U.S. patent number 3,796,037 [Application Number 05/193,404] was granted by the patent office on 1974-03-12 for display method for solid state electronic timepiece.
Invention is credited to Kinji Fujita.
United States Patent |
3,796,037 |
Fujita |
March 12, 1974 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
DISPLAY METHOD FOR SOLID STATE ELECTRONIC TIMEPIECE
Abstract
A display method for a solid state electronic timepiece wherein
separate indicia to be displayed are disposed on a display surface
of said watch and means are provided for selectively visually
identifying one or more of said indicia. Said indicia are
preferably representative of the days of the week. Each of said
indicia may have a liquid crystal or luminous diode display
associated therewith which may be selectively energized to identify
the desired indicia, or may be covered by a liquid crystal screen
which, when selectively energized, obscures all but the desired
indicia.
Inventors: |
Fujita; Kinji (Suwa-gun,
Nagano-ken, JA) |
Family
ID: |
22713501 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/193,404 |
Filed: |
October 28, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
368/29; 40/547;
40/107; 368/239; 968/941 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G04G
9/0094 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G04G
9/00 (20060101); G04b 019/24 (); G04b 019/30 () |
Field of
Search: |
;58/4R,4A,23R,23A,23AC,5R,58 ;40/107 ;340/336 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Tomsky; Stephen J.
Assistant Examiner: Jackmon; Edith Simmons
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman &
Kaplan
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In a solid state electronic timepiece having a time keeping
mechanism and a time display mechanism responsive to said time
keeping mechanism, the improvement which comprises a plurality of
separate indicia other than numerical characters on said timepiece
and means in the region of each indicia but not including said
indicia for selectively visually identifying a selected one or more
of said indicia in response to said time keeping mechanism of said
timepiece, said visual identifying means including liquid crystal
screen means positioned over each of said indicia, each of said
liquid crystal screen means being adapted for alternative
disposition in either a substantially opaque state or a
substantially transparent state depending on the nature of the
signal applied thereto, said time keeping mechanism including
circuit means for producing an output signal for application to
said liquid crystal screen means for selectively disposing the
liquid crystal screen means associated with one or more of said
indicia in the transparent state and rendering the other of said
liquid crystal screen means in the opaque state.
2. A solid state electronic timepiece as recited in claim 1,
wherein said liquid crystal screen means are adapted to be rendered
opaque upon the application of a signal thereto, said circuit means
being adapted to apply a signal to all of said liquid crystal
screen means except the liquid crystal screen means associated with
the one or more indicia to be identified.
3. A solid state electronic timepiece as recited in claim 5,
wherein each of said indicia is representative of a day of the
week, said time keeping mechanism including a time standard
oscillator means, frequency dividing circuit means coupled to said
time standard oscillator means for dividing the output signal of
said time standard oscillator means, said divider means being
adapted to produce an output signal representative of each of the
days of the week, said visual identifying means being responsive to
said divider means output signal for providing a visual indication
of day of the week.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application relates to solid state electronic timepieces
wherein the conventional mechanical components such as gear trains
are not included. Such timepieces incorporate time display
arrangements which rely on solid displays such as luminous diodes
or liquid crystal displays, in place of the conventional watch
hands. Such solid displays are generally driven through an
electrical oscillation circuit and a divider circuit.
In such watches, numerals are readily displayed by seven-bar
display matrices. Each seven-bar display matrix permits the display
of any numeral from 0 - 9 in a single field. This approach permits
the display of date, hour, minute and second in a clearly readable
format. However, a similar segmented display arrangement cannot be
utilized for the display of the day of the week, since neither the
Japanese nor the English characters can be reduced to the simple
matrix required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a display
arrangement for a solid state electronic timepiece is provided
consisting of a plurality of separate indicia and means for
selectively visually identifying a selected one or more of said
indicia in response to the time keeping mechanism of said
timepiece.
Said visual identifying means may include a plurality of solid
display segments, one of said segments associated with each of said
indicia, said segments being adapted to be rendered visible when
energized, means being provided for energizing the segment
associated with the indicia to be visually identified. In another
embodiment, said visual identifying means includes a liquid crystal
screen positioned over each of said indicia, each of said liquid
crystal screen being adapted to be disposed either in a
substantially opaque or substantially transparent state upon the
application of an appropriate signal thereto in response to said
time keeping mechanism.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a
simple and clear method of displaying the day of the week.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a solid
state electronic timepiece adapted to display the day of the week
through the application of liquid crystal or luminous diode display
devices.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be
obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification and
drawings.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,
combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be
exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the
scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to
the following description taken in connection with the accompanying
drawings, in which:
FIG. 1a is a block diagram of the solid state electronic timepiece
according to the invention;
FIG. 1b shows the output wave forms of the arrangement of FIG.
