1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time keeping apparatus and a method for controlling the same, and in particular, to a time keeping apparatus and a method for controlling the same having a function of displaying a calendar (i.e., a calendar display function).
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in order to save power consumed by power-consuming units, time keeping apparatuses are known which have, differently from a drive mode that consumes power, a power-saving mode to save power consumption, in which an operation mode is switched to the power-saving mode according to its manner of use by a user""s.
As an applied technique having the foregoing mode switching function, there has been proposed a wristwatch apparatus with a function of reducing consumption of charged power, in which the apparatus operates in a display mode so that time is displayed when a user carries it or during a certain period of time after no longer being carried, and then the time display is stopped entirely or partly when being switched to a power-saving mode and a certain period of time is passed, thus saving the power consumption.
However, in the above described wristwatch apparatus, some apparatuses have a calendar display function as well as the time display function.
In such a wristwatch apparatus having the calendar display function, some apparatuses stop the calendar display function when being switched to the power-saving mode.
Such a wristwatch apparatus is configured such that it does not automatically recover the calendar display even when being switched to the time display mode from the power-saving mode. Accordingly a user manually recovers the operation.
In the wristwatch apparatus that stops the calendar display function after being swithced to the power-saving mode, there is therefore a drawback in that the operation becomes troublesome because a user has to recover the operation manually when being returned.
In addition, in wristwatch apparatus having some other calendar display function, the apparatus adopts a configuration where only the calendar display is continued even when the mode is switched to the power-saving mode.
In the case that only the calendar is continuously displayed, power is consumed even in the power-saving mode, and power saving efficiency is lowered, resulting in a drawback that an available actual drive time is shortened.
Another type of wristwatch apparatus having still some other calendar display function is configured such that the time is displayed for 72 hours (three days) after entering the non-carrying condition, then it switches to the power-saving mode. As a result, this configuration helps a user who does not carry the wristwatch apparatus on weekends (from Friday night to Monday morning) with fewer manual recovery operations of the calendar display.
In this configuration, however, the power-saving efficiency becomes lower, because power is consumed even during the non-carrying condition in which the apparatus is not used. Moreover, difficulties in the user""s manual return to the calendar display are not always eliminated, though chances of such manual operations are decreased.
In order to display the calendar, it is possible to use a drive apparatus other than the apparatus used for the time display. But, a further increase in power consumption causes difficulty in that the drive apparatus for the calendar display is brought to a halt when residual energy of the power source for driving the entire time keeping apparatus is reduced to a small amount. In this case, if only the calendar display is stopped as it is, there is a possibility that a user considers that the calendar is up to date, although the calendar was actually stopped.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a time keeping apparatus having a display mode and a power-saving mode for reducing power consumption and a method for controlling same, which is easy to use and provides an increase in efficiency in power saving.
In order to achieve the object, the present invention provides a time keeping apparatus having a display mode for displaying time and a power-saving mode for reducing power consumption, the time keeping apparatus comprising a time display unit for performing a time display, a calendar display unit for performing a calendar display displaying a present date, a display stopping unit for stopping, in the power-saving mode, both the time display and the calendar display, and elapsed time of the power-saving mode, wherein the calendar display unit returns an operation of the calendar display to display a present date corresponding to a present time on the basis of information relating to the elapsed time stored by the time information storage unit, when a present time recovering operation is implemented, the present time recovering operation being an operation in which the power-saving mode of stopping the calendar display is switched to the display mode.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds