JPS5919320B2 - Multiple display electronic clock - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a multi-display electronic timepiece equipped with two or more types of electro-optical display elements as a display device.

In recent years, with the development of electronic technology, digital electronic wristwatches that use various electro-optical display elements as display bodies have been commercialized. The above-mentioned electro-optical display element IIA, a light-receiving display element that provides a display effect by external light, such as liquid crystal, transparent ferroelectric ceramic, elastomer, electrochromism, etc.;
It is broadly divided into light-emitting display elements that provide a display effect by emitting light.Currently, liquid crystal display devices are in practical use as light-receiving display elements, and light-emitting diode display devices are in practical use as light-emitting display elements. However, each of the display elements has advantages and disadvantages; for example, a light emitting diode display device has a good display form and can display in a dark place, but because it is a large current element, Liquid crystal display devices have the disadvantage that they cannot be lit all the time, and the display effect weakens under strong external light.On the other hand, liquid crystal display devices can be lit all the time, but have the disadvantage that they cannot be displayed in dark places. Also, since the display format utilizes contrast between transparency and opacity, only a monotonous display effect can be obtained.

However, in recent years, an electrochromic display device (hereinafter abbreviated as EC display device), which is an electro-optical display device with memory, has rapidly come into the spotlight as a display device for wristwatches. This EC display device is generated by applying a voltage to an electrochromic substance and energizing it.
Since it utilizes the coloring effect based on oxidation and ring element action, it is possible to display color with unique colors, and the display action has an excellent property of having a memory effect of about 1 minute to 1 week. However, it has the disadvantage that the response speed is slow (several hundred mS) and that a large current (several mA) flows when rewriting the display.

An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-display electronic timepiece that includes the above-mentioned EC display device and other electro-optical display devices, thereby combining the advantages of each display device.

Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of an EC display device, in which 1 is a display surface glass, 2 is a display surface transparent electrode, and the display surface glass 1
It is formed using methods such as metal vapor deposition. 3 is an electrochromic material 4 that is an electrically insulating layer formed extremely thinly, and 5 is a counter electrode that forms a display state that also serves as an optical reflective surface.

6 is a driving power source for the EC display device having the above configuration, for example K
When WO3 is used as the electrochromic substance, it develops color when a negative voltage is applied to the transparent electrode 2 and a positive voltage to the counter electrode 5, and exhibits a decoloring phenomenon when a voltage in the opposite direction is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a multi-display electronic timepiece according to the present invention, where 10 is a multi-display electronic timepiece, 11 is a liquid crystal display device, 12 is an EC display device, and the liquid crystal display device 11 is a time display device. The EC display device 1 has a segment 11a, a minute display segment 11b, a seconds colon 11c, and a seconds display segment 11d that has six patterns and displays in units of 10 seconds.
2 is a month display segment 12a and a day display segment 12
b, and day display segment 12 consisting of seven patterns.
It has c.

13 and 14 are operation buttons for display correction.

As mentioned above, in this embodiment, the liquid crystal display device 11 is
The time display device and EC display device 12 have a function as a calendar display device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the multiple display type electronic timepiece shown in FIG. They are represented by electrodes LC-1, LC-2, and LC-3. 1Z shows the configuration of the EC display device 12, which includes a common electrode EC-C and three segment electrodes EC.
-1, EC-2, and EC-3, and each segment electrode is connected to a corresponding segment electrode of the liquid crystal display device 1V.

20 is a power supply circuit, which includes two batteries 2 connected in series.
1, 22, and three levels Vl, Vm, Vh
The voltage is supplied to a watch 1C, which will be described later.

