Patent Publication Number: US-6699097-B2

Title: Toys with timer-activated controllable operation time

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to timer operated toys. 
     2. Background Information 
     There have been developed toys that operate in conjunction with the quantity of input from a child. For example, Ideal Toy Corp. marketed a line of toy vehicles under the trademark GUZZLERS, that allowed a user to fill a “gas tank” with water. The vehicles would run for a time period that corresponded to the amount of water in the tank. 
     There have also been marketed electronic pets that require care by a child. With electronic pets a child must depress a button(s) to simulate an activity such as eating. The pets have an electronic display that can provide expressions indicating whether the child has performed the required care. None of these pets provide a correlation between the operation of the toy and the amount of time that the button is depressed. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One embodiment of the present invention is a timer activated toy which has a switch that can be switched to an on position. The toy also has an input device that can receive an input for a time interval. A counter may count to a count value once the switch is switched to the on position. The value of the count corresponds to the time interval of the input. The state of an output device is switched when the switch is turned to the on position. The output device switches states again when the counter reaches the count value. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a toy of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the toy shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic of an electrical system of the toy; 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an alternate doll embodiment of the toy. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In general the present invention includes a timer activated toy that has a “run time” which correlates to the time interval of a user input. The toy may include both a button which can be depressed for a time interval, and a switch that can be switched to an on position. The toy may have a motor that is activated when the switch is turned on and a counter that counts to a count value after the button is depressed. The motor is deactivated when the counter reaches the count value. The toy will thus be activated for an interval that corresponds to the time the button is depressed. This correlation simulates filling a “gas tank” of the toy. 
     Referring to the drawings more particularly by reference numbers, FIGS. 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a toy  10  of the present invention. The toy  10  may be constructed as a toy vehicle that has a plurality of wheels  12  coupled to a body  14 . At least one of the wheels  12  may be coupled to a motor  16  by a gear train  18 . The motor  16  can be switched between an active state and an inactive state by a printed circuit board assembly  20 . The toy  10  may further have a switch  22  that is connected to the printed circuit board assembly  20  and attached to the body  14 . The circuit board assembly  20  may include a button  24  that simulates the gas port of a “fuel tank”. The button  24  can be depressed by a toy gas can  26 . 
     The toy  10  may have batteries  28  that can provide power to the printed circuit board assembly  20  and the motor  16 . The switch  22  can be switched between an on position and an off position to control power to the assembly  18  and/or motor  16 . Although the switch  20  is shown attached to the body  14 , it is to be understood that toy  10  may have a switch  22  located in a remote controller  30 . The remote controller  30  may also have a stick  32  that transmits signals to the toy and allows a user to operate and control the toy vehicle  10 . 
     The printed circuit board assembly  20  may also have a speaker  34  that can emit sound. The assembly  20  may have one or more integrated circuits  36  and other electrical components to control the toy vehicle. 
     FIG. 3 shows an exemplary electrical system  40  of the toy  10 . The system  40  may include a controller  42  that is connected to memory  44 . The controller  42  may receive input signals from the switch  22  and button  24 . Alternatively, the switch  22  may couple the controller  42  to the batteries (not shown). The controller  42  may provide output signals to a motor driver  46  and speaker driver  48  coupled to the motor  16  and speaker  34 , respectively. 
     The controller  42  may be a microprocessor that operates in accordance with instructions and data provided by memory  44 . Memory  44  may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The controller  42  can function as a counter that counts to a count value. The count value corresponds to the time that the button  24  is depressed. Although a microprocessor is described, it is to be understood that the controller  42  could be replaced by a counter and associated circuits. 
     The controller  42  and memory  44  may also function as a speech synthesizer that drives the speaker  34  to generate “speech” or noises. 
     In operation, a child may “pour” gas into the gas tank of the toy vehicle by depressing the button  24  with the gas can  26 . The controller  42  creates a count value that corresponds to the time interval the button  24  is depressed. A longer time interval may correspond to a larger count value. The controller  42  may drive the speaker  34  to emit noises such as “gulp, gulp” while the button  24  is depressed to simulate the pouring of gas into a gas tank  26 . 
     When the switch  22  is turned on the controller  42  may activate the motor  16  and begin counting. The controller  42  may either count up to the count value, or count down from the count value. The speaker  34  may emit sounds that simulate the running of an engine during operation of the toy  10 . The controller  42  can deactivate the motor  16  when the count reaches the count value. Thus the toy will operate for a time period that corresponds to the amount of time the user depressed the button (filled the gas tank). The controller  42  may sequentially deactivate, activate, deactivate, etc. the motor before reaching the count value to simulate a vehicle running out of gas. The controller  42  may also drive the speaker  34  to emit sounds that simulate an engine running out of gas. The toy  10  may have a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), that provides an indication of the amount of fuel in the car. The fuel level corresponds to the present value of the controller counter. 
     FIG. 4 shows an alternate embodiment of the toy incorporated into a doll  50 . The doll  50  may have a baby doll body  52 . The button  24  may be located within the mouth of the body  52 . The button  24  may be depressed by a toy bottle  54 . Alternatively, the button  24  may be depressed by a toy spoon or other utensil. Instead of the bottle  54 , the activation of the button  24  could be the child holding the doll, or holding the doll&#39;s hand and depressing a switch that would record the count value. The amount of time the doll was thereby embraced or held by the child could determine the response activation circuit time. 
     The electrical system shown in FIG. 2 may be integrated into the doll body  52 . The toy doll  50  may, or may not, have a motor to actuate the limbs and/or head of the body  52 . The doll  50  may also have a switch  22 . 
     In operation, a child may depress button  24  with the bottle. The length of the time and/or number of times that the button  24  is depressed may define the count value. The doll  50  may emit “happy” sounds while the button  22  is depressed. 
     After a switch (not shown) is activated the controller may count to the count value. Upon reaching the count value the doll may emit sounds simulating a baby crying to indicate hunger. The count value corresponds to the depression of the button, so that an increase in the time interval, or number of times, that the button is depressed, simulates the consumption of more food and a longer period between “feedings”. 
     While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art. 
     For example, although separate switches  22  and buttons  24  were shown and described, it is to be understood that the present invention may be utilized with a single input device that provide both functions. For example, the toy or doll may have a single button that provided the functions of the switch  22  and button  24 .