Electronic timepiece, drive control method, and recording medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an electronic timepiece, a drive control method, and a recording medium. The electronic timepiece includes a hand, a drive section that causes the hand to perform a rotation operation, and a control section that controls an operation of the drive section. The control section controls the drive section to cause the hand to perform a rotation operation of a unit operation number for each unit time obtained by dividing a synchronization time by a plurality of unit times. In a case where an interval of the rotation operation of the hand exceeds the unit time and a delay time occurs in the middle of the rotation operation of the unit operation number, the control section sets a value obtained by adding an offset time corresponding to the delay time, which is a non-zero value, to the unit time, as the interval until at least two of the non-operation numbers until a first rotation operation in a next synchronization time is performed, and eliminates the delay time.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to electronic clocks, drive control methods, and recording media. Background Technology

[0002] In electronic clocks, there exists a technique called sweep seconds, which makes the second hand move at intervals shorter than one second to create a smooth hand movement. In sweep seconds, because the frequency of the hand's rotation is high, it is important to control power consumption while maintaining stable operation. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-122390 discloses a technology for electronic clocks that can appropriately balance sweep seconds and step seconds movements while reducing power consumption. Summary of the Invention

[0003] An electronic clock according to one aspect of this disclosure includes: a hand; a drive unit that causes the hand to rotate; and a control unit that controls the operation of the drive unit, wherein the control unit controls the hand to rotate a number of times for each unit time interval, for each synchronization time divided into multiple unit rotations; and if, during the rotation of the unit rotations, the interval exceeds the unit time and a delay time occurs, the delay time is eliminated by setting a value obtained by allocating a non-zero offset time corresponding to the delay time and adding it to the unit time, as the interval until at least two of the number of inactive rotations before the first rotation in the next synchronization time.

[0004] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, thereby making the features of this disclosure clearer. Attached Figure Description

[0005] Figure 1 This is a block diagram representing the functional structure of an electronic clock.

[0006] Figure 2 This diagram illustrates the timing of the needle movement.

[0007] Figure 3A This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0008] Figure 3B This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0009] Figure 3C This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0010] Figure 4AThis diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0011] Figure 4B This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0012] Figure 5A This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0013] Figure 5B This diagram illustrates an example of adjusting the delay of the needle timing.

[0014] Figure 6 This is a flowchart representing the control steps of the second synchronization interrupt control process.

[0015] Figure 7 This is a flowchart representing the control steps for handling interrupts in the interval timer.

[0016] Figure 8 This is another example of a flowchart illustrating the control steps for handling interrupts in an interval timer.

[0017] Figure 9 This is another example of a flowchart illustrating the control steps for handling interrupts in an interval timer.

[0018] Figure 10 This is another example of a flowchart illustrating the control steps for handling interrupts in an interval timer.

[0019] Figure 11 This is another example of a flowchart illustrating the control steps for handling interrupts of an interval timer.

[0020] Figure 12 This is another example of a flowchart illustrating the control steps for handling interrupts of an interval timer. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 As shown in the block diagram, the electronic clock 1 includes a control unit 11, RAM 12 (Random Access Memory), a storage unit 13, an operation receiving unit 14, an oscillation circuit 15, a frequency divider circuit 16, a timing circuit 17, a drive circuit 21, a stepper motor 22, a gear train mechanism 23, and hands 24. The electronic clock 1 can also be a portable electronic clock, such as a wristwatch.

[0022] The control unit 11 has a processor that oversees the overall operation of the electronic clock 1. The processor can be a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit), or a microcomputer, integrated circuit (IC), or large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) specifically designed for clock operation. The control unit 11 can have a single processor or multiple processors, each performing processing operations independently depending on its purpose. Alternatively, multiple processors can cooperate and perform parallel processing. The control unit 11 includes an interval timer 111 and a reference timer 112. The interval timer 111 and the reference timer 112 may not be dedicated hardware structures; the processor can simply count the clock signal to calculate the elapsed time. The interval timer 111 repeatedly counts a predetermined time according to the timing of the second synchronization signal and outputs an interrupt signal. This interrupt signal will also be referred to as a timer interrupt. The reference timer 112 counts the elapsed time from a timing of a positive second that is zero below the decimal point of the second. The control unit 11 is included in the drive control device 10 of this embodiment.

[0023] RAM12 provides storage space for operation to the control unit 11, storing temporary data. RAM12 stores data such as the number of pointer actions per second.

[0024] The storage unit 13 includes non-volatile memory, a stored program 131, and setting data. The setting data includes a delay adjustment setting 132. In the event that the hand movement of the hour is delayed from a predetermined timing, the delay adjustment setting 132 stores a hand movement interval setting for later elimination of the delay. The non-volatile memory can be, for example, flash memory. Alternatively, any other type of non-volatile memory is acceptable, and there is no particular limitation on the type.

[0025] The operation receiving unit 14 receives input operations from the outside and outputs an operation signal corresponding to the content of the received input operation to the control unit 11. The operation receiving unit 14 may, for example, be a push-button switch. Alternatively, the operation receiving unit 14 may also have a crown, a slide switch, and / or other operating mechanisms.

[0026] The oscillation circuit 15, for example, includes a quartz resonant element and a resonant circuit, generating a clock signal near the resonant frequency of the quartz resonant element. The resonant frequency can be, for example, 32.768 kHz or 16.384 kHz. This resonant frequency varies depending on environmental conditions such as temperature, in addition to the adjustment accuracy of the quartz resonant element. The quartz resonant element can also be an AT-type resonant element that is stable near room temperature relative to temperature changes. The frequency divider circuit 16 divides the clock signal into signals of appropriate frequencies and outputs the divided signals. The frequencies of the divided signals can be multiple, or determined according to the frequencies required by each part of the electronic clock 1. The divided frequencies can also include a 1 Hz signal used for date and time counting, i.e., a signal with a period of 1 second (reference time). The frequency divider circuit 16 can also have a logic fast / slow circuit. Through the logic fast / slow circuit, the 1 Hz signal can be appropriately skipped or added at intervals based on minute deviations.

[0027] The timing circuit 17 can also count the 1Hz signal and obtain the current time and date, i.e., date and time, in units of 1 second (reference time). The operation of the timing circuit 17 can also be included in the software operation of the control unit 11. That is, the electronic clock 1 may not have a timing circuit 17 as a hardware structure. Alternatively, unlike the operation of the control unit 11 as a timing circuit 17, the electronic clock 1 may also have an RTC (Real Time Clock) as a hardware structure.

[0028] The drive circuit 21 outputs a drive signal to the stepper motor 22 based on the control of the control unit 11. The stepper motor 22 rotates at a predetermined angle each time according to the input drive signal. The stepper motor 22 has a rotation detection unit 221, which can detect whether rotation has occurred by determining the position of the rotor relative to the stator, for example, through a rotor position detection mechanism. The gear train mechanism 23 is a gear system that converts the rotation of the stepper motor 22 into the rotation of the pointer 24. The pointer 24 is a needle-like body used to display the time, rotating along the display surface of the electronic clock 1 according to the operation of the gear train mechanism 23, i.e., the operation of the stepper motor 22. The pointer 24 may also include a second hand 241, a minute hand, and an hour hand. The pointer 24 may also include other hands besides the second hand 241, minute hand, and hour hand. Other hands may also have a rotation axis at a position different from the second hand 241, minute hand, and hour hand. The drive circuit 21 and the stepper motor 22 correspond to the drive unit 20 of this embodiment.

[0029] Next, the rotation of the hand 24 in the electronic clock 1, which incorporates the drive control method of this embodiment, will be described. In the electronic clock 1, as described above, the time is displayed by the rotation of the second hand 241, the minute hand, and the hour hand. At least the second hand 241 rotates independently of the other hands. The second hand 241, the minute hand, and the hour hand can also rotate independently using separate stepper motors 22 and gear train mechanisms 23. Alternatively, the minute hand and the hour hand can rotate in conjunction. That is, the electronic clock 1 can also have a gear train mechanism 23 that rotates the hour hand by 1 / 12 of the rotation angle of the minute hand relative to the operation of a common stepper motor 22.

[0030] In the display of time, the second hand 241 of the electronic clock 1 rotates at intervals shorter than one second (synchronization time), completing one revolution on the display surface within one minute. The typical second hand 241 rotates 6 degrees per second. In contrast, the second hand 241 in this embodiment can also divide 6 degrees into 12 angles, or 0.5 degrees (unit angles), in one rotation. That is, the unit angle rotated by the second hand 241 in one movement is 0.5 degrees, and the second hand 241 rotates 12 times per second (unit number of movements) at intervals of approximately 1 / 12 seconds (unit time), dividing the synchronization time into multiple segments. Such small, roughly evenly spaced rotations appear smooth to the user's visual perception and are also referred to as sweeping seconds. In this disclosure, the hand that rotates per unit time refers to the second hand 241, but the electronic clock 1 may also have other hands that move at intervals of less than one second, similar to the second hand 241. Alternatively, the minute and hour hands can move in the same manner as before. For example, the minute hand can rotate one degree every 10 seconds, and the hour hand can rotate one degree every 2 minutes.

[0031] like Figure 2 As shown, in the electronic clock 1, the timing circuit 17 outputs a second synchronization signal to the control unit 11 via an interrupt, which is synchronized with the positive seconds timing where the decimal point is zero for each second. This interrupt will also be referred to as the second synchronization interrupt. Based on the second synchronization interrupts I1, I2, etc., as timing processing, the counting of hours and the output of the drive signal, i.e., the drive pulse P1, that causes the hands to move are performed. In addition to the drive pulse P1, the electronic clock 1 of this embodiment also repeatedly performs timer measurements of unit drive intervals within each second, thereby defining the output timing of drive pulses P2 to P12 involved in other rotational movements besides the second synchronization timing. The counting of these unit drive intervals is performed by the interval timer 111. That is, in the electronic clock 1, the output frequency of the synchronization signal with the hours is not increased according to the number of times the second hand 241 moves (unit movement count). The interval timer 111 counts 11 unit drive intervals of hand movements for each of the second synchronization interrupts I1 and I2, and outputs an interrupt signal for each.

[0032] However, the control action of the control unit 11 of the electronic clock 1 is not limited to the hand movement. During the rotation of the second hand 241 a unit number of times in each second, an interruption action can be performed for other processing. At this time, the execution delay of the processing that outputs the control signal to the drive unit 20 until the other processing is completed is sometimes greater than the original unit time, resulting in a timing delay for the hand movement. For example... Figure 3A As shown, when the drive pulse P6 is delayed by the interrupt action M, the interval between drive pulses P5 and P6 becomes wider than usual. When the next drive pulse P7 is output at the original timing, the interval between drive pulses P6 and P7 becomes narrower than usual. That is, the interval between drive pulses varies greatly between P5 and P6 and between P6 and P7. Such a hand movement becomes an unnatural movement as a sweeping hand movement.

[0033] In the electronic clock 1 of this embodiment, for example, as Figure 3B As shown, in the case of a delay in the output of the drive pulse, the output timing of subsequent drive pulses is not immediately returned to the original timing. In this case, for multiple drive pulses that have not yet acted up to the initial drive pulse P1 that is synchronized with the next second (the number of times they have not acted), i.e., the interval until at least two outputs, the delay is eliminated by allocating a total non-zero offset time (the summation time) corresponding to the delay time. Multiple allocations are made to ensure that the change in the interval between adjacent drive pulses is not abrupt. The drive pulse P1, which is timed every positive second, is controlled separately through a second synchronization interrupt, so the elimination of the delay is completed no later than the positive second timing. However, the interval between drive pulses P12 and P1 can be adjusted by changing the timing of drive pulse P12 in the previous synchronization time from a unit time perspective.

[0034] exist Figure 3B In the example, when the interval t5 between drive pulses P5 and P6 widens, creating a delay time D5 relative to the original timing, the interval t6 between the next drive pulses P6 and P7 is determined by adding a shorter time compared to the delay time D5 to the unit drive interval. In subsequent intervals t7 to t9, the added time decreases successively and becomes negative, thus the delay time tends to shorten with the delay time D7 being the maximum. After the delay time D9 approaches zero, in intervals t10 to t11, the added time gradually approaches zero, and the delay time also converges to zero. Therefore, no abrupt changes occur between intervals t5 and t12, thus reducing the unnaturalness of the needle movement while returning the needle timing to normal. That is, the added time for multiple intervals can also include both positive and negative values.

[0035] Or, it can be like Figure 3CAs shown, the change in addition time is the same across all intervals, and it does not gradually approach zero. That is, the addition time across multiple intervals can also monotonically decrease from positive to negative values. In this case, the change between interval t10 and interval t11 is more pronounced than described above. Figure 3B The examples are large, but they won't represent the magnitude of the positive and negative reversals due to the unit driving time.

[0036] In the above Figure 3B and Figure 3C In the example, after the initial delay of the drive pulse, the delay time is further increased once. There may also be cases where such an increase is not preferred, or where no additional time is added. In such cases, the summed times can also be all negative. For example, as... Figure 4A As shown, the delay time D5 generated in the drive pulse P6 can also be eliminated by equally shortening the intervals t6~t11. That is, for the needle movement intervals involved in the output of multiple drive pulses P7~P12, simply setting the sum of the times to a negative fixed value is sufficient. In this case, the variation between intervals t5 and t6 spans positive and negative values, but the shortening of interval t6 is greater than... Figure 3A The situation shown is small. Furthermore, the interval t12 after the drive pulse P12 is appropriately determined between it and the next drive pulse P1, which is determined according to the second synchronization interrupt I2, so counting is not required. It is sufficient to adjust the timing of the drive pulse P12 appropriately so that the remaining delay time and the adjustment range of the fractional time, i.e., the summation time, eventually converge within an appropriate range.

[0037] Or, such as Figure 4B As shown, the intervals t6 to t11 shortened by the driving pulses P7 to P12, etc., for the delay time D5 generated in the driving pulse P6, may also be unequal. Here, the summation of the time relative to the unit driving time in intervals t6 to t11 can also be negative and monotonically increase in a manner converging to zero. Thus, towards the next positive second, both the delay time and the driving interval approach the correct values. In this case, the change between intervals t5 and t6 is greater than... Figure 4A The situation further increases. In order to prevent it from becoming too large, the timing of the drive pulse P7 can also be set such that the absolute value of the sum is a predetermined upper limit relative to the delay time in the drive pulse P6, for example, less than 50%.

[0038] These changes depend on the number of times the output delay of the drive pulse occurs within a unit of actions, i.e., the number of times an action does not occur within a unit of actions. That is, as... Figure 5A As shown, if a delay occurs in the 9th drive pulse P9, the drive pulses P10 to P12 are the three drive pulses that can adjust the timing to eliminate the delay. Therefore, even in the above... Figure 3BThe change pattern shown shows that the amount of change in each interval t9~t11 increases relatively. Similarly, as... Figure 5B As shown, with Figure 4A Compared to the example shown, the sum of values ​​between intervals t9 and t12 increases by fewer times. Furthermore, since adjustment cannot be performed due to a delay in drive pulse P12, it is adjusted only once with the next drive pulse P1. In this case, an unnatural movement cannot be avoided, but the position of the second hand 241 is prevented from shifting during positive second timing.

[0039] When a second synchronization interrupt occurs, the control unit 11... Figure 6 Interruption control is performed as shown. Control unit 11 counts by adding 1 second to the current date and time (S1). Control unit 11 sets the number of hands ticking in that second to zero (S2). Control unit 11 sets a preset reference interval as the hand tick interval (S3). The reference interval does not necessarily have to be strictly 1 / 12 of a second. After the 12th hand tick, the interval between the reference interval and the first hand tick of the next second, which is difficult for the user to visually discern, can be around 83.3 milliseconds. Control unit 11 sets the sum of the times to zero (S4).

[0040] The control unit 11 outputs a control signal to the drive circuit 21 to cause the stepper motor 22 to rotate (S5). The control unit 11 increments the number of needle movements by 1 (S6). Alternatively, the control unit 11 may omit step S2 and set the number of needle movements to 1 in step S6. The control unit 11 initializes the interval timer 111 and begins counting the needle movement intervals (S7). The control unit 11 initializes the reference timer and begins counting the elapsed time starting from the positive second (S8). Then, the control unit 11 ends the second synchronization interrupt control process.

[0041] When an interval timer interrupt is generated by counting the hand movement interval using interval timer 111, interval timer interrupt processing is executed. Furthermore, as mentioned above, if other ongoing interrupt processing exists, the execution of the interval timer interrupt will pause until that interrupt processing ends. In the interval timer interrupt processing, for example, as... Figure 7 As shown, the control unit 11 obtains the elapsed time counted by the reference timer 112 (S11). The control unit 11 determines whether there is a delay in the elapsed time obtained for the current hand movement timing (S12). If it is determined that there is no delay (S12; no), the control unit 11 sets the reference interval as the hand movement interval (S13). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 is transferred to the process S14.

[0042] If a delay is detected (S12; Yes), the control unit 11 sets the summation time as the value obtained by multiplying the negative value of the inverted delay time by a coefficient α (S21). The coefficient α can be, for example, 0.5. The control unit 11 sets the needle interval as the value obtained by adding the summation time to the reference interval (S22). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 is transferred to process S14.

[0043] In step S14, the control unit 11 outputs a needle movement control signal to the drive circuit 21 to cause the stepper motor 22 to rotate (S14). The control unit 11 increments the needle movement count by 1 (S15). The control unit 11 resets the interval timer 111 and starts counting (S16). Then, the control unit 11 ends the interval timer interrupt process.

[0044] In this process, when a delay occurs, each needle movement eliminates half of that delay. Therefore, the delay time gradually approaches zero by halving both the delay time and the summation time each time. Figure 4B The mode is used to eliminate latency.

[0045] Alternatively, the interval timer interrupt handling can also be done according to... Figure 8 Perform the steps shown. Figure 8 Interval timer interrupt handling and Figure 7 Compared to the process shown, processes S31 and S32 are performed instead of process S21. All other processes are the same; processes with identical content are marked with the same symbols and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0046] If a delay is detected in process S12 (S12; Yes), the control unit 11 determines whether an addition time has been set (S31). If an addition time is not set (S31; No), the control unit 11 determines the addition time by dividing the negative value of the delay time (after reversing the sign) by the remaining number of needle movements (S32). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 proceeds to process S22. If an addition value is set (S31; Yes), the processing of the control unit 11 proceeds to process S22.

[0047] In Figure 8 In the process shown, the summation time in the case of a delay becomes a fixed value determined based on the magnitude of the delay time and the remaining number of needle movements. Therefore, as Figure 4A and Figure 5B As shown, the delay time is eliminated proportionally during the remaining needle movement.

[0048] Alternatively, the interval timer interrupt handling can also be done according to... Figure 9 Perform the steps shown. Figure 9 Interval timer interrupt handling and Figure 8Compared to the process shown, processes S41 to S43 are performed instead of process S32. All other processes are the same; processes with identical content are marked with the same symbols and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0049] If it is determined that there is no set addition time (S31; No), the control unit 11 sets the delay time as the initial value of the addition time (S41). The control unit 11 sets the value obtained by dividing twice the delay time by the remaining number of needle movements as the change time (S42). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 proceeds to process S43. If it is determined in process S31 that there is a set addition time (S31; Yes), the processing of the control unit 11 proceeds to process S43.

[0050] In process S43, the control unit 11 subtracts the change time from the set value of the summation time (S43). That is, the summation time, i.e., the needle movement interval, decreases from the delay time at regular intervals, changing from a positive value to a negative value, ultimately eliminating the delay time. Therefore, as Figure 3C As shown, there will be no large changes in the needle interval, the delay time increases once and then is eliminated equally.

[0051] Alternatively, the interval timer interrupt handling can also be done according to... Figure 10 Perform the steps shown. Figure 10 Interval timer interrupt handling and Figure 8 Compared to the process shown, processes S51 to S54 are performed instead of process S32. The other processing contents are the same; processes with the same content are marked with the same symbols and detailed explanations are omitted. Furthermore, in this interval timer interruption process, a variation pattern of the sum of times (unit sum of times) under each standardized hand movement timing is stored in advance in the delay adjustment setting 132 (storage unit) according to the number of times no action has occurred. That is, the total unit sum of times can also be "-1". However, if the delay time is adjusted during the interval t12 until the next drive pulse P12 after the 12th drive pulse P12, the total unit sum of times can also be offset from "-1" by this adjustment amount. The remaining number of hand movements can be more than 1 and less than 10. In each variation pattern, even if the adjustable drive pulse is only drive pulse P12, the interval t12 is adjusted along with the drive pulse P12 until the output of the drive pulse P12.

[0052] If, in process S31, it is determined that no addition time has been set (S31; No), the control unit 11 refers to the delay adjustment setting 132 and obtains the change pattern of the unit addition time corresponding to the remaining number of needle movements n (S51). The control unit 11 sets the variable i to zero (S52). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 transfers to process S53. If, it is determined that an addition time has been set (S31; Yes), the processing of the control unit 11 transfers to process S53.

[0053] In step S53, the control unit 11 adds the value obtained by multiplying the summation time of the i-th unit variable by the initial delay time to the reference interval, and uses this as the current needle movement interval (S53). The control unit 11 increments variable i by 1 (S54). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 is transferred to process S14.

[0054] By storing the summation time of the storage unit in the delay adjustment setting 132, the change pattern can be arbitrarily set. That is, in complex cases such as when the change pattern is a quadratic function or higher, or a nonlinear case, or a combination of multiple change patterns, this interval timer interrupt handling is effective. Therefore, this interval timer interrupt handling can... Figure 3B and Figure 5A It is particularly effective in the variation patterns shown.

[0055] Furthermore, the above assumes only one delay per second, but more than two delays are possible. In cases where more than two delays are also required, such as... Figure 11 As shown, step S61 can also be performed instead of step S12. Furthermore, step S31 is moved to the position that serves as step S62. Additionally, step S11 is divided into steps S11a and S11b. Here, as one embodiment, other processes are... Figure 10 The interrupt handling for the interval timer shown is the same. However, as an alternative implementation, other handling may also be available. Figures 7-9 Any of the processes shown.

[0056] When the interval timer interruption process begins, the control unit 11 acquires the elapsed time (S11a). Based on the acquired elapsed time, the control unit 11 determines whether there is a time difference between the end timing of the interval timer 111's count and the start of the interval timer interruption process (S61). That is, the control unit 11 determines whether a delay has occurred from the originally scheduled start time of the interval timer interruption process to the actual start time based on the interval timer 111. If it is determined that a time difference exists (S61; Yes), the control unit 11 calculates the initial delay time from the hand timing in the initial state without delay based on the elapsed time acquired in step S11a (S11b). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 proceeds to step S51.

[0057] If it is determined that there is no time difference between the end of the count of the interval timer 111 and the start of the interval timer interruption process (S61; No), the control unit 11 determines whether the addition time has been set (S62). If it is determined that the addition time has not been set (S62; No), the control unit 11's processing proceeds to step S13. If it is determined that the addition time has been set (S62; Yes), the control unit 11's processing proceeds to step S53.

