Patents Examined by Jason M Collins
  • Patent number: 10989565
    Abstract: A timepiece movement including an analogue display, including a rotary indicator and a wheel secured in rotation to the rotary indicator, the wheel including a roller including a location element, a device for detecting at least one angular position of the location element, including a plate fixed relative to the roller, extending substantially parallel to the roller, and on which are arranged a first electrode, a second electrode and a common electrode positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode the electrodes being planar and being arranged in such a way that, in an angular position of the wheel, the location element is located above at least a portion of each electrode, the first electrode and the second electrode having the form of two segments of a ring centred on the intersection between the axis of the wheel and the plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: ETA SA Manufacture Horlogere Suisse
    Inventor: Rene Rufener
  • Patent number: 10983479
    Abstract: A piezoelectric element for an automatic frequency control circuit, the element including: a balance spring formed of a strip of piezoelectric material; at least a first electrode, configured to be connected to the circuit and being disposed on all or part of one side of the strip; at least a second electrode configured to be connected to the circuit and being disposed on all or part of another one side of the strip distinct from the one side on which the first electrode is disposed, the piezoelectric material being a piezoelectric crystal or a piezoelectric ceramic; and at least two discontinuous layers of an insulating material, each discontinuous layer being disposed on at least one side of the strip and separating the first electrode from the second electrode, the layers of insulating material being distributed on predetermined portions of the balance spring substantially forming arcs in a predetermined angular periodicity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Alexandre Haemmerli, Francois Gueissaz, Lionel Tombez, Bernhard Schnyder, Silvio Dalla Piazza
  • Patent number: 10983480
    Abstract: An electronic timepiece includes a measuring section that measures a predetermined measurement item, a display capable of displaying the result of the measurement performed by the measuring section, a battery that supplies electric power for driving the measuring section and the display, and a processor including an action controller that prevents switching to a display mode that causes the display to display the measurement result in a case where the remaining battery level of the battery is lower than a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaki Ukawa, Yasuhiro Momose
  • Patent number: 10976707
    Abstract: Disclosed is a decorative object including an upper glass, a lower glass, a recessed pattern formed in the lower glass and facing the upper glass, a liquid filling the recessed pattern, the refractive index of the liquid being equal to that of the lower glass or differing from that of the lower glass by at most 10 %, and solid elements which can move in the liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: CARTIER INTERNATIONAL AG
    Inventors: Rémi Husson, Gabriel Chevallier, Romain Moyse
  • Patent number: 10976706
    Abstract: A bimetallic device, the difference in expansion coefficient of which is between 10 and 30 10?6 K?1, for providing a resonator with thermal compensation via the balance wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Montres Breguet S.A.
    Inventors: Alain Zaugg, Davide Sarchi
  • Patent number: 10969745
    Abstract: A piezoelectric element for an automatic frequency control circuit. The element includes a balance spring formed of a piezoelectric crystal strip, a first electrode connected to the automatic control circuit, and disposed on at least a first side of the strip, and a second electrode connected to the automatic control circuit and disposed on at least a second side of the strip. The first and second electrodes are placed on one portion or over the entire length of the balance spring in a predetermined angular distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: The Swatch Group Research and Development Ltd
    Inventors: Alexandre Haemmerli, Francois Gueissaz, Lionel Tombez, Bernhard Schnyder, Silvio Dalla Piazza
  • Patent number: 10962935
    Abstract: An input device includes a movable input surface protruding from an electronic device. The input device enables force inputs along three axes relative to the electronic device: first lateral movements, second lateral movements, and axial movements. The input device includes force or displacement sensors which can detect a direction and magnitude of input forces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Colin M. Ely, Erik G. de Jong, Steven P. Cardinali
  • Patent number: 10955397
    Abstract: A device for measuring the concentration of a gas constituting the ambient air includes a wristwatch comprising a watch case (13) containing a watch movement, members indicating the time (1, 3, 9) visible through a glass of the watch case (13). In addition, the wristwatch comprises at least one sensor (11) arranged to measure the concentration of a gas constituting the ambient air. The wristwatch also includes means for actuating an alert when reaching or exceeding a threshold of the gas concentration measured by the sensor (11). The device includes two operating states, a “time” state and an “alarm” state, wherein in the “time” state, the members indicating the time (1, 1?, 3, 9) indicate the time and the sensor (11) permanently measures the gas concentration without displaying it or activating the alert.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Inventor: Olivier Voumard
  • Patent number: 10915068
    Abstract: A timer movement includes a shell; a quartz movement body, a sound component and a central output wheel assembly driven by the quartz movement body are disposed in the shell, a printed circuit board and a traveling wheel driven by the central output wheel assembly are disposed at the top of the shell, and a battery compartment is disposed at the bottom of the shell. A leaf spring and a switch pillar are disposed on the printed circuit board, and a toggle rod forcing the leaf spring to bend so as to touch the switch pillar is disposed on the traveling wheel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: HANGZHOU JINGCHENG SANHE TIMER INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hanjun Chi
  • Patent number: 10908556
    Abstract: A timepiece movement includes: an hour wheel and pinion; a minute wheel and pinion; a winding stem; a time difference correction train; a date indicator; and a date change mechanism. The hour wheel and pinion includes an hour wheel that rotates with the minute wheel and pinion, an hour jumper, an hour jumper pinion, and an hour wheel body that turns with the hour wheel via the hour jumper and hour jumper pinion, and turns with the time difference correction train. The date change mechanism includes a date change wheel that turns with the hour wheel body, a date change lever, a date change cam that flexes the date change lever by rotating with the date change wheel, and turns in response to the flexed date change lever spring force, and a date change pawl that rotates with the date change cam, and advances the date indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Koike
  • Patent number: 10890879
