Radio-controlled clock and method for acquiring time information from a time signal with reduced evaluation overhead

摘要

A time signal provides time and/or date information in a succession of time code telegrams that each include successive time frames having at least one data bit each. The time signal is received, decoded and evaluated to acquire the time information, for which only some of the data bits of a respective time code telegram are evaluated. Particularly, only those bits representing necessary time and/or date information are evaluated, while other bits containing other unneeded information are ignored or replaced by filler bits. A radio-controlled clock includes a bit decoder and an evaluating unit for decoding and evaluating only the pertinent bits, a counter that keeps track of the bit location in the telegram, and a controller that controls the decoder and/or evaluating unit to decode and evaluate only some particular ones of the received data bits in the telegram.