DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD

The present subject matter is related in general to field of horology, more particularly, but not exclusively to, a device and method for controlling an analog timepiece.

BACKGROUND

Generally, timepieces or watches may be broadly classified into two categories such as analog timepiece and digital timepiece. The analog timepieces are employed with a mechanism, which may involve mechanical and electromechanical parts such as linkages, gear wheels, springs, coil, a motor, a microcontroller, and the like for operating hands and/or indication units. In the analog timepieces, time is generally indicated by the position of an hour hand and a minute hand. Likewise, digital timepieces are configured with computing hardware such as, a display unit, an integrated circuit, and the like. In digital watches, time may be indicated in numerical form or an analog graphic on the display. The digital watches have a smaller form factor and good aesthetic appeal. In addition, the digital watches have higher water-resistant capability as compared to analog watches.

Further, the analog timepiece are less water resistant due to presence of a crown which is used to move the hour hand and the minute hand to set a required time. The region of the analog watch around the crown is highly susceptible for the entry of water into the watch. Existing techniques deploy washers, airtight case sealings and water-resistant electronic circuit boards to ensure the analog timepiece is water resistant. Further, the presence of the crown increases the thickness of the analog watch and in turn the form factor as compared to the digital watches. Therefore, there is a need to replace the crown in analog watches, which solves the water resistance and increased thickness problems associated with the analog watches, while enabling techniques to regulate the time in the analog timepiece.

The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
SUMMARY

In an embodiment, the present disclosure may relate to a regulating device for controlling an analog timepiece. The analog timepiece is placed at a predefined area on the regulating device. The regulating device comprises a user interface for receiving an input from a user for controlling the analog timepiece, a controller configured to generate electrical signals corresponding to the input from the user. Further, the regulating device comprises a stator with a coil configured to generate a magnetic field based on predefined parameters and the electrical signals. The generated magnetic field comprises a strength greater than a magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece, and the generated magnetic field controls the analog timepiece through a rotor associated with the analog timepiece.

In an embodiment, the present disclosure may relate to a method for controlling an analog timepiece. The method comprises receiving an input from a user for controlling the analog timepiece. The analog timepiece is placed at a predefined area on the regulating device. Further, the method comprises generating electrical signals corresponding to the input from the user; and generating a magnetic field based on predefined parameters and the electrical signal. The generated magnetic field comprises a strength greater than a magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece, and the generated magnetic field controls the analog timepiece through a rotor associated with the analog timepiece.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates an exemplary regulating device for controlling an analog timepiece, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGURE 2 illustrates an exemplary drive circuit for generating a magnetic field, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGURE 3 illustrates an exemplary coil and stator for generating a magnetic field to regulate time in an analog timepiece, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGURE 4 illustrates various exemplary embodiments to place an analog timepiece on a regulating device and a user interface for regulating the time, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIGURE 5 illustrates a flowchart for controlling an analog timepiece, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the system illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DESCRIPTION

In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure.

The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device, or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup, device, or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may relate to a device and method for controlling an analog timepiece. The analog timepiece may include a plurality of hands for displaying time. Generally, analog timepieces are less water resistant due to presence of a crown which is used to move the plurality of hands to set a required time. The region of the analog timepiece around the crown is highly susceptible for the entry of water into the watch. Existing techniques deploy washers, airtight case sealings and water-resistant electronic circuit boards to ensure the analog timepiece is water resistant. Further, the presence of the crown increases the thickness of the analog timepiece. Currently, controlling the analog timepiece requires a lot of manual effort and is not reliable due to presence of the crown.

The present disclosure resolves this problem by providing a regulating device and method to effectively control the analog timepiece. Typically, the analog timepiece operates using a stepper motor comprising a coil, stator and rotor, wherein electric signals are transmitted to the coil to generate magnetic field and convert the stator to a temporary magnet. By using same principle, the present disclosure includes generating a magnetic field comprising strength greater than the magnetic field in the analog timepiece in the same direction. The magnetic field is generated based on predefined parameters and electrical signals generated corresponding to a user input for controlling the analog timepiece. The generated magnetic field controls the analog timepiece through a rotor associated with the analog timepiece. Thus, the present disclosure controls the analog timepiece without use of the crown, thereby improving reliability of the analog timepiece.

