Patent Application
20050105398
The present invention relates generally to timepieces, such as wristwatches, and in particular, to improved constructions and methodologies for maintaining accurate date and/or day information, in such timepieces that comprise a date and/or day ring, such as those timepieces typically referred to as “analog” or “quartz-analog” watches having hands for displaying time, and which drive the date ring as a function of the rotation of one or more gears (or “wheels”), such as (by way of example) the wheel that is coupled to the hour hand. In particular, the present invention provides an improved construction and methodology for maintaining an accurate date and/or day display even if the hour/minute hands are mechanically and/or electrically decoupled from the date display assembly.
That is, in a conventional quartz analog timepiece, the stopping of the hour/minute hands typically results in an inability of the date ring from rotating, thus leading to a loss of accurately displayed date and (possibly) day information. Moreover, if the hands are disengaged or otherwise stopped for a significant amount of time (e.g. days or weeks), any calendar date ring would have to be significantly readjusted (e.g. manually), a problem that becomes even more significant if the timepiece includes a month or day display or other perpetual calendar features. Although such disengagement of the hands may occur only momentarily or for short durations due to inadvertence or time setting, users may also intentionally disengage or otherwise stop the hands on the assumption that energy is being conserved.
Attempts have been made to overcome the foregoing perceived deficiencies. For example, in at least one known “perpetual calendar” watch design, the hands and the calendar ring are driven directly by motors that are controlled by a microprocessor. In such a construction, every step of every motor is processed and maintained by the microprocessor, such that every position of every hand, as well as the positioning of the day/date ring, is maintained by the microprocessor. Such a construction does not require any “midnight” detector even if the hands are stopped, since the microcontroller always knows and controls the position of the hands and day/date ring when running and/or how long they have been disengaged or otherwise stopped. However, all hand-setting functionality must therefore also be controlled by the microprocessor. And, for a three-hand (e.g. hour, minute, second) display, at least two (2) motors would be required, thus complicating the time setting and/or date readjusting operations, as would be understood and appreciated by one skilled in the art.
At least one other approach to the concept of a “perpetual calendar” watch has been put forth, whereby the hands are driven by only one motor, as in a “standard” quartz analog movement, thus allowing for mechanical and manual hand setting. In this implementation however, a 24-hour or “midnight” detector is needed to control the rotational advancement of the date ring. Disadvantageously, while the hands are stopped, there is no continuing signal to tell the microcontroller to rotate the date ring, thus maintaining the perceived deficiencies stated above. Moreover, the perceived deficiencies with this construction are increased when one extends the functionality to the incorporation of a day disc, which during normal operation, rotates in synchronization with the hour hand. Upon the stoppage of the hands for a long period of time, the discrepancies between the accuracies of these two rings (day and date) become even further pronounced. Complicated constructions have been used to attempt to deal with these and other problems, and the reader may wish to review U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,088,302; 6,582,118; and 6,584,040 (collectively the “Seiko patents”) in this regard. To the extent that such subject matter does not conflict with the invention disclosed herein, the disclosure of the Seiko patents is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
Another deficiency in the prior art is the inability to adequately and accurately maintain (or update) the display of the proper day on a day ring, in the event that the hands of the timepiece are stopped. Moreover, adjusting the day by a typical hand-setting operation thereafter will tend to further misadjust the date being displayed on the date ring since the typical synchronization between the hands and the date and day rings does not typically allow for independent calibration. This is a problem that is also overcome by the present invention.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a timepiece with an improved calendar function that overcomes the perceived deficiencies in the prior art noted above and further achieves the aforementioned and below mentioned objectives.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a timepiece with an improved calendar function.
Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display.
Another object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that utilizes stepping motors, such as bi-directional stepping motors, since by way of but one advantage, the use of stepping motors ensures correct driving angles from one date to the other without any additional required contact to stop the motor when rotation has to be terminated.
Another object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that is easy to adjust and furthermore, whereby the accuracy of the calendar date and/or day can be continuously and accurately maintained.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that does not require any particular time reference to compute the elapsed 24-hour periods of time. For example, it is an object of the present invention to merely maintain elapsed periods of time from when the hands are first disengaged, such that reaching each 24 hours of elapsed time causes the date ring to advance to the next date.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easier and faster way to set date and/or day displays in a timepiece that displays such information, especially in an analog timepiece.
Still another specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved timepiece comprising a day display which incorporates the use of a counter that allows for the maintaining of accurate relative day information.
Yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that optimizes space constraints.
And yet another object of the present invention to provide an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that does not require the precision electrical contact reliability which is otherwise needed in prior art embodiments to even begin to achieve the advantages set forth herein.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, arrangement of parts and sequence of steps which will be exemplified in the construction, illustration and description hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
Generally speaking, in accordance with the present invention, an improved timepiece comprising a date display is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the timepiece comprises: a date display assembly comprising: a date ring having a plurality of digits thereon; a first gearing assembly comprising one or more wheels, being meshingly coupled to the date ring so that the rotation of the one or more wheels causes the rotation of the date ring; and a stepping motor comprising a rotor, wherein the rotor of the stepping motor is rotateably coupled to the at least one or more wheels of the first gearing assembly, wherein the rotation of the rotor causes the date ring to rotate; a date-keeping assembly operatively coupled to the date display assembly, comprising: at least a second gearing assembly comprising at least an hour wheel and a detection wheel assembly operatively coupled by rotation to the hour wheel, wherein at least certain rotational increments of the detection wheel, and the clockwise or counterclockwise direction thereof, causes the rotor of the stepping motor to rotate so that the date ring can be rotated in one of a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; whereby the rotation of the hour wheel through a predetermined midnight position results in that the stepping motor causes the date ring to rotate a predetermined number of degrees, thereby advancing either in the forward or backward direction a displayed digit on the date ring.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the timepiece preferably comprises: a date display assembly comprising: a date ring having a plurality of digits thereon; a first gearing assembly comprising one or more wheels, being meshingly coupled to the date ring so that the rotation of the one or more wheels causes the rotation of the date ring; and a stepping motor comprising a rotor, wherein the rotor of the stepping motor is rotateably coupled to the at least one or more wheels of the first gearing assembly, wherein the rotation of the rotor causes the date ring to rotate; a date-keeping assembly operatively coupled to the date display assembly, comprising: at least a second gearing assembly comprising at least an hour wheel and a detection wheel operatively coupled by rotation to the hour wheel, and a microcontroller, wherein the microcontroller receives signals based on at least certain rotational increments of the detection wheel, and wherein the microcontroller can maintain information regarding the clockwise or counterclockwise direction of the detection wheel, and further wherein the microcontroller processes such signals and based thereon, causes the rotor of the stepping motor to rotate in one of a clockwise or counterclockwise direction so that the date ring can be rotated in one of a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; whereby the rotation of the hour wheel through a predetermined midnight position results in the date ring rotating a predetermined number of degrees, thereby advancing either in the forward or backward direction a displayed digit on the date ring.
Lastly, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of maintaining and displaying at least one of date and day information in a timepiece, a method is provided comprising the steps of determining when the microcontroller has stopped the rotation of the rotor of the second stepping motor, and commencing a measuring of an elapsed period of time; wherein the commencement of the measurement step is independent of the time of day; determining when the elapsed period of time is at least essentially equal to 24 hours; and stepping the rotor of the first stepping motor in a direction so that the date ring rotates and the digit on the date ring showing the valid date is displayed.
In yet another feature of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of: measuring the number of elapsed 24 hour periods of time; and, while the microcontroller is not providing signaling to rotate the second stepping motor and the setting stem is engaged with the gearing arrangement: adjusting the day disc by rotating the setting stem, wherein the day disc is adjustably rotated a calculated number of days depending on the number of measured elapsed 24 hour period of times; and blocking further rotation of the date ring by preventing the rotation of the rotor of the first stepping motor until the day disc has been rotated the calculated number of days.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of determining that the detection wheel assembly has been rotated a certain number of rotational increments in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction; and causing the rotor of the stepping motor to rotate so that the date ring can be rotated in one of a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying figures, in which:
Also, while not all elements are labeled in each figure, all elements with the same reference number indicated similar or identical parts.
Reference shall first be made to
Specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the gearing assembly for the date display assembly comprises one or more wheels. Illustrated in
Lastly, the date display assembly of the preferred embodiment preferably also comprises a stepping motor, generally indicated at 20. Stepping motor 20 will comprise a rotor 21, which in the preferred embodiment, is rotatably coupled to the at least one or more wheels of the first gearing assembly (e.g. intermediate date wheel 18). That is, rotor 21 will preferably comprise teeth that meshingly aligns with the outer teeth on intermediate date wheel 18.
The selection of a suitable stepping motor and the arrangement and/or positioning of the components are all within the purview of one skilled in the art.
In continuing to disclose the particulars of timepiece 1 that make-up the present invention, reference is now made to
Specifically, the date-keeping assembly of the present invention comprises yet at least a second stepping motor 30, which for obvious reasons, need not be a bi-directional stepping motor. As most clearly illustrated in
As also would be clearly understood by one skilled in the art, coupled to second wheel 36 is the second hand (not shown), coupled to center wheel 44 is the minute hand (not shown) and coupled to hour wheel 48 is the hour hand (not shown).
In this way, it can be seen that the rotation of hour wheel 48 will cause, via intermediate wheel 50, the rotation of detection wheel assembly 53. It can also be seen that the direction of rotation of detection wheel assembly 53 (i.e. clockwise or counterclockwise) can also be controlled by the direction of rotation (i.e. clockwise or counterclockwise) of hour wheel 48.
Thus, it can now be seen that if timepiece 1 can maintain information regarding the clockwise or counterclockwise direction (and amount of rotation) of detection wheel assembly 53, timepiece 1 can accurately cause the rotor of stepping motor 20 to rotate in one of a forward or reverse direction (as the case may be) so that date ring 12 can be rotated in the proper clockwise or counterclockwise direction. To assist in providing this functionality, a microcontroller 60 is provided. Likewise, in place of a microprocessor, a quartz analog circuit can be utilized. Specifically, microcontroller 60 will receive signals upon at least certain rotational increments of detection wheel assembly 53, process such signals and based thereon, cause the rotor of stepping motor 20 to rotate in the proper clockwise or counterclockwise direction so that date ring 12 can, as the case may be, rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. In this way, the rotation of hour wheel 48 through a predetermined “midnight” position results in date ring 12 rotating a predetermined number of degrees, thereby advancing either in the forward or backward direction a displayed digit on date ring 12.
How microcontroller “knows” and maintains information regarding the direction of rotation of detection wheel assembly 53 is the subject matter of the next segment of the disclosure.
As illustrated in
In conjunction therewith, the date-keeping assembly comprises first, second and third electrically conductive pads (80, 81, 82) which are operatively (e.g. electrically) coupled to microprocessor 60. Each of the respective fingers is aligned with a respective pad such that: when first tab 55 contacts first finger 72, first finger 72 makes electrical contact with first conductive pad 80; when second tab 56 contacts second finger 73, second finger 73 makes electrical contact with second conductive pad 81; and when third tab 57 contacts third finger 74, third finger 74 makes electrical contact with third conductive pads 82. Tabs 55, 56 and 57 are offset from each other such that no two electrical conductive pad 80, 81 or 82 can simultaneously be contacted. As should now be understood, microcontroller 60 can receive and maintain information about the rotation of detection wheel assembly 53, and in particular whether detection wheel assembly 53 is rotating in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction based on the respective sequence of contacts between the deflectable fingers and their respective conductive pads.
Clearly, the three conductive pads 80, 81 and 82 may be electrically coupled to Vdd or Vss, as one skilled in the art would readily appreciate. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, stepping motor 20 may cause the rotation, in the manner set forth above, of date ring 12 such that a subsequent digit is displayed (e.g. “2” to “3”; “15” to “16”; or “31” to “1”; in the cases the actual month having 30 days only, the microcontroller lets the date disc turning directly from “30” to “1”; likewise the microcontroller can maintain accurate date information so that the date disc turns directly from “28” to “1” at the end of February and from “29” to “1” in leap years) if microcontroller 60 detects an electrical connection between second finger 73 and second conductive pad 81 and the previously detected electrical connection was between first finger 72 and first conductive pad 80. It should be obvious that such respective contacts are caused by the respective deflection of fingers 73, 72 by respective tabs 56, 55. On the other hand, date ring 12 can be rotated in a counterclockwise direction by the appropriate rotation of the rotor of stepping motor 20 such that a previous digit is displayed (e.g. “3” to “2”; “16” to “15”; or “1” to “31”, and similarly, in the cases where the prior month has 30 days only, the microcontroller lets the date disc turning directly from “1” to “30”; from “1” to “28” when the prior month is February and not a leap year, and from “1” to “29” in leap years when the prior month is February). The counterclockwise rotation of date ring 12 will occur if microcontroller 60 detects an electrical connection between first finger 72 and first conductive pad 80 and the previously detected electrical connection was between second finger 73 and second conductive pad 81. As one skilled in the art would readily appreciate, the incorporation of a third finger assists in detecting the direction of rotation of detection wheel assembly 53.
In this way, the microcontroller can “know” that hour wheel 48 is turning in the direction such that the hour hand is moving back through the midnight position (e.g. 1:00 a.m. 12:00 midnight→11:00 p.m.).
Reference is now specifically made to
Here, day-keeping assembly preferably comprises an intermediate wheel 90, which itself includes a pinion 92 that is meshingly engaged with a day wheel 93. A purpose of day wheel 93 is to rotate a day disc 94, which itself has the days of the week printed, silkscreen, painted, or otherwise provided thereon. A sprocket, generally indicated at 96, with a plurality of extending posts 97, is directly coupled to day disc 94, such that rotating sprocket 96 causes the rotation of day disc 94.
To rotate sprocket 96, a leg 95 is provided on the dial side of day wheel 93. In this way, with each full rotation of day wheel 93, leg 95 will engage the “next” post 97, thereby urging it in the direction such that the next subsequent day is displayed. To assist in this operation, a spring 98 is provided to assist in urging the rotation of day disc 94 to its next “day position.” This spring is provided to avoid the need for leg 95 to move the post to its fully next position on its own. That is, all leg 95 has to do is urge the post sufficiently until the spring is biased such that it is able to “snap” sprocket 96 to its next “resting” (i.e. day) position and to detent it there until the next gearing. In this way, it can be seen that rotation of the hour wheel during normal “run” mode or a hand setting mode, will cause the day disc to rotate.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, accurate date information can be maintained when the hands (e.g. hour wheel 48) have been stopped, whether intentionally or inadvertently. That is, it may be recalled from above that in a gearing arrangement wherein the date ring of such a “perpetual calendar” is controlled (or at least influenced) by the rotation of another wheel in the timekeeping gear train, there is typically no signal to drive the date ring (i.e. date ring 12) while the hands are stopped. In accordance with the present invention, all of the signaling for the rotation of the date ring may be initiated by microcontroller 60.
Such would be the case in the present invention if stem 100, illustrated in
Generally speaking, the present invention achieves this objective by counting periods of 24 hours, beginning when the hands are stopped. With each passage of 24 hours while the hands are stopped, the date ring is advanced one position (i.e. “1”→“2”). The reference timing signals may be generated by a quartz oscillator (not shown). Here, a counter (by way of example) may maintain the 24-hour count. Reaching the 24 hours would result in date ring 12 turning to the next valid date and restarting the counter for the next 24-hour period. It should be appreciated, that in the worst-case scenario (i.e. manually stopping the hands at 11:59 p.m.), the maximum number of days that the timepiece would be “off” would be one (1). Such an error is clearly tolerable since it is such an improvement over the state of the art constructions. When the hands are reengaged (i.e. in a normal “run” mode), the user would then merely have to determine whether the next 12:00 o'clock reading was noon or midnight (by viewing whether the date ring advanced), and adjust the hands accordingly.
Reference is now made to
The methodology preferably begins with the initialization of one or more counters, such as enabling (step 5), initializing (step 10) and starting (step 15) a “24 HR” counter.
Thereafter, the methodology preferably determines (at step 20) whether there has been sufficient rotation of the detection wheel assembly 53, namely whether there has been a detection of contact between one of the fingers (72, 73, 74) and one of the associated pads (80, 81, 82). If not, the methodology proceeds to step 25 wherein it is determined whether the “24 HR” counter has reached a count of 24 hours, and if so, causes the stepping (at step 30) of the rotor of first stepping motor 20 in a direction so that date ring 12 rotates and a (subsequent) digit on date ring 12 representing the next valid date is displayed. The 24 HR counter may thereafter be reinitialized at step 32.
As seen by the determination at step 35, the foregoing steps are continued as long as microcontroller 60 or a separate quartz analog circuit has stopped the rotation of the rotor of second stepping motor 30 (i.e. the hands have been stopped from rotation), such as by the axial displacement of setting stem 100 into the position illustrated in
It appears most appropriate at this juncture to again highlight one of the novel features of the present invention, namely the ability to maintain accurate date information during manual setting of day disc 94. That is, in setting the proper day information, such as after the hands have been stopped for a number of days (and keeping in mind that the date ring 12 has been rotating every 24 hours), it is important that the microcontroller does not overrotate date ring 12, even though the setting stem and thus the hour wheel 48 are rotating. It is for this reason that steps 26-28 are important.
