Electronic equipment with depth measuring function

Details Electronic equipment with depth measuring function Electronic equipment with depth measuring function

1994-12-15

1996-05-21

Miska, Vit W.

Horology: time measuring systems or devices

Combined with disparate device

368 11, 73384, 73753, G09B 4706, G01L 900

Patent

active

055196713

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electronic equipment with a depth measuring function and at least a timepiece function and, more particularly, to such an electronic equipment having a water detecting means for detecting if the electronic equipment is wet with water or salt water.


BACKGROUND ART

Diving in marine sports is very popular among young people, and various electronic wristwatches having depth measuring functions, i.e., so-called diver's watches have been developed accordingly.
An electronic wristwatch with a depth measuring function of this type is exemplified by the following electronic wristwatch (e.g., Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Nos. 60-183895 and 60-183896). In this wristwatch, to minimize the power consumption by operating a depth measuring circuit during only actual diving because the depth measuring circuit has a very high current consumption, a power switch and a main switch such as a mode selection switch are arranged independently of a water detecting means. When the main switch is set in an ON state and the water detecting means is set in an ON state upon detecting that the wristwatch has become wet with water or salt water. A transparent electrode formed on the surface of the cover glass of the electronic wristwatch is used as the water detecting means. The water detecting means detects a change in conduction resistance or capacitance when water or salt water comes in contact with this electrode.
An automatic sounding thermometer described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-80010 comprises an underwater operation switch serving as a water detecting means for detecting a water pressure or the electrical resistance of salt water, a power switch, and a start switch. When the start switch is turned on upon a turn-0N operation of the power switch, the underwater operation switch is started by the water pressure or salt water, thereby driving the depth measuring circuit.
Generally, a beginner becomes nervous before diving, and his/her mind is too much occupied with diving. For this reason, even if the diver has the above-described electronic wristwatch with the depth measuring function, he/she often forgets to turn on the main switch before diving. As a result, depth measurement cannot be performed at all, or it is too late to turn on the switch during diving.
To prevent the failure of depth measurement due to forgetting of a turn-ON operation of the switch, a specialized depth measurement device was proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-18415 in which only a water detecting means for detecting if the wristwatch is wet with water is arranged while omitting a main switch. When this water detecting means detects water, depth measurement is started. However, this prior art disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-18415 is not a device incorporated in an electronic wristwatch but a specialized depth measurement device having a simple structure. All circuits are normally set in an inoperative state. All the circuits including a display driving circuit are set in an operative state in accordance with a signal from the water detecting means, thereby performing depth measurement.
Since a diver wears such a specialized depth measurement device on a wrist immediately before diving, no problem is posed. However, as for a wristwatch with such a depth measuring function, the wristwatch is worn on the wrist also during non-diving, so it may get wet with rain or at the time of face washing. In this case, the water detecting means detects water to start a depth measuring operation, and at the same time, display is switched from time display to depth display. This causes instantaneous confusion, or an operation for returning the display to the original time display need to be performed.
On the other hand, in a general electronic equipment with a depth measuring function, the main switch is operated to measure and store a 0-m depth reference pressure before diving depth measurement. After diving is started, a diving depth is calculated from a relative pressure value

REFERENCES:
patent: 4783772 (1988-11-01), Umemoto
patent: 4835716 (1989-05-01), Tamaki
patent: 5031160 (1991-07-01), Koizumi
patent: 5148376 (1992-09-01), Sato

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