Electronic Clock Device

Abstract

The electronic clock device permits the indication of date on a digital indicator for hour and minute indication through the use of switching means and comprises a 60 step counter for counting minutes which is driven by clock pulses and a 12 step counter for counting hours which is driven by carry signals from the 60 step counter. Hours and minutes are indicated on the digital indicator in accordance with the output signals from those counters. Also included are a date counter driven by carry signals from the 12 step counter and a logic circuit which controls the respective outputs from the date counter and the 60 step counter to produce an output for indicating the date to be displayed on the digital indicator. Through the operation of a date indication button the indicator is switched from the hour or minute indication mode to the date indication mode or vice versa to enable selective indication of both hours on minutes and dates or the same digital indicator.

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic clock device capable of digitally indicating a date on an hour and minute indicator by the operation of a date indication button.

Time indication of a clock is conventionally effected by a short hand for the hour and a long hand for the minutes in an analog manner. A digital clock which indicates time digitally rather than in an analog manner is also well known. In such a digital clock a digit indicator must be designed as large as possible compared with the analog indication clock because of the need to insure clear reading of digits. For this reason, when digital indication is to be incorporated in a small size watch such as a wrist watch, a disadvantage is encountered in that sufficient spaces can not be reserved on an indicator panel for hour indication, minute indication and date indication.

The present invention contemplates to eliminate the above difficulty. It is an object of the present invention to provide a clock which can selectively indicate the date on the hour and minute indicator through the operation of a date indication button.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To accomplish the above object, the clock of the present invention comprises a 60 step counter for minute indication which is driven by clock pulses obtained by frequency dividing output signals from a stable oscillator such as a quartz oscillator. The output signal of the oscillator is fed to the indicator to indicate minutes, to a 12 step counter for hour indication which is driven by carry signals from the 60 step counter and the output signal of which is fed to the indicator to indicate hours, to a date counter which receives carry signals from the 12 step counter via a binary counter as an input and is driven by this input, and to a logic circuit which controls the output of the date counter and the output of the 60 step minute counter to selectively indicate the hour, minute and date on the indicator through the operation of the date indication button. Thus, with the hour and minute indicator of a small clock such as a wrist watch it is possible to selectively indicate the date through the operation of the switch button.

The present invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of an indicator of a clock in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the general appearance of a watch in accordance with the present invention in which a main body 11 is retained on a watch band 12 and an indicator 13 includes an hour indicator 14 and a minute indicator 15, each of which present two-digit indications. A date indication button 16 is also provided on the body 11 at a suitable place.

FIG. 2 shows a block circuit diagram of one embodiment of the present invention in which a 60 step counter 20 is provided which is driven and advanced for each pulse signal produced by a clock pulse generator 19 one for each second and produces a carry signal for every 60 clock pulses or for each minute. Another 60 step counter 21 is provided which is driven and advanced by carry signals from the counter 20 and which detects an output signal in accordance with a counting value, the outputs being fed to a decoder 22 through AND circuits 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . and OR circuits 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . . A driver 18 is driven by the output from the decoder 22 to provide minute indication on the minute indicator 15 of the digital indicator 13.

The 60 step counter 21 also produces a carry signal for each 60 counts, which carry signals are supplied to a 12 step counter 23 which in turn provides an output signal in accordance with a counting value to a decoder 26. A driver 27 is driven by the output from the decoder 26 to provide hour indication on the hour indicator 14 of the digital indicator 13. The carry signals from the 12 step counter 23 are fed to the input of a binary counter 28 which produces a carry signal for every 24 hours. This output in turn is fed through an OR circuit 29 to an input of a 31 step counter 30 which supplies counting signals corresponding to date to AND circuits 31a, 31b, 31c, . . . . First input terminals of these AND circuits 31a, 31b, 31c, . . . are connected to a date indication button 32. Due to the depression of the date indication button 32, the outputs from the 31 step counter 30 are fed through the AND circuits 31a, 31b, 31c, . . . . Their circuits produce outputs which are fed to the OR circuits 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . to drive the decoder 22. A NOT circuit 33 is connected between the first input terminals of the AND circuits 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . and the date indication button 32.

With the watch thus constructed, the minute indication by the minute indicator 15 is effected through the 60 step counter 21, the AND circuits 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . , the OR circuitr 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . , the decoder 22 and the driver 18 while the hour indication by the hour indicator 14 is effected by the 12 step counter 23 driven by the carry signals from the 60 step counter 21, the decoder 26 and the driver 27.

