AUTOMATIC LOCATION-DETECTING COMBINATION ANALOG AND DIGITAL WRISTWATCH
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to wristwatches, and more particularly to a multi-tunction watch apparatus that automatically detects its location anywhere on the earth and provides a location-specific analog display of military time, an LCD dot matrix digital display of 12-hour time, and a display of the current phase of the moon and the time of sunrise and sunset.
Background Art
Timepieces have evolved and improved dramatically in recent years, most notably from analog to digital function and display. However, despite these improvements the display of measured time remains something of an abstraction, visually and psychologically removed from the celestial phenomena from which mechanical measurement was first derived. However, even now there is a need and a desire to maintain a practical connection to the sidereal day and the lunar month. For instance, long-distance high-speed travelers and individuals involved in global commerce routinely concern themselves with the time of day in remote locations or travel destinations, to time communications or to plan an itinerary, meals, sleep, and activities. Oceanographers, fishermen and beachcombers need to predict the influence of the moon on tides. Others may simply wish to feel more connected to the broader world, including the sun and the moon
At present there are numerous multi-function and combination digital and analog watches. The various functions embodied in such combinations permit the simultaneous or selective display of such information as time, date — including month and day ~ elapsed time, and so forth. More exotic timepieces provide somewhat impractical but entertaining information, such as an indication of the phases of the earth as they would be seen by an astronaut on the moon (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,979 to Eisenegger), or simply the changing moon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,590 to Galison).
To date, however, there is no multi-function wristwatch that provides a comprehensive simultaneous display of 24-hour time, 12 -hour time, the current phase of the moon, and the local times of sunrise and sunset. Furthermore, there is no watch that provides these functions and that also automatically detects its location anywhere on the planet and resets its display accordingly.
Disclosure of Invention
The multi-function watch of the present invention provides the wearer with a 24-hour analog time display, a 12-hour digital time display, and an LCD display of the phase of the moon and of the local times for sunrise and sunset (the daylight/darkness ratio). The watch includes a preprogrammed microprocessor, and in a first embodiment the watch may be manually reset by manually entering actual longitude and latitude or by scrolling through .an alpha listing of preprogrammed cities to select and display local time for any location on earth, as well as the local times for sunrise and sunset. In a second embodiment, the watch includes an FM broadband antenna and receiver and may be manually reset for local time, as in the first embodiment, and it may also reset itself automatically via reception and interpretation of location-identifying radio frequency broadcasts, such as airport beacon and aircraft flight control VOR signals, GPS signals from GPS satellites, local cell phone transmitter signals, FM broadcast signals, and other radio frequency signals carrying location-identifying information.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the inventive watch face showing one possible display condition for a particular phase of the moon, a particular time for sunrise and sunset, an analog display of 24-hour time, and a digital display of 12-hour time;
Fig. 2 is a plan view showing details of the LCD display components, including the full unilluminated plurality of segments comprising display for the time of sunrise and sunset, and the plurality of segments to display the phases of the moon; Figs. 3 through 6 are plan views showing a variety of combinations of analog 24-hour display, digital 12-hour display, .and moon phase and sunrise/sunset times;
Fig. 7 is a block diagram depicting the location-detecting components of the inventive watch and of an after-market automatic location-detecting device;
Fig. 8 is a plan view of the printed circuit board for operation of the LCD display of the inventive watch; and
Fig. 9 is a plan view of the printed circuit board for battery powered operation of the analog 24-hour display.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Referring to Figs. 1 through 9, wherein like reference numerals refer to like components in the various views, Fig.l is apian view of the inventive watch face showing one possible display condition for a particular phase of the moon, a particular time for sunrise and sunset, an analog display of 24-hour time, and a digital display of 12-hour time. This view shows that in its first aspect the wristwatch of the present invention 10 comprises a watch body 12 and an unconventional analog display that includes a single hand 14 for the display of 24-hour time only, the movement of which hand is provided an analog quartz movement (not shown) as is well known in the art. The watch further includes a time-setting crownlό, a mode button 18, a set button 20, a backlight/backscroll button 22, a lock/alarm button 24, and a dial 26.
In its second aspect, the inventive apparatus is an LCD watch. Dial 26 includes three LCD components, including a 35x5 dot matrix display 28 for the display of hour, minutes, and seconds, AM/PM; it also includes a segmented daylight/darkness display 30 to show the times of sunrise and sunset and the relative periods of light 32 and dark 34. The daylight/darkness display preferably has at least 60 segments, though 80 or more is preferable, and fewer than 60 would affect only the aesthetics of the display but not its general function. Finally, the LCD displays include a segmented lunar phase display 36, preferably having at least eight (8) segments.
Time-setting crown 16 functions in the conventional fashion to adjust the single analog hand 14 for 24-hour time.
