Patent Publication Number: US-6699093-B1

Title: Event-activated toy

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates to event-activated toys. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Event-activated toys are well known. For example, a crib mobile may be turned on in response to activity by an infant. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one general aspect, a toy includes a boundary device that defines a perimeter and a control unit connected to the boundary device. The control unit includes a detector that senses an event, an output device, and a controller. The controller receives input from the detector and sends an output signal to the output device to perform an action when the detector senses an event that occurs within the perimeter. 
     Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the boundary device may includes two or more curved segments that are assembled using a fastening mechanism. In another design, the boundary device may be circular. 
     The control unit may include an input mechanism for receiving input from a player. The input mechanism may include a push-button. The controller may cause the output device to perform a second action when the controller receives input from the input mechanism. The output device may include a speaker. If so, the controller may cause the speaker to play a sound when the event occurs within the perimeter and to play a second sound when the controller receives input from the input mechanism. Alternatively, the controller may cause the speaker to play music when the event occurs within the perimeter and to play the music at a faster speed when the controller receives input from the input mechanism. 
     The controller may enter a limited mode when the controller determines that input from the detector has not been received for a period of time that is longer than a predetermined time duration. The controller processes input only from the input mechanism during limited mode operation and cannot process input from the detector during that time. The controller may enter limited mode when the controller receives input from the input mechanism to enter limited mode. The controller may disengage the detector after the detector senses the event that occurs within the perimeter. The controller may then engage the detector after a second predetermined time duration following disengagement. The controller may cause the output device to perform the action for a third predetermined duration of time. The second predetermined time duration may lapse before the end of the third predetermined time duration. The controller may cause the output device to continuously perform the action when the detector senses the event that occurs within the perimeter before the end of the third predetermined time duration and after the end of the second predetermined time duration. 
     The detector may measure an ambient light intensity within a visual field and the event may include a change in ambient light intensity that occurs when a player moves within the visual field of the detector. 
     In another general aspect, a toy includes a boundary device that defines a perimeter and a control unit coupled to the boundary device. The control unit includes a detector that senses an event, an output device, a controller, and an input mechanism. The controller receives input from the detector and sends an output signal to the output device to perform an action when the detector senses an event that occurs within the perimeter. The input mechanism receives input from a player. The controller causes the output device to alter the action when the controller receives input from the input mechanism during performance of the action. 
     Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the action may be altered by changing a type of action that is performed. Alternatively, the action may be altered by changing a speed at which the action is performed. 
    
    
     Other features and advantages will be apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. 
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy having a boundary device and a control unit. 
     FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views of a housing and a base of the toy control unit of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 4 is an inside perspective view of the housing of the toy control unit of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 5 is an inside perspective view of the base of the toy control unit of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the toy of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a procedure performed by the toy of FIG.  1 . 
     Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, a toy  100  produces an output when a control unit  105  senses an event that occurs within a perimeter defined by a boundary device  110 . The toy  100  is designed such that the player moves relative to the boundary device  110  to produce the event and trigger the output from the control unit  105 . Accordingly, the toy  100  may be placed on a standing surface (such as a floor in a room) to permit one or more players to walk within or near the boundary device  110 . 
     The boundary device  110  may be made of a durable, safe, and inexpensively fabricated material, such as, for example, plastic. The boundary device  110  may be formed using any suitable molding technique, such as, for example, injection molding into any suitable design such as a circle, an oval, or a special design. As shown in FIG. 1, in one implementation, the boundary device  110  may be shaped with two or more curved segments  115  that are assembled by the players without the aid of additional tools to facilitate assembly and shipping. The curved segments may mate with each other using any suitable fastening mechanism including snap-fit elements or interfitting elements. For example, a curved segment may include a projecting element and an adjacent curved segment may include a recess. The projecting element of the curved segment may be cooperative with the recess of the adjacent curved segment such that the curved segments interfit and releasably interlock. 
     Referring also to FIGS. 2-5, the control unit  105  includes a base  200  that attaches to a housing  205  for holding components that control operation of the toy  100 , as discussed in greater detail below. The base  200  and housing  205  may be made of any of the various materials that have suitable properties (such as, durability, low weight, and safety) for such a toy. For example, suitable materials include, but are not limited to, plastics such as resins, polymers, elastomers, or thermoplastics. The base  200  and the housing  205  may be formed using any suitable molding technique, such as, for example, injection molding. 
     The housing  205  includes one or more press-buttons  210 ,  215 ,  217  for receiving input from a player (for example, an ON/OFF button  217  shown in FIG. 6 or a game button  210 ,  215 ) and an opening  220  coupled to a detector  400  to receive player input such as, for example, visual input. Visual input includes, for example, input that indicates an event such as motion or presence of the player. The opening  220  may be formed and positioned at a top of the housing  205  to provide an unobstructed field or region in which to receive the visual input. Therefore, the unobstructed field and the operating properties of the detector  400  define a visual field in which the detector may receive visual input. If designed to detect visual input, the detector  400  may detect visual input at any wavelength or range of wavelengths. Additionally, one or more openings  230  are formed on the housing  205  and positioned relative to an audio device  405  (for example, a speaker) within the housing  205  to permit audio output (for example, music) to emanate from the speaker  405  without being muffled. 
     Referring also to FIG. 6, the base  200  includes a compartment  300  for housing a power source  600  such as a battery. The compartment  300  may be opened and closed using, for example, a screwdriver or a snap-fit feature. The base  200  also includes one or more switches  500 ,  505 ,  507  coupled to the one or more press-buttons  210 ,  215 ,  217  on the housing  205 . A controller  510  is positioned within the base  200  to receive input from the one or more switches  500 ,  505 ,  507 , from the power source  600 , and from the detector  400 . 
     The detector  400  is designed to receive visual input from an event (such as motion or presence of a player  605 ) that occurs within the visual field. To accomplish this, the detector  400  includes a sensing device  610 , such as a photodiode detector, and corresponding circuitry  615  that converts the visual input into a value that may be interpreted by the controller  510 . For example, the detector circuitry  615  may convert light intensity received by the sensing device  610  into a suitable electronic level. The detector  400  may receive visual input at a particular wavelength or intensity. The detector  400  and the controller  510  are designed to send a signal to the speaker  405  if the visual input indicates that an event is occurring within the boundary device  110 . 
     In one implementation, the detector  400  and the controller  510  are designed to detect motion. The detector  400  continuously measures changes in ambient light intensity due to movement of the player  605  within the boundary device  110 . In this implementation, there may be difficulties with the amount of ambient light in the area in which the toy  100  is located during play and therefore the amount of ambient light within the visual field. If there is too much ambient light within the visual field, then the controller  510  may receive a signal from the detector  400  indicating motion within the boundary device  110  when the motion actually occurs outside the boundary device  110 . If there is too little ambient light within the visual field, then the detector  400  may fail to detect a change in motion within the boundary device  110  even though a player  605  is moving within the boundary device  110 . To account for such changes in ambient light intensity, the detector  400  may include a photoresistor that automatically compensates for ambient light fluctuations or a variable resistor that may be used to manually adjust a trigger sensitivity of the detector  400 . 
     In another implementation, the detector  400  and the controller  510  may be designed to detect a presence of a player  605  within the boundary device  110 . For example, the sensitivity of the detector  400  may be raised to a level at which a slight motion produces a value that indicates an event occurring within the boundary device  110 . In another implementation, the toy  100  may include one or more light sources positioned (for example, along the boundary device  110 ) to shine light on the detector  400 . In this way, the detector  400  may detect a break in the beam of light if the player  605  is present within the boundary device  110 . In another implementation, because a player within the boundary device  110  produces an amount of heat that is greater than an ambient amount of heat, the detector  400  may measure relative amounts of heat to determine the presence of the player within the boundary device. 
     Based on the input from the detector  400  and the one or more push buttons  210 ,  215 ,  217 , the controller  510  controls the speaker  405 . The controller  510  includes a processor  620  that performs the controller&#39;s tasks using additional information obtained from memory  625 , a clock  630 , and a counter  635 . 
     Referring also to FIG. 7, in one implementation, the controller  510  operates the game according to a procedure  700 . In this implementation, the push button  210  is a song button that generally causes the controller  510  to play a song segment and the push button  215  is a tempo button that generally causes the controller  510  to change a tempo or speed of a song segment. If the controller  510  determines that input has been received from the song button (step  705 ), the controller determines whether the player has requested that the toy  100  enter sleep mode (step  710 ). In sleep mode, the controller does not process input from the detector  400 . Moreover, during sleep mode, the toy  100  conserves energy by using less power from the power source. The player may request sleep mode by, for example, pressing the song button and the tempo button simultaneously. 
     If the controller receives a sleep mode request (step  710 ), the controller enters sleep mode (step  715 ). Otherwise, the controller determines whether a song is currently playing (step  720 ). If a song is currently playing (step  720 ), the controller increments a song pointer to a next song and resets a song segment pointer (step  725 ). After incrementing (step  725 ) or after determining that a song is not currently playing (step  720 ), the controller sends an output signal to the speaker to play a next song segment (step  730 ). 
     The controller then determines whether an event signal has been received (step  735 ). The event signal is a signal from the detector  400  indicating that an event, such as motion or presence of the player  605  within the boundary device  110 , has occurred. As discussed above, if the event is motion of the player  605 , then the event signal is triggered by a relative change in light intensity impinging upon the sensing device  610 . If the event is a presence of the player  605  within the boundary device  110 , then the event signal is triggered by an absolute value of light intensity impinging upon the sensing device  610 . 
     If the controller  510  determines that an event signal has been received (step  735 ), then the controller  510  determines if the song has finished (step  740 ). If the song has finished (step  740 ), the controller increments the song pointer to a next song and resets the segment pointer (step  725 ), and causes the speaker to play the next song segment (step  730 ). If the song has not finished (step  740 ), the controller increments the song segment pointer to the next song segment (step  745 ) and causes the speaker to play the next song segment (step  730 ). 
     If the controller  510  determines that an event signal has not been received (step  735 ), the controller determines whether a predetermined time duration has passed (step  750 ). If the predetermined time duration has passed, the controller enters the sleep mode (step  715 ). Otherwise, the controller awaits receipt of an event signal (step  735 ). 
     If the controller  510  determines that input has been received from the tempo button (step  755 ), the controller may perform actions affecting the tempo of the songs that are played. The controller may perform such actions relating to the song tempo in a background mode, that is, concurrently with or during performance of one or more other actions. In any case, upon receipt of input from the tempo button (step  755 ), the controller determines whether the player has requested that the toy  100  enter the sleep mode (step  760 ) by, for example, simultaneously pressing the song button and the tempo button. If the controller does not receive a sleep mode request (step  760 ), the controller determines whether a song is playing (step  765 ). If a song is not currently playing (step  765 ), the controller sends an output signal to the speaker to play the next song segment (step  730 ). If a song is currently playing (step  765 ), the controller determines if the tempo of the song is slow or fast (step  770 ). If the song tempo is slow, the controller changes the tempo setting to a faster tempo setting (step  775 ). If the song tempo is fast, the controller changes the tempo setting to a slower tempo setting (step  780 ). 
     Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the controller  510  may produce a visual output from a light source such as a flashing or blinking light. As discussed above, the detector  400  and controller  510  may be designed to detect the presence of a player within the boundary device  110 . 
     When the controller  510  receives input from either of the push buttons  210  or  215  while in sleep mode, the controller  510  may send an output signal to the speaker  405  to play an introduction audio sequence that indicates to the player that the toy  100  is now on. Likewise, the controller  510  may send an output signal to the speaker  405  to play a goodbye audio sequence before entering sleep mode. 
     The controller  510  may disengage the detector  400  after receipt of the event signal and then engage the detector  400  after a second predetermined duration of time has passed from receipt of the event signal. The second predetermined duration of time may be less than a duration of time required to play a song segment (called a third predetermined duration of time). In this way, the second predetermined duration of time and the third predetermined duration of time may be adjusted to permit continuous play of the music or sounds when activity in the boundary device  110  is continuous, or at least ongoing. For example, the second predetermined duration of time may lapse before the end of the third predetermined duration of time. In one implementation, the third predetermined duration of time is approximately 5 seconds while the second predetermined time duration is less than approximately 5 seconds. The predetermined duration of time may be, for example, 15 seconds, although other suitable durations may be used.