JPH0125034B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a watch that greatly contributes to the effective use of daylight hours and can also serve as a pacemaker for daily life, which changes rapidly yesterday.

(Prior Art) In recent years, the world has become more and more complex, and along with this complexity, people are leading rapidly changing daily lives, and in the midst of their busy schedules, they often suddenly have to go far away. When going out to a distant place, it is common to make a schedule in advance, and when making this schedule, it is necessary to take into account daytime hours and nighttime hours, that is, sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours.

By the way, when you go far away, especially overseas, the sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours of the place where you go and your daily life often do not match. It also becomes necessary to know the non-sunshine hours. On the other hand, if you decide to take action based on a schedule that you have set without taking into account the geographical conditions of your destination, there will be a discrepancy between your self-perception and reality, and you will be confused.

Conventionally, various clocks have been developed that have the function of displaying the sunrise and sunset times for a given city by inputting and specifying a city (geographical location) and a date. By using this, you can know the sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours, which is effective when planning a schedule.

However, this conventional display format is a numerical display like a digital clock and does not function as a world clock, and it only displays the time (sunrise, sunset), so it does not display daylight hours or It is true that it is possible to know the daylight hours, but it is inconvenient that it is difficult to recognize at a glance. Therefore, it would be better to display sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours by increasing the number of display units or by adding a display switching function, but in the former case, the structure on the display panel would be complicated, making it difficult for the user to Many displays appear at once, making it difficult to see, and in the latter case, the operation becomes complicated and complicated, and in any case, there is a risk that the device will lose its practicality.

(Object of the invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and
The purpose is to provide a highly practical watch that allows you to know daylight hours and non-daylight hours at a glance.

(Configuration of the Invention) To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, there is a circuit section that outputs sunrise and sunset times specific to a designated area, and a circuit section that is arranged in correspondence with the time display scale and that outputs sunshine and non-sunshine times based on the data output by the circuit section. A watch having a display section that displays sunlight time and a different optical state.

It is.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to illustrated examples.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a digital numerical display type portable wristwatch according to the present invention. First, its main functions are described in the following (a) to (g). Become.

(b) Time (hours: minutes, seconds) display function.

(b) Date (month/day) and day of the week display function.

(c) A function that allows you to switch the time display between 12-hour display and 24-hour display, separated by AM and PM.

(d) Mid-day time, sunshine time, non-sunshine time display function.

(e) By setting a city number (here 0 to 99), you can display the city number, calculate the time in the standard time zone for that city's classification, and set the city's central time, sunrise time, and A function that calculates and displays the sunset time.

(F) A function to display the input point by specifying the point, i.e., the geographical location (latitude, longitude), as well as the time of day at the center of the point,
A function that calculates and displays sunrise and sunset times.

(g) Function to set daylight saving time and slow time.

(h) A function that calculates and displays the local time and date in various parts of the world by specifying city numbers, etc.

Next, the structure of the wristwatch 1 that performs the above functions will be described. 2 is the main body, and 3 is a display panel.

The main body 2 has four rotary operation buttons 4, 5,
6 and 7 are provided. First, the operation button 4 is commonly called an adjust button, and when it is in the off state without being pressed even once, the display panel 3 is in the normal timekeeping state, and the time display is 12 hours. It is possible to switch between 24-hour and 24-hour display, and 1
When turned on by pressing twice, data necessary for each calculation function can be inputted, and the display contents on the display panel 3 can be changed.

The operation button 5 is used to change the mode when changing the display contents on the display panel 3. Basically, when the button is pressed 0 times, it is used to change the time, date, day of the week, etc.
If you enter the city number once, enter the city number twice, three times, or four times.
When the time is 5 times, the north latitude, south latitude, west longitude, and east longitude of each point can be entered, and when the time is 6 times, the summer time and slow time can be set. In addition, after inputting the northern latitude of a point, inputting the southern latitude is disabled, and the next (third) pressing operation switches to west longitude input mode, and the next (fourth) pressing operation switches to east longitude input mode, and then inputs west longitude. After that, input of east longitude is disabled, and the next (fourth or fifth) pressing operation switches to summer time and slow time setting mode. That is,
Duplicate data entry is avoided.