1a;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a display panel of a solid state
electronic timepiece according to the invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electronic circuit forming an
alternate embodiment of the display method according to the
invention;
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a portion of the display panel of a
second embodiment of the electronic timepiece according to the
invention; and
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the display
panel of FIG. 4 depicting a portion of the circuit associated
therewith.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to FIG. 1a, the circuit of the solid state electronic
timepiece according to the invention depicted schematically
consists of a highly stable oscillator 1 which serves as a time
standard and may include a crystal vibrator. The output signal of
this oscillator is divided into second, minute, hour and day
increments by a frequency divider 2. The time signal output of
divider 2 is converted by decoder 3 into the driving signals
suitable for driving a seven-bar display associated with each of
the desired time indication. Said driving signals are amplified by
an amplifier 4 and is coupled to each segment of the seven-bar
display constituting the display panel of the timepiece. The 24
hour output signal of divider 2 is applied to a divider 5, which
may take the form of a ring counter which is adapted to count seven
increments for the purpose of sequentially producing seven separate
output signals, one of which is representative of each of the days
of the week. The output of divider 5 is applied through an
amplifier 6 which amplifies said output signal.
The wave form of the respective output signals produced by divider
5 and amplified by amplifier 6 is depicted in FIG. 1b, wherein it
is seen that a distinct output is produced for each of the days of
the week, each of said outputs being applied to a separate day
indicator segment as more particularly shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of a display panel adapted to be
driven by the circuitry of FIG. 1. Time is digitally displayed by a
liquid crystal or luminous diode display, each of the two digits
assigned to hour, minute and second display consisting of a seven
bar display matrix. The day of the week indication is provided by
day indicator segments r, each of which consists of an indicia
representative of one of the seven days of the week, in this case
the abbreviation thereof, and an indicator ring surrounding said
indicia. The indicia are printed on the face or dial of the panel
and are fixed. One of the days of the week are identified by
energizing the indicator ring in response to the output signal from
amplifier 6 associated with that day of the week. Said indicator
rings can take the form of a liquid crystal or luminous diode
display. The arrangement of FIG. 2 permits the display of the day
of the week without the use of a complicated matrix or decoder. In
the example of FIG. 2, the indicator ring associated with Friday is
energized, providing an indication that the day of the week is
Friday.
Referring now to FIG. 3, a second embodiment of the arrangement
according to the invention is depicted wherein the 24 hour signal
is applied to a divider 5 which may consist of a ring counter, and
which produces seven output signals each of which is associated
with one of the days of the week. Said output signals are applied
to an inverter 7, in which the polarity of said output signals is
reversed. An amplifier 6 is coupled to the output of inverter 1.
The output of amplifier 6 are applied to the display panel of FIG.
4. In said panel, wherein an array of indicia representative of the
day of the week similar to the array of FIG. 2 are positioned about
the periphery of the time indicating display (not shown). The
output of amplifier 6 of FIG. 3 is applied to screen electrodes S
formed of a liquid crystal, which when energized obscure the
indicia on the display panel. Due to the position of inverter 7,
six of the seven day of the week indicia are obscured at any one
time, providing a visual indication of the day of the week, only
the desired day of the week indicia being visible.
Referring now to FIG. 5, a cross-section of a portion of the dial
or display panel taken through the day indicator segment of FIG. 4
is depicted. In said arrangement, a glass plate 11 defines the
upper surface of the dial or panel. A liquid crystal 13 is
positioned between said upper glass plate 11 and a lower glass
plate 15. An upper electrode 12 is mounted on upper glass plate 11,
while a lower electrode 14 is mounted on lower glass plate 15. The
day of the week indicia would be printed below said lower
electrode, as on member 16 mounted on the outer surface of lower
plate 15. Said upper and lower electrodes are positioned and
dimensioned to overlap and cover the indicia on member 16. When an
electric field is applied to the electrodes, the liquid crystal
disposed intermediate said electrodes is disturbed and rendered
substantially opaque, so that the indicia on member 16 are not
visible. Both upper electrodes 12 and lower electrode 14 are
normally transparent.
The foregoing arrangement permits the electro-optical display of
the day of the week in a solid state electronic timepiece, which
display is both inexpensive and compact.
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those
made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently
attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above
constructions without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above
description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be
interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended
to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention
herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention
which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall
therebetween.
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