When the date indication is to be effected, the date indication button 32 is actuated so that first input gates of the AND circuits 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . which provide inputs for the minute indication are blocked because of the absence of output from the NOT circuit 33 and hence the minute indication does not occur. At the same time, the output from the date indication button 32 and the counting output from the 31 step counter 30 for date indicator open the gates of the AND circuits 31a, 31b, 31c, . . . and activate the decoder 22 through the OR circuits 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . . The output of the decoder 22 drives the driver 18 to effect date indication on the minute indicator 15.

While in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 the AND circuits 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . and the OR circuits 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . are connected between the 60 step counter 21 for minute indication and the decoder 22, as shown in FIG. 3 they may be connected between the 12 step counter 23 for hour indication and the decoder 25, in which case the date indication is effected on the hour indicator 14 through the operation of the date indication button 32. In FIGS. 2 and 3 the same reference numerals are used for corresponding elements. In FIG. 3, the gates 24a, 24b, 24c, . . . and 25a, 25b, 25c, . . . are replaced with similarly operating gates 60a, 60b, 60c, . . . and 71a, 71b, 71c, . . . , respectively.

When it is desired to advance the indication of date, a date advancing button 34 connected to the OR circuit 29 is depressed to advance the count of the 31 step counter irrespective of the output from the binary counter 28.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A digital indication type electronic clock device comprising:

a clock pulse generating means generating clock signals of a specified, highly stable frequency;

a minute counting means responsive to said clock signals for generating minute signals by counting said clock signals from said clock pulse generating means and for generating a carry signal every 60 minutes;

an hour counting means actuated by the carry signals from said minute counting means for generating hour signals and for generating a carry signal every 24 hours;

a date counting means actuated by the carry signals from said hour counting means for generating date signals;

an hour indication means coupled to the hour counting means for performing digital indication of the counts of the hour counting means;

a minute/date indication means capable of optionally indicating on a single indication portion the output counts of the minute counting means and of the date counting means;

a manually operated switch means for selectively causing said minute/date indicating means to indicate minutes and/or date;

a first group of AND circuits and OR circuits coupled to said minute counting means coupling said AND circuits to said minute date indication means for selectively supplying said minute/date indication means with the minute signalsfrom the minute counting means when said manual switch means is not being operated; and

a second group of AND circuits coupled to said manual switch means and coupling said minute/date indication means to the date counting means through said OR circuits for selectively supplying said minute/date indication means with the date signals from the date counting means responsive to operation of said manual switch means.

2. A digital indication type electronic clock device according to claim 1 wherein said clock generating means includes a source of standard high frequency signals and a dividing means coupled to said source for dividing the standard high frequency signal into said clock signals.

3. A digital indication type electronic clock device according to claim 1 wherein said manually operated switch means is coupled to said first group of AND circuits so as to enable said first group of AND circuits when said switch means is not operated, and is coupled to said second group of AND circuits for disabling said second group of AND circuits when said switch means is not operated, said switch means disabling said first group of AND circuits when it is operated and enabling said second group of AND circuits when it is operated.

4. A digital indication type electronic clock device comprising:

a clock pulse generating means generating clock signals of a specified highly stable frequency;

a minute counting means responsive to said clock signals for generating minute signals by counting said clock signals from said clock pulse generating means and for generating a carry signal every 60 minutes;

an hour counting means actuated by the carry signals from said minute counting means for generating hour signals and for generating a carry signal every 24 hours;

a date counting means actuated by the carry signals from said hour counting means for generating date signals;

a minute indication means coupled to the minute counting means for performing digital indication of the counts of the minute counting means;

an hour/date indication means capable of optionally indicating on a single indication portion the output counts of the hour counting means and of the date counting means;

a manually operated switch means for selectively causing said hour/date indicating means to indicate hours and/or date;

a first group of AND circuits coupled to said hour counting means and OR circuits coupling said AND circuit to said hour/date indication means for selectively supplying said hour/date indication means with the hour signals from the hour counting means when said manual switch means is not being operated; and

a second group of AND circuits coupled to said manual switch means and coupling said hour/date indication means to the date counting means through said OR circuits for selectively supplying said hour/date indication means with the date signals from the date counting means responsive to operation of said manual switch means.

5. A digital indication type electronic clock device according to claim 4 wherein said clock generating means includes a source of standard high frequency signals and a dividing means coupled to said source for dividing the standard high frequency signal into said clock signals.

6. A digital indication type electronic clock device according to claim 1 wherein said manually operated switch means is coupled to said first group of AND circuits so as to enable said first group of AND circuits when said switch means is not operated, and is coupled to said second group of AND circuits for disabling said second group of AND circuits when said switch means is not operated, said switch means disabling said first group of AND circuits when it is operated and enabling said second group of AND circuits when it is operated.