Electronic Timepiece With Electro-Optical Display

Our present invention relates to an electronic timepiece in which time is indicated electro-optically with the aid of a display package provided with a multiplicity of selectively energizable electrode leads.

The connections between the electrode leads and an associated driving circuit, including an oscillator of the crystal-controlled or the tuning-fork-controlled type working into a multistage frequency divider, are advantageously formed in part by a set of conductors on a printed circuit carried on a flexible sheet, e.g. of polyimide resin, to which energy may be supplied from a battery via a metallic sheet such as a copper foil. An integrated-circuit chip of the LSI (large-scale integration) type can be inserted in the driving circuit to carry out the selective energization of the several electrode leads in response to the oscillator output or to a manual setting signal; such a chip may comprise a molded resinous or ceramic base supporting a semiconductive module.

Although such a printed sheet is highly flexible, excessive bending may damage its conductor array and thereby impair the operation of the timepiece. Thus, difficulties have heretofore arisen in assembling a sheet of this kind with a display package and other components in a limited space such as the interior of the housing of a wristwatch.

An object of our present invention, therefore, is to provide a highly compact assembly of a display package, a power supply therefor and associated modular circuitry, capable of mass production, for a timepiece of the character referred to, with avoidance of the aforementioned drawback inherent in the use of printed-circuit sheets.

Another object is to provide, in such a timepiece, improved means for supplying electrical energy to the conductors of a printed-circuit sheet through a supporting substrate.

A related object is to provide effective means for securing such a sheet to its substrate.

According to an important feature of our present invention, an electro-optical display package disposed adjacent the front side of a substrate includes a first and a second plate substantially paralleling the front and rear sides thereof, the first plate having marginal portions which project laterally beyond the second plate and carry the terminals of respective sets of electrode leads for the selective energization of the display elements of the package. A flexible printed sheet, inserted between the display package and the front side of the substrate, carries a wiring pattern whose conductors contact the aforementioned terminals, these conductors being connectable to power-supply means, such as a battery, on the substrate by way of control means in circuit therewith, specifically an IC chip also supported on the substrate.

Advantageously, the chip and the supply battery are mounted on the substrate in mutually offset relationship and on opposite sides, with the battery received in a rear depression of the substrate. An oscillator in a sealed envelope may also be mounted on the rear side of the substrate, preferably likewise in offset relationship with the chip on the front side, and may be connected to the battery and to the chip through another printed sheet overlying the rear face of the substrate. The conductor arrays of the two printed sheets can be interconnected by metallic pins or the like insulatedly traversing the substrate.

The two printed sheets, or either of them, may be secured to the substrate by interposed bonding layers terminating short of all the boundaries of the respective substrate faces, including the circumferences of the transverse bores provided for the passage of the connecting pins. This insures that, in operation, the bonding material will not be extruded into areas which for mechanical, electrical or esthetic reasons are to be kept free therefrom.

The above and other features of our invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electronic wristwatch embodying our invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a subassembly of the wristwatch at the front side of a substrate;

FIG. 3 is a similar exploded view of a subassembly at the rear side of the substrate;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IV -- IV of FIG. 2 and drawn to a larger scale;

FIG. 5 is a detail view taken on the line V -- V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an area encompassed within a circle VI in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of the front side of a substrate and an overlying printed sheet in a modified timepiece embodying our invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line VIII - VIII of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IX - IX of FIG. 3 but drawn to a larger scale;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view, drawn to a larger scale, of a modification of a detail shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 7, illustrating another modification;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line XII -- XII of FIG. 11; and

FIGS. 13 and 14 are views similar to FIG. 12, illustrating further modifications.

In FIG. 1 we have shown a wristwatch according to our invention including a generally disk-shaped substrate 1 on whose upper or front side an electro-optical display package 9 is mounted with the aid of a frame 4 and a pair of brackets 10a, 10b. Frame 4, brackets 10a, 10b and display package 9 form part of a subassembly more fully illustrated in FIG. 2 which also shows a modular IC chip 2 and a flexible printed sheet 3 with opposite lateral extremities 3a and 3b of generally S-shaped configuration as more clearly seen in FIG. 4. The printed circuit of sheet 3 includes an array of conductors 3ca, 3cb and 3cc. Conductors 3ca and 3cb extend between chip 2 and extremities 3a, 3b, respectively, whereas conductors 3cc lead from chip 2 to another sheet portion 3c where they are tied by means of connectors 32, in a manner more fully described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, to corresponding conductors of a second printed sheet 12 (FIGS. 3 and 4) underlying the substrate. The free ends of conductors 3ca and 3cb are in contact with the terminals of respective electrode leads of display package 9 as particularly described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 4 and 6. That contact is maintained by a pair of resilient strips 6a and 6b, in the shape of round bars, which are seated in grooved shelves 4a, 4b integral with the mounting frame 4. This generally C-shaped frame, secured to the substrate 1 by screws 5 (only one shown), embraces the package 9 from three sides while a resilient yoke 7 bears on the package at its fourth side, this yoke being also secured to the substrate by screws 8 (only one shown). Brackets 10a and 10b, overhanging the package 9, are fastened to the legs of frame 4 by means of screws 11a and 11b. Various switch elements, collectively designated 52 (FIG. 2) and 53 (FIG. 3), are likewise screwed to the substrate and are controlled by a knob 51, FIG. 1, for setting the time display in a conventional manner not relevant to our present invention.

