time. t, since the logic of S28 is "1", the AND circuit 32 intermittently passes the output signal S2 of the frequency divider 2, as will be explained later, and excites the sounding body 20 by the drive circuit 19. The AND circuit 23 does not pass the 1 second signal S7, but after t, the AND circuit 23 does not pass the 1 second signal S28.
Since the signal becomes logic "1", the signal S7 is passed, and the counter circuit consisting of flip-flops 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 starts counting. In this case, the output signal S28 of the flip-flop 28 becomes logic "0" after one pulse of the signal S7, that is, approximately one pulse, and at this time the counting is stopped and the sound generation is also stopped. In this specific example, the sounding time of the sounding body is set to about 1, but this can be determined arbitrarily in electronic circuit design. By electronically controlling the sounding time of the sounding body, the energy consumption of the timer-equipped portable electronic watch is much lower than that of the conventional timer-equipped portable watch. Next, the function of the second control circuit section 34 will be explained.

Upon receiving the signals S5, S6, and S7, the AND circuit 29, the OR circuit 30, and the NOR circuit 31 generate the signal S3.

The signal S3 intended to drive the step motor and the signal S3 intended to drive the sounding body do not have pulses that overlap in time. The AND circuit 32 outputs S32 from the signals S2, S3, . . . S28, and drives the sounding body with this signal.

As a result, since there is no overlap between the step motor driving time and the sounding body driving time, there is no adverse effect of the sounding body drive on the power supply to the step motor drive, and stable hand movement is achieved. Furthermore, since the sound is generated intermittently, it has the advantage of reducing power consumption and being easier to detect than continuous sounds. The present invention uses the above-mentioned sounding body driving method to improve the power consumption and stable operation problems of portable watches with timers, and its effectiveness is enormous.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1: A block diagram of a conventional portable watch with a timer, Fig. 2: A block diagram of a portable watch with a timer according to the present invention, Fig. 3: FIG. 2 is a timing chart of each part of the block diagram. 1... Standard oscillation section, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
...Frequency dividing section, 8...Step motor drive signal generation section (AND circuit), 9...Step motor drive circuit, 10...Step motor, 11.
...Argument, 12...Hour hand, 13...
Sound time setting hand, 14... Reference wheel, 15...
・Hour wheel, 16...Start lever, 17...Start switch, 18...Display mechanism, 19...
Sounding body drive unit, 20...Sounding body, 21, 23,
29, 32...AND circuit, 22...
Differential circuit, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28... flip-flop, 30, 31... NOR circuit. Volume 'Izukan 2 Tamizu

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A standard signal generator, a frequency dividing circuit that divides the frequency of the signal of the standard signal generator, and a step motor drive signal generation circuit that generates a step motor drive signal from the signal of the frequency dividing circuit.
An electronic clock comprising a step motor drive circuit that drives the step motor based on the step motor drive signal and the step motor that drives the wheel train, includes a matching function that outputs a matching signal at a set time, and a matching function that outputs a matching signal at a set time, and a matching function that outputs a matching signal at a set time, and a matching function that outputs a matching signal at a set time. The first control circuit includes a sounding body that notifies the user, a sounding body drive circuit that drives the sounding body, and first and second control circuits, and the first control circuit has a differentiation circuit that differentiates the coincidence signal, and a signal from the differentiation circuit that causes the coincidence signal to be detected. The second control circuit includes a counter circuit that starts counting signals from the frequency dividing circuit and generates a first signal until a predetermined time is counted, and the second control circuit converts the signal from the frequency dividing circuit into the step motor drive signal. An electronic timepiece comprising a gate circuit that generates intermittent second signals that do not overlap, and wherein the sounding element driving circuit drives the sounding element using the first and second signals.