The operation button 6 is used to specify a more detailed mode than the mode specified using the operation button 5. In other words, when the mode specified by the operation button 5 is the time, date, or day of the week change mode, when the operation button 6 is pressed 0 times, the "second" part of the time (hour: minute, second) is pressed, and when the operation button 6 is pressed once, the "second" part of the time (hour: minute, second) is changed. "hour" part, "minute" twice
The tens digit part of , the ones digit part of "minute" three times,
3 times is the one's digit of the minute, 4th is the day of the week, 5th is the month of the date (month, day), 6th is the day
Each part can be changed. When the designation mode of the operation button 5 is a city number designation mode, a state is created in which the tens digit can be changed with zero presses of the operation button 6 and the ones digit can be changed with one press. When the designation mode of the operation button 5 is the designation input mode of points (degrees [゜], minutes), pressing the operation button 6 0 times will input the tens and hundreds digits of "degrees", and once the operation button 6 is pressed the tens and hundreds digits will be input. The one's digit part of the degree can be entered, the ten's digit part of the minute can be entered twice, and the one's digit of the minute can be entered three times. And finally, when the specified mode in operation button 5 is the specified mode for daylight saving time and slow time, press operation button 6 0 to 5 times to +30 to +180 in 30 minute increments.
Settings from -30 to -180 are made in 30 minute increments in 6 to 11 times, which means daylight saving time (advancing time) from a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of 3 hours.
It is also possible to set slow time (delaying time).

The operation button 7 is used to switch the time display between the 12-hour display and the 24-hour display when the operation button 1 is off, that is, when the display panel 3 is in the normal timekeeping state. When the button is on, the numerical value or character of the specified mode (alphabet for the day of the week) can be set by operating the operation buttons 5 and 6.
Except for special cases, the value is added in increments of 1 up to the upper limit of each mode for each press operation, and when the upper limit is reached, if there is another press operation. It is designed to return to 0. Here, the special case refers to the "seconds" part of the time and the day of the week. First, in the case of the "seconds" part of the time, the display changes to "00" with a single operation of operation button 7. In the case of the day of the week, the alpha bets from Sunday to Saturday are displayed sequentially each time the button is pressed. Incidentally, since all settings for daylight saving time and slow time are performed using operation button 6, operation button 7 has no relation to the operation for setting daylight saving time and slow time.

By the way, the display panel 3 includes a first digital display section 8, a second digital display section 9, a third digital display section 10, a day of the week display section 11, a first mode display section 12, and a third mode display section 13. It is arranged as follows.

The first digital display section 8 displays the time when in the timekeeping state and the input data when setting point data, and is also displayed in an analog display band to be described later depending on whether "ON" is displayed or not. It is designed to indicate whether the central time, sunshine hours, and non-sunshine hours are based on city number designation or point designation. Furthermore, the presence or absence of "+" and "-" indicates that summer time (+) and slow time (-) are designated, or that these are not designated. The second digital display section 9 is adapted to display the date, and the third digital display section 10 is adapted to display the city number.

The first mode display section 12 displays which mode data is being input when changing the display contents. Here, when changing the time, date, or day of the week, the "TIME" part is displayed. The ``CITY'' part lights up when you enter a city number, the ``POINT'' part lights up when you specify a point, and the ``SUM'' part lights up when you set summer time or slow time. The second mode display unit 13 indicates whether the time is displayed in the timekeeping state, 12 hours or 24 hours. This is indicated by the display ``N'', ``S'', ``W'', or ``E'' to indicate whether the point data is being entered in terms of northern latitude, southern latitude, western longitude, or eastern longitude. It is considered a thing.

A time display scale 14 is further provided on the display panel 3 along its outer edge, and an analog display band 15 is provided outside of the time display scale 14 along this. . This analog display band 15 is for displaying the approximate mid-day time, sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours in an analog or graphical manner, and is made of colors or materials that can realize multiple optical states, such as liquid crystal. Therefore, it is constructed as follows. In addition, this analog display band 15 is divided into 10-minute increments according to the time display scale 14, and has a dual structure inside and outside, with the outer one being the AM display band. The PM display section 15A is the PM display section 15A, and the inner side is the PM display section 15P, which is the afternoon display band.
With this configuration, as shown in the figure, different optical states are expressed in accordance with the time display scale 14 during sunshine and non-sunshine times.

Next, the configuration of an internal circuit related to the display function of midsummer time, sunshine time, and non-sunshine time will be explained.

In FIG. 2, the circuit is first roughly divided into a midsummer time calculation section 16, a sunrise/sunset time calculation section 17, and a display circuit section 18.

The meridian time calculation section 16 has a meridian data storage circuit 19 , a longitude data storage circuit 20 , an equation of time data storage circuit 21 , and a meridian time calculation circuit 22 . The meridian data storage circuit 19 stores standard time meridian data of each classification, receives a city number data signal, and outputs a meridian data signal of the classification to which the city belongs. The longitude data storage circuit 20 stores longitude data necessary for calculating the central time and time difference angle based on the city number designation determined for each registered city.
It receives a city number data signal and outputs a longitude data signal for that city. The equation of time data storage circuit 21 stores equation of time data for each date, receives a date data signal, and outputs an equation of time data signal for that date.

The meridian time calculation circuit 22 includes a meridian data signal from the meridian data storage circuit 19, a longitude data signal from the longitude data storage circuit 20, an equation of time data signal from the equation of time data storage circuit 21, and a data setting circuit group (not shown). The longitude data signal, daylight saving time, and slow time data signal from Become something.

In other words, (Central time) = (meridian data of city number + 180°)
- (standard time zone meridian data + 180°) + (equation of time) + (12 hours) + (daylight saving time or slow time).

The midsummer time calculation circuit 22 outputs the calculation value data signal obtained by the above formula to the display circuit section 18 and the sunrise/sunset time calculation circuit section 17.

The sunrise/sunset time calculation section 17 has a latitude data storage circuit 23, a declination data storage circuit 24, an hour angle calculation circuit 25, and a sunrise/sunset time calculation circuit 26. The latitude data storage circuit 23 stores latitude data necessary for calculating the hour angle based on the city number designation determined for each registered city, and receives the city number data signal and stores the latitude data. It is said to output a city latitude data signal. The declination data storage circuit 24 stores declination data corresponding to the date, and outputs a declination data signal in response to a date data signal.

The hour angle calculation circuit 25 receives a latitude data signal from the latitude data storage circuit 23, a declination data signal from the declination data storage circuit 24, and a latitude data signal from a data setting circuit (not shown), and converts these signals into It calculates the hour angle based on this and outputs the signal, and the calculation formula is as follows.

That is, to=cos ^-1 (-tan・tan δ), ... or cos to′ = −(sin θ+sin・sin δ) sin・sec δ...

The formula is for when the center of the sun is above the horizon, where to is the hour angle, is latitude, and δ is declination.

The formula takes the time when the sun begins to be visible on the ground as sunrise, and the time when it finishes setting below the horizon as sunset. In this formula, to′ is the hour angle, is latitude,
δ is the declination. And θ is a coefficient, which is considered to be about 50', assuming that the apparent radius of the sun is 16' and the influence of atmospheric refraction near the horizon is about 34'.

The sunrise/sunset time calculation circuit 26 receives the calculated value data signals from the midsummer time calculation circuit 22 and the hour angle calculation circuit 25, and calculates the sunrise time and sunset time based on these signals. , the calculated value data signal is output, and the formula is as follows.

That is, (Sunrise time) = (Southern Central time) - to, ... (Sunset time) = (Sunset time) + to, ... It is.

Furthermore, the configuration of an internal circuit related to calculation and display functions of time difference and date of meridian data of different classifications will be explained.

In FIG. 3, the circuit first includes a meridian data storage circuit 19 similar to that of the meridian time calculation section 16 described above, a time difference/date calculation circuit 27, a clock/auto calendar section 28, and Display circuit section 18
It is broadly divided into.

The meridian data storage circuit 19 receives the designation signal 29 of the first designated city number or the already designated city number, and the designation signal 30 of the new city number, and stores the stored standard time meridian data. The meridian data signals corresponding to the instruction signals 29 and 30 are sent to the time difference angle/date calculation circuit 27.
This is what is output to.

The time difference/date calculation circuit 27 receives a signal from the clock/autocalendar unit 28 and one or two different meridian data signals from the meridian data storage circuit 19, and calculates the time difference or date based on these signals. It calculates and outputs the signal, and the calculation formula is as follows.

In other words, (time t ₁ of the first or newly specified city) = (meridian data of the first specified city number or specified city number) - (meridian data of the newly specified city number) + ( (time signal from the clock/autocalendar unit 28), . . . If the time t ₁ is within the range 0≦t ₁ <24, no correction of the date is required, but if the time t ₁ is less than 0, the date indicates the previous day, and the date is corrected. Correct the time accordingly. That is, t ₁ +24=t ₁ ', ..., where t ₁ ' is the time correction value. Further, if the time _t1 is 24 or more, the date indicates the next day, and the time is corrected in accordance with the correction of the date.
That is, t ₁ −24=t ₁ ″, ..., where t ₁ ″ is the time correction value.

The timepiece autocalendar unit 28 receives the calculated value data signal from the time difference angle/date calculation circuit 27, corrects the time/date data, and outputs the corrected time/date data to the display circuit unit 18.

The handling of each data in the above formula is as follows.

Hour angle: The hour angle when the sun goes south (at noon or when it passes through the meridian) is 0 (zero), and the hour angle toward the afternoon (west) is positive.

Declination: The equator of the celestial sphere is defined as 0 (zero), and the distance measured from this point toward the north pole is defined as positive.

Equation of time: Positive when the actual sun is further west than the average sun.

Point: East longitude is negative, west longitude is positive, north latitude is positive, and south latitude is negative.

The display circuit section 18 receives the calculated value data signals from the midsummer time calculation circuit 22 and the sunrise/sunset time calculation circuit 26, and based on these data, displays the midsummer time and the sunshine time in the analog display zone 15. , to display non-sunshine hours.

Next, an operation method for displaying midsummer time, sunshine time, and non-sunshine time using the wristwatch 1 having the above configuration and its operation will be explained using a specific example.

(1) When specifying a city number Here, we will explain the case where the date is September 21st, the first city specified is Tokyo, and the city number is "12" (however, no daylight saving time is specified). It is assumed that the time, date, and day of the week settings have been completed.

First, it is assumed that the operation button 4 has been pressed once, the timekeeping state has stopped, and the display state as shown in FIG. 1B is reached when the time setting is completed.

Therefore, when the operation button 5 is pressed once, the first digital display section 8, as shown in FIG.
The displays on the second digital display section 9, the day of the week display section 11, and the second mode display section 13 disappear and become blank, the display on the first mode display section 12 changes from "TIME" to "CITY", and the display on the third mode display section 12 changes from "TIME" to "CITY".
The + digit of the digital display unit 10 will blink, and the city number will be ready for input. When the operation button 7 is pressed once, "1" is displayed in the + digit of the third digital display section 10, and the input of that digit is completed. Next, when the operation button 6 is pressed once, the first digit of the third digital display section 10 flashes, etc., and the numerical value of the first digit of the city number can be entered.
Therefore, by pressing the operation button 7 once and twice, the one digit display on the third digital display section 10 changes to "1" and "2", and the input of that digit is completed, and the display panel The display on 3 becomes as shown in FIG. 1D, and the designation of the city number is completed.

Next, when the operating button 4 that is in the on state is pressed once to turn it off, the clock state is restored. At the same time, calculations are performed in the internal circuit, and an example of the calculation is as follows.

First of all, Tokyo belongs to the Akashi classification, its meridian data is "-135°", and its longitude is "-
139゜46″'' and the equation of time on September 21st is ``-6 minutes 35 seconds,'' so the deviation from noon of Southern Central Time is (-139°46″+180°) – (135°+180°)゜) + (-6 minutes 35 seconds) + (12 hours) = (41゜14") - (45゜) + (-6 minutes 35 seconds) = (-4゜46") - (6 minutes 35 seconds) = (-19 minutes 4 seconds) - (6 minutes 35 seconds) = -25 minutes 39 minutes, and the South Central time is (12:00:00) + (-25 minutes 39 seconds) = 11:34:21 seconds.

Also, the latitude of Tokyo is "+35°41" and the declination of September 21st is "+1°01", so the hour angle is cos ^-1 (-tan35°41"・tan1°01") = 90゜73″ = 6 hours 2 minutes 55 seconds, and the sunrise time is (11:34 minutes 21 seconds) - (6 hours 2 minutes 55 seconds) = 5:31 minutes 26 seconds), and the sunset time is , (11:34:21) + (6 hours, 2 minutes, 55 seconds) = 17:37:16.

The analog display band 15 is controlled by the display control circuit section 18 based on the calculated value data from the above calculation, and the analog display band 15 controls the first
This is displayed as shown in Figure E. Here, the filled-in areas are sunshine hours, and the other areas are non-sunshine hours. In addition, the South Central time (shaded area in the figure) is displayed by blinking. By looking at this display, you can also check the approximate sunrise and sunset times. You can also see the remaining daylight hours at a glance.

(2) Case by specifying points Here we will only explain the differences from case (1), but the point data is based on the latitude and
Longitude is used, and the meridian data is defined as that of Tokyo.

First, when the operation button 5 is pressed once and twice with the time setting already completed and the operation button 4 turned on, the second digital display section 9 and the day of the week display section 11 are displayed. It disappears and becomes blank, and "PM" on the second mode display section 13,
The display of "24H" disappears and the display on the first mode display section 12 changes from "TIME" to "CITY" to "POINT".
At the same time, "N" is displayed on the second mode display section 13, and the tens digit on the first digital display section 8 flashes.First, the numerical value of the "degree" tens digit of the north latitude data is input. becomes possible.
Therefore, by pressing the operation button 7 three times, the first
“〓” is displayed in the tens digit of the digital display section 8. Next, the operation button 6 and the operation button 7 are operated again in this order, and when the input of numerical values of all digits is completed, the display state as shown in FIG. 1G is obtained.

Next, when the operation button 5 is pressed once, "W" is displayed on the second mode display section 13, skipping "S", and when it is pressed once more, "E" is displayed, and the first digital display section The hundreds digit of 8 flashes, and the hundreds digit of "degrees" of west longitude can be entered. Therefore,
When the operation button 7 is pressed once, the first digital display section 8
"1" is displayed in the hundreds digit. Next, as in the case of northern latitude, operate operation buttons 6 and 7 in that order, and when all digits have been entered, the first
The display state is as shown in Figure H.

Then, the operation button 4 that is in the on state
When pressed once to turn it off, it returns to the timekeeping state, and the same calculations as in case (1) are performed, resulting in a display state as shown in FIG. Note that the meridian data at this time is based on the specified city number mentioned above.

That is, even by specifying points, it is possible to display the time of day and daylight hours, which is effective because it is possible to check areas for which cities cannot be specified or details by area.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention,
This is applied to an analog pointer type wristwatch indicated by the reference numeral 1', and is dedicated to specifying a city number. 2' is the main body, 3' is the display panel, and 31 is the time display scale.

