US3919835A - Electronic clock apparatus - Google Patents

Electronic clock apparatus Download PDF

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Publication number
US3919835A
US3919835A US450441A US45044174A US3919835A US 3919835 A US3919835 A US 3919835A US 450441 A US450441 A US 450441A US 45044174 A US45044174 A US 45044174A US 3919835 A US3919835 A US 3919835A
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United States
Prior art keywords
time
indicating
indicating elements
minute
hour
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Expired - Lifetime
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US450441A
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English (en)
Inventor
Toshio Kashio
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Casio Computer Co Ltd
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Casio Computer Co Ltd
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Publication date
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Priority to US05/609,511 priority Critical patent/US3992875A/en
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Publication of US3919835A publication Critical patent/US3919835A/en
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04G—ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES
    • G04G9/00—Visual time or date indication means
    • G04G9/02—Visual time or date indication means by selecting desired characters out of a number of characters or by selecting indicating elements the position of which represent the time, e.g. by using multiplexing techniques
    • G04G9/022—Visual time or date indication means by selecting desired characters out of a number of characters or by selecting indicating elements the position of which represent the time, e.g. by using multiplexing techniques using multiplexing techniques

Definitions

  • FIG.1 A first figure.
  • This invention relates toan electronic clock apparatus for indicating time by supplying outputs of a time counting device selectively to a plurality of optical time indicating elements.
  • the time indication of a conventional clock is effected by an hour indicating short hand and minute indicating long hand.
  • an electronic clock apparatus of the type in which optical time indicating elements such as light emitting diodes, liquid crystal elements etc. are selectively displayed by output signals from a time counting device.
  • 12 light emitting diodes are arranged in a closed loop on a time display panel to constitute an hour indicating section and, outside of the hour indicating section, 60 light emitting diodes are arranged in a closed loop to form a minute indicating section.
  • An hour indicating signal from the time counting device is applied selectively to the 12 light emitting diodes to provide an hour indication and, at the same time, a minute indicating signal is applied selectively to the 60 light emitting diodes to provide a minute indication.
  • At least 72 circuit lines are required to selectively supply 72 kinds of time indicating signals in a variety of combinations from the time counting device to the 72 individual display elements so that time can be displayed on the time display panel.
  • the time counting device is embodied in an IC form
  • difficulty is presented in making an electrical connection between a highly integrated circuit and each display element. This provides a barrier to the miniaturization of the time counting device per se.
  • the time counting device is provided separately from the time display elements, the corresponding connection line is lengthened. This provides a cause for trouble and, in addition, added cost is involved.
  • an lelectronic clock apparatus comprising a time counting device, a plurality of hour indicating elements arranged in a closed loop so as to be responsive to an hour signal from the time counting device; a plurality of groups of indicating elements for indicating both minutes and seconds, each group being associated with a respective hour indicating element so as to be responsive to a minute signal and a second signal from the time counting device, a respective group of minute and second indicating elements together with at least one-hour indicating element constituting a set of time indicating elements; a first connecting means connected in common to one electrode of the time indicating elements included in a respective set; a second connecting means connected in common to another electrode of the corresponding time indicating elements each present in the respective sets; and a time division control means for supplying in a time division fashion'the hour, minute and second signals from the time counting device to the corresponding time indicating elements via said connecting means.
  • FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the time display section of a clock apparatus according to one embodiment of this invention
  • FIGS. 2A and 2B are a schematic circuit diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of another embodiment of this invention.
  • 60 light emitting diodes M0, M1, M2 M59 for minute indication are equidistantly arranged in a closed loop fashion along the peripheral edge of a disc-like time indicating panel 1 of an electronic clock apparatus.
  • additional light emitting diodes T0, R1 T11 for hour indication are equidistantly arranged in a closed loop fashion.
  • the light emitting area of the light emitting diodes T0 T11 can be made larger than that of the light emitting diodes M0 M59, as shown in the Figure.
  • the diode T0 indicates 0 or 12 oclock; the diode T1,...1 oclock; the diode T2, 2 oclock T11, 11 oclock, while the diode M0 indicates 0 minute; the diode M1, 1 minute; the diode M2, 2 minutes the diode M59, 59 minutes.
  • the diodes T0, T1, T2 T11 are arranged on the time indicating panel 1 so as to align with the diodes M0, M5, M10 M55, respectively, time can be read out as in the conventional clock.
  • 12 electrode plates E0, E1 Ell are disposed on the time display panel 1 so as to correspond to the hour indicating diodes T0 T11, respectively.
  • the respective cathode of the hour indicating diode T0 and minute indicating diodes M0-M4 is connected directly to the electrode plate E0; and the respective cathode of the hour indicating diode T1 and minute indicating diodes M5-M9, to the electrode plate E1; and so on.
  • the cathodes of the six diodes T0 and M0-M4 are connected through the electrode plate E0 shown in FIG. 1 to the output terminal of an inverter I1, and six diodes T1 and M5-M9 are connected through the electrode plate E1 to the output terminal of an inverter 12.
  • the other diodes TZ-Tll and M10-M59 are connected through the respective electrode plates E2-E11 to the respective output terminal of inverters 13-112.
  • the respective input terminals of the inverters Il-Il2 are connected to the output terminals of 12 OR gates ORl-OR12, respectively.
  • the output t3 of a counter C6 is fed in common to the anode of the hour indicating diodes T0-T11.
  • the output of the OR gate OR13 is fed in common to the anode of the minute indicating diodes M0, M5, M10 M55.
  • the outputs of the OR gates OR14-OR17 are fed in common to the anodes of the diodes (M1, M6 M56), (M2, M7. M57), (M2, M7. M57) and (M4, M9 M59), respectively.
  • the outputs of AND gates Al and A6 are connected to the inputs of the OR gateORlS, the outputs of AND gates A2 and A7, the inputs of the OR gate OR14; the outputs of AND gates A3 and A8, the inputs of the OR gate OR15; the outputs of AND gates A4 and A9, the inputs of the OR gate OR16; and the outputs of AND gates A5 and A10, the inputs of the OR gate OR17.
  • the output t1 of the counter C6 is coupled to one input terminal of the vAND gates A1 toA5 and the output t2 of the counter C6 is coupled to one input terminal of the AND gates A6 to A10.
  • the output t1 of the counter C6 is also connected in common to one input terminal of 12 AND gates A11, A12 A22 and the output t2 of the counter C6 is connected in common to one input terminal of 12 AND gates 31-42.
  • the output t3 is connected in common to one input terminal of 12 AND gates A5- 1-A62.
  • the outputs of the ANDgates All,,A31 and A51 are connected to the inputs of the OR gate ORl; and the outputs of the AND gates A12, A32 and A52, the inputs of the OR gate Or2.
  • the outputs of the AND gates A13 to A22, A33 to A42 and A53 to A62 are connected to the inputs of OR gates R3 to OR12, respectively.
  • the counter C6 is, for example, a scale of 3 counter consisting of three flip-flop circuits and is adapted to count the number of output pulses from a pulse oscillating circuit 2.
  • the frequency fed from the pulse oscillating'circuit 2 to the counter C6 is set, for example, to about 1 kHz,
  • I three outputs t1, t2 and t3 of equal interval are sequentially supplied, according to an input pulse interval (about 1 in sec), from the three flip-flop circuits which constitute the counter C6.
  • the pulse oscillating circuit 2 can be easily obtained, for example, by a combination of a highfrequency oscillator and a plurality of frequency divid ing circuits adapted to divide the oscillation frequency of the high-frequency oscillator to form pulses having equal intervals of 1 second and 1 m second.
  • a pulse signal having an interval of 1 second is supplied from the pulse oscillating circuit 2 to the input of a scale of counter C1.
  • a carry signal fed fromthe scale of 5 counter C1 at intervals of 5 seconds is supplied to a scale of 12 counter C2.
  • a scale of 60 counter circuit is formed by so combining the scale of 5 counter C1 and scale of 12 counterCZ.
  • a carry signal is delivered at intervals of 1 minute from the counter C2.
  • Five 7 counting value output terminals Cl-() C 1-1, C 1-2, C 1-3 and C1-4 are provided on the counter C1. From the output terminals Cl-O, Cl-l, C1-2, C1-3 and C1-4,
  • A- carry signal delivered at intervals of one minute" from the counter C2 is supplied to the input terminal of a counter C3.
  • the counter C3' is a scale of 5 counter having 5 counting value output terminals C3- 0, C3-1 C3-4 and pulses having an interval of 1 minute are fed from the output terminals C3-'0 to C3-4 to the other input terminals of the AND gates A6 to A10.
  • a carry 7 signal is delivered at intervals of 5 minutes from the I counter C3 to the input terminal of a scale of 12 counter C4.
  • the counter C4 has 12 counting value output terminals C4-0, C4-1 C4-11.
  • outputs are sequentially delivered on its order for every five minutes and supplied to the other input terminals of the AND gates A31, A32 A42.
  • 12 pulses are supplied at intervals of 5 minutes to the counter C4
  • a carry signal appears at a rate of one per hour from the counter C4 and it is delivered to a scale of 12 counter C5.
  • the counter C5 has 12 countingvalue output terminals C5-0, CS-l C5- 11. From these output terminals CS-Oto C5-11, outputs are sequentially delivered at the rate of one per hour and each output is supplied to the other input terminal of the AND gates A51, A52 A62.
  • the hour indicating diode T1 is flashed in a cycle of 3 m sec (i.e. lighted for l m sec and extin guished for the remaining 2 m sec) whereby the time 1 oclock is indicated.
  • the flash of the diode T1 is seen as being continuously lighted, when viewed from the human eyes.
  • An output appears also from the output terminal 04-11 of the counter C4 and it is delivered, together with the time division'indication instruction output t2 of the counter C6, to the AND gate A42.
  • a pulse signal having a negative polarity is intermittently supplied, at intervals of l m sec, from inverter 112 through electrode plate Ell simultaneously to the diodes T11 and M55-M59.
  • An output is supplied also from the output terminal C3-0 of the counter C3, together with the time division indication instruction signal t2, to the AND'gate A6.
