The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 15, 1988
Filed:
Apr. 06, 1987
Yuichi Inoue, Tokyo, JP;
Chiaki Nakamura, Tokyo, JP;
Shuji Ohtawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroyuki Masaki, Tokyo, JP;
Seiko Instruments Inc., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A self-chargeable timepiece includes a pair of small and large capacitors having respective small and large capacities and selectively disconnectably connected at their respective terminals to time-keeping circuitry and a solar cell. The pair of small and large capacitors cooperate with each other during the momentary operation of the solar cell for selectively receiving and storing the electric charge to develop respective terminal voltages across their respective terminals even after the momentary operation of the solar cell. A detector periodically detects the terminal voltages of the small and large capacitors during the time-keeping operation. A switching circuit responds to the detected terminal voltages for selectively connecting and disconnecting the small and large capacitors to and from the time-keeping circuitry to enable the small and large capacitors to selectively power the time-keeping circuitry. A regulating circuit operates when the time-keeping circuitry is powered by the small capacitor for regulating the detector to effect the periodical detection of the terminal voltages at relatively short time intervals and operates when the time-keeping circuit is powered by the large capacitor for regulating the detector to effect the periodical detection of the terminal voltages at relatively long time intervals.