23 is 1C for watch, 24 is standard oscillation circuit, 25
26 is a frequency dividing circuit that divides the output of the oscillation circuit 24 to generate a clock signal; 26 is a clock counter that counts the clock signal and generates time information of hours, minutes, and seconds; 27 is the clock This is a calendar counter that counts the carry signal Pd of the counter 26 and generates calendar information for the month and day of the month, and the time counter 2
The time information of the calendar counter 27 and the calendar information of the calendar counter 27 are led to a signal switching circuit 28, and the information selected by the signal switching circuit 28 is used as the exclusive. It is guided to a display drive circuit 32 composed of OR gates (hereinafter abbreviated as XOR gates) 29, 30, and 31 (the number of gates constituting the display drive circuit 32 is determined by However, for ease of explanation, the three XOR gates 29, 30, and 31 are representative.

) The output of each XOR gate 29, 30, 31 is transmitted to each commonly connected segment of the EC display device 1Z and the liquid crystal display device 1V via the output terminals Sl, S2, S3 provided in the watch 1C23. each connected to an electrode. 33rd car carry signal Pd. The control circuit 34, which is operated by
An alternating signal for driving the liquid crystal to the lighting state is applied to the common electrode LC-C of the liquid crystal display device 1V, which is connected to the common input terminal of the XOR gates 29, 30, and 31 constituting the clock IC 23 and the output terminal Clc of the watch IC 23. (a 32 Hz signal that alternates between V1 and Vh supplied from the power supply circuit 20) and a DC voltage Vh are selectively supplied.

39 is a transmission gate (hereinafter abbreviated as TG), which outputs the DC voltage V1 supplied from the power supply circuit 20 to the output terminal C8 according to the control signal from the control circuit 33.
It is selectively supplied to the common electrode EC-C of the EC display device 1Z connected to C.

Next, the operation of the multi-display electronic timepiece 10 having the above configuration will be explained. In the normal state, the output terminal Q of the control circuit 33
Since l and Q2 are at the logic "0" level, the signal switching circuit 28 &ζ connected to Q1 is in the time information selection state,
And the drive signal switching circuit 34 has an AND gate 35 of 0N.
The AND gate 36 is in the 0FF state, selecting the alternating signal φ, and the TG 39 is in the 0FF state.

Therefore, since time information is supplied to the display drive circuit 32 and an alternating signal φ is applied from the drive signal switching circuit 34, the common electrode LC-C of the liquid crystal display device 11' and the time information are An alternating signal φ is applied in opposite phase to the liquid crystal between the segment electrodes connected to the selected XOR gate, resulting in a display state. The liquid crystal is in a non-display state because the alternating signal φ is applied in the same phase, and by combining display segments based on this time information, the liquid crystal display device 11 displays hours, minutes, and seconds as shown in FIG. is displayed. (In this example, 12 o'clock, 51 minutes,
It shows 40 seconds. [At this time, the EC display device 12'
The alternating signal φ is also applied to the segment electrodes of the EC display device 1, but since the common electrode ECC is in the 0FF state due to the TG39, the display contents are not rewritten.
2 displays previously written calendar information due to its memory function. (In this embodiment, December, 31st, and Monday are displayed.) In this state, when the carry signal Pd is generated from the time counter 26, the information on the calendar counter 27 is changed to 1st. At the same time, the control circuit 33
The output terminal of the display switching circuit 3 is inverted to the logic "1" level for one fixed period of time (the time required to rewrite the EC display device), and the display switching circuit 3
2 to the calendar information selection state, the drive signal switching circuit 34 to the Vh selection state, and the TG 39 to the ON state. Therefore, the output terminal of the XOR gate that is in the selected state due to the calendar information supplied to the display drive circuit 32 becomes ζVl (logic "O" level), and the output terminal of the XOR gate that is in the non-selected state due to the calendar information is The output terminal becomes Vh (logic "1" level).

Furthermore, since the common terminal EC-C is connected to the Vm terminal via the TG39, a current flows from the common electrode EC-C toward the segment electrode in the segment selected based on the calendar information, resulting in a colored state. Therefore, current flows from the segment electrode to the common electrode in the non-selected segment,
The color becomes faded. The rewritten calendar information is displayed by the combination of the colored segments, and even after the control circuit 33 returns to inversion, the calendar display is maintained by the memory function. It should be noted that while the foregoing leg circuit 33 is in operation, the display of one piece of information on the liquid crystal display device 1V is destroyed and a DC voltage is applied to a part of the liquid crystal, but as mentioned above, it is applied once a day. Since it is very short and takes a very short time, problems such as deterioration of the liquid crystal can be ignored.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a composite display cell according to the present invention, in which an EC display device and a liquid crystal display device are built between upper and lower glass substrates, 40 is an upper glass, 41 is a transparent segment electrode, which is formed in the pattern shape of each display segment of the liquid crystal display device 11 and the EC display device 12 shown in FIG. and EC display device 12
The corresponding segment electrodes are commonly connected and then drawn out to the connection terminal portion 40a. 42 is a lower glass, and 43 is a transparent common electrode, which is formed on the lower glass 42 by a method such as metal vapor deposition to correspond to the transparent segment electrodes.

44 is a sealing member which also serves as a spacer between the upper glass 40 and the lower glass 42 and forms two cavities 45 and 46. The cavity 45 is filled with an electrochromic substance 47 and the cavity 45 is filled with an electrochromic substance 47. Chamber 46 is filled with liquid crystal material 48 .

49 is a lower polarizing plate, 50 is a reflecting plate, 51 is an upper glass 4
0 is an upper polarizing plate provided only in the liquid crystal display cell portion, and 52 is an electrically insulating layer provided on the transparent common electrode 43 in the EC display cell portion.

Compared to conventional liquid crystal display cells, the composite display cell with the above configuration has only a slight increase in the number of terminals drawn out to the connection terminal portion 40a by the number of common electrodes in the EC display cell portion. Conventionally used connectors for connecting display cells can be used. As described above, in the present invention, a liquid crystal display device as a light-receiving display element and an EC display device having a memory effect are integrated into one watch 1C, and the output terminal for driving the display is commonly used. Therefore, by simply adding a few output terminals to the conventional 1C for electronic watches with a single display device, it is possible to create a multi-display electronic timepiece that combines the advantages of two types of display devices. This is something that can be provided.

Furthermore, if two EC display devices having the same configuration are used as the two electro-optical display devices in the present application and the display drive circuit is also used to perform time-division driving, the number of terminals can be reduced. By combining 1C for watches and an EC display device with a simple structure with fewer connection electrodes, it is possible to provide twice as much display information. In this example, the rewriting of the EC display device is as follows:
All segments are executed at the same time, but by dividing all segments into multiple blocks and performing rewriting while shifting the phase for each block, intensive drawing of large current from the power supply circuit is avoided. I can do it.

Furthermore, although not shown in this embodiment, when modifying the contents of the calendar counter, the information of the calendar counter is displayed on the liquid crystal display device by controlling the signal switching circuit, and the display contents of the liquid crystal display device are While monitoring, the contents of the calendar counter are corrected, and after the correction is completed, by applying a write command signal to the control circuit, the corrected calendar information can be stored and displayed on the EC display device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an EC display cell, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a multiple display electronic timepiece according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the electronic timepiece shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. The figure is a cross-sectional view of a composite display cell. 10...Multiple display electronic clock, 11...
-Liquid crystal display device, 12... Electrochromism display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Timepiece I having a time information generation circuit and a display drive circuit
C. In an electronic watch equipped with an EC display device and a liquid crystal display device, the display drive electrodes of the EC display device and the liquid crystal display device are commonly connected to a group of display drive terminals provided on the watch IC. At the same time, each of the common electrodes of the EC display device and the liquid crystal display device is connected to a common electrode drive terminal provided independently on the watch IC.
A multi-display electronic timepiece characterized in that two display devices are driven by sharing an output terminal of a timepiece IC. 2. The two electro-optical display devices according to claim 1 have substantially the same number of display digits, and the timepiece IC
A multi-display electronic timepiece characterized in that it is driven by also using a display drive circuit.