  • a pulse signal is supplied, at a time interval corresponding to the signal t2, from the AND gate A6 through OR gate OR13 to the anode of the diode M55. Consequently, the minute indicating diode M55 is intermittently flashed at a time interval corresponding to the signal t2,
  • the cathodes of the 72 diodes TO-Tl 1 and M0-M59 are grouped into 12 groups, each group being connected to the respective electrode plate (E0-El1) in a manner that the 6 cathodes present in the respective group are connected in common to the corresponding electrode plate.
  • the anodes of the 72 diodes are divided into 6 groups in a manner that the corresponding 12 diodes each derived from the respective l2-diode groups are commonly connected.
  • only 18 circuit lines are necessary in making an electrical connection between the time indicating section as shown in a dotted line and the remaining time counting circuit section. This provides a greater advantage where the time counting device including time counters is embodied into an LS1 form and the time indicating section is provided separately from the time counting device.
  • the cathodes of the diodes are connected in common to the respective electrode plate
  • the anodes of the diodes may be connected in common to the respective electrode plate, instead.
  • an inverter is connected to respective cathode groups of the light emitting diodes instead of using inverters I1 to I12.
  • the light emits-.-
  • FIG. 3 indicates this embodiment in which the same reference numeral is used to denote parts or elements corresponding to those shown in FIG. 2B. It is to be noted that, since in the case of a liquid crystal a response to an input signal is slow, a counter C6 is required to be operated at a frequency of about 60 Hz. In
  • FIG. 3 there are provided liquid crystal hour indicating elements TLO to TLll corresponding to the hour indicating diodes T0 to T11 of FIG. 28.
  • One electrode of the liquid crystal hour indicating elements TLO to TLll is connected in common to the output terminal C6-3 of the counter C6, while the opposite electrode thereof is connected through respective electrode plate to the output terminal of AND gates A71 to A82.
  • 60 liquid crystal minute indicating elements MLO to ML59 corresponding to the minute indicating diodes M0 to M59 of FIG. 2B are divided into 12 groups, each consisting of elements.
  • One electrode of the corresponding liquid crystal minute indicating elements each included in the respective l2 element groups is connected in common to the respective output terminal of the OR gates OR13 to OR17.
  • the opposite electrodes of the 7.2 liquid crystal time indicating elements are divided into 12 groups, each group being connected through the respective electrode plate in common to the output terminal of the respective AND gates A71 to A82.
  • One input terminal of the respective AND gates A71 to A82 is connected to the output terminal of the respective inverters l1 to I12, while the other input terminal of the AND gates A71 to A82 is connected in common to the output terminal of a high frequency 05- cillator 3.
  • the high frequency oscillator 3 is adapted to obtain a signal having a frequency sufficient to forcefully stop the time indicating operation of the liquid crystal time indicating elements otherthan those liquid Lcrystal time indicating elements whichnow give a time ple, that the time .55 minutes and 3 seconds past I oclock is. indicated.
  • a time counting device is constructed by connecting together a plurality of scale of 5 and scale of 12 counters in a variety of combinations. However, a scale of 60 counter may be directly used instead. Between the time counter device and the AND gate of the time counting signal distribution circuit a decoder may be inserted as required. Though with the embodiment of FIGS. 2A and 2B the time indicating elements (T0 and M0 to M4), (T1 and M5 to M9) are connected to the electrode plates E0, E1 respectively, for example, the time indicating elements (TO and M55 to M59), (T1 and M0 to M4) may be connected to the electrode plates E0, E1, respectively.
  • This invention is likewise reduced to practice by connecting 2 hour indicating elements and 10 minute indicating elements. to each of six electrode plates. That is, the output lines of the time counting device may be connected in a variety of ways so as to reduce the circuit lines to about 18 in number.
  • An electronic clock apparatus comprising:
  • a time counting device counting said standard clock signals and generating hour", minute and second signals
  • 60 second indicating elements each of which has a pair of electrodes and which are divided into twelve groups, each group constituted by five elements, said groups being arranged in a closed loop so as to indicate both minutes and seconds, responsive to a minute signal and a second signal from the six second connecting means, one of which connects the other electrodes of the first indicating elements and the other five of which connect each of the other electrodes of the corresponding second indicating elements of different groups; and a time division control means coupled to said time counting device for selectively supplying in a time division fashion the hour, minute and second signals from the time counting device to the corresponding first and second indicating elements via said first and second connecting means.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electric Clocks (AREA)
  • Indicating Measured Values (AREA)
  • Control Of Indicators Other Than Cathode Ray Tubes (AREA)
  • Coupling Device And Connection With Printed Circuit (AREA)
  • Electrophonic Musical Instruments (AREA)
US450441A 1973-03-15 1974-03-12 Electronic clock apparatus Expired - Lifetime US3919835A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US05/609,511 US3992875A (en) 1973-03-15 1975-09-02 Electronic clock apparatus

