Abstract:
An educational game is disclosed which uses a series of illumination devices which are sequentially illuminated to illustrate to a user a velocity. The user selectively chooses the velocity at which the illumination devices are sequenced and therefore can race against the sequence of illumination devices or monitor same. In either event, the sequence of illumination devices having been illuminated at the selected speed, allowing the user to interact, using mind and body with the phenomenon of speed allowing the user to experiment with concepts of speed and velocity. A further embodiment is shown wherein a series of audible devices in conjunction with the illumination devices are selectively actuated to illustrate to the user the velocity.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE 
     This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/861,529 filed May 22, 1997, now abandoned, which was based on provisional application 60/018,190 filed May 23, 1996. These applications are herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to educational games. More particularly, the invention relates to educational games that teach children about physical concepts such as speed and relative velocity. 
     Commercially available educational games have been used in various settings to teach a wide variety of information and concepts. Various board games, for example, use trivia or directed questions to educate users on various topics. Physical concepts such as gravity and velocity, are not readily amenable to such methods of teaching. Textual presentation of such concepts lack the environmental interaction that can provide a student a conceptual link that demonstrative presentation can give. Further, reading or listening to an explanation of a concept requires the student to perform the potentially difficult task of digesting the text into a form that has meaning to that student. 
     Some toys take a step toward teaching some physical concepts. Teaching speed and velocity, for example, are taught by introducing a relative motion with respect to the user. An example of such a toy is a car race track. The user then controls the speed of the car over the track thereby investigating and learning in an abstract sense the concepts of speed and acceleration. A problem with such toys is that the speed of the car is not known or given in absolute terms, and its context is always the same. Its scale is small, and does not allow the user to participate physically in the motion of the car to get a deep physical sense of speed and its consequences of covering a perceptible distance over time. 
     Currently available full size toys and games have not been used to teach such physical concepts. Examples of such games and toys are found on an average playground. A swing set, for example, can be used to introduce a relative motion to a user where the user oscillates with respect to the earth. The speed of the user is not easily gauged nor can it be controlled beyond the rudimentary manual control of the user. Therefore, the user has no way to ascertain speed against a controlled speed in order to learn the physical concept. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a game that teaches physical concepts such as speed and velocity. 
     It is another object to the invention to provide a game that is fully scaled such that motion within the game can be accurately applied to the user. 
     It is still another object of the invention to portray velocity, or other physical concepts, in such a way that the user can investigate the concepts in a playful way singularly or in groups. 
     These and other objects of the invention will be obvious and will appear hereinafter. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The aforementioned and other objects achieved by the invention which provide, in one aspect, a game for teaching physical concepts. The game comprises a housing, signaling means and control means. 
     The housing is elongate and is disposed alongside a track. In the preferred embodiment, the track and the housing are linear, and the housing extends for a length of the track. 
     The signaling means is disposed on the housing for indicating an active point on the housing substantially parallel to the track. The signaling means can consist of visual and/or auditory signals, such as a plurality of illuminating devices, such as incandescent lights, and a plurality of audible devices, such as bells. Each of the illumination devices and auditory devices are disposed in a spaced apart relationship along the housing substantially parallel to the track spanning from a beginning point of the track to an end point of the track. An example of such an arrangement is placing incandescent lights together with the bells, every one-half meter from the beginning of a twenty-five meter track to the end of the track. The simultaneous flashing of any incandescent light and ringing of a spatially related bell, gives the impression of actual motion. 
     The control means is electrically connected to the signaling means and has a control panel disposed thereon. The control panel comprises a gauge marked in meters per second for adjusting the speed at which the signaling means displaces the active point on the housing relative to the track. In other words, when an operator of the controls means adjusts the gauge such that it is set for five meters per second and the signaling means contains a plurality of illuminating devices, then the lights on the signaling means would then be selectively displaced at a rate of five meters per second. In this way if a person chooses a specific rate such as five meters per second, then the user can visually monitor the displacement and perceive a true representation of that rate. The user can dynamically adjust the displacement once the signaling means has started. Thereby, the user perceives the concept of acceleration. Alternatively, the user can delay the beginning of the displacement or have a separate operator start the signaling means, which allows the user to walk or run on the track and to compare their speed to the known rate of displacement. Thus, the comparison further teaches the aforementioned physical concepts by the kinesthetic involvement of the user. 
     The game is interactive, in that, a user can be positioned on the track while an operator is governing the control means. The control means are adjustable during use, so as to slow down or speed up the rate at which the signaling on the housing is displaced or even reverse the direction at which the signaling or the housing is displaced. The adjustability allows the operator to interact with the game and fool the user. 
     In further aspects, the invention provides methods in accord with the apparatus described above. The aforementioned and other aspects of the invention are evident in the drawings and in the description that follows. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various features thereof, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description, when read together with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 shows an exploded perspective view of the educational game of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the decision making process used by the control means of the educational game of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 shows an illustration of a control panel used in the educational game of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the educational game of FIG. 1 having start lights and audio; 
     FIG. 5 shows a series of timing diagrams for the educational game of FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention where the educational game is circularly disposed. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     While the present invention retains utility within a wide variety of educational devices and may be embodied in several different forms it is advantageously employed in connection with playground equipment. Though this is the form of the preferred embodiment and will be described as such, this embodiment should be considered illustrative and not restrictive. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown an educational game  10  of the invention. The educational game  10  comprises a housing  12  disposed proximal to a track  44  and a controller  14  disposed remotely with respect to the housing  12 . 
     The housing  12  is generally elongate along a central axis  15  which is substantially parallel to the track  44 . In the preferred embodiment, the housing  12  is fabricated from three or more separate pieces. The first piece is a base  16 . The base  16  supports a electrical enclosure  18  along a length of the housing  12 . The electrical enclosure  18 , in turn, supports a top  20 . 
     The base  16  is generally fabricated as either a hollow module having solid lateral surfaces or a series of individual supports. In either case, the base  16  serves a purpose of providing mechanical support for the electrical enclosure  18 . The base  16  is not required for operation of the educational game  10 , but the base  16  is used to elevate the electrical enclosure  18  to an approximate eye or chest level of an average user to facilitate use of the educational game  10 . 
     The top  20  is optional and, when used, is secured atop the electrical enclosure  18 . The top  20  can be used for functional or ornamental purposes, or both. In the illustrated embodiment, the top  20  has a triangular cross-section and is elongate along the length of the housing  12 . The triangular shape of the top  20  is used to dissuade children from climbing on the housing  12 . 
     The electrical enclosure  18  is generally hollow and fully enclosed. The electrical enclosure  18  provides an enclosure for the electronic and electrical components of the educational game  10 . The electrical enclosure  18  is preferably fabricated to be weather resistant, thereby, inhibiting water penetration to the electrical components. 
     Electrical enclosure  18  has substantially solid lateral surfaces that are bored at fixed intervals with apertures  22 . The apertures  22  are dimensioned to fit lights  24  which, in turn, are each covered by lens covers  26 . In the illustrated embodiment, the lights  24  are incandescent bulbs and, therefore, the lens covers  26  provide protection to the lights  24  from both mechanical contact and environmental elements. Together each one of the lights  24  and the lens covers  26  combine to form individual light fixtures  27 . One skilled in the art will realize that any of various light sources can be used to illuminate the housing  12  at fixed intervals. 
     A series of light fixtures  27  are disposed on the lateral surface of the electrical enclosure  18  as described. For example, in the preferred embodiment the housing  12  is elongate to a length, L, of twenty-four meters and the light fixtures  27  are disposed along the length L of the housing  12  at approximately every one-half meter. Thus, in the preferred embodiment there are 48 light fixtures  27 . 
     The light fixtures  27  are shown in FIG. 1 grouped into two sets of 4 light fixtures  27  where each of the two groups are controlled by a group board  28 . The group board  28  responds to digital commands carried by the signal bus  29  to actuate individual light fixtures  27  under the control of the group board  28  by switching power in sequence to the individual light fixtures  27  under the control of the individual group board  28 . 
     In the preferred embodiment auditory devices such as bells  25 , also receive commands from the group board  28 . As such, one of the auditory devices, bells  25 , is attached to the group board  28 , hence there is one bell for every four lights  24 . Thus, as the lights flash, the bell associated with the group board rings in synchrony with the lights. In the preferred embodiment, the auditory devices and the illumination devices together comprise the signaling device that indicates an active point on the housing  12 . It should be obvious to those skilled in the art that the illumination devices or the auditory devices can alone constitute the signaling device. In addition, other implementations of the signaling device, such as “flip-disk” technology, for example, can be used alone or in conjunction with auditory devices without departing from the scope of this invention. 
     A driver board  30  controls each group board  28 . Upon receiving a ‘go’ command signal over the command line  32  the driver board  30  sequentially actuates each group board  28  which, in turn, sequentially actuate the lights  24  and the bells  25 . The driver board  30  then polls the controller  14  for a user&#39;s speed setting over the command line  32 . The driver board  30 , in turn, addresses one of the lights  24  such that the group board  28  associated with the individual lights  24  will actuate the individual lights  24 , and sound the associated one of the bells  25 . 
     Addressing is accomplished using standard digital addressing schemes well known in the art. For example, in the preferred embodiment a digital system is used to address the eight lights  24 . Since there are eight lights  24 , a 3-bit system, i.e., 2 3  bits, is used such that the first of the lights  24  would be addressed as 000. The second of the lights  24  would be addressed as 001, et cetera, until the last of the lights  24  that would be addressed as 111. In this example, the most significant bit selects the group board  28 , and the less significant bits select the individual lights  24  attached to that group board  28 . 
     The command signals being passed over the command line  32  are polled by the driver board  28 . It should be obvious to those skilled in the art that a control board could also be disposed in the controller  14  to notify the driver board  30  in lieu of the polling technology without departing from the scope of this invention. Then, the driver board  30  reads the status of the individual controls disposed on the controller  14  to compute the logical sequence of the lighting and sounds as previously described. 
     Disposed on the controller  14  is a control panel  36  having a speed gauge  38  located thereon. In the preferred embodiment, the speed gauge  38  is an analog gauge calibrated in meters per second and having a positive and negative direction indicating motion away and toward the controller  14 , respectively. In this illustration, there is shown two buttons  40 ,  42  on the control panel  36  which indicate a start position. A near start button  42  indicates that the lights  24  and the bells  25  should begin illumination on an end proximal to the controller  14  and a far start button  40  indicates that the lights  24  and the bells  25  should begin at a distal end of the housing  12 . 
     An operator of the controller  14  sets the speed gauge  38  to a desired position and presses one of the two start buttons  40 ,  42 . The driver board  30  analyzes the speed, start position and direction on the individual controls on the control panel  36  and sends address information over the command line  28  indicative of the lights  24  to be illuminated and the bells  25  to be sounded. 
     In the preferred embodiment, the speed gauge  38  is a potentiometer that has a range of movement from 0 to 180 degrees. The potentiometer serves as a voltage divider thereby producing a voltage across the potentiometer that changes proportionally to an amount of rotation to the potentiometer. The output voltage is, therefore, reflective of a speed setting of the speed gauge  38 . 
     In the preferred embodiment, the speed gauge  38  is logically divided into three ranges such that direction can be altered by an operator. A negative direction is indicated by movement of the speed gauge  38  within the range of 0 to 88 degrees and positive direction is indicated by rotation of the speed gauge  38  between 92 and 180 degrees. The range from 88 to 92 degrees denotes a zero speed. 
     Upon actuation of one of the start buttons  40 ,  42  the driver board  30  determines a speed, a direction and a starting position from the controls on the control panel  36 . In the preferred embodiment the driver board  30  includes a PIC microprocessor operating at approximately 4 megahertz. The microprocessor determines the rate of speed, direction and starting position, and transmits over the command line  32  a command signal which digitally represents (or addresses) which of the lights  24  will be illuminated and bells  25  will be sounded. The driver board  30  then sequentially updates the address periodically according to the controls on the control panel such that lights  24  on housing  12  are sequentially illuminated and the bells  25  on the housing are sequentially sounded. 
     It should be obvious to those skilled in the art that the control panel  14  could be implemented by various user interfaces such as a computer interface, for example, without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     In operation, the educational game  10  enhances cognitive appreciation of physical concepts by illustrating to the user in real time various motion-related physical concepts. Velocity, for example, is a vector quantity whose magnitude is a body&#39;s speed and whose direction is the body&#39;s direction of motion. The educational game  10 , therefore, is illustrative of a body&#39;s speed by demonstrating to the user in real time a selected velocity. Further, the user can further determine personal relationships and kinesthetic understanding with respect to selected velocities by racing against the lights  24  which sequentially illuminate at a fixed and known rate. 
     Speed is a measure of the rate of motion, or the magnitude of a velocity. By utilizing the directional components of the controller  14 , the velocity can be made negative while the speed increases as an absolute value of velocity, thus teaching the user the physical concept of speed. 
     By dynamically changing the speed of the illumination of the lights  24 , acceleration can be taught. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time. Therefore, if a user changes the velocity at a substantially constant rate, the concept of acceleration is demonstrated. One skilled in the art will realize that various other physical concepts can be demonstrated and taught by the invention. The invention invites experimentation with all physical variables associated with motion, such as velocity, distance and time. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation of one embodiment of the educational game  10  is further illustrated where the signaling device of this embodiment contains only the illumination devices. As power is supplied to the educational game  10 , the process has essentially started  50 . An operator of the controller  14  then adjusts the speed  52  to a desired speed v. The speed is adjusted  52  and a value of a delay time τ is thus chosen, where the delay time τ is based on the desired speed v and the distance the lights  24  are spaced apart. One of the start buttons  40 ,  42  is then selected  54 . If operator is also going to be the user, i.e., the operator chooses to go over to the track  44  and race against the sequence of lights  24 , then a delayed start can also be chosen  56 . If a delayed start is chosen  56 , then the countdown timer is used  58  to delay the start of the sequence. If delayed start is not chosen  56 , or the time delay  58  expires, then the lights  24  are sequentially illuminated  60  where the first of the lights  24  is designated by n and each subsequent one of the lights  24  would be the n plus one. It should be obvious that if the value of v is negative, the first of the lights  24  would be designated by n and each subsequent one of the lights  24  would be n minus 1. 
     Once the illumination sequence is begun, a loop is used to periodically update the area on the housing  12  which is illuminated. In doing so, it is first determined whether the last of the lights  24  in the sequence has been lit  62 . If it has not, then the number n indicating the current address of the individually illuminated lights  24  is incremented  64 . The delay time τ is then used to regulate the periodicity of the illumination of the next subsequent light  66 . The next subsequent light  66  is then illuminated  60  and the process is repeated until the last of the lights  24  is illuminated, the process then stops  68 . 
     FIG. 4 illustrates additional embodiment of the invention where like numerals designated previously describe the elements, there is shown a second embodiment of the educational game. In contrast to the first embodiment, the housing  70  does not include the top  20 . Therefore, the housing  70  has a flat top surface of electronic housing  18 ′. In this embodiment there is shown a start signal housing  74  having a triangular top  76  to inhibit children from climbing and a substantially rectangular housing  78 . 
     The housing  78  has start lights  80 ,  82 ,  84  disposed thereon. The start lights  80 ,  82 ,  84  are colored in a similar fashion to that of traffic signals where a red light  80  is disposed over a yellow light  82  which in turn is disposed over a green light  84 . The start lights  80 ,  82  and  84  are indicative of a start procedure, which signals the user  94  that the light sequence will soon begin. Additionally, in this embodiment there is audible notification such as a speaker  86  which presents audible indications of the start sequence in addition to the movement of the start lights,  80 ,  82  and  84 . 
     As previously described the controller  14 ′ sets the speed, direction and position of start for the user  94 . This embodiment in FIG. 4 is shown an antenna  90  for communicating previously described command signals to another antenna  88  which passes the command signals to driver board  72 . Command signals are transmitted in a format similar to that previously described, except in this embodiment the command signals are encoded on a radio frequency transmission or other such wireless communication, such as infrared for example. The driver board  72  operates in a similar manner to that of the previously described driver board in that it interprets the command signals received on the antenna,  88  and drives the individual light fixtures  27 ′ as well as the start lights,  80 ,  82 ,  84  and the speaker  86 . 
     FIG. 5 shows a series of timing diagrams that are illustrative of how the system described in FIG. 4 operates in practice. The timing diagrams illustrate a standard use of the educational game where a near start and a positive direction are chosen and there are no speed changes or direction changes dictated by the controller  14 ′ during operation of the educational game. That is, an operator of the controller, assuming there is a separate operator from the user  94 , does not alter the controls  18 ′ while the user  94  is racing against the sequence of lights on the housing  70 . 
     Speaker signal  100  illustrates the electrical signal sent to the speaker  86 . 
     Following the speaker signal  100  are start light signals  102  indicative of the start lights  80 ,  82  and  84  where signal  104  is for the red light  80 , signal  106  is for the yellow light  82  and signal  108  is for the green light  108 . It can be seen that the red light  80  is normally on, and momentarily flashes off such that all of the start lights  80 ,  82  and  84  are off to indicate the beginning of a start sequence. The red light  80  then goes on and a pulse is then sent to the speaker  86  which emits an audible sound indicative of the beginning of the start sequence. 
     At that time additional lights, not shown in the drawing, which are located at the far end of the housing are cycled. The additional lights are indicated by two signals  122  and  124  where the signal  122  is for the additional red light and the signal  124  is for the additional green light. The red light goes to an “off” position when the start sequence begins. The green light goes to an “on” position at the end of the start sequence. Thus, the start signals  80 ,  82  and  84  can indicate a start sequence. For a short period the red light signal  104  goes to off. A pulse on the sound signal  100  is transmitted to the speaker  86  which again chirps indicating a transition in light. The yellow light signal  106  goes positive turning the yellow light  82  on. 
     Subsequently, the yellow light  82  goes off and the green light signal  108  goes positive turning the green light  84  on and another chirp is sent through the speaker  86 . At that time the end green light signal  122  goes positive, while the light fixtures  27  sequentially turn on. 
     The fixture signals  110  are shown as sequentially illuminating where a first light fixture signal  112  goes on for a period of time dictated by the previously described speed control which dictates the time τ. Once the on time for the first light fixture signal  112  has expired, the light fixture signal  112  goes off thereby shutting the first light fixture off and the second light fixture signal  114  goes on tuning the second light fixture on. This precedes through the sequence of light fixtures until the penultimate light fixture signal  116  goes on, followed by the last light fixture signal  118  going on and transitioning to off. 
     Once the last light fixture signal  118  goes off, the red light signals  104  and,  122  transition to an on state and the distal end green light signal  122  goes off. This makes both red lights turn on. 
     Referring now to FIG. 6 an additional embodiment of the invention is shown where the educational game  130  is arranged non-linearly. The previous embodiments have each described linear embodiments with a linear track corresponding thereto. This embodiment also does not have auditory signals. Additionally, incandescent or other standard forms of illumination have been described. In this embodiment the educational game  130  is disposed in a oval shape where a track  144  is oriented around the educational game  130  in a similar oval shape. 
     In this embodiment the electrical housing,  132  is disposed on a oval shape base  134  and has a plurality of light fixtures  136  disposed a fix periodic relationship to each other about the oval. 
     As before, the illumination of the light fixture  136  is controlled by a controller  14 ″. In contrast to the previous embodiment, the illumination in this embodiment is achieved by a laser  138  which is rotationally disposed in a center position of the oval such that it can be driven in 360 degrees of rotation along the path R. The speed of rotation along the path R is controlled by the controller  14 ″ such that the sequential illumination of the light fixtures  136  by the laser  138  correspond to the velocity chosen on the controller  14 ″. That is, when the laser  138  projects a bean  140  to a light fixture  142  causing the light fixture  142  to illuminate, the rotational velocity of the laser  138  will illuminate the light fixture  142  at a rate corresponding to the velocity on the controller  14 ″. In this embodiment the light fixture  142  lacks individual electronics or illumination devices but is presented with a lens having a phosphorescent film which phosphoresces in response to the beam  140 . 
     The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.