[0058] On the other hand, the delay adjustment setting 132 can also store the change pattern of the sum of the remaining number of hand movements n and the delay time td instead of the change pattern of the unit sum of the remaining number of hand movements n. Alternatively, the stage m can be determined according to an interval such that the rotation interval of the second hand 241 does not change significantly with respect to the delay time td, for example, 5-10 milliseconds. That is, the stage m can also be the value after removing most of the quotient obtained by dividing the delay time td by the predetermined interval. Figure 12 The interval timer interrupt handling shown will Figure 10 The interruption procedures S51 and S53 shown are changed to S51a and S53a respectively. The other processing contents are the same, and the same procedures are marked with the same symbols and detailed descriptions are omitted.

[0059] When the branch in process S31 is "No", the control unit 11 obtains a list of summation times [i][m] corresponding to the remaining number of needle strokes n and the stage m of the delay time td (0≤i≤n-1) (S51a). The control unit sets the variable i to zero (S52). The control unit 11 sets the value obtained by adding the summation time [i][m] to the reference interval as the needle stroke interval (S53a). Then, the processing of the control unit 11 is transferred to process S54.

[0060] As described above, the drive control device 10 of this embodiment includes a control unit 11. The control unit 11 controls the operation of the drive unit 20 that causes the second hand 241 to rotate. The control unit 11 outputs a control signal to the drive unit 20, which causes the second hand 241 to rotate at intervals of one unit time, where the synchronization time is 1 second. If, during the rotation of one unit time, the interval of the second hand 241's rotation exceeds the unit time, resulting in a delay, the control unit 11 sets a value obtained by allocating non-zero offset times corresponding to the delay time and adding them to the unit time, as an interval until at least two of the number of inactive rotations before the first rotation in the next synchronization time, thus eliminating the delay. That is, when a delay occurs in the hand movement, it is not eliminated all at once, but rather the delay is addressed by dividing it into multiple timing intervals of hand movements. As a result, the movement interval of the second hand 241 is less likely to change drastically, and the user is less likely to feel that the rotation of the second hand 241 is unnatural. On the other hand, by eliminating the delay before synchronization in the next second, the second hand 241 will not continuously point to an inaccurate position and can quickly resume normal hand movement. According to the electronic device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-122390, in addition to the hand movement processing synchronized with time, there are other processes performed, and the hand movement processing may be delayed due to these other processes. If the delay in hand movement persists, an inaccurate display state will continue, resulting in poor usability. In contrast, the drive control device 10 according to this disclosure, and the electronic clock 1 having the drive control device 10 and the second hand 241, can improve the usability for users involved in the synchronized hand movement display. Furthermore, the allocation mentioned here refers to a planned adjustment such as distributing the added time even when the delay can actually be eliminated in one operation. That is, allocation does not mean adjusting to eliminate the remaining delay time by subsequent hand movements when the delay cannot be eliminated in principle by one hand movement due to the limitations of the stepper motor 22's operation or the magnitude of the delay. Therefore, the absolute value of at least the initial summation time is smaller than the delay time and smaller than the maximum value that can be set in each rotational motion.

[0061] Furthermore, the offset time can also include both positive and negative values. That is, in the electronic clock 1, it is also possible to set a hand movement interval that temporarily increases the delay of the hands. If the delay is to be immediately reduced from a state where the hand movement delay is caused by a widened hand movement interval, the hand movement interval is narrower than it should be. Therefore, the change in the hand movement interval between when the delay occurs and when the delay is eliminated can easily become larger. Even in the direction of temporarily increasing the hand movement, unnatural hand movements can be reduced by gradually narrowing the hand movement interval.

[0062] Furthermore, the offset time can be monotonically reduced from a positive time shorter than the delay time to a negative time. That is, in this setting, the change in the interval between each hand movement does not increase, thus reducing unnatural movements of the second hand 241 and eliminating hand movement delay through complete movement.

[0063] On the other hand, the offset time can also be negative. That is, by not setting an offset value that further increases the delay, the total amount of delay elimination can be minimized. By distributing it multiple times, the magnitude of delay elimination each time, i.e., the reduction in the hand interval, can be controlled to be small. Therefore, the electronic clock 1 is less likely to produce unnatural and rapid movement of the second hand 241.

[0064] In addition, the offset time can be gradually approached to zero in a negative value. By making the movement interval of the second hand 241 gradually approach the normal interval, the electronic clock 1 can smoothly transition to normal hand movement after the delay is eliminated.

[0065] Alternatively, the offset time can be a fixed value. By keeping the amount of delay elimination constant each time, the hand movement interval during the delay elimination process remains constant, and the reduction in the hand movement interval each time becomes smaller. That is, in the electronic clock 1, even if the hand movement timing is delayed, the offset and deviation of the hand movement interval relative to the normal interval can be suppressed to a small extent.

[0066] Furthermore, the drive control device 10 includes a storage unit 13, in which a delay adjustment setting 132 is stored. The delay adjustment setting 132 can also store a variation pattern that standardizes the offset time of each inactive period for each inactive period. The control unit 11 can also set the offset time of each inactive period by multiplying the initial delay time in cases where a delay time has occurred by the standardized offset time included in the variation pattern. By defining such variation patterns as a table, it is possible to freely determine variation patterns of complex needle intervals that are difficult to calculate using formulas. In particular, by appropriately determining the interval in advance when the variation pattern is approximated by a curve, it is possible to eliminate smooth delays with less unnatural appearance.

[0067] Alternatively, the drive control device 10 may also include a storage unit 13 containing a delay adjustment setting 132 that stores setting values ​​related to intervals. The control unit 11 may also read the setting values ​​corresponding to the delay time and the number of times no action has occurred from the storage unit 13 when a delay time has occurred, and set the offset time for the number of times no action has occurred. In this way, the delay adjustment setting 132 stores the variation pattern of the offset time for the combination of the number of times no action has occurred and the delay time. Therefore, the drive control device 10 and the electronic clock 1 equipped with the drive control device 10 can set each hand movement interval through slight calculations, and in particular, even with complex hand movement interval variation patterns, the hand movement can be easily performed.

[0068] The electronic clock 1 of this embodiment includes the drive control device 10, the second hand 241, and the drive unit 20 described above. Each rotation of the second hand 241 corresponds to a unit angle of a unit time obtained by dividing one second into multiple unit movements. The drive unit 20 causes the second hand 241 to rotate. According to this electronic clock 1, the unnaturalness caused by the movement of the second hand 241, especially the delay caused by short-interval movements such as sweeping seconds, can be reduced by quickly eliminating the movement delay of the second hand 241. Thus, the electronic clock 1 can quickly eliminate the movement delay while reducing user discomfort. Therefore, a user-friendly electronic clock 1 can be obtained.

[0069] The drive control method of this embodiment is a drive control method involving the operation of a drive unit 20 that rotates a second hand 241 at unit angles corresponding to a unit time obtained by dividing one second into multiple unit movements. In this drive control method, the drive unit 20 rotates the second hand 241 a unit number of times every one second at unit time intervals. Furthermore, if a delay time occurs when the interval of the second hand 241's rotation exceeds a unit time during the rotation of a unit number of times, the delay time is eliminated by setting a value obtained by allocating non-zero offset times corresponding to the delay time and adding them to the unit time, as an interval until at least two of the inactive times during the one-second period are performed without the hand rotating. According to this drive control method, even if the hand movement is delayed due to other processing or other reasons during a minute hand movement of less than a second, unnaturalness can be reduced and the delay can be quickly eliminated. According to this drive control method, the hand movement delay can be quickly eliminated while reducing user discomfort. Therefore, the user convenience related to the hand movement display can be improved.

[0070] Furthermore, the above-described implementation is illustrative and can be modified in various ways. For example, in the above, the summation time for each instance can be varied based on the number of times no action occurred when a delay occurred, but this is not a limitation. The aforementioned multiple variation patterns can also be modified based on the number of times no action occurred. For example, when the number of times no action occurred is greater than a base number, an example of positive and negative variation in the summation time can be used as the variation pattern, and when the number of times no action occurred is less than a base number, an example of all negative summation times can be used as the variation pattern.

[0071] Alternatively, in the above process, the negative summation time is added to the reference interval, but the summation time can also be subtracted from the reference interval. Alternatively, the summation time can be calculated by reversing the sign of the delay time, resulting in a negative coefficient α.

[0072] Furthermore, the delay detection and / or calculation of each needle timing can be independent of the interval timer 111 and the reference timer 112. The delay time can also be determined by other methods. For example, the delay time can be counted directly. Additionally, the timer measurement is not limited to the operation controlled by the control unit 11 via software. Counting can also be performed using a hardware structure. The hardware structure could be, for example, a trigger circuit.

[0073] Furthermore, the number of unit movements is not limited to 12, and correspondingly, the unit time does not have to be 1 / 12 of a second. The number of unit movements is only required to be within a range that can distribute the elimination of delay among multiple hand movements and reduce the variation in the hand movement interval in the event of a delay. Additionally, the second synchronization signal does not have to be in 1-second units. For example, it could be in 0.5-second units or 2-second units. Furthermore, the rotation movement may have intervals t1~t11 and interval t12 that differ slightly depending on the counting accuracy of the interval timer 111. In this case, the initial value of interval t12 is considered the reference interval.

[0074] Furthermore, the pattern of change in the needle interval, i.e., the summing time, is not limited to the patterns illustrated above. Any pattern can also be set where the summing time does not change drastically at once.

[0075] Furthermore, in the above, regardless of the number of times the clock has not moved, the timing of the next second's hand movement during synchronization is restored to normal, but this is not limited to this. The lower limit can also be set to, for example, 3 times. If the number of inactions is less than this lower limit, the elimination of normal hand movement delay is abandoned, the next second's sweep hand movement is stopped, and the clock advances 1 second. That is, if unnatural hand movement cannot be avoided, the electronic clock 1 can also be controlled to temporarily interrupt the hand movement and restart from an appropriate timing and position.

[0076] Furthermore, when the number of inactive events exceeds the upper limit, the variation pattern of the summation time can be determined so that the delay in needle movement can be eliminated with a fixed upper limit. For example, the upper limit can be set to 8 times, and if a delay occurs in drive pulse P2 or drive pulse P3, drive pulses P10 and P11 can be used to restore the needle movement to normal.

[0077] Furthermore, the above examples show examples of determining the hand movement interval by calculation and using a table in the delay adjustment setting 132 to determine the hand movement interval, but they can also be used in combination. For example, a minimum interval can be specified in the delay adjustment setting 132 to linearly divide the intervals involved in determining the remaining hand movement timing by an appropriate number corresponding to the number of non-operations.

[0078] Furthermore, while the above description uses electronic clock 1 as an example, the drive control device 10 can also be mounted on electronic devices that use a hand that rotates periodically at intervals of less than one second to display the time, in addition to electronic clock 1. The second displayed may not be an hour, but rather the elapsed time based on any time interval. In addition, the hand that performs the sweeping second movement is not limited to the second hand 241, but may also be other function hands that rotate at a period of less than one second.

[0079] Furthermore, in the above description, the storage unit 13, which is composed of non-volatile memory such as flash memory, was described as an example of a computer-readable medium storing the needle control program 131 of this disclosure, but it is not limited thereto. Other computer-readable media can be other non-volatile memory such as MRAM, or removable recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs. Additionally, a carrier wave is used as the medium for providing data of the program involved in this disclosure via a communication line. Furthermore, the specific structure, processing operations, and steps shown in the above embodiments can be appropriately modified without departing from the spirit of this disclosure. The scope of this disclosure includes the scope of the disclosure described in the scope of the claimed patent protection and its equivalents.

[0080] This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2025-061080, filed on April 2, 2025, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. An electronic clock, comprising: a hand; a drive unit that causes the hand to rotate; and a control unit that controls the operation of the drive unit, characterized in that... The control unit performs the following controls: The drive unit, for each synchronization time, causes the pointer to rotate a number of times each time, based on an interval of unit time obtained by dividing the synchronization time into multiple unit action counts. as well as If, during the rotation of the pointer for a given number of rotations, the interval between rotations exceeds the unit time, resulting in a delay, the delay is eliminated by assigning a non-zero offset time corresponding to the delay and adding it to the unit time, as the interval until at least two of the number of inactive rotations before the first rotation in the next synchronization time.

2. The electronic clock according to claim 1, characterized in that, The offset time includes both positive and negative values.

3. The electronic clock according to claim 2, characterized in that, The offset time decreases monotonically from a positive time shorter than the delay time to a negative time.

4. The electronic clock according to claim 1, characterized in that, The offset time is a negative value.

5. The electronic clock according to claim 4, characterized in that, The offset time gradually approaches zero.

6. The electronic clock according to claim 4, characterized in that, The offset time is a fixed value.

7. The electronic clock according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The electronic clock includes a storage unit that stores, for each of the said inactivity counts, a variation pattern after standardizing the offset time of the said inactivity counts. The control unit sets the offset time for each inaction number by multiplying the initial delay time in the case where the delay time occurs by the standardized offset time included in the change pattern.

8. The electronic clock according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The electronic clock has a storage unit that stores set values ​​related to intervals. When the delay time occurs, the control unit reads the setting value corresponding to the delay time and the number of inactions from the storage unit, and sets the offset time of the number of inactions respectively.

9. A method for driving and controlling the operation of a drive unit in an electronic clock, the electronic clock comprising a hand and a drive unit for rotating the hand, characterized in that, The driving unit, for each synchronization time, divides that synchronization time into unit time intervals (resulting from multiple unit action counts), causing the pointer to rotate a certain number of times each time. If, during the rotation of the pointer for a given number of rotations, the interval between rotations exceeds the unit time, resulting in a delay, the delay is eliminated by assigning a non-zero offset time corresponding to the delay and adding it to the unit time, as the interval until at least two of the number of inactive rotations before the first rotation in the next synchronization time.

10. A computer-readable, non-transient recording medium recording a computer-executable program for an electronic clock having a pointer and a drive unit that rotates the pointer, characterized in that... The program causes the computer to perform the following processes: The driving unit, for each synchronization time, divides that synchronization time into unit time intervals (resulting from multiple unit action counts), causing the pointer to rotate a certain number of times each time. If, during the rotation of the pointer for a given number of rotations, the interval between rotations exceeds the unit time, resulting in a delay, the delay is eliminated by assigning a non-zero offset time corresponding to the delay and adding it to the unit time, as the interval until at least two of the number of inactive rotations before the first rotation in the next synchronization time.

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