JPS5814631B2 - electronic watch - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the structure of a thin electronic wristwatch having a time display member made of an electro-optical display device such as a liquid crystal or electrochromism display device.

Electronic wristwatches that use a crystal oscillator as the time reference and liquid crystals, electrochromism, etc. as time display components have high time accuracy and can continue operating for more than a year on a single battery, offering better performance than conventional mechanical wristwatches. Because it is convenient, its practical use is rapidly progressing.

However, the thickness of the watch was still not as thin as mechanical watches, so it was difficult to create a clean design.

This is because there is a limit to how thin the battery and time display member can be made, and the structure is such that they are stacked one on top of the other.

Therefore, in order to make the watch thinner, there have been examples of arranging the battery and time display member so that they do not overlap in a plane, but it is also possible to simply downsize the time display member, which was arranged in a stacked manner, and arrange it in a plane. This reduces the area of the time display, making it difficult to read the time, and the time display is located far away from the center of the watch, making it difficult to see.

The present invention aims to provide a thin and well-designed electronic wristwatch which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and has a structure in which a battery and a time display member are arranged so that they do not overlap in a plane.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along line A-A.

The time display member 1 and the battery 2 that display "hours and minutes" are housed in a holder 4 in a position that does not overlap with each other in a plane, and the time display member pressing springs 5 and 6 and the battery receiving spring 7
, are screwed together via a battery pressing spring 8.

The external connection electrodes 3 of the time display member 1 are formed at regular intervals on the outer periphery of the time display member 1, and are connected to a circuit board 1 on which an integrated circuit 9 including a clock circuit or the like and other circuit components 10 are mounted.
The corresponding connection electrode 1 is connected to the battery 2 on the opposite side using a normal connector 12 made of conductive rubber.

That is, as shown in the figure, the time display member 1 has a substantially rectangular shape, and a portion of one long side thereof is in close proximity to and facing a portion of the outer solid surface of the battery 2. Moreover, an external connection electrode 3 is formed on the outer periphery of the long side opposite to the above-mentioned one long side.

According to this configuration, since there is no connecting electrode on the battery 2 side, the time display section can be brought closer to the center of the watch,
Unbalance in external design can be reduced.

In this case, by arranging the time display member 1 at the top and the battery 2 at the bottom as in this embodiment, a well-balanced appearance can be achieved more effectively.

In addition, in the conventional structure, the area of the time display section is increased by the area corresponding to the external connection electrode array on the battery side, so the time display number can be increased and the time can be easily read.

Although the area of the connecting part will be smaller, if the number of connected electrodes is equivalent to displaying "hours and minutes", or even if there are more displays, it will be possible to
Although it is technically possible to use the method of this example to remove the data and drive, the case where the display contents are further increased will be described below.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the time display member 21
The arrangement structure of the battery 22 and the battery 22 is similar to the above example, but the external connection electrodes 23 are arranged in double rows to increase the number of connection electrodes and display contents.

This method is suitable for displaying time in a wide horizontal direction by adding "seconds" to "hours and minutes."

In addition, since the time display section is approximately rectangular, when placed inside a circular clock, a space 2 will be created on the opposite side from the battery 22.
5 will also be used effectively.

FIG. 4 shows still another embodiment of the present invention, in which the arrangement structure of the time display member 31 and the battery 32 is the same as the example of FIG. 1 and FIG. An external connection electrode 33 is provided on one side, and three connection connectors are also used corresponding to each electrode row.

This method widens the width of the time display section vertically and displays the time etc.
It is suitable for displaying in separate rows, and in this example, "
The example shows a case in which "hours and minutes" are displayed in the lower row, and "am and pm" are displayed in units of 10 seconds.

It is also possible to make any of the connection electrode rows on three sides double rows.
Of course it is possible.

In both the examples shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the connection electrode is provided on a side other than the battery side, which is an effective configuration for expanding the time display area toward the center of the watch body and reducing the deviation of the time display position. It has become.

As described above, the electronic wristwatch of the present invention can be made as thin as conventional mechanical wristwatches, and the time display section can be placed almost in the center of the watch, making it possible to create a well-designed wristwatch. The main function of the time display is to provide information, and the wide time display surface can also be used to enrich the displayed content.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an electronic timepiece according to the present invention;
2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing still another embodiment of the invention. 1,21.31...Time display member, 2,22.
32...Battery, 3,23.33...External connection electrode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic wristwatch that is equipped with a time display member made of an electro-optical display device such as a liquid crystal or electrochromism, and in which the time display member and a battery are arranged so that they do not overlap in plane, the time display member is substantially The time display member has a generally rectangular shape, one long side of which is disposed close to and opposite the outer circumferential side of the battery, and the time display member has at least one other side that avoids the one long side. An electronic wristwatch characterized in that an electrode for external connection is formed on the outer periphery of the side.