Inside the time display scale 31 of the display panel 3, a first digital display section 32 for displaying the date, a second digital display section 33 for displaying the city number, and a day of the week display section 34 for displaying the day of the week are provided. . Further, an analog display band 35 is provided on the outside of the time display scale 31, and this analog display band 35 is divided into 10-minute increments and has a double structure inside and outside. The outer one is an AM display section 35A, which is a morning display band, and the inner one is a PM display section 35P, which is an afternoon display band. As shown in the figure, different optical states are expressed along the time display scale 31 during sunshine and non-sunshine times.

According to this embodiment, by viewing both the hour hand and the analog display band 35, the remaining daylight hours can be confirmed even more quickly.

It is also possible to divide the analog display band 35 into four parts of 90 degrees each, each for specifying points of northern latitude, southern latitude, western longitude, and east longitude, and add a display function by specifying points. in this case,
According to this embodiment, it is advantageous because it is in 10 minute increments, that is, in 5° increments in terms of degrees.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, it is not limited thereto and includes the following.

(A) In the embodiment, the display part is ring-shaped, but it is not limited to this shape, and may be bar-shaped.

(B) In the ring-shaped display section of the above embodiment, 360° is divided into 12 sections, and each section is further divided into 6 sections, but the invention is not limited to this. .

(C) Also, if you separately provide a bar graph that displays the sunshine hours themselves and change the display as time passes, you can display the remaining sunshine hours at that time. , which is especially useful when you're traveling with the watch.

(D) Although both of the embodiments are applied to portable wristwatches, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to portable wristwatches and can also be applied to table clocks, wall clocks, and the like.

(E) It is also possible to numerically display data such as equation of time data, declination data, meridian data, etc.

(F) The center of the sun is at an angle of inclination to the horizon (7°1′40″)
It is also possible to display the time of dawn and dusk by calculating the time of day. That is,
All you have to do is substitute the value of this inclination angle for θ in the equation.

(G) It is also possible to numerically display sunrise, sunset, dawn, dusk, etc.

(H) Furthermore, when using the clock of the present invention, it is of course convenient to use a common city number for longitude, latitude, and meridian data; It is effective to have a table of numbers corresponding to the number, or a map showing the location of the city corresponding to the number. This table or map may be written on the back of the watch, on the band, etc., or written on a printed matter for the watch, a special card, etc.

(I) Furthermore, as a means of specifying a city, in addition to the city number, an alphabet, a symbol, or the city name itself may be used, and various modes are conceivable.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from what has been described above, according to the present invention, by specifying the city number, etc., one display unit can display not only the local time and sunrise and sunset times of various parts of the world. It is possible to know at a glance the sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours, and also the remaining sunshine hours and non-sunshine hours at a glance. In addition, since a single display can have at least four simultaneous display functions: sunrise and sunset times, sunshine hours, and non-sunshine hours, the number of display areas can be increased by that amount, unlike digital numerical display types. Since there is no need to increase display switching functions or increase display switching functions, it is possible to increase display functions with a simple structure and without complicating operability, greatly improving practicality. This effect is achieved. This makes it possible to provide a watch suitable as a pacemaker for daily life, which is subject to rapid changes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1A to 1 are plan views showing the display structure of the timepiece of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an internal circuit related to calculation and display functions of time difference and date of meridian data of different classifications, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the display structure of another embodiment of the present invention. . 1, 1... Wrist watch, 24, 26... Time display scale, 15, 31... Analog display band (display part),
16...Circuit time calculation section (circuit section), 17...Sunrise/sunset time calculation section (circuit section).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A circuit unit that outputs sunrise and sunset times specific to a designated area; and a circuit unit that is arranged in correspondence with a time display scale and that is based on data output by the circuit unit. A timepiece having a display section that displays sunlight and non-sunshine times in different optical states.