Specifically, the methodology of the present invention also includes the steps of measuring the number of elapsed 24-hour periods of time (at step 25). The number of days that elapse in this mode when the hands are not rotating are maintained by the sequence of steps 26-28, wherein a “7 DAY” counter keeps count of the number of elapsed 24 hour periods (step 26). When the 7 DAY counter reaches a value of 7 (step 27), it is reset (step 28). It should be appreciated that having the 7 DAY counter reach, for example 11 (or 18, etc.) would result in the same adjustment as if the 7 DAY counter only reached 4. Since the feature now being described is the ability to block rotation of date ring 12 while day disc 94 is being adjusted, it should now be understood that the microcontroller will maintain date ring 12 in position (i.e. with no further rotation) even though microcontroller 60 will be detecting that the detection wheel assembly 53 is passing through the midnight position in the forward direction (i.e. finger 73 may be electrically contacting pad 81 after finger 72 has electrically contacted pad 80), or in the backward direction (i.e. finger 72 may be electrically contacting pad 80 after finger 73 has electrically contacted pad 81). However, microcontroller 60 will not cause the rotation of stepping motor 20 until the number of detected contacts between fingers 72 and 73 and their associated pads 80 and 81 equals the current value in the 7 DAY counter. In this way, after the hands are stopped and it is desired to adjust the day disc, the date ring will not rotate until the days and thus the date have been correctly realigned.
Clearly, one skilled in the art would appreciate that the foregoing example assumes that the day ring is being rotated in a particular direction (counterclockwise or clockwise). That is, if the day ring were to be adjusted by being rotated in the opposite direction, the number of contacts between finger 73 and its associated pad 81 that microcontroller 60 would want to remain blocked (i.e. with no rotation of the date ring) would be the value of the 7 DAY counter subtracted from 7. In this way, the day disc could be adjusted in either a forward or reverse direction, while the date ring could remain blocked for the appropriate number of “days.”
Thus, it can be seen that day disc 94 can be adjusted manually by rotation of setting stem 100 and hour wheel 48. However this sequence of steps results in the rotation of detection wheel assembly 53. Hence, the blocking of further rotation of date ring 12 is achieved by suppressing any actions by microcontroller 60 which would normally result from the signaling to the microcontroller 60 by the rotation of detection wheel assembly 53.
As indicated above,
Specifically, in the normal “run” mode of timepiece 1, the methodology to maintain and display date and/or day information comprises the steps of determining (at step 40) that the detection wheel has been rotated a certain number of rotational increments in the clockwise or counterclockwise direction; and causing the rotor of stepping motor 20 to rotate (step 45) so that the date ring can be rotated in one of a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The details of the foregoing steps are set forth in greater detail above where the details of the detection wheel assembly 53 are disclosed. However, for completeness, it should now be understood that the present method may comprise the steps of:
Other features provided are likewise set forth in
To complete the description of
Steps 60, 65 are optionally provided as a means to provide for the day setting features of the present invention.
It can thus be seen that the present invention provide numerous advantages not found in the prior art. For example, the present invention provides an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that utilizes stepping motors, as well an improved timepiece comprising a date and/or day display that is easy to adjust and furthermore, whereby the accuracy of the calendar date and/or day can be continuously and accurately maintained. Furthermore, the preferred methodology ensures that maintaining accurate date information does not require any particular time reference to compute the elapsed 24-hour periods of time. Still further, the present invention provides for a new and improved method for adjusting day information while not allowing further discrepancies with the date information. In fact, the present invention ensure a faster and more accurate and efficient day/date calibration than found in the prior art. Still further, but by no means any less important, the present invention provides an improved construction that does not require the precision electrical contact reliability which is otherwise needed in prior art embodiments.
Lastly, to be sure the invention is well understood, it is noted for completeness that the preferred third wheel 40 construction is a two-piece part assembly (combining the wheel and pinion portions), which is designed to enable friction during hand setting. In this way, there can be proper disabling of the second hand (not shown) and stepping motor 30. Moreover, and as would thus be appreciated, as motor 30 is disabled, such as that when setting stem 100 is in the position illustrated in
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