Chip 2 is accommodated in a recess 1a, FIG. 4, whose depth approximately equals the height of the chip and which registers with a cutout 3x in sheet 3, conductors 3ca and 3cb of sheet 3 extending into the cutout and onto the upper chip surface which is substantially flush with the unrecessed part of the front side or face of substrate 1. Recess 1a communicates, via a passage 1x in the substrate, with a depression 1c on the rear side thereof which accommodates a battery 27. The latter, as best seen in FIG. 3, is embraced by a metallic mounting ring 25 secured to the substrate by screws 26 (only one shown), the ring having a flexible tongue 25a which can be bent inward to hold the battery in position. As further shown in FIG. 3, substrate 1 has a trough 1b adjacent the depression 1c, this trough accommodating an encapsuled crystal oscillator 21 whose tubular envelope is held in position by a metallic fitting 22 with the aid of screws 24, 24a. The connections to the interior of the sealed oscillator include a printed strip 23 with a pair of conductors respectively engaged by screws 24 and 24a, the second screw 24a passing insulatedly through the fitting 22 and contacting a connector 18. A switch armature 14 is secured to the substrate by screws 15 and has a J-shaped spur 14a guided by a shouldered screw 17, provided with a washer 16, for movement parallel to the substrate under the control of a pushbutton 37 as described below with reference to FIG. 9.

A trimmer condenser for modifying the operating frequency of oscillator 21 comprises a base plate 19 of ceramic material, such as steatite, and a relatively rotatable, peripherally notched plastic disk 19a secured to the substrate 1 by means of screws 20 and 20a, the latter screw also traversing the connector 18, the two condenser members 19 and 19a having conductively coated surfaces. The entire rear-side assembly shown in FIG. 3 is overlain by a nonconductive cover 28 fastened to the substrate by screws 29, this cover having a cutout 28a giving access to the battery 27 and to the rotatable condenser plate 19a.

Other circuit components, including capacitors 54, 55, 56, are likewise supported on the rear side or face of substrate 1 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The entire assembly is, of course, enclosed in a watch case which has not been illustrated.

The chip 2 on the front side is angularly offset from the oscillator 21 and the battery 27 which are juxtaposed on the rear side so as to minimize the requisite thickness of the timepiece. Battery 27 is in contact with an extension 12a of printed sheet 12 overlying a shallow recess 1ca in depression 1c, that recess being occupied by an elastic insert 30 in the form of a metallic ring with three inwardly extending tongues 30a, 30b and 30c as shown in FIG. 5. The tongues are bent out of the recess, i.e. downwardly as viewed in FIG. 4, so as to urge the sheet extension 12a into firm contact with the adjoining negative pole of battery 27. Thus, continuity of energization is insured even if the wristwatch is subjected to shocks causing limited relative displacement between battery 27 and substrate 1 in a direction perpendicular to the substrate faces.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 6 in which the sheet extremity 3a, including conductors 3ca, has been shown in greater detail along with adjacent parts of the display package 9. The package comprises a stack of elements including an upper biasing electrode 9a on a glass plate 9b, a set of segmental excitation electrodes 9c conforming to the display of FIG. 1, a liquid-crystal cell 9d, a counterelectrode 9e, a lower glass plate 9h carrying a biasing electrode 9k and a reflecting layer 9m, a frame 9f sandwiched between plates 9b and 9h to confine the liquid crystal, and a set of leads extending outwardly from the segmental electrodes 9c beyond the cell frame 9f along the underside of plate 9b, these leads ending in individual terminals 9g. As will be apparent from FIG. 4, plate 9b extends laterally beyond plate 9h to form a pair of overhanging marginal portions which rest on the resilient strips 6a and 6b through the intermediary of sheet extremities 3a and 3b.

As particularly illustrated in FIG. 6, sheet extremity 3a comprises a plastic foil 3ad of polyimide resin, for example, on which the corresponding conductors 3ca are carried in the form of a printed layer 3ac of copper foil. The ends of these conductors carry a thin protective coating 3ab of malleable metal topped by a plating 3aa of contact metal. It is this plating which engages, under the pressure of strips 6a, the overlying terminal 9g of the corresponding electrode lead. Again, the resiliency of the mounting insures continuity of contact even if there is relative motion between the package 9 and the substrate 1.

At the chip 2, each conductor 3ca is soldered to an associated lead 2a of the chip. In view of the large number of these connections, the chip may be freely supported by the several conductor groups 3ca, 3cb, 3cc without coming to rest on the bottom of recess 1a, as seen in FIG. 4. This mode of mounting reduces the effect of transverse shocks upon the connections, in view of the small mass of the chip.

