Abstract:
An electronic baseball card and an associated adapter is disclosed for showing images of baseball players or other personalities. The card includes a flat body similar to a standard pre-printed baseball card with an electronic display and a memory storing imaging data. The display shows images based on the data from the memory. The stand includes its own memory and an external interface for receiving data from an external source and for storing it into its memory. When the card is coupled to the stand, the data from the stand memory may be transferred and stored in the card memory. In addition to images, the card and/or the stand can also display other information such as statistical or biographical information of one or more players.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    a. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    This invention pertains to an electronic card adapted to display still or moving images of baseball players or other sports-related personalities or sporting events. The invention further relates to a stand or other structure arranged and constructed to operate in conjunction with said electronic baseball card to update information stored in the baseball card, and/or to perform other functions.  
           [0003]    b. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Printed baseball cards have been popular for many years, especially with adolescents. Similar cards have also been available for other sports, including basketball and football, as well as for other entertainment activities such as movies.  
           [0005]    These cards usually consist of a rectangular piece of cardboard with a picture of a player on one side and statistical information related to the player, his team, the relevant sport and, so on, on the other side. Of course, the information provided on the card becomes obsolete very fast and there is no practical way to update the information on the card. Moreover, the picture on the printed card is static and usually not very attractive.  
         OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    It is an objective of the present invention to provide an electronic card capable of showing an image stored in a memory on the card.  
           [0007]    A further objective is to provide an electronic card with or without a stand which can be used to display static or dynamic images of sports players or any other subjects.  
           [0008]    A further objective is to provide an assembly which includes an electronic baseball card and a stand capable of displaying and updating multimedia presentations.  
           [0009]    Other objectives and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following description.  
           [0010]    Briefly, an electronic baseball card constructed in accordance with this invention includes a thin flat body resembling a standard printed baseball card.  
           [0011]    Disposed or incorporated into the body is a card memory storing imaging data and a display associated with the memory for showing one or more images. The body is also provided with a zone on which statistics and/or biographical data may be printed for one or more baseball players. In an alternate embodiment, a second display is used to show this information based on data stored in the memory. Power for the display and the memory is provided by a small battery also incorporated in the card. A switch may also be added to selectively activate the display. The card may be used to show a plurality of images, in which case each image is selected using the same or a different switch. The card is provided with an input data port that receives data for storage into the card memory.  
           [0012]    A card adapter is also provided which may be used as a coupler to either update the data stored in the memory of the card, or to replace the data altogether with new data associated with a different player, team, etc. The card adapter includes its own memory and an external interface for receiving data from the outside world.  
           [0013]    When the card is coupled to the card adapter, data received from the external interface and stored in the adapter memory can be transferred to the card memory. In an advantageous configuration, the card adapter is in the form of a stand with a frame shaped to receive the electronic baseball card. Preferably, the frame is structured so that the image shown in the display of the card can be seen through the frame. The stand may be provided with its own battery, display and other accessories such as one or more speakers. The speakers and the card may cooperate to play a multimedia presentation consisting of images and sounds.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 shows an orthogonal view of a card assembly including an electronic baseball card and an associated stand constructed in accordance with this invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 shows a side elevational view of the assembly of FIG. 1;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 shows an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating the insertion of the card into the stand;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the baseball card used in the assembly of FIGS.  1 - 3 ;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of the baseball card assembly of FIGS.  1 - 3 ; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an alternate embodiment of the baseball card assembly of FIGS.  1 - 3 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    Referring now to FIGS.  1 - 3 , a card assembly  10  constructed in accordance with this invention includes a stand  12  and an electronic baseball card  14 . It should be understood that the term baseball card is used herein only to describe one preferred embodiment, it being understood that electronic cards for presenting other images and information may be provided using the same structure and method of operation.  
         [0021]    Card  14  shown in detail in FIG. 4 is flat so that it can be carried in a pocket.  