FIGURE 1 illustrates an exemplary regulating device for controlling an analog timepiece, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown, Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a regulating device 100 for controlling an analog timepiece 106.The analog timepiece 106 for example may include a wristwatch, timepieces without straps, a clock, and the like with or without a crown. The analog timepiece 106 includes a plurality of hands 107 to represent time. The plurality of the hands 107 are indicative of at least one of hour, minutes, and seconds. Further, the analog timepiece 106 actuates the movement of the plurality of hands 107 using driving elements (not shown in the figure) such as, a motor (which includes a rotor, a stator, a coil, and the like), a gear arrangement and the like. Further, the analog timepiece 106 may also include a power source such as a battery (not shown in figure) to provide electric current for the operation of the driving elements.
The analog timepiece 106 may be controlled using the regulating device 100. In an embodiment, the regulating device 100 may be used to regulate or adjust the time or date in the analog timepiece 106 with or without a crown. The regulating device 100 includes a user interface 101, a controller 102, a power supply 103, a drive circuit 104, a coil and a stator 105. The regulating device 100 may include a predefined area for placing the analog timepiece 106. In an embodiment, the predefined area is determined such that the rotor of the analog timepiece 106 may align with the coil and stator 105 of the regulating device 100.

In an embodiment, the power supply 103 is used to provide electric current and voltage for the operation of the regulating device 100. The power supply 103 may include, for example a direct current power source such as, a battery, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, or an alternating current power source. In an embodiment, the power supply 103 may be external to the regulating device 100.

In an embodiment, the user interface 101 may include at least one of a display device, a keypad, a hardware button, a touchscreen, and the like. The user interface 101 is used to receive an input from a user to control the analog timepiece 106 and provide the input to the controller 102 for setting or modifying the time or date of the analog timepiece 106 to a user desired value. For example, a user may press the hardware button to control the movement of the plurality of hands 107 in the analog timepiece 106 and the user may release the hardware button to stop the control of the movement of the plurality of hands 107 in the analog timepiece 106.

In an embodiment, the controller 102 may be a microcontroller, a general-purpose processor with a memory, a dedicated hardware circuit such as a 555 timer and the like. The controller 102 may receive the input from the user via the user interface 101 indicating to start the control by controlling the movement of the plurality of hands 107 in the analog timepiece 106. The controller 102 may generate corresponding to the input, electrical signals including the electrical voltages and electrical currents required to generate a magnetic field 108. In one embodiment, a pulse width modulation technique may be used to generate the electrical signals in the form of square shaped pulses.

In an embodiment, the electrical signals generated by the controller 102 is provided to the drive circuit 104 for amplification. The drive circuit 104 may be used to amplify the electrical signals to a predetermined power value required to energize the coil and the stator 105 for generating the magnetic field 108. In an embodiment, the predetermined power value may be determined based on trial-and-error method on the analog timepiece 106. FIGURE 2 illustrates an exemplary drive circuit for generating a magnetic field, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the drive circuit 104 may include a pre-driver 201 and a transistor-based circuit for amplifying the current and in turn the power associated with the electrical signals. Further, a person skilled in the art would appreciate the use of different configuration of the transistor circuit such as H-bridge configuration, a Darlington configuration, and the like for generating the electrical current and electrical voltage to suit the power rating of the coil and the stator 105.

In an embodiment, the electrical signals generated by the controller 102 is amplified by the drive circuit 104 and provided to the coil and the stator 105 as shown in FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 2. The coil and the stator 105 generates a magnetic field 108 based on the electrical signals and predefined parameters. The predefined parameters may include, but not limited to, at least one of dimensions of the stator, number of coils present in the stator, number of windings in the coil and the like. The coil is a wire manufactured using conducting elements such as copper, silver, gold, and the like. The coil is wound on the stator 105 shown in FIGURE 3. Further, the stator 105 is manufactured using an iron core, a silicon steel and the like with insulation. In one embodiment, the wire of the coil may have a diameter in the range of >50 micro-meters. The coil diameter may vary based on the amount strength of the magnetic field required. In an embodiment, the magnetic field 108 generated by the regulating device 100 may be sufficient to negate the magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece 106. In an embodiment, the number of windings of the coil on the stator 105 may be in the range of >100 turns. In an embodiment, the coil may have a resistance in the range of >5 ohms and a thickness of >5 milli meters.

The magnetic field 108 generated by the coil and the stator 105 is used in order to control the analog timepiece 106. Particularly, the magnetic field 108 may get linked to a rotor present inside the analog timepiece 106 and the movement of the rotor is controlled based on the magnetic field 108 generated by the regulating device 100 shown in FIGURE 1 and 3. The magnetic field 108 generated by the coil and the stator 105 of the regulating device 100 possess a strength greater than the magnetic field 108 generated inside the motor of the analog timepiece 106. Therefore, the speed and the direction of the movement associated with the rotor inside the motor of the analog timepiece 106 is controlled by the magnetic field 108 generated by the regulating device 100. Particularly, the magnetic field 108 generated by the regulating device 100 increases the speed of rotation of the rotor associated with the analog timepiece 106 which in turn actuates the movement of the plurality of hands 107 of the analog timepiece 106 to regulate the time of the analog timepiece 106 shown in FIGURE 1 and 3. In an embodiment, the generated magnetic field by the regulating device 100 may be a static magnetic field (constant magnetic flux).

In an embodiment, the analog timepiece 106 is placed at the predefined area on the regulating device 100 for controlling the analog timepiece 106. FIGURE 4 illustrates various exemplary embodiments to place the analog timepiece 106 on a regulating device and a user interface for regulating the time, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, upon receiving the input from a user through a hardware button, the coil, and the stator 105 is energized using the controller 102 which increases the rotation speed associated with the rotor of the motor inside the analog timepiece 106. In one embodiment, after the user stops providing the input, the controller 102 stops energizing the coil and the stator 105. In one embodiment, the user may continually press the hardware button to cause movement in the plurality of hands due to the external magnetic field induced in the rotor. When the user releases the hardware button, the coil, and the stator 105 stops generating the magnetic field 108 and the movement of the rotor is not controlled by the generated magnetic field 108 and the rotor may operate according to the internal magnetic field (not shown in figures) of the analog timepiece 106. Thus, the control of the analog timepiece 106 is complete when the user releases the hardware button. In another embodiment, the user may provide current time/date in the analog timepiece 106 and a required time/date. The controller 102 may calculate the amount of rotation required and may generate the electrical signals accordingly. In an embodiment, an application may be associated with the regulating device 100. The user may provide the input to the regulating device 100 via the application to control the analog timepiece 106.

In an embodiment, the rotor of the motor inside the analog timepiece 106 may be housed at different locations based on a model, and constructional features of the analog timepiece 106. Hence, the rotor of the analog timepiece 106 may be aligned with the coil and the stator 105 of the regulating device 100 to control the rotation of the rotor using the magnetic field 108. In an embodiment, the regulating device 100 may indicate the position to place the analog timepiece 106 using a mapping table for example. The mapping table may include a model, a predetermined direction and angle to place the analog timepiece 106 on the regulating device 100. The mapping table may be displayed to the user using the user interface 101 or printed on a paper and provided to the user. The analog timepiece 106 may be placed at different angles in the range of 0 to 360 degrees on the regulating device 100. For example, the analog timepiece 106 placed at 0, 45, and 90 degrees is as shown in FIGURE 4.

In an embodiment, the speed of rotation of the rotor associated with the analog timepiece 106 and in turn the speed of rotation of the plurality of hands 107 of the analog timepiece 106 may be varied based on the input from the user via the user interface 101. In a first example, when the user provides the input via the user interface 101 discretely or intermittently such as pressing the hardware button once, the regulating device 100 generates the magnetic field 108 to rotate the rotor by one step and the regulating device 100 stops generating the magnetic field. In a second example, when the user provides the input via the user interface 101 continuously, the regulating device 100 generates the magnetic field 108 at a pre-determined frequency for example, 64 hertz, which in turn increases or accelerates the rotation speed of the rotor and the movement of the plurality of hands 107. In one embodiment, the range of the pre-determined frequency may be between 1 hertz and 100 hertz.

FIGURE 5 illustrates a flowchart for controlling an analog timepiece, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIGURE 5, the method 500 includes one or more blocks for controlling an analog timepiece. The method 500 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

The order in which the method 500 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

At block 501, the input from a user is received by the user interface 101 for controlling the analog timepiece. The analog timepiece 106 is placed at the predefined area on the regulating device 100. The predefined area is indicated to the user via the user interface using a mapping table. The mapping table include for example, the predetermined direction and angle to place the analog timepiece 106 on the regulating device 100. In an embodiment, the predefined area is determined such that the rotor of the analog timepiece 106 may align with the coil and stator 105 of the regulating device 100.

