Electronic watch and electronic watch control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12443147-B2
Application number	US-202318155981-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2023
Priority date	Jan 19, 2022
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

An electronic watch includes hands, a stepping motor, a drive circuit, a controller, a current detection circuit that detects a current value flowing through the drive circuit, and a storage unit that stores polarity information of a drive pulse output from the controller to the drive circuit, wherein the controller initializes the polarity information stored in the storage unit when the storage unit is initialized, outputs a polarity detection pulse, which does not cause the stepping motor to rotate by one step, to the drive circuit based on the initialized polarity information, performs a polarity determination processing of determining whether a polarity of the stepping motor and the polarity information match based on the current value detected by the current detection circuit in response to the output of the polarity detection pulse, and changes the polarity information when the polarity of the stepping motor and the polarity information do not match.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic watch comprising:
a hand;
a stepping motor including a coil, the stepping motor being configured to drive the hand;
a drive circuit configured to drive the stepping motor;
a controller configured to provide a drive pulse to the drive circuit to control the drive circuit;
a current detection circuit configured to detect a current value flowing through the drive circuit; and
a random access memory configured to store polarity information of the drive pulse,
wherein the controller is configured to:
delete the polarity information stored in the random access memory when the electronic watch is initialized;
store initialized polarity information into the random access memory after the polarity information stored in the random access memory has been deleted;
output a polarity detection pulse to the drive circuit based on the initialized polarity information stored in the random access memory, the polarity detection pulse not causing the stepping motor to rotate by one step;
perform a polarity determination processing of determining whether a polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match based on the current value detected by the current detection circuit in response to the output of the polarity detection pulse; and
change the initialized polarity information when the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information do not match.

2. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , wherein
The controller is further configured to determine whether the current value exceeds a predetermined value based on the output of the polarity detection pulse and determine that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match when the current value exceeds the predetermined value.

3. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , wherein
the current detection circuit is further configured to detect the current value during output of the polarity detection pulse, and
the controller is further configured to measure an elapsed time from start of output of the polarity detection pulse and determine that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match when the elapsed time until it is detected that the current value exceeds a predetermined value is within a predetermined time.

4. The electronic watch according to claim 3 , wherein
the controller is further configured to stop outputting the polarity detection pulse upon detecting that the current value exceeds the predetermined value.

5. The electronic watch according to claim 3 , wherein
the controller is further configured to measure the elapsed time from the start of output of the polarity detection pulse, and
when the elapsed time exceeds the predetermined time while the current value does not exceed the predetermined value, the controller is further configured to stop outputting the polarity detection pulse and determine that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information do not match.

6. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , wherein
the drive circuit is further controlled to be in an on state where the drive circuit supplies a drive current to the coil or an off state where the drive circuit does not supply the drive current,
the controller is further configured to, in drive processing for the hand, compare the current value detected by the current detection circuit with a target current value and control the drive circuit to be in the on state or the off state according to a result of the comparison, and
a predetermined value of the current value detected by the current detection circuit in the polarity determination processing is lower than the target current value in the drive processing.

7. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , wherein,
when the controller determines that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information do not match, the controller is further configured to output the drive pulse to cause the drive circuit to drive the stepping motor by one step so as to change the initialized polarity information of the drive pulse.

8. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a secondary battery; and
a power generator configured to charge the secondary battery,
wherein the controller is further configured to move the hand to a reference position and stop the movement of the hand when a remaining charge of the secondary battery falls below a predetermined threshold.

9. The electronic watch according to claim 8 , further comprising a hand position detection mechanism configured to detect that the hand is at the reference position,
wherein the controller is further configured to, when the electronic watch is initialized, perform hand position detection processing using the hand position detection mechanism after the polarity determination processing.

10. The electronic watch according to claim 1 , wherein,
when the controller determines that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information do not match, the controller is further configured to output the drive pulse to cause the drive circuit to drive the stepping motor by one step so as to change the initialized polarity information of the drive pulse.

11. A method of controlling an electronic watch including a hand, a stepping motor including a coil, the stepping motor being configured to drive the hand, a drive circuit configured to drive the stepping motor, a current detection circuit configured to detect a current value flowing through the drive circuit, and a random access memory configured to store polarity information of a drive pulse output to the drive circuit, the method for causing a controller to execute a process, the method comprising executing on the controller the steps of:
deleting the polarity information stored in the random access memory when the electronic watch is initialized;
storing initialized polarity information into the random access memory after the polarity information stored in the random access memory has been deleted;
outputting a polarity detection pulse to the drive circuit based on the initialized polarity information stored in the random access memory, the polarity detection pulse not causing the stepping motor to rotate by one step;
performing a polarity determination processing of determining whether a polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match based on the current value detected by the current detection circuit in response to the output of the polarity detection pulse; and
changing the initialized polarity information when the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information do not match.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the controller is further configured to determine whether the current value exceeds a predetermined value based on the output of the polarity detection pulse and determine that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match when the current value exceeds the predetermined value.

13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the current detection circuit is further configured to detect the current value during output of the polarity detection pulse, and
the controller is further configured to measure an elapsed time from start of output of the polarity detection pulse and determine that the polarity of the stepping motor and the initialized polarity information match when the elapsed time until it is detected that the current value exceeds a predetermined value is within a predetermined time.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Tanabe Takuya

Classifications

• H02P8/12

  Control or stabilisation of current · CPC title

• H02P8/34

  Monitoring operation (H02P8/36 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G04C10/02

  the power supply being a radioactive {or photovoltaic} source · CPC title

• G04C3/146

  incorporating two or more stepping motors or rotors · CPC title

• H02P8/02

  specially adapted for single-phase or bi-pole stepper motors, e.g. watch-motors, clock-motors · CPC title