| US 7,583,565 B2 | ||
| Electronic timepiece | ||
| Kenji Ogasawara, Chiba (Japan); and Yoshihiro Shibuya, Chiba (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Seiko Instruments, Inc., (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Feb. 06, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/703,014. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2006-039478 (JP), filed on Feb. 16, 2006. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0189125 A1, Aug. 16, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 1/04 (2006.01); H03B 5/32 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 368—159 [331/158] | 4 Claims |

| 1. An electronic timepiece comprising:
oscillating means having a capacitor for protecting from a current leakage in an oscillation circuit loop for outputting a
signal of a predetermined frequency;
dividing means for dividing the output signal from the oscillating means and outputting a timepiece signal constituting a
reference of a time counting operation;
driving means for outputting a drive signal based on the timepiece signal outputted from the dividing means;
displaying means driven by the drive signal for displaying current time;
drive power supplying means for supplying a drive power at least to the oscillating means; and
controlling means for controlling the drive voltage outputted from the drive power supplying means;
wherein the oscillating means includes switching means; and
wherein the controlling means controls the switching means to short-circuit the capacitor in order to generate noise constituting
a trigger in starting to oscillate the oscillating means and electrically insert the capacitor into the oscillation circuit
loop after an elapse of a predetermined time period, and the controlling means controls the drive power supplying means to
supply a power source voltage to the oscillating means as the drive voltage in starting to oscillate the oscillating means,
and to supply a voltage within a predetermined range lower than the power source voltage and a voltage pulsating by a predetermined
period from the drive power supplying means to the oscillating means by intermittently controlling to drive the drive power
supplying means by the predetermined period after an elapse of a predetermined time period from starting to oscillate the
oscillating means.
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