KR20060109708A - Universal timepiece which can display day-and-night - Google Patents

Abstract

A universal watch which can display day-and-night is provided to accurately read a local time of a user through a clock needle as well as to show current times of various regions without an additional operation. In a universal watch which can display day-and-night, a fixed time plate has a date line, a map of the world, and south/north poles at a center of the plate. A scale which shows time is split by the same angle with respect to the center. A time plate rotates one revolution per day. And, a time indicator shows a local time at a specific region.

Description

Universal Timepiece which can display Day-and-Night}

1 shows an example of the universal clock of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows the winter solstice as an example of the universal clock of the present invention containing a separation plate.

Figure 3 shows an example of the universal clock of the present invention containing a separation plate around the time.

Fig. 4 shows another example of the time indicating unit of the universal clock of the present invention.

5 is a schematic diagram showing a local time automatic setting process associated with a positioning system in the universal clock of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing a process of providing information about the major cities of the world in the universal clock of the present invention.

******** Explanation of Reference Symbols ********

10 ... clock face 11 ... world map of the hemisphere

12 ... Date line 13 ... Day and night display

20.Standard time display

30.Commercial 31 ... Time display scale

32 ... separation 33 ... minute display scale

40.Visual indicator

The present invention relates to a universal clock that can easily read the time of a specific region, and at the same time can easily grasp the local time, date, day and night of various cities of the world.

The current time around the world is the Greenwich Observatory in the UK with a longitude of 0 °, the midday sun at noon (12 o'clock in the afternoon), and the local time in a 180 ° longitude. We do (12 pm). In addition, the region with a 180 ° longitude is named as a date change line, and the easternmost part of the date change line around the northern hemisphere is defined as one day earlier than the west.

24 hours is the time when the earth rotates 360 ° with respect to the sun, so 15 ° longitude corresponds to 1 hour. From the point of view of the ground in the northern hemisphere, the sun travels from east to west, so if it is located west of the Greenwich Observatory, it is late as long as its longitude ÷ 15; if it is east, it corresponds to its longitude ÷ 15 The time is as fast as you can.

Due to the development of transportation and communication, the globalization of the world has led to the increase of opportunities to travel around the world and business opportunities with companies located in foreign countries. The need for accurate local time and information related to cities is increasing.

Due to the demands of the times, various methods of informing the local time of each region of the world are provided.

The simplest of these is to calculate the local time of major cities or regions of the world by referring to the "World Time Table" which lists the time difference between the cities of the world. However, this is not only very troublesome, it is necessary to carry around the world timetable all the time, and if you want to know the local time of the city that is not shown on the world timetable, it is difficult to calculate the time.

In order to solve this problem, many offices that have a lot of communication with foreign countries install separate clocks that display the local time of each city in the world.However, this is not only a space for installation and cost but also available only in the space. There is a restriction to install in space.

There are also products that automatically display the city's local time on the longitude across the baseline when the Earth rotates, but it is also impossible to carry because of its bulkiness.

As an alternative, an electronic clock that stores local time information of major cities of the world has been proposed, although it is possible to know and hold the time of another city without calculation, but it requires a separate operation. In addition, there was a clock that was rotated by combining a disc with the hour hand axis of a conventional clock face and marking a number of regions on the disc, but this had a disadvantage in that the region name that could be displayed on the disc was limited. In addition, even if the local time is known, the length of day and night is not constant because the sunrise and sunset times change with the season and the latitude at which the measurer is located. It was difficult to accurately grasp the local condition with the clock according to the technology. Moreover, no clock has ever been reported that displays information about the city, such as the weather, in addition to local time in different parts of the world.

Meanwhile, in recent decades, the development of electronic communication technology and the spread of personal portable communication devices have been rapidly expanding. Therefore, not the conventionally known mechanical mobile watch (for example, a wristwatch) or a simple electronic mobile watch that displays the hour as a number or an hour hand or minute hand on a liquid crystal. The reality is that digital clocks are required.

In addition, according to the diversification and sensitization of human desire, a new concept clock is required to recognize the perspective of a specific area as an eye and body, that is, a form that can sense nature as it is. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a universal clock that can immediately know the local time of each region of the world without any operation.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a universal clock that can immediately know the state of the day and night by grasping the position of the sun at a glance in each region of the world.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a universal clock that can immediately grasp the local time of each region of the world and the global environment at that time.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a clock plate 10 in which the south or northern hemisphere of the world map 11 is shown and fixed with the south pole or the north pole at the center and the date change line 12 and the day and night display 13. ) And a scale 31 indicating the time divided by the same angle with respect to the center, and having a commercially available 30 and a time indicating section 40 which rotate once a day in a direction opposite to the rotation of the earth. Provide a clock (FIG. 1). Reference numerals in the drawings for each component are shown in FIG.

The clock according to the present invention may simply be a digitized real 'clock' or may be a programmed clock displayed on a mobile phone, a PDA, a PC, or the like. Hereinafter, the term "universal clock" or "clock" as used herein is used in this sense.

The universal clock of the present invention, unlike traditional clocks, does not have clock hands such as hour and minute hands. Instead, a market with a scale indicating the time divided by the same angle with respect to the center displays one time by rotating one time per day. At this time, between each scale displayed on the market by displaying a more detailed scale as necessary, it is possible to determine a specific time in minutes or even to read accurately even if the market.

In the case of the northern hemisphere to which the Republic of Korea belongs, the market is rotated in a direction opposite to the rotation of the earth, that is, clockwise (the direction from the top to the right) in the usual sense. On the contrary, in the southern hemisphere, commercially available products are rotated in the counterclockwise direction (the direction of rotation from the upper end to the left) in the usual sense. Hereinafter, the present specification will be described based on the clock of the northern hemisphere.

Commercially available may be installed on the outside of the clock face, but may be made transparent on the clock face. In addition, a transparent clock plate fixed on the contrary may be placed on the market. In the real watch, if a commercially made commercially-shaped plate is placed on the watch plate, the radius of the market can be reduced, thereby eliminating the problems associated with maintaining the plane of the market during rotation.

In addition, the universal clock of the present invention has a scale 33 for dividing the minute at the same angle with respect to the center for reading the time more accurately, and the separation plate 32 that rotates once per hour in the direction opposite to the rotation of the earth. May be added (FIG. 2). Similarly, there is a scale that marks the second divided by the same angle with respect to the center, and a first plate that rotates once a minute in the direction opposite to the rotation of the earth may be added. Alternatively, for a more accurate reading of the time, a scaled separation divided by the same angle with respect to the center to indicate the minute and a minute hand which rotates once per hour may be added (not shown). Similarly, a second hand that rotates once a minute can be added. At this time, the rotation direction of the minute and second hands can be arbitrarily determined. Furthermore, visual clocks can be added, as well as analogues (the existing forms of hour, minute and second hands) as well as digital clocks that are numerically displayed simultaneously with or separately from them.

The position of the separation plate and the first plate may be located at the outer surface of the watch plate like the commercially available plate, or may be positioned at the top of the watch plate by making the bottom of the watch plate transparent or transparent. The position of the commercial, separation, and first editions may be in any order.

According to the clock of the present invention, not only the local time but also the sunrise and sunset state can be seen at a glance without any operation. Because the Earth's axis of rotation is tilted, the sunrise and sunset times change according to the season, and the latitude of the measurer is also affected, so the length of the day and night is not constant. The conventional clock alone was impossible. According to the clock of the present invention, the sunrise and sunset states are displayed in the shade or color difference on the world map (13). The time has elapsed and you can see at a glance how much time remains until sunset. The display part representing day and night rotates once a day so that the noon part shows the day around the earth's rotation axis, and reflects the difference between the length of the day and night according to the season. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an example of the universal clock of the present invention at the time of winter and winter respectively. According to the present invention, the user can easily check the earth state of the user's center because the user can fix the watch face on which the specific position of interest is displayed at the specific position of the watch of the present invention.

