Other

Jean-claude Berney Sa

Ebauches S.a.

U.S. Philips Corporation

Jean-Claude Berney

Igor Scherrer

Jean-Claude Robert-Grandpierre

A method of analyzing the voltage induced in an exciter coil of a stepping motor. After energization the exciter coil is loaded by a low impedance so that the induction voltage can produce a current. Subsequently, it is attempted to maintain the current through said coil equal to zero by periodically connecting said coil to a positive or negative voltage. The pattern of consecutive polarities of these periodic energizations is analyzed.

Method of analyzing the voltage induced in an exciter coil of a stepping

A control device for a stepping motor provided with a coil and a rotor performing a rotary movement when a current passes through the coil, comprising means for producing a plurality of time base signals, means for producing pulses for controlling the motor in response to said time base signals, means responsive to the control pulses for supplying the motor while maintaining the current in the coil at a substantially constant and given value. The device also comprises means for analyzing the voltage signal present on the coil or a signal which is representative thereof, and for supplying data concerning the voltage induced in the coil by the rotor movement. The motor supply means may include switching means for connecting the coil to a supply voltage source and for short-circuiting the coil, and means for periodically comparing the coil current to a reference value, during each control pulse, and supplying a control signal for controlling the switching means to short-circuit the coil when a comparison indicates the current exceeds the reference value, and to apply voltage to the coil in the opposite case, until the following comparison operation. This maintains the mean value of the current at a reference value during the control pulses to provide a high-efficiency power supply system. At the coil terminals logic information is derived concerning the induced voltage which can be easily analyzed and used by logic circuits.

Control device for a stepping motor

The timepiece includes a detector of the direction of the current in the winding of the motor which is used to detect the first reversal in current direction after the end of the driving pulse and to deliver a signal which is representative of this current direction. A comparator circuit (34-36, 38, 39, 48) is used to compare the moment of the appearance of this signal with a reference time which is fixed in relation to the driving pulse and to control a circuit (28-31, 33, 40, 44, 51, 46, 47) which controls the duration of the driving pulses in such a way that the instant at which the signal appears coincides with the reference time. This enables minimum energy to be imparted to the motor for a given variable load.

Timepiece with a device for the control of a stepping motor

The timepiece comprises a detector and control circuit for the stepping motor. This circuit comprises on the one hand an amplifier including at least a MOS transistor receiving on a first terminal a voltage representative of the current in the driving coil of the motor and having a second terminal joined up to a condenser connected to one of the poles of a power source. The amplifier delivers signals representative of the current in the condenser. The circuit comprises on the other hand means connected to the amplifier for controlling the driving pulses. The circuit is easy to integrate and it has a very low power consumption.

Timepiece with a detector and control circuit for a stepping motor

An integrated circuit for a time-piece including an oscillator, a frequency divider, an electronic circuit for effecting at least one auxiliary function depending on information delivered to the inputs thereof, a circuit for controlling a display and a circuit for setting the time. The integrated circuit is provided with a first group of terminals for enabling connection of the integrated circuit with external components such as a piezo-electric resonator, the display, and the time-setting circuit.

Integrated circuit for a time-piece

An electronic timepiece comprising means to appreciably increase the number of distinctive information which can be introduced and, if necessary memorized, for a given number of terminals intended for that purpose, information needed for the adjustment of the frequency. The integrated circuit of the timepiece is provided with a first group of m terminals and it comprises an introduction circuit having inputs reserved to introduce the desired information, these inputs being connected to a second group of n terminals of the integrated circuit. The introduction circuit has also control inputs and each of the n terminals of the second group is capable to be connected, by a connection external to the integrated circuit, with one of the m terminals of the first group. The introduction circuit is arranged in such a way as to deliver to its outputs, at least periodically, one distinctive information for each of the m.sup.n possible combinations of the mentioned connections.

Electronic timepiece

An electronic watch comprising a device for controlling and driving the day of the month disc, wherein the wheel train supplies the energy necessary for moving the day of the month disc, but does not determine the instant of the jump, which may be initiated at any moment by an electrical signal, independently of the position of the wheel train. The device comprises a mechanism driven by the wheel train and arranged so as to disengage when the moving bodies of the wheel train, controlling the display, turn continuously in clockwise direction and to re-engage when said moving bodies turn in anti-clockwise direction. A control circuit determines, in a portion of the driving cycle in an anti-clockwise direction of rotation with a rapid rate, the jump of the display disc of the day of the month mechanism.

Electronic watch with a device for controlling and driving the day of

The analog display device comprises at least one needle driven through a gear wheel by a stepping motor, a control circuit for the motor, bidirectional counter locked with the position of the needle on a dial, the logic states of the outputs of the counter being representative of the position of the needle on the dial and a comparator for the informations delivered by the counter and the informations corresponding to the value of the function to display, the comparator acting at least indirectly on the control circuit and on the counter so that the position of the needle is representative of the value of the function to display. The device does not require any digital-analog converter nor galvanometer and it allows for, example, to display simultaneously with at least two needles the value of at least two different functions, to make changes of scale, and so on. The device may also be combined with another type of analog or digital display.

Analog display device

An electronic timepiece having a minute hand and an hour hand which are controlled by a control circuit of the timepiece to display and to program, in addition to their own parameters, other parameters such as date, month, second, alarm time, or other, non time-related, parameters, which can be selected by push-button or pull-switch control means.

The electronic timepiece comprises circuits within an integrated circuit for effecting at least one auxiliary function associated with information supplied to their inputs and, programming circuits for programming and memorizing the said information. A system applied to the timepiece makes it possible to consult and reprogram manually the memory from outside the timepiece, as well as memorizing the state of this memory in the absence of feed voltage, for as long as necessary.

An electronic timepiece with analog display by seconds, minutes, and hours hands driven by a bidirectional stepping motor, in which the seconds hand can be used to display information different from the seconds count, the time displayed by the minutes and hours hands being conserved and the passage from one information mode to the next being made by a rapid bidirectional catching up. The electronic circuit comprises means for comparison (10) comparing the information delivered by counting means (16, 18) synchronous with the seconds hand and the information to be displayed, delivered by selection means (5, 9, 12). The state of the output of the comparison means (10) acts by control means (FF6, 7) on the stepping motor, so that the seconds hand displays the desired information.

Electronic watch

An electronic timepiece having an analog display including a time setting mechanism for correction of the hour hand independently of the other hands including an auxiliary circuit for supplying a rapid frequency train of pulses to a step motor for displacing a train of gear wheels by an amount equivalent to a complete turn of the second hand.

Electronic timepiece with mixed time setting

An electronic watch having a circuit for permitting it to be stopped in a state of minimum consumption. The watch has an oscillator, a frequency divider comprising flip-flops and a display, with the display and at least some of said flip-flops being connected to a common line so that a signal applied to the common line places them in a state of minimum consumption. The circuit including a switch connected between the common line and a terminal of the power supply and at least two MOS transistors connected so as to apply the signal to the common line when the switch is closed.

Electronic circuit for electronic watch

Apparatus for adjusting the output frequency of a frequency divider comprising a circuit constituted of a resistance R and a capacitor C for receiving output pulses from the divider. A comparator is connected to the RC circuit and to the divider for receiving normal pulses from the divider and pulses with a delay t proportional to the time constant RC for comparing the delay pulses with the normal pulses to produce control pulses of duration t. A switching arrangement is coupled to the comparator and to the divider for switching the rate of the divider from an initial rate n.sub.o to a value n' during the duration of the control pulses. The divider has a plurality of outputs and when n' is greater than n.sub.o the RC circuit is connected to one of the outputs while when n' is smaller than n.sub.o the RC circuit is connected to another of the outputs.

Apparatus for adjusting the output frequency of a frequency divider

A control device for the motor of a watch including first and second zero detectors and a delay device for providing gating signals to an AND gate to enable transmission of driving in phase with the a.c. voltage induced in the coil.

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Epalinges, Switzerland

Jean-Claude Berney