Abstract: The method consists in subdividing each driving pulse into a certain number of elementary periods of the same duration, in calculating directly or indirectly, at each elementary period, the value of an effective chopping rate He such that He=n1/n2 where n1 is the number of elementary periods during which the coil of the motor was connected to an electric power source from the beginning of the driving pulse and n2 is the total number of these elementary periods from the beginning of the driving pulse, in comparing this effective chopping rate He to the desired chopping rate Hc and, according to whether He≦Hc or He>Hc, in connecting or not connecting the motor coil to the power source from the beginning of the following elementary period. The device includes the means necessary for implementing this method. This method and this device allow the number of distinct rates available for chopping the driving pulses to be increased in a much simpler way than with known methods and devices.

Abstract: A method for adjusting the rate of a horological module, said horological module including a printed circuit (1) on which are mounted in particular a quartz (10) and an integrated circuit (20) including an oscillator (21) driven by the quartz (10), a frequency divider circuit (22) with several stages (22.1 to 22.15), an adjustment circuit (23) allowing the introduction of a correction factor of the division ratio of said frequency divider circuit (22), and a memory circuit (24) containing data (N) representing said correction factor. The adjustment method according to the present invention uses a laser device to allow said data (N) representing the correction factor to be coded by the selective destruction of fuses (F1, F2; F.1 to F.6; F.1* to F.6*) forming memory elements of said memory circuit (24).

Abstract: The method includes applying to the coil (3) of the motor (2) driving pulses having alternately a first and a second polarity, supplying the coil (3) with a determined quantity of electric energy during each driving pulse, detecting, after each driving pulse, the rotation or non rotation of the rotor of the motor (2) in response to said driving pulse, and adjusting said determined quantity of electric energy as a function of said detection.In order to further reduce the quantity of electric energy consumed by the motor, the method is characterised in that the adjustment of the quantity of electric energy supplied to the coil (3) is effected separately for the driving pulses having the first polarity and for the driving pulses having the second polarity.

Abstract: An active rectifier used in a power supply circuit comprises a diode (4) connected between in input terminal (9) and an output terminal (8). A transistor (2) is formed in a substrate (50) and has a control electrode (5) and two conductive electrodes (6,7) which are respectively connected to the input terminal (9) and the output terminal (8). A comparator (3) is supplied by the power supply circuit and has two inputs (+, -) connected to the input (9) and the output (8) terminals respectively, and an output connected to the transistor control electrode (5).

Abstract: A sound generator comprises a transducer (3) intended to be supplied with a signal having a frequency determining the sound to be produced and having a variable amplitude (envelope). To this effect, the transducer is connected in series with the principal path of a semiconductor component (5). The control electrode of this semiconductor component (5) is connected to a RC-circuit (1, 7) capable of providing control pulse trains having said envelope.The RC-circuit comprises a capacitor (7) and at least one input branch (13) of a current mirror (11) the output branch (12) of which supplies a control electrode of the semiconductor component (5). Preferably, the capacitor (7) is connected in series with the input branch (13).Application in particular to wrist-watches equipped with an audible alarm.