At block 503, the electrical signals is generated by the controller 102 corresponding to the input from the user. The electrical signals are amplified by the drive circuit 104 to a power value corresponding to the input.

At block 505, the magnetic field 108 is generated by the stator 105 based on the predefined parameters and the electrical signals. In an embodiment, the predefined parameters may include at least one of dimensions of the stator, number of coils present in the stator and number of windings in the coil. In an embodiment, the number of windings in the coil is in a range of 750 to1000 turns. In an embodiment, the coil includes a resistance in a range of 5 to 15 ohms and a thickness of 5 to 8 millimeters. The generated magnetic field 108 comprises the strength greater than the magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece 106, and the generated magnetic field 108 controls the analog timepiece 106 through the rotor associated with the analog timepiece 106. In an embodiment, controlling the analog timepiece 106 includes controlling at least one of the speed and the direction of a movement associated with the rotor of the analog timepiece 106 using the generated magnetic field 108.

Advantages of the present disclosure:

An embodiment of the present disclosure enables to control the analog timepiece efficiently.

An embodiment of the present disclosure controls the analog timepiece without use of the crown, thereby improving reliability of the analog timepiece.

An embodiment of the present disclosure eliminates manually functionality with the crown in the analog timepiece for adjusting the analog timepiece.

The terms “an embodiment,” “embodiment,” “embodiments,” “the embodiment,” “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including,” “comprising,” “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a,” “an” and “the” mean “one or more,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article, or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

The illustrated operations of FIGURE 5 show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified, or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above-described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

REFERRAL NUMERICALS

Numerical
Particulars
100 Regulating device
101 User interface
102 Controller
103 Power supply
104 Drive circuit
105 Coil and stator
106 Analog timepiece
107 Plurality of hands
108 Magnetic field
201 Pre-driver

,CLAIMS:1. A regulating device (100) for controlling an analog timepiece (106), comprising:

a user interface (101) for receiving an input from a user for controlling the analog timepiece (106), wherein the analog timepiece (106) is placed at a predefined area on the regulating device (100);
a controller (102) configured to generate electrical signals corresponding to the input from the user; and
a stator with a coil (105) configured to generate a magnetic field based on predefined parameters and the electrical signals, wherein the generated magnetic field comprises a strength greater than a magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece (106), and the generated magnetic field controls the analog timepiece through a rotor associated with the analog timepiece (106).

2. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a drive circuit (104), coupled with the controller (102), and configured to amplify the electrical signals received from the controller (102) to a predetermined power value.

3. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined parameters comprise at least one of dimensions of the stator, number of coils present in the stator and number of windings in the coil.

4. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined area is indicated to the user via the user interface (101) using a mapping table.

5. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the mapping table comprises a predetermined direction and angle to place the analog timepiece (106) on the regulating device (100).

6. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stator with the coil (105) controls at least one of a speed and a direction of a movement associated with the rotor of the analog timepiece (106) using the generated magnetic field.

7. The regulating device (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the generated magnetic field is static magnetic field.

8. A method for controlling an analog timepiece (106), the method comprising:
receiving, by a regulating device (100), an input from a user for controlling the analog timepiece (106), wherein the analog timepiece (106) is in proximity to the regulating device (100),
generating, by the regulating device (100), electrical signals corresponding to the input from the user; and
generating, by the regulating device (100), a magnetic field based on predefined parameters and the electrical signals, wherein the generated magnetic field comprises a strength greater than a magnetic field generated inside the analog timepiece (106), and the generated magnetic field controls the analog timepiece (106) through a rotor associated with the analog timepiece (106).

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 further comprising amplifying the electrical signals to a power value corresponding to the input.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the predefined parameters comprise at least one of dimensions of the stator, number of coils present in the stator and number of windings in the coil.

11. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the predefined area is provided to the user via the user interface (101) using a mapping table.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the mapping table comprises a predetermined direction and angle to place the analog timepiece (106) on the regulating device (100).

13. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein controlling the analog timepiece (106) comprises controlling at least one of a speed and a direction of a movement associated with the rotor of the analog timepiece (106) using the generated magnetic field.

14. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the generated magnetic field is static magnetic field.