Abstract:
A hand held electronic game having sensors requiring the user to perform functions similar to those required during the activity simulated by the game. In a hand held electronic bowling game, both finger-movement sensors and game-moving sensors require the user to grip and swing the game housing much like swinging a bowling ball while finger-receiving sensors measure movement in the fingers and game housing-movement sensors measure the forcefulness and speed of the user&#39;s swing with the ball. The sensors include printed circuit boards and the game-moving sensor can utilize a LED and a photodiode along with a periodically transparent extension, which moves between the LED and the photodiode to determine the force of the swing by centrifugal force.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates generally to a hand held electronic game for more realistically simulating an activity. More specifically, the invention relates to sensors that require a user to perform functions similar to those performed during the activity simulated by the game or device in order to determine inputs for playing the game. In the preferred embodiment both finger-movement and ball housing-movement sensors positioned within a hand held electronic bowling game determine the movement characteristics of an electronic ball while playing the electronic game. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior art hand held electronic games, such as for bowling, generally, if at all, use crude mechanisms to determine traveling characteristics of the ball, such as ball direction and ball force. These prior art devices are lacking in a number of ways. The most glaring deficiency stems from the prior art&#39;s inability to simulate actual movements of an individual performing the activity simulated by the electronic device. 
     For example, the prior art commonly uses buttons and joysticks to determine direction of the ball and simple on-off switches to determine movement of the ball. More complicated systems requiring potentiometers with a spring loaded mass attached to the shaft and spring loaded weights with mechanical switching devices are also known but these systems are expensive, complex, and require precision manufacturing. 
     Thus, there is a continuing need to provide inexpensive yet realistic hand held electronic devices that are simple and easy to manufacture and assemble. This invention addresses this needs in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art once given this disclosure. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One object of the present invention is to provide an increased simulation effect for hand held electronic games. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide uncomplicated and inexpensive mechanisms to simulate a game electronically. 
     Yet another object of the invention is to provide both finger and ball sensors in a electronic bowling game to determine the traveling characteristics of an electronic ball. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide sensors for electronic games that permit the user to realistically simulate the activities associated with the real games. 
     The foregoing objects are basically attained by providing a hand held electronic game, comprising: a housing; a finger activated element coupled to the housing at a fixed end, and having a first finger receiving area and an actuating element coupled to a free end, the first finger activated element being capable of moving between a first position and a second position and the finger receiving area having an open end adjacent the fixed end and a closed end adjacent the free end; and a finger-movement sensing device rigidly coupled to the housing and coupled to the actuating element at both the first position and the second position. 
     The foregoing objects are also attained by providing a hand held electronic game, comprising: a housing; a housing-movement sensing device rigidly coupled to the housing, the device including a resilient element coupled to a weight-extension assembly, the resilient element coupled between the housing and the weight-extension assembly and the weight-extension assembly capable of moving upon movement of the housing; a light source; and a light sensor for receiving light from the light source, the weight-extension assembly having an extension positioned between the light source and the light sensor. 
     The foregoing objects are further attained by providing a hand held electronic game, comprising: a housing; a finger activated element coupled to the housing at a fixed end, and having a first finger receiving area and an actuating element coupled to a free end, the first finger activated element being capable of moving between a first position and a second position and the finger receiving area having an open end adjacent the fixed end and a closed end adjacent the free end; a finger-movement sensing device rigidly coupled to the housing and coupled to the actuating element at both the first position and the second position; a housing-movement sensing device rigidly coupled to the housing, the device including a resilient element coupled to a weight-extension assembly, the resilient element coupled between the housing and the weight-extension assembly and the weight-extension assembly capable of moving upon movement of the housing; a light source; and a light sensor for receiving light from the light source, the weight-extension assembly having an extension positioned between the light source and the light sensor. 
     Other objects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses preferred embodiments of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Referring now to the attached drawings, which form a part of this disclosure. 
     FIG. 1 is a top view of a hand held electronic bowling game in accordance with the present invention showing the finger openings on the spherical portion of the game; 
     FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the hand held electronic bowling game in accordance with the present invention showing the display and control section on the planar portion of the game; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the game illustrated in FIG. 1, taken along line  3 — 3  showing the finger-activated control assembly; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the game illustrated in FIG. 3, taken along line  4 — 4  showing the movement of the finger elements from an at-rest position in solid lines to a gripped position in dashed lines wherein the finger elements have pivoted, as moved by the fingers, and the contact has moved along to the wiper PCB an amount corresponding to the movement of the fingers of the user; 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the game illustrated in FIG. 3, taken along line  5 — 5  showing the wiper PCB and the movement of the contact there along from an at-rest position in solid lines to a gripped position in dashed lines wherein the finger elements have pivoted as moved by the fingers and the contact has moved along to the wiper PCB in an amount corresponding to the movement of the fingers of the user; 
     FIG. 5 a  is circuit diagram illustrating the switch created by the finger movement sensing device  102 ; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the game illustrated in FIG. 1, taken along line  6 — 6  and showing the movement of the finger boots and the force sensor assembly in an at-rest position in solid lines and in a second, game-swinging position in dashed lines; 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the game illustrated in FIG. 6, taken along line  7 — 7  and showing the weight-extension assembly in a first, at rest, position; 
     FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 7 but illustrating the weight-extension assembly in a second position, when the game is being moved, which is when the user is swinging the game housing; 
     FIG. 9 contains two graphs illustrating the functioning of the sensors during a forceful swing of the game housing; 
     FIG. 10 contains two graphs illustrating the functioning of the sensors during a less forceful swing of the game housing than in FIG. 9; 
     FIG. 11 illustrates a variable spring in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, with variable twists per inch; and 
     FIG. 12 illustrates a variable spring in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, with a variable spring wire diameter. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The subject invention preferably relates to a hand held bowling game  10  that is styled in the shape of a bowling ball. Preferably, the game  10  includes a housing  12  that is generally spherical. More, specifically, housing  12  has a spherical portion with finger openings  14 ,  16  and  18  for receiving fingers  19  of a user and a more planar portion containing a display  20 . Thus, housing  12  is preferably a truncated sphere. The display  20  includes a liquid crystal display of a bowling lane with electronic pins  22  and an electronic ball  24 . Control switches  26  and a sound speaker are also located on the planar portion. Together, the control switches, electronic circuits, sound speaker, and a set of unique controls within the finger openings  14  and  16  and within the housing  12  and an on-board microprocessor create a realistic simulation of a bowling game. 
     As seen in FIGS. 1-8, housing  12  is generally styled to look like a bowling ball with the top end cut off so that a flat space exists to mount the display  20  and buttons  26  thereon. Finger openings or holes  14 ,  16  and  18  in the bottom of the housing  12  are for the thumb and a pair of fingers, as in a real bowling ball. The LCD display  20  is driven by a microprocessor  34  and electronics similar to those used commonly in the LCD game industry. This invention provide a new, more realistic method and apparatus for supplying the inputs into the microprocessor  34 . Those inputs coming from a finger activated control assembly  30  for determining the direction the ball will travel down the lane and a force sensor assembly  32  for determining the force exerted by the use in swinging game  10 , which determines the force ball  24  will act on pins  22 . Ten bowling pins  22  upon a simulated lane and a ball  24  are illustrated on the display  20 . 
     FIGS. 3-6 illustrate a sectional view of the bottom of the housing  12  showing a finger activate control assembly  30  in the form of a finger element  100  and a finger-movement sensing device  102 . The finger element  100  includes two finger receiving areas  110 . Preferably, each finger receiving area  110  is a flexible boot made of resilient material such as rubber and molded into the shape of a finger tip. Each boot  110  has a fixed end  112  and a free end  114 . The fixed end  112  being preferably clamped to the inside of the ball housing  12  by a retaining ring  116 . This ring  116  is preferably affixed by mounting screws  118  so that the boots  110  are trapped at their respective base and capable of being pivoted about their respective bases. 
     At the free end  114  of each boot  110 , a contact mounting plate  120  is preferably attached by a retaining plug  122  and a fastener, such as a screw  124 . The screws  124  clamp the free end  114  of the boots  110  between the mounting plate  120  and its respective retention plug  122 . On the side of the mounting plate  120  a contact  126  is rigidly affixed in a conventional manner. As will be shown later this contact  126  will be used to wipe over a contact board  150  when the user flexes his two fingers within the finger elements  100  and causes the boots  110  to flex. Since the game  10  is preferably gripped as a bowling ball, the middle finger and the ring finger of the user are inserted into boots  110  while the thumb of the user is inserted into the third finger opening  18 . The gripping of the two fingers in boots  110  will move the boots  110  and this movement will dictate an affect on electronic ball  24 . 
     Contact board  150  is a wiper printed circuit board rigidly mounted to housing by a mount  152 . Wiper PCB  150  has, on its surface, two main trace areas. The first area  154  is a continuous arc for the common segment. The second area  156  includes a number of individual contact pads  157  arranged in an arc also. Each of these conductive areas  154  and  156  is connected by smaller conductive traces  159  to the edge of the wiper PCB  150  so that they may be electrically wired to the main electronics PCB  34 . When the contact  126  is pressed against the wiper PCB  150  it connects the common trace  154  to differing areas of the wiper PCB  150 . In effect, the combination of the moving contact  126  and the wiper PCB  150  create the electrical equivalent of the multiple pole selector switch shown in FIG. 5 a . When the user flexes his or her fingers  19  the contact  126  is swept over the surface of the wiper PCB  150  as the mounting plate  120  translates and mirrors the user&#39;s finger motion. In other words, the contact  126  preferably moves along with and the same extent as the fingers of the user. 
     FIGS. 4,  5  and  6  show how the user can flex his or her fingers  19  and cause boots  110  to bend. An unbent boot  110 , at rest, is shown in solid lines in FIGS. 4 and 6 and in dashed lines in FIG. 5. A bent boot  110 , moved by force applied by the fingers  19  is shown in dashed lines in FIGS. 4 and 6. It is this flexure that causes the wiper or contact  126  to slide along the wiper PCB  150  and signal to the main electronics PCB  34  that the user or player is selecting some amount of “spin” on the virtual, electronic ball  24 . The finger element  100  is biased in an at-rest position by the resiliency of boots  110  but can be further biased by a resilient, biasing element  170  preferably in the form of a spring rigidly coupled to housing  12 . As seen in FIG. 6, this connection can occur via force sensor assembly  32 . 
     Finger actuated control assembly  30  allows the player to select the mount of hook desired. The player flexes his or her fingers  19  to actuate the wiper  126  whose position is sensed by the microcontroller  150 . The degree of flex of the fingers  19  and boots  110  is proportional to the spin that is placed on the simulated ball  24 . This action mirrors that way that a traditional, real bowler puts a spin on the ball by squeezing his or her hand as the ball is released. Since the thumb releases first out of the ball the amount of squeeze is proportional to the amount of spin put on the ball. The boots  110  also allow the inside of the game to be sealed from contaminates because the boots  110  not only provide a spring restoring force to the finger elements  100 , but also seal the inside of the game housing  12  from any outside contamination. The switch mechanism chosen provides for an easy to sense switch based input that allows the microprocessor to directly read the position of the player&#39;s fingers at any time. 
     Finger activated control assembly  30  can be used by itself without other inputs into the main electronics PCT  34  or can be used with other control assemblies. For example, finger activated control assembly  30  can be used together with another input in order to even more accurately simulate the throwing of a bowling ball and control the electronic ball  24 . That is PCB  34  can receive input to know when the player starts the swing and how hard the player is swinging. As shown in FIGS. 6-8, a force sensor assembly or acceleration sensor  32  can be rigidly mounted within the ball housing  12 . Sensor assembly  32  has a housing-movement sensing device or force sensor  200  coupled to a printed circuit board  202 . Sensor assembly  32  is so mounted that when the player swings the ball housing  12 , the centrifugal force resulting from the swing is oriented towards the top end of the ball housing  12 , or towards the display  20  located opposite finger openings  14 ,  16  and  18 . The harder the ball housing  12  is swung, the more force will be seen by the sensor assembly  32 . 
     Force sensor  200  preferably includes a cover  210  secured to the PCB  202  with a weight-extension assembly  212  connected to cover  210  by a resilient element  218  such as a spring. The weight-extension assembly  212  includes a mass or weight  214  and an extension or blade  216 . The spring loaded mass  214  and the blade  216  can be integrally formed as a unitary piece or can be separate elements secured together. Preferably, blade  216  has apertures or perforations  220 . At rest, the mass  214  is biased by the spring  218  to be located at the right end or spring end of the cover  210 . During a swing, the centrifugal force causes the mass  214  to move toward an open end  222  of cover  210 . The amount of displacement of mass  214  is proportional to the amount of centrifugal force applied by the user while swinging the ball housing  12 . The amount of centrifugal force is proportional to the speed of the swing. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates the position of the blade  216  when the ball is at rest. FIG. 8 illustrates the position of the blade  216  when the ball housing  12  is being swung at the maximum sensible rate. In this case, the weight  214  and the perforated blade  216  have moved the maximum amount towards the open end  222  of cover  210 . Also shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, an infrared LED light source  224  and a phototransistor light detector, or photo sensor or light sensor  226 , which are both mounted with the sensor  32  on PCB  202  for ease of assembly. As the perforated blade  216  translates toward the open end  222  of cover  210  during a swing due to the centrifugal force, the holes  220  in the perforated blade  216  sequentially pass between the IR source  224  and the phototransistor  226  as the blade  216  moves toward the open end  222  of the cover when the swing is started. The open end  222  of the cover permits the blade  216  to extend through the cover  210  as seen in FIG. 8. A harder the swing of the game housing  12  results in a greater centrifugal force, which results in the blade extending further away from its at-rest position, which results in a larger number of holes  220  passing between light source  224  and light sensor  226 . When the swing ceases, the blade  216 , biased by the spring  218 , retracts toward the spring  218  and the holes  220  in the perforated blade  216  sequentially pass back between the IR source  224  and the phototransistor  226  as the blade  216  moves toward spring  218  and toward its at-rest position as the swing stops. Thus, through the light sensor  226  receiving a beam of light from light source  224  each time a hole  220  passes there between, the main game controller  34  can determine the force of the swing by counting the number of times the light is transmitted though blade  216 — a higher count means a stronger swing and a lower count means a less forceful swing. Another advantage of this system is that since the sensing is done optically, there is no need for a precision fit or tight tolerances with respect to sensor  32 . Therefore, sensor  32  can be merely laid on top of the PCB  202  and loosely held in place by dust cover  210 . 
     FIGS. 9 and 10 show how the microprocessor in the electronics PCB  34  can determine the speed and timing of the swing. The top graphs in FIGS. 9 and 10 show the intensity of the swing over time. The bottom graphs in FIGS. 9 and 10 show how the total number of counts sensed ramps up as the swing is completed. The microcontroller can use the total count to determine the speed of the swing. The microcontroller can use the time between the two bursts of counts to determine the length of the swing. Of course, although the force sensor assembly  32  is disclosed and illustrated as being used together with finger activated control assembly  30 , force sensor assembly  32  can be used by itself, or with other, different sensor assemblies. 
     FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate second and third embodiments of the invention with respect to the biasing of the weight-extension assembly  212  and pertains to the ability to measure low forces accurately while still being able to measure large forces. 
     Because, ordinary springs are linear, they compress or stretch in a manner directly proportional to the force applied. This works well for a sensor that sees a moderate range of forces, but if one is trying to measure accurately the velocity of, for instance, a golf club while putting, while still wanting to measure the speed of a simulated drive by the golf club in a simulated golf game, one runs out of room for the spring. In order to make a reasonably sized sensor it typically must be optimized to measure either a small or a large force. 
     Automobiles have a similar problem in trying to size the springs in a car to handle both the small shocks of normal driving and the large shocks of potholes. Too soft a spring gives a nice ride, but the suspension bottoms out over a pothole. Too hard a spring prevents bottoming out, but leads to a harsh normal ride. Like our case, the automobile has only a fixed length in which to place as spring. 
     Variable rate springs are one solution. These are springs whose resistance or spring rate depends on how far they have been compressed. At the beginning they are soft, but as pressed further their rate goes up so they can handle a larger force. This variable rate can be accomplished by winding the spring with a variable number of turns per inch as seen in spring  300  illustrated in FIG. 11 or by means of winding the spring with spring wire whose diameter changes over the length of the spring as seen in spring  310  illustrated in FIG.  12 . Either way it is done by using variable rate springs and it enables the ability to sense, for example, both a putt and a drive of an electronic golf game. 
     While the subject disclosure herein has been described with respect to a hand held LCD bowling game, the principals of the sensor systems can be used easily for other game formats and for other game systems. For example, a controller for a personal computer or PC based bowling game could be built using the principals taught by this invention. A bocci ball game system could be built using the sensing systems described above. The sensors could also be used to measure the swing speed of a baseball bat or of a golf club or the spin applied to a baseball, basketball, or any other hand actuated device. The utility of the invention is limited only by the desires of the user who wished to apply it. 
     Further, although some specific materials and structure for the game  10  and its sensors  30  and  32  is illustrated and disclosed it should be understood that other materials and structure can be used. For example, although the finger element is disclosed as comprising a number of elements attached by fasteners, a single, unitary, integrally formed element could be used. 
     While advantageous embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art from this disclosure that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.