    Abstract: Provided is an electronic clock including: a power generator; a secondary battery, which is to be charged with electric power generated by the power generator; a balance information transmitter configured to transmit, to a computer, balance information relating to a transition of a power generation amount or a charging balance of the secondary battery; a connection time period setting module configured to set a connection time period of a connection with the computer based on the balance information; and a communication controller configured to control a start and an end of communication to/from the computer based on the connection time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: CITIZEN WATCH CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yusuke Hirota, Masayuki Araki, Akiyoshi Kondoh, Masato Kanazawa
  • Patent number: 10890878
    Abstract: A striking mechanism for a watch including an hour snail driven by a movement, a strike wheel set including a detent ratchet and a repeating rack pinion, a pivoting hour-rack for reading the snail and driving the pinion, a click set in motion at each passing strike to drive the detent ratchet, with a mode selector mechanism for selection by the user of a particular strike mode, among distinct modes including a silent mode, defining the angular position of a cam having an external profiled surface, wherein, in silent mode, the largest radius pushes back a beak of a silencing lever, to orient it into a position where its main arm moves the click away from the ratchet in order to disable every passing strike function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: Blancpain SA
    Inventors: Mehdi Denden, Julien Peter
  • Patent number: 10852700
    Abstract: A wearable device or a smart watch with a control mechanism that allows efficient user interaction by a combination of means including a control-ring subsystem, with visual and haptic feedback subsystems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Inventor: Andrey Abramov
  • Patent number: 10852697
    Abstract: A watch can include one or more input components, such as a crown for receiving input from a user. The crown can be an assembly of multiple parts, for example, to provide aesthetic, structural, and/or functional attributes. The parts of the crown can be assembled in a manner that resists separation during use and when subject to environmental influences. For example, the assembled parts of a crown can be resistant to separation while a user wearing the watch is swimming, bathing, or sweating. The assembly can be secured by both mechanical mechanisms and chemical mechanisms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Hiemstra, Colin M. Ely
  • Patent number: 10852701
    Abstract: An electronic timepiece, including: a receiver which receives broadcast radio waves including time information; a communicator which carries out wireless communication by establishing communication connection with an external device which is set; a processor; and an operation receiving unit which receives an input operation via an operating member, wherein in a case where a predetermined input operation corresponding to a command for obtaining information regarding a present time is received via a predetermined operating member, the processor selects a first information obtaining operation by which the information is obtained from the external device which is set via the communicator or a second information obtaining operation by which the information is obtained based on the broadcast radio waves received by the receiver according to whether a setting regarding the external device exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kosuke Hasegawa, Yuki Oshita, Mitsuaki Matsuo, Akihiro Kuroha, Shimpei Matsuda
  • Patent number: 10831160
    Abstract: An electronic device includes: a receiver that receives a satellite signal; and a time corrector that corrects an internal time. The receiver acquires time synchronization information and satellite time information by receiving the satellite signal, detects update timing of seconds on the basis of the time synchronization information, and executes output processing of outputting a synchronization signal, which indicates output timing, and reception side time information including time difference information, which indicates a time difference between the update timing of seconds and the output timing, and time information of hours, minutes, and seconds based on the satellite time information, before next update timing of seconds. The time corrector corrects the internal time on the basis of the synchronization signal and the reception side time information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Eiji Kinoshita
  • Patent number: 10824115
    Abstract: A timepiece allowing accurate positioning of a display plate and a plate member is to be provided. A timepiece 10 includes: a main plate 2 having one or more positioning portions 21 and 22; a plate member 3 having one or more first positioning receiving portions 33 to be locked to the positioning portions 21 and arranged so as to overlap the main plate 2; and a display plate 5 having one or more second positioning receiving portions 55 to be locked to the positioning portions 22 and arranged so as to overlap the plate member 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: SEIKO INSTRUMENTS INC.
    Inventor: Masayuki Kawata
  • Patent number: 10816933
    Abstract: A timepiece mechanism includes a structure in which at least one arbor of a wheel set is pivoted about an axis of rotation and a braking device for the mechanical braking at constant torque of this arbor. The braking device includes a braking component which is removable with respect to the structure and includes, for attachment thereof to the structure, a solid felloe, which carries a plurality of resilient elements, regularly distributed around a common axis about which these resilient elements each have a contact area. The contact areas together defining an opening, arranged to engage, in a press fit with elastic gripping, with the arbor, to make the common axis coincide with the axis of rotation of the arbor, and to apply to the arbor a substantially constant tangential braking force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: ETA SA Manufacture Horlogere Suisse
    Inventor: Ivan Villar
  • Patent number: 10809665
    Abstract: A timepiece movement includes a date indicator for date display, a date indicator driving wheel for advancing the date indicator, a lunar age indicator for lunar age display, and a lunar age indicator driving wheel for rotating the lunar age indicator. The date indicator and the lunar age indicator are coaxially disposed, and the date indicator driving wheel and the lunar age indicator driving wheel are coaxially disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Koike
  • Patent number: 10802446
    Abstract: A time display device, including: an indication display unit which displays a content according to an indicating operation, and a processor, wherein in a case where a remaining time with respect to a reference set time of an elapsed time from a measuring start timing is greater than a predetermined reference remaining time, the processor makes the indication display unit display a ratio of the remaining time with respect to the reference set time, and in a case where the remaining time is equal to or less than the predetermined reference remaining time, the processor makes the indication display unit display the remaining time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tadashi Kojima, Hirohisa Maruyama, Kosuke Hasegawa