Electronic timepiece
AssigneeCitizen Holdings Co., Ltd.
InventorYoichi Nagata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Using an oscillating unit (601) that can start oscillation with a low voltage, an oscillation signal (S1) of the oscillating unit (601) is amplified via a waveform shaping unit (603), and is fed to a boosting control unit (105). A boosting unit (103) is caused to perform a boosting behavior by a boosting clock (Sa) with the same frequency as an oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal (S1) just after the oscillating unit (601) starts. Thereby, a whole electronic timepiece (100) can be self-actuated, even if a generation voltage is low. Further, the oscillating unit (601) is constituted such that a operating current always becomes constant. Thereby, the electronic timepiece can be provided with an electricity-generating unit (101) such as a solar cell with a one-stage constitution having a low open voltage.
Claims18
An electronic timepiece comprises:
- a power-source voltage generating unit that converts external energy to electric energy and generates a power source voltage lower than a predetermined operating voltage;
- an oscillation-signal output unit that outputs an oscillation signal when the power source voltage generated is applied to the oscillation-signal output unit;
- a boosting unit that boosts up the power source voltage generated to at least the predetermined operating voltage;
- a boosting control unit that controls the boosting unit to boost up the power source voltage only for a predetermined time after the oscillation signal output unit starts to operate, based upon the oscillation signal;
- and
- a timing unit that times when the predetermined operating voltage boosted by the boosting control unit is applied to the timing unit.
An electronic timepiece comprises:
- a power-source voltage generating unit that converts external energy to electric energy and generates a power source voltage lower than a predetermined operating voltage;
- an oscillation-signal output unit that outputs an oscillation signal when the power source voltage generated is applied to the oscillation-signal output unit;
- a boosting unit that boosts up the power source voltage generated to at least the predetermined operating voltage;
- a power-source voltage detecting unit that detects whether the power source voltage is boosted up to the predetermined operating voltage by the boosting unit;
- a boosting control unit that controls the boosting unit, and boosts up the power source voltage after the oscillation signal output unit starts to operate till the power source voltage detecting unit detects the predetermined power source voltage;
- and
- a timing unit that times when the predetermined operating voltage is applied to the timing unit based on the oscillation signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.