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP3041273A JPS5548277B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1973-03-15 1973-03-15

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JP (1) JPS5548277B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CH (1) CH617313B (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3992875A (en) * 1973-03-15 1976-11-23 Casio Computer Co., Ltd. Electronic clock apparatus
US4213294A (en) * 1977-04-12 1980-07-22 Freeman Alfred B Analog displays for electronic timepieces
US4459034A (en) * 1981-12-24 1984-07-10 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Time display apparatus
US4872150A (en) * 1985-09-09 1989-10-03 Norman Murry A Binary symbols for numbers
USD596507S1 (en) * 2008-06-25 2009-07-21 Mr. Christmas Incorporated Clock

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS59100243U (ja) * 1982-12-25 1984-07-06 日本鋼管株式会社 溶接部の気密度検査用テ−プ
EP3229066A1 (en) 2005-12-05 2017-10-11 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. Transflective liquid crystal display with a horizontal electric field configuration

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3707071A (en) * 1971-03-12 1972-12-26 Hamilton Watch Co Solid state timepiece
US3754392A (en) * 1971-05-17 1973-08-28 Motorola Inc Apparatus for driving a light emitting diode of horologic display
US3760406A (en) * 1972-01-13 1973-09-18 Hmw Industries Liquid crystal display circuit
US3765163A (en) * 1972-03-17 1973-10-16 Uranus Electronics Electronic timepiece

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5442275B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) * 1972-12-29 1979-12-13

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3707071A (en) * 1971-03-12 1972-12-26 Hamilton Watch Co Solid state timepiece
US3754392A (en) * 1971-05-17 1973-08-28 Motorola Inc Apparatus for driving a light emitting diode of horologic display
US3760406A (en) * 1972-01-13 1973-09-18 Hmw Industries Liquid crystal display circuit
US3765163A (en) * 1972-03-17 1973-10-16 Uranus Electronics Electronic timepiece

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3992875A (en) * 1973-03-15 1976-11-23 Casio Computer Co., Ltd. Electronic clock apparatus
US4213294A (en) * 1977-04-12 1980-07-22 Freeman Alfred B Analog displays for electronic timepieces
US4459034A (en) * 1981-12-24 1984-07-10 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Time display apparatus
US4872150A (en) * 1985-09-09 1989-10-03 Norman Murry A Binary symbols for numbers
USD596507S1 (en) * 2008-06-25 2009-07-21 Mr. Christmas Incorporated Clock

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS5548277B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1980-12-04
JPS505076A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1975-01-20
CH617313B (de)
CH617313GA3 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1980-05-30

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