On the other hand, in the universal clock of the present invention, the region located between the Hao (12 pm) scale of the outer plate and the date change line of the clock plate in the counterclockwise direction is one day later than the region located outside the region.

Although the time indication unit does not exist separately, it is possible to read the approximate time of a specific region, but it is preferable that the time display unit exists separately for more accurate reading of the time. In the illustrated clock of FIG. 1, a separate time indicator hand is attached to indicate the time of a specific region by the indicator hand 40, but the time indicator may not accurately form a time even when the watch is not in the form of a clock hand. Any form can be used as long as it can be indicated (shape, arrow, triangle, etc.). It is also possible to separately install an outer plate for the visual indicator or to insert the visual indicator on the standard time display below. When the case of the watch exists, a figure such as a line or an arrow or a triangle may be displayed on the case to replace the visual indicator. The time indicator may be one to display the time of a specific region. However, when there are a plurality of time indicators that can be distinguished from each other, the time indicator may accurately read the time of each region corresponding to the standard time. In this case, it may be desirable to automatically or manually display the name of the main region corresponding to the time in each time indicating section. This system allows the user to easily check in real time the local time of interest around the world based on his current location.

Although the visual indicator may be fixed, it is preferable that it can be rotated so as to visualize the local time of the desired area by the operation of the watch user. It is also possible to rotate the clock face while the time indicator is fixed so that the local time of the desired area can be set by the operation of the clock user.

In addition, the watch of the present invention may be divided into 24 hours at the same angle with respect to the center of the clock plate and displayed in different colors according to standard time, and may further include a fixed time display unit 20. At this time, the world map of the watch face is divided into the same color as the standard time display unit according to the standard time, so that the local time can be immediately known without any operation without calculating the local time. The standard time display may be located anywhere on the watch face. In FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present invention is located integrally with the outermost part of the watch face of the watch, but is not limited thereto.

In addition, the clock of the present invention may be set in conjunction with the positioning system to automatically set the local time displayed by the time indicator by automatically applying the time difference to the standard time. The configuration of such a system is briefly shown in FIG. When the Universal Clock according to the present invention equipped with wired / wireless communication means requests the location information of the current location to the Geographic Information System (GPS), the GPS detects the location information through various known methods, for example, communication with satellites. Send to watch. The universal clock receiving the location information automatically or manually adjusts the local time. In some cases, the GPS may be manufactured integrally with the universal clock. Such a system is particularly useful when traveling in areas where the standard time is different because the time is automatically displayed by applying the local standard time without any separate operation according to the local time.

In addition, the watch of the present invention may further display information about each region of the world. At this time, the term “worldwide” may be a national concept, or may be a regional or sub-administrative area of a particular country (for example, the United States, US states, counties of the United States, Korea, Do-si in South Korea, city-county in Korea, etc.). ) Or a major city in the world. In the case of this system, various information about each region of the world is embedded in the clock of the present invention or linked to related information on the Internet site which holds (latest) information about each region of the world, so that the position on the world map Pointing to displays key information about the region, such as the weather and local news. If necessary, it is also possible to link the displayed key information with other information to provide a network for deeper information. Pointing out the location on the world map may utilize any appropriate input means such as an input method using a keyboard, a touch screen, or a mouse click.

Practically, for example, displaying all major cities in the northern (south) hemisphere on a clock face is spatially impossible. Therefore, it is desirable to apply the "tool tip" technique that is well known in the Internet programming industry. For example, if a point is given to a corresponding location of a major area on the clock face map, and an indicator such as a cursor moves, the area name is displayed by a balloon help technique for a point within a predetermined distance from the cursor, and a specific area name is selected. When the various information of the area is displayed in another balloon help form.

This series of steps is schematically illustrated in FIG. For example, when the cursor clicks on a specific point (point or city) of the clock face, city name information of the corresponding point is extracted by the inherent program and transmitted to the server through the wired / wireless communication network. The server extracts various information of the corresponding city and transmits it to the watch through a wired or wireless communication network. Received various information of the corresponding city is displayed on the watch (screen).

Such a system allows a user to easily obtain various information of a region of interest at any time. In this case, the information to be communicated may be in various categories depending on circumstances.

In addition, the watch of the present invention may further include an indication indicating the position of the sun (noon) or the moon. The display indicating the position of the sun or moon may be arbitrarily positioned at a suitable place of the clock, and is set to rotate once per day in the case of the sun, and to rotate once in about 29.5 days of the lunar month of the moon. On the other hand, the position of the moon is a physical position according to natural phenomena, but there is a virtual position that is set to be recognized according to the lunar calendar (陰曆). For example, the actual moon is at a specific location in the field of view of the present invention, but the lunar calendar calculates that the virtual moon is located somewhat before or after it. In addition, lunar dates can be displayed at the same time when indicating the position of the moon. In this case, each culture can be selected to determine the date system used. In other words, the Islamic culture that uses the lunar calendar (Tae 陰曆, Islamic translation, Islamic calendar) and the eastern lunar calendar have different date systems so that different dates can be selected.

In these systems, a rough lunar date can be inferred based on the relative positions of the sun and moon. That is, if the moon and the sun maintain the same angle with respect to the central axis of the clock, that is 30 days of the lunar calendar, and when the moon and the sun are opposite to the central axis of the clock (ie, at 180 ° angles) When the full lunar calendar is 15 days.

The clock of the present invention may be a digital or analog clock. The shape can also be appropriately selected for use in portable, tabletop, wall-mounted or online watches.

In this specification, only the shape structure and the rotational speed of each plate are described, but those skilled in the art will be able to easily implement the universal clock of the present invention with reference to the present specification. That is, the universal clock of the present invention can be made not only by a mechanical method by a combination of a drive device and a tooth having a specific rotation ratio, but also by an electronically operated form, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal or a monitor. will be.

According to the present invention, it is possible not only to accurately read the local time to which the present time belongs, but also to know the local time of various regions at a glance without any separate manipulation.

In addition, the present invention is a 24 hour display system in the market can not only immediately determine whether the local time is the morning time or afternoon time, but also has the function of displaying the day and night fluctuated according to each season or location, so local (or interested Day and night status of the area) can be visually confirmed.

In addition, according to the present invention, the local time of any region is immediately known by the date change line of the clock face and the line indicating the time, or whether it is a time before or after the time of the user's residence area.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily know the current lunar date and the state of the moon, such as the full moon or the year, without searching the calendar from the display unit indicating the position of the moon.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain not only a local time but also important information related to a city just by indicating a location of a region of interest on a world map located on a clock.

Claims (6)

In a clock in which the clock face rotates to display the time, A fixed clock face with a south- or northern hemisphere world map with the Antarctic or Arctic in the center and a dateline and day and night, There is a scale indicating the time divided by the same angle with respect to the center, a commercially rotated once a day in the direction opposite to the rotation of the earth, A clock comprising an essential component of a time indicator indicating local time of a specific area. The method of claim 1, A clock which is divided by the same angle with respect to the center and has a scale for displaying minutes and a fixed separation plate and a minute hand that rotates once per hour. The method of claim 1, It further comprises a standard time display portion divided by the same angle with respect to the center of the clock plate for 24 hours and displayed in different colors according to the standard time, Each region of the watch face hemisphere map is distinguished by a color corresponding to the standard time of the standard time display unit. The method of claim 1, Receiving latitude-longitude information from a positioning system, the local time of the specific location is automatically set. The method of claim 1, Clock, characterized in that additional information about each region of the world is displayed. The method of claim 1, A clock, characterized in that the moon position is further displayed.

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