Though conductors 3cb are substantially longer than conductors 3ca, owing to the eccentric positioning of the chip 2 on substrate 1, sheet extremity 3b engages the display package 9 in the same manner as extremity 3a.

In FIGS. 7 and 8 we have shown a slightly different substrate 101 again sandwiched between two printed sheets, i.e. an upper sheet 103 and a lower sheet 112, the substrate having a cutout 34 for a nonillustrated chip. Conductors 103ca, 103cb, and 103cc are representative of several groups similar to those shown at 3ca, 3cb and 3cc in FIG. 2. Certain of these conductors are conductively tied to corresponding conductors in the lower sheet 112 by the aforementioned connectors 32 shown as pins passing through bores 36 in substrate 101. The pins 32 may be surrounded by insulating bushings if the substrate consists of conductive material.

The two printed sheets 103 and 112, whose topographies correspond to those of the respective substrate faces, are adhered to the substrate with the aid of respective bonding layers 31 and 35 terminating short of all the substrate boundaries (including the circumferences of cutout 34 and bores 36) so as to leave marginal clearances 33 into which the bonding material may flow upon the application of heat and pressure. Thus, the adhesive will not be extruded beyond the confines of the printed sheets during the bonding operation even if the layers 31 and 35 are relatively heavy to prevent localized weakening of the bond. The layers 31 and 35 could be stamped from coherent sheets into the desired shapes. They may also be produced by a conventional gelatin-printing process, or by screen printing, on the sheets 103, 112 or on the surfaces of substrate 101, e.g. from polyurethane rubber.

In FIG. 9 we have shown a manually operable control switch including the armature 14 described with reference to FIG. 3, that armature coacting with a tongue 12b integral with sheet 12 partly projecting into a bore 1d of substrate 1. Tongue 12b has a layered structure, similar to that of sheet extremity 3a described with reference to FIG. 6, including a foil 12bd of polyimide resin or the like, a conductor 12bc of copper foil printed thereon, a thin protective layer 12bb of malleable metal and a layer of contact metal 12ba. Depression of pushbutton 37, acting upon armature 14, resiliently forces the spur 14a thereof into contact with metal layer 12ba to close the circuit. Tongue 12b is bent with a relatively large radius of curvature about a resilient pad 1z inserted in the substrate 1 at the edge of pole 1d.

In FIG. 10 we have shown a modified mounting for an encapsulated oscillator 221 replacing the component 21 of FIG. 3. The oscillator envelope is provided at one end with a pair of terminal pins 221a, 221b electrically insulated therefrom and from each other. A flexible printed strip 223 overlies a generally L-shaped metallic bracket 222 and carries two conductors 223a, 223b respectively connected to terminals 221a, 221b. A cylindrically curved extension 222a of bracket 222 partly overlies the oscillator envelope whereas a lug 222c with a tapped hole 222b receives a complementary screw 224; the two conductors 223a and 223b terminate at the underside of lug 222c in two spaced-apart ring segments respectively registering with a pair of conductors 212a and 212b of the associated printed sheet to which the lug is clamped with the aid of screw 224. This mode of connection eliminates the need for separate screws 24, 24a as used in the assembly of FIG. 3 for connecting the oscillator terminals in an external circuit.

In FIGS. 11 and 12 we have shown a slightly different layout of substrate 1 with its top sheet 3 and its conductor array 3ca, 3cb, 3cc connected to leads 2a of chip 2. The upper and lower sheets 3 and 12 are here shown covered by thin moisture-proofing films 38 of low surface tension, e.g. polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon), such a film lining also the interior of recess 1a and the outer surface of chip 2 which in this instance defines a closed cavity with that recess. Chip 2 is provided on its underside with a flat plastic cover 2b of square outline, this cover being secured to the large base of the chip which carries on its underside a semiconductive module 2d connected by wires 2c to the leads 2a.

Moisture-proofing films as shown at 38 may, of course, also be used in other embodiments.

In FIG. 13 a substrate 301 has a cavity 301a spanned by a larger base of a chip 302 whose semiconductive module 302d is again connected by wires 302c to leads 302a contacting respective conductors of a printed sheet 303. The chip base is peripherally bonded to its supporting sheet 303 by adhesive material 39.

FIG. 14 shows a generally similar arrangement wherein a module 402d rests on the bottom of a cavity 401a of a substrate 401, that cavity being closed by a plastic cover 402b peripherally bonded at 40 to its supporting sheet 403. Wires 402c are here connected directly to the conductors of the printed sheet 403 and may be regarded as extensions of these conductors terminating on an exposed chip face.

The accurate alignment of the associated conductors on the chip, the display package and the printed sheets, due to the conformation of the latter to the shape of the substrate, simplifies the process of assembly and enables an efficient mass production of our improved timepiece.