         [0022]    As with standard printed baseball cards, card  14  can also be stacked with several other cards similar to card  14  and carried in a pocket so that a person, typically an adolescent, can view the cards and trade them at will. Generally, the card  14  is rectangular and has a top surface  30 . An electronic display  32  is mounted or imbedded into the top surface  30  of the card  14 . This electronic display  32  may be an LCD display, or alternatively, it may be made of a light emitting polymer available from Cambridge Display Technology of Cambridge, U.K.  
         [0023]    Card  14  is also provided with a zone  34  where information about a particular player, such as his date of birth, home town, and other statistics is printed in the usual manner. Text may also be printed on the bottom surface (not shown) of the card as well. Alternatively, zone  34  may comprise a second electronic display  34 A (shown in FIG. 5) similar to display  32  but used for alphanumeric characters rather than images.  
         [0024]    Adjacent to the zone  34  there is a switch  36 , a battery  38  and a memory and driver circuit  40 . These elements may be formed or mounted on the top surface  30 , or alternatively , these elements may be embedded in card  14 .  
         [0025]    Disposed along one edge of the card  14 , there is provided an interface  41  as shown in FIG. 4. Interface  41  is arranged to mate with a complementary interface  50  formed at the bottom of slot  24  as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. The interface  41  may be, for example, a standard multi-pin connector and interface  50  may be a mating socket connector.  
         [0026]    Referring now to FIG. 5, the battery  38 , incorporated into card  14 , provides power to the display  32  and the memory and driver circuit  40  so that when the switch is off, the display  32  is blank. Memory and driver circuit  40  includes data representative of at least one digital image. When the switch  36  is closed, the memory and driver circuit  40  is activated and provides signals to the display  32 , thereby causing the display  32  to show an image corresponding to the stored data. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this image may be a still picture of a baseball player.  
         [0027]    The memory and driver circuit  40  may contain additional data and may be arranged so that with each subsequent activation of switch  36 , different signals are sent to the display causing other images to appear on the display  32  as well. These other images may be other still pictures of the same player, or a different player. For example, if the memory and driver circuit  40  can hold sufficient data., then a single card  14  may be used to show pictures of all the players of a baseball team. In addition, the memory and driver circuit  40  may also store statistical data about one or several baseball players. This data may be shown by the display  34  or a separate display  34 A disposed, for instance, on the back of card  14  or under display  32  thereby replacing zone  34 . The image shown by display  32  and the text shown by display  34 A ( if used) can be changed by activating switch  36  again, or by activating a second switch provided for this purpose (not shown). In either case, the data for the images is retrieved from the memory and driver circuit  40 .  
         [0028]    In this manner, the card  14  can be used in a manner similar to a standard cardboard baseball card and a person may view the picture(s) shown by display  32  as well as the statistical and biographical data printed or displayed in zone  34 . Of course, the electronic card  14  is capable of displaying much more information than a printed baseball card.  
         [0029]    The stand  12  includes a frame  16  and a base  18 . The frame  16  includes a back  20  and a border  22 . At the top, a slot  24  is formed between the back  20  and the border  22 , and is dimensioned to allow the card  14  to be inserted. The border  22  has a substantially rectangular cutout defining a window  26  through which at least a portion of the card  14  is visible when the card is disposed within the stand  12 , as seen in Fig.  
         [0030]    The stand  12  acts as a card adapter to allow the user to download data from an external source and then selectively to store the data into the memory card. For this purpose, the stand  12  includes an electronic control circuit  62 , a battery  44  which can be disposed, for instance, inside the base  18 , as well as two switches  46  and  48 . At the bottom of the slot  24 , the stand  12  is provided with an interface  50  mating with the interface  41  on card  14  as discussed above. Mounted on base  18  there are also provided two speakers  54 .  
         [0031]    Referring again to FIG. 5, the stand  12  further includes switches  46  and  48 , a microprocessor  56 , a memory  58  and speakers  54 , as well as a battery  60 . When the card  14  is inserted into stand  12 , these two components can have several modes of operation. In one mode of operation, the card  14  and stand  12  cooperate to show images of one or more players. Initially, as soon as the card  14  is inserted into the stand  12 , the microprocessor  56 , sensing the presence of the card  14  through interfaces  41 ,  50 , generates a command to the memory and driver circuit  40 . In response, the memory and driver circuit  40  generates signals for the display  32 , which then shows the image of a player as shown in FIG. 1. The microprocessor  56  monitors the switch  46 . If the switch  46  is closed, the microprocessor  56  generates a command for the memory and driver circuit  40  to advance to another image. Data for the images shown on display  32  can be stored in either memory and driver circuit  40  or memory  58 . The presentation of the images on display  32  may be accompanied by sounds played by speakers  54  thereby generating a multi-media presentation. Since the sounds can be played only by speakers  54 , the data for these sounds is preferably stored in memory  58 .  
         [0032]    Power for both the circuitry in the base  12  and the card  14  in this mode can be provided by battery  60 , thereby extending the life of battery  38 .  
         [0033]    As previously mentioned, the base  18  is fuirther provided with an external interface  52 . This interface  52  is used to connect the stand  12  to an external information source such as a computer or an Internet gate to update the data stored in memory  58 . After the new data is downloaded into the memory  58 , switch  48  may be activated by a user, and in response, the new or updated information is uploaded from memory  58  to the memory and driver circuit  40 . In this manner, the data stored by the card  14  can be kept current. Interface  52  may be a standard serial port, a parallel port, a USB device, an RS- 232  port, etc.  
         [0034]    Once new data has been sent to the memory and driver circuit  40 , the card  14  can be removed from the stand  12  and viewed independently.  
         [0035]    An alternate embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 6. Card  114  is similar to the card  14  in that it has a memory  140  and interface  141 . But it does not have a display. Instead, a standard still image is printed in the area corresponding to display  34 .  
         [0036]    The stand  112  includes a microprocessor  156 , an interface  150 , a memory  158 , speaker  154 , a display  132 , switches  146  and  148 , external interface  152  and driver  166 . The display  132  may be placed on any convenient visible surface of stand  112 .  
         [0037]    If the stand  112  has a similar configuration to the stand  12  of FIGS.  1 - 3 , then its display  132  may be placed in the window  26 , as indicated in FIG. 3, thereby blocking the picture on the card  114 .  
         [0038]    The memory  158  receives imaging data, as described more fully below. In response to commands from switch  146 , activated by the user, the microprocessor  156  retrieves this data from the memory  158  and generates signals to driver  166  which in turn activates the display  132  to show a corresponding image.  
         [0039]    In this embodiment, when the card  114  is not inserted into the stand  112 , it can be used just like any normal printed card since it does not have a display on which data from memory  140  can be displayed. However, when it is inserted into the stand  112 , its interface  141  is mated with the interface  150  allowing the data stored in memory  140  to be downloaded into memory  158 . Once this information is downloaded, the user can see corresponding images on display  132 . As in the previous embodiment, multi-media presentations formed of still or moving images on display  132  can be accompanied by sounds from speakers  154 . Moreover, the images may also include statistical data.  
         [0040]    The stand  112  need not be dedicated to a particular card  114  but can be used with any card. Thus, collectors can exchange cards and review images or statistical data on a generic stand  112 .  
         [0041]    The electronic cards  10 ,  114  are described in the preferred embodiment as baseball cards, i.e., cards displaying images of baseball players. Of course, these cards as well as the assembly may be used to show and store images related to any other sports personalities, as well as images of other sports and entertainment personalities. In fact, the cards could be used as a pocket picture album to display any images stored in the card&#39;s memory.  
         [0042]    Obviously, numerous modifications may be made to the invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims.