Abstract:
A simulated emergency vehicle display, for providing realistic light and sound in a toy emergency vehicle having a housing, having a front, a back, and a roof. A pair of headlights are located at the front, a pair of tail lights are located at the rear, and a plurality of light bar LEDs are located on the roof. A control circuit alternately illuminates each of the headlights, alternately flashes each of the tail lights three times, and repeatedly illuminates the light bar LEDs in sequence to simulate motion by the light bar LEDs. A speaker is selectively activated to provide a realistic siren sound.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a toy police car with realistic light and sound display. More particularly, the invention relates to a toy police car which has electronic circuitry configured to provide a remarkably realistic light and sound display. 
     While a tremendous variety of toys are available for today&#39;s children, including learning toys, board games, video games, etc. ‘occupational’ toys still are among the most popular. In other words, toys which allow a child to pretend to be a firefighter, a construction worker, an astronaut, or a policeman tend to be the most popular. Toy figures and toy vehicles are typical props in such play. 
     Among all such toys, the toy police car has been one of the most popular. A failing in toy police cars have been their ability to simulate the lights and sounds of a real police car. Some provide a siren. Some provide a flashing light bar. None, however are configured to simulate an actual modern police car—which often not only has a light bar, but flashes the headlights and tail lights as well. 
     In addition, while model police cars are often built by hobbyists to painstaking detail, they still do not provide a light and sound display with comparable realistic detail. Similar limitations occur in model ambulances and fire trucks, where the physical detail is striking, yet there is little operative realism in comparison to the complex light and sound patterns generated by their modern, full size counterparts. 
     While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to produce a toy police car which has a light and sound display which simulates an actual police car. Accordingly, the car includes a light bar comprising two red and two blue lights, a pair of head lights, and a pair of tail lights, a speaker, and a control circuit, which flashes all of said lights in a predetermined fashion and generates a siren sound through the speaker. 
     It is a further object of the invention to simulate rotating lights of a police car light bar without moving parts. Accordingly, the lights in the light bar of the present invention are four LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), which are lit in succession using four of ten outputs of a decade counter. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide a toy police car which, rather than simply flashing its lights on and off, actually simulates the complex flashing patterns of a modern police car. Accordingly, the headlights flash in an alternating fashion, and the tail lights flash such that one of the tail lights flashes on three times in quick succession, and then remains off while the other tail light flashes on three times in quick succession. 
     It is a still further object of the invention to provide a toy police car which has a siren, which when selectively activated, produces a complex siren sound. Accordingly, a square wave generator operates in conjunction with a phased lock loop, through an analog switch, to create a unique sound which is still remarkably reminiscent of emergency vehicle sirens. 
     The invention is a simulated emergency vehicle display, for providing realistic light and sound in a toy emergency vehicle having a housing, having a front, a back, and a roof. A pair of headlights are located at the front, a pair of tail lights are located at the rear, and a plurality of light bar LEDs are located on the roof. A control circuit alternately illuminates each of the headlights, alternately flashes each of the tail lights three times, and repeatedly illuminates the light bar LEDs in sequence to simulate motion by the light bar LEDs. A speaker is selectively activated to provide a realistic siren sound. 
     To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention, limited only by the scope of the claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings, like elements are depicted by like reference numerals. The drawings are briefly described as follows. 
     FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view, illustrating a model police car, wherein the front headlight lenses, the light bar, and the windshield have been broken away to illustrate light bulbs, LEDs and a speaker, respectively, contained therein. 
     FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view, illustrating the tail light lenses broken away to illustrate LEDs contained therein. 
     FIG.  3 A and FIG. 3B are schematic drawings of the lighting and sound circuitry—wherein the headlight and light bar portions of the control circuit are illustrated in FIG. 3A; the tail light and siren portions of the control circuit are illustrated in FIG. 3B; and the orientation of FIG.  3 A and FIG. 3B is illustrated diagrammatically by FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram, providing a higher level functional description of the control circuitry and associated components. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a toy emergency vehicle  10 , which is illustrated herein as a toy police car. The invention may also be embodied, however, in the form of a model or toy ambulance, fire truck, or any other emergency vehicle. The toy vehicle i has housing in the shape of an emergency vehicle having a front  10 F, a back  10 B, and a roof  10 R. The toy vehicle  10  has a pair of headlight lenses  12  at the front  10 F, and has a light bar  14  mounted on the roof  10 R. 
     Left and right headlight bulbs  16 L,  16 R are mounted behind the headlight lenses  12 . Accordingly, the headlight lenses are transparent or translucent. In addition, first, second, third, and fourth light bar LEDs  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24  are mounted within the light bar  14 . Preferably, two of the light bar LEDs  21 ,  23  are blue colored LEDs which are adjacent to each other in the light bar  14 , and two of the light bar LEDs  22 ,  24  are red colored LEDs which are adjacent to each other in the light bar  14 . The two red light bar LEDs  22 , 24  are together adjacent to the two blue light bar LEDs  21 , 23 . Further, a speaker  17  is mounted within the vehicle  10 , and is preferably positioned such that sound emanating therefrom permeates through the housing and is not unduly muted by the housing. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates tail light lenses  18  at the vehicle back  10 B. Left and right tail light LEDs  26 L,  26 R are mounted behind the tail light lenses  18 . The tail light lenses  18  are preferably red in color in accordance with typical vehicle tail lights and are also transparent. The tail light LEDs  26 L,  26 R, are preferably red colored LEDs. 
     FIG.  3 A and FIG. 3B set forth the best mode of the inventor for a control circuit  50 , which sets forth preferred part numbers for integrated circuits; values for resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors; as well as the interconnection thereof—including pin numbers for the integrated circuits. Note that for clarity, it should be understood that all numerals indicated in drawings figures FIG. 3A and 3B are either pin numbers, part numbers, or a part value—the difference between each being well understood by those skilled in the art—unless such numeral is accompanied by a curved lead line, in which case it is a ‘reference numeral’ particular to the present description of the invention. The functionality of the circuitry can be readily determined by those skilled in the art, and certainly can be implemented thereby without undue experimentation. Such functionality is, however, more readily understood by cursory examination with reference to the higher level block diagram provided in FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 4 illustrates the control circuit  50 , including a first square wave generator  41 , which drives the left head light  16 L, and which drives the right head light  16 R through an inverter  44 . Accordingly, the first square wave generator  41  alternately and mutually exclusively illuminates the left head light  16 L and right head light  16 R. 
     In addition a clock generator  46  generates a pulse which drives a decade counter  48 . The decade counter sequentially enables four of its ten outputs, Q 0  through Q 10 , with each pulse from the clock generator  46 , and then repeats the sequence. In accordance with the purposes of the present invention, the first, second, third, and fourth light bar LEDs  21 ,  22 ,  23 , and  24  are connected to outputs Q 0  through Q 3  of the decade counter. Accordingly, with each pulse of the clock generator  46 , each of outputs Q 0  through Q 3  is successively enabled, and the first, second, third, and fourth light bar LEDs  21 ,  22 ,  23 , and  24  are successively illuminated. Then, the sequence repeats. Accordingly, due to their staggered positioning on the light bar as described above, during each sequence, one blue ( 21 ), one red ( 22 ), the other blue ( 23 ), and then the other red ( 24 ) LEDs illuminate. This arrangement provides the substantially realistic simulation of motion of a real emergency vehicle light bar—without moving parts. Note, however, that the key to the realism is the alternation of color and position. In the alternative, illuminating in sequence one red, one blue, the other red, and then the other blue LED would be functionally equivalent. 
     A second square wave generator  42  supplies an output that enables a first oscillator  61 , and enables a second oscillator  62  through an inverter  63 . Accordingly, the first oscillator  61  and second oscillator  62  alternatively and mutually exclusively operate. The first and second oscillator  61 ,  62  are both configured to generate three quick pulses while enabled (during each half cycle of the second square wave generator). The first oscillator  61  drives the left tail light LED  26 L, and the second oscillator  62  drives the right tail light LED  26 R. Accordingly, when properly configured, by the proper selection of components as illustrated in FIG. 3B, the left tail light LED  26 L will illuminate three times as three quick flashes, alternating with the right tail light LED  26 R illuminating three times as three quick flashes. Thus, a realistic ‘strobe’ tail light effect is generated. 
     A second clock generator  43  is used to drive a phased lock loop  64 , through an analog switch  66 . The phased lock loop  64  acts as a voltage controlled oscillator and produces an output that drives the speaker  17  through an amplifier  68 . With the proper selection of components as those illustrated in FIG. 3B, the phased lock loop  64  is configured so as to generate a realistic ‘police car like’ siren. 
     The functionality of the control circuit  50  has thus been described in detail with reference to FIG.  4 . However, reference can now be made to FIG.  3 A and FIG. 3B to integrate the schematic embodied therein with the block diagram of FIG.  4 . In particular, in FIG. 3A a first ‘1556’ dual timer  70  is used to create the first square wave generator ( 41  in FIG.  4 ), which drives the left and right head lights  16 L and  16 R, the connection of which to opposite power supply terminals results in their mutual exclusive and alternate illumination. 
     Further, the first ‘556’ dual timer  70  also serves as the clock generator ( 46  in FIG.  4 ), which clocks a ‘4017’ decade counter chip  72  ( 48  in FIG.  4 ). The decade counter chip  72  drives the first, second, third, and fourth light bar LEDs  21 ,  22 ,  23 , and  24 . 
     Thus, FIG. 3A illustrates that portion of the control circuit  50  which controls the head lights  16 L,  16 R, and first, second, third, and fourth tail light LEDs  21 ,  22 ,  23 ,  24 . Other than of course sharing a common ground reference, FIG. 3B is connected to FIG. 3A by a single node, labeled as node ‘B’, which is a positive power source node. FIG. 3B illustrates that portion of the control circuit  50  which controls the tail lights  26 L,  26 R, and drives the speaker  17 . 
     In particular, a second ‘556’ dual timer chip  73  is used to provide the second square wave generator ( 42  in FIG. 4) and second clock generator ( 43  in FIG.  4 ). The second square wave generator ( 42  in FIG. 4) is used to alternatively enable the first and second oscillator  61  and  62 , whereby the inverter  63  is used to enable the second oscillator in alternation with the first oscillator, is implemented by a configuration of NAND gates and inverters, and provided in a ‘4011’ quad 2-input NAND gate chip  74  and a ‘7404’ hex inverter chip  75 , and their connection to the tail light LEDs  26 L,  26 R. 
     The second clock generator ( 43  in FIG. 4) provided by the second ‘556’ dual timer chip  73  provides a VCO input to a ‘4046’ phased lock loop chip  76 , through a ‘4066’ quad analog switch chip  77 . A VCO output from the phased lock loop chip  76  drives the speaker through a ‘NPN 3904’ transistor  78  which serves as the amplifier ( 68  in FIG. 4) for the speaker  17 . Not illustrated in FIG. 4, however, the speaker, and thus the siren sound emanating therefrom, may be selectively enabled or disabled using a siren control switch  79  connected between the transistor  78  (amplifier  68 ) and the speaker  17 . 
     Thus, herein is provided a control circuit which works in conjunction with head lights, light bar LEDs, tail light LEDs, and a speaker to provide a realistic audio/visual display from a toy or model police car, ambulance, fire truck, or other emergency vehicle. The invention is illustrated by example in the attached drawing figures and in the foregoing description. Numerous variations therefrom, however, are possible while adhering to the inventive concept. Such variations are contemplated as being a part of the present invention.