Mode button 18 is used to select one of five modes, including: Setting HOME city; setting AWAY city; sunrise/sunset calculator; setting TIME; and chronometer. Set button 20 is used for setting various data within different modes as selected by mode button 18. A single push advances one digit or letter, while holding the set button scrolls through selections. Set button 20 also activates daily functions and stops the chronometer.
Backlight backscroll button 22 functions similarly to set button 20, but in reverse. It also turns on a backlight and turns off the dot matrix display.
Lock/alarm button 24 locks settings selected with set and backlight/backscroll buttons, and it activates and set alarm functions. It also starts the chronometer and takes lap times.
Fig. 2 is a plan view showing details of the LCD display components, including the full unilluminated plurality of segments comprising a display for the relative times of daylight and darkness, and the plurality of segments to display the phases of the moon. Under existing LCD technology it is preferable to employ approximately eighty (80) segments in the daylight/darkness display and eight (8) segments for the lunar display, though there is nothing functionally restrictive in these numbers. As LCD technology improves, it will likely be desirable to increase the number of segments without increasing the overall size of the display. This would be expected to increase the sharpness of the illumined image. Figs. 3 through 6 are plan views showing a variety of combinations of analog 24-hour display, digital 12-hour display, and moon phase and daylight/darkness times. The watch depicted in Fig. 3 displays 6:58 AM, sunrise at the indicated time, sunset at approximately 5:00 PM, a waxing crescent moon just after third quarter. Fig. 4 reads 2:05 AM, sunrise at approximately 5:30 AM and sunset at approximately 8:45 PM, and a waning gibbous moon. Fig. 5 indicates the time as being at sunset at 8:38 PM, sunrise at 6:15 AM, and a waning gibbous moon. Fig. 6 indicates a full moon, a present time of 6:00 PM, sunrise at shortly after 7:00 AM, and sunset at approximately 4:30 PM.
Fig. 7 is a block diagram depicting the location-detecting and interpretation components of the inventive watch, including a preprogrammed microprocessor 40 in electronic communication with an LCD display segment driver 42 for generating signals to display digital time, the phases of the moon, and the daylight/darkness periods in the watch face LCDs 44. The microprocessor is further connected to a broadband radio receiver 46 having an antenna 48 for the detection of radio frequency signals 50 from any of a number of suitable radio transmitters 52, including VOR broadcast signals connected to air traffic and flight control or, alternatively, cell phone transmitter and GPS signals, local FM radio signals, or many other radio frequency signals from transmitters that emit location-specific identifier signals. The microprocessor is programmed with tables for adjusting the display of the astronomical phenomena and the digital display of time and will automatically adjust when it detects and decodes a signal from a recognized beacon. The 24-hour analog watch remains on the wearer's local time, unless he or she wishes to adjust it manually.
It will be readily appreciated that the microprocessor 40, broadband receiver 46, and antenna 48 can be physically and functionally segregated from the installation in a watch, such that these components constitute a complete after-market device for installation and electrical connection to an existing digital timepiece having a microprocessor. In such a case, the microprocessor of the inventive apparatus would be programmed to communicate with the microprocessor in the original timepiece. Thus, even apart from the watch of the present invention, the microprocessor, receiver, and antenna comprise an apparatus for automatically resetting the indication of time by receiving and interpreting location-identifying radio frequency signals.
Fig. 8 shows by way of example a printed circuit board 60 for operation of the LCD display of the inventive watch, and Fig. 9 is a plan view of a printed circuit board 70 for battery powered operation of the analog 24-hour display.
The watch is set with simple operation of the mode, set, backscroll buttons. By pushing the mode button, the display indicates SETCITY. Pushing the set button steps the display through major cities of the world in alphabetical order. If the city is missed, using the backscroll button steps the scrolling back to a previous display. Once a city is selected, it will set after five seconds of display.
If the coordinates of a particular location are known, they may be entered into the watch as well. Using the mode and set buttons to scroll through cities, once the cities list is exhausted, the display will stop at LON/LAT. This invites the entry of longitude and latitude coordinates, beginning with longitude. Using the set button, the display may be changed to W. to E. with each push. Pushing backscroll locks in a selection. Pushing set and holding elicits a vertical scrolling of the numbers 1 through 180. Again, the settings are selected using the set and backscroll buttons. The accuracy of the watch requires only that degrees longitude and latitude be set, minutes are not required. Pushing the set button changes the display from longitude selections to latitude selections, and again from N. to S. with another push. The same steps are repeated for selecting latitude coordinates. Once the selections are entered, a five second delay sets the coordinates.
Additional cities and locations may be entered for the display of alternative times. The microprocessor lookup tables also allow the display of future and past astronomical information for particular locations.
While this invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments thereof, it is obvious that modifications and changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art to which it pertains without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of this invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.