Patent Publication Number: US-7708615-B2

Title: Toy building system with function bricks

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to toy building systems comprising building elements with coupling means for releasably interconnecting building elements. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Such toy building systems have been known for decades. The simple building blocks have been supplemented with dedicated building elements with either a specific appearance or a mechanical or electrical function to enhance the play value. Such functions include e.g. motors, switches and lamps, but also programmable processors that accept input from sensors and can activate function elements in response to received sensor inputs. 
   Self-contained function building elements exist which have a function device adapted to perform a preconfigured function, an energy source for providing energy to the function device for performing the function, and a trigger responsive to an external trigger event to trigger the function device to perform the function. Typically, such known function building elements are designed for manual activation of the trigger and only provide a limited play value. 
   It is thus the purpose of the invention to provide a toy building system with new building elements that are suitable for use in the system, and that will enhance the play value of the system. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This purpose is achieved by the toy building system of the invention where the system comprises either one or more sensor building elements, or one or more logic building elements or one or more function building elements all having coupling means to make them compatible with the toy building system. The invention is generally applicable to toy building systems with building elements having coupling means for releasably interconnecting building elements. 
   In particular, when each function building element has a function device adapted to perform a preconfigured function and an energy source for providing energy to the function device for performing the function, and a trigger responsive to an external mechanical trigger action to trigger the function device to perform the function, wherein the trigger in each function building element is arranged in a uniform manner relative to the coupling means, function elements can easily be interchanged within a given toy construction without having to change the trigger mechanism. 
   Mechanical trigger inputs further provide a simple and robust trigger mechanism that does not rely on electrical connections or other complicated and error-prone mechanisms. Furthermore, such mechanical trigger mechanisms are intuitive and easy to work with, even for smaller children. 
   Consequently, function building elements with mechanical triggers in a standardized place, make the function building elements suited for use in toy building systems, and increase the play value. 
   In some embodiments, the toy building set includes one or more sensor building elements and optionally one or more logic building elements, each having mechanical trigger outputs arranged in a uniform manner adapted to activate the triggers of the function building elements. Consequently, a building set is provided that allows a user to construct a large variety of functions and functional relationships in a uniform manner and with a limited set of different construction elements. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIGS. 1-3  each show a prior art toy building brick, 
       FIG. 4  shows a toy building brick of the invention, 
       FIG. 4A  illustrates the activation of the toy building brick in  FIG. 4 , 
       FIGS. 5 and 5A  show the toy building brick in  FIG. 4  when used in a toy building system that activates the toy building brick, 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an alternative structure for activating the toy building brick, 
       FIG. 7  illustrates schematically a toy building brick with a switch, 
       FIG. 8  illustrates schematically a function building brick with an electrical function and a battery for powering the electrical function, 
       FIG. 9  illustrates schematically a function building brick with a mechanical function and a spring for powering the mechanical function, 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a toy building system of the invention comprising sensor bricks, logic bricks and function bricks, 
       FIGS. 11-13  illustrate different uses of the toy building system in  FIG. 10 . 
       FIGS. 14-15  illustrate examples of function bricks. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention will be described using toy building elements in the form of bricks. However, the invention may be applied to other forms of building elements used in construction building sets. 
   In  FIG. 1  is shown a toy building brick with coupling studs on its top surface and a cavity extending into the brick from the bottom. The cavity has a central tube, and coupling studs on another brick can be received in the cavity in a frictional engagement as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282.  FIGS. 2  and  3  show other such prior art building bricks. The building bricks shown in the remaining figures have this known type of coupling means in the form of cooperating studs and cavities. However, other types of coupling means may also be used. 
     FIG. 4  shows a toy building brick  10  with a push button  11  on one of the side faces and coupling studs  12  on its top surface. In the shown embodiment the toy building element  10  illustrates a function building element where the push button  11  provides a mechanical input or trigger for activating a function device in the building element  10  as illustrated in  FIG. 4A , where a mechanical force is applied to the trigger and pushes the trigger into the brick, whereby a function device in the brick is activated. 
   Generally, the force may be applied by an external triggering member, e.g. a triggering member that engages the trigger by means of physical contact. The external trigger member may e.g. be a human finger or be provided by a mechanism in the toy building set. In particular, when the toy building brick  10  is used as a part of a system that includes a sensor and/or logic brick as described below, the force may be applied by a mechanical output member of said sensor or logic brick, e.g. by means of a direct physical contact or via an intermediary member such as a rod, a pin, a wheel, or the like. Examples of such output members include a shaft, a pin, a cam wheel, a hinged or pivoting member, or the like. 
     FIG. 5  illustrates a rotating wheel  51  with a cam  52  on its periphery. When the wheel  51  rotates the cam  52  will activate the button  11  once every revolution of the wheel  51  as illustrated in  FIG. 5A . 
   In  FIG. 6  the cam activates the push button  11  indirectly via an intermediate push rod  61  that is arranged in through-holes in two supporting building bricks  62 . The push rod  61  is preferably of the type having a cross-shaped cross-section, and the push button  11  preferably has a hole with a corresponding cross-section for receiving an end of the push rod. 
   In  FIG. 7  is illustrated that the function device in the brick  10  can be a switch  71 . The switch  71  can be a normally open or a normally closed switch, and its terminals can be connected to the coupling studs on the top surface or to the surfaces in the cavity that are intended for engaging coupling studs on other building bricks. 
   In  FIG. 8  is illustrated a function brick that has a battery  82  that store electrical energy, and a switch  81  can be activated by the push button, whereby an electrical function device  83  receives electric power from the battery  82 , and the electrical function device  83  performs a preconfigured electrical function. 
   In  FIG. 9  is illustrated a function brick that has a spring  92  that stores mechanical energy that by activating the push button can be released and supplied to a mechanical function device  93  for performing a preconfigured mechanical function. 
   Examples of the preconfigured mechanical function that the function bricks of the invention can perform include driving a rotating output shaft, winding-up a string or a chain which enables pulling an object closer to the function brick, fast or slow moving a hinged part of the function brick which enables e.g. opening or closing a door, ejecting an object, etc. Such mechanical motions can be driven by an electric motor powered by a battery  82  or a rechargeable electric capacitor, or by a spring  92  or other resilient member or compressed air. 
   Examples of the preconfigured electrical function that the function bricks of the invention can perform include operating a switch with accessible terminals, emitting constant or blinking light, activating several lamps in a predetermined sequence, emitting audible sound such as beep, alarm, bell, siren, voice message, music, synthetic sound, natural or imitated sound simulating and stimulating play activities, recording and playback of a sound, emitting inaudible sound such as ultrasound, emitting a radio frequency signal or an infrared signal to be received by another component, etc. 
   Hence, the function device may include any suitable mechanical and/or electrical device, arrangement or circuitry adapted to perform one or more of the above or alternative functions. Examples of function devices include a light source such as a lamp or LED, a sound generator, a motor, a hinged part, a rotatable shaft, a signal generator, or the like. 
   In a more general embodiment of the function brick  10  the input  11  is a mechanical trigger device/element. The mechanical trigger is responsive to external mechanical actions/events such as mechanical forces, push, pull, rotation, pressure, an impulse, touch, a momentum, an angular momentum, or the like. The mechanical trigger may be a trigger element known per se, and the skilled person will know how to select a trigger that suits a particular purpose. When activated by a sensed external mechanical event, a function device in the brick will be activated to perform a function as described above. 
   It is a common feature of the function bricks that the trigger or input of each brick is arranged in a first uniform manner relative to the coupling means, i.e. to the coupling studs on the top surface and/or to the coupling cavity in the bottom. This makes the function bricks interchangeable, and in a toy construction built with bricks as in  FIGS. 1-3  several function bricks can be used interchangeably, and a particular function brick can be used in several constructions