Quartz-oscillator controlled timepiece using liquid crystal display device

Claim 2

A timepiece comprising oscillator means including a quartz vibrator for producing a high frequency time standard signal; divider means for dividing said high frequency time standard signal into low frequency timing signals; low voltage battery means; liquid crystal display means adapted for the digital display of time; driving circuit means coupling said divider means and said liquid crystal display means for driving said liquid crystal display means in response to said timing signals; means directly coupling said battery means to said oscillator and divider means; and booster circuit means connected between said battery means and said driving circuit means for boosting the voltage of said battery means applied to said driving circuit means.

Claim 3

A timepiece as recited in claim 1, wherein said divider means is formed from MOS transistors and said driver circuit means includes bipolar transistors.

Claim 4

The timepiece as defined in claim 2, wherein said booster includes step-up transformer means having a primary winding, a detector winding and a secondary winding, second oscillator means connected to said detector and primary windings and to said battery means for self-oscillation to apply an alternating low voltage to said primary winding; and rectifier means connected to said secondary winding for producing a substantially D.C. high voltage from the alternating high voltage induced in said secondary winding for application to said driving circuit means.

Claim 5

A timepiece as recited in claim 3, wherein said second oscillator means includes a pair of complementary transistor means connected with their respective emitter-collector paths each in series with said battery means and at least a portion of said primary winding, and with their respective bases each connected to at least a portion of said detector winding.

Claim 6

A timepiece as rEcited in claim 3, wherein said detector winding has end terminals each connected with the base of one of said transistor means.

Claim 7

A timepiece as recited in claim 3, wherein said primary winding has end terminals each connected to the respective emitter-collector paths of one of said transistor means and a center-tap connected to said battery means, said battery means being in turn connected to both of said transistor means emitter-collector paths.

Claim 8

A timepiece as recited in claim 5, wherein said detector winding has a center tap, said primary winding has a center tap, and said detector winding center tap and said primary winding center tap are connected through a resistor and a capacitor in parallel.

Claim 9

A timepiece as recited in claim 3, said transformer means includes a toroidal ferrite core having said windings wound around it.

Claim 10

A timepiece as recited in claim 1, wherein said booster circuit means includes switch means for de-energizing said booster circuit means without uncoupling said battery means from said oscillator means, and said divider means.

Claim 11

A timepiece as recited in claim 1, where said liquid crystal display means includes a plurality of liquid crystal display elements, said driving circuit means including a plurality of transistor means each having its respective emitter-collector path connected intermediate said booster circuit means and one of said liquid crystal display elements, and means interconnecting said divider means and the base of each of said transistor means for selectively applying a driving signal to the bases of the transistor means associated with the liquid crystal display elements to be energized for display of present time to place said transistor means in a conductive state to apply the high voltage of said booster curcuit means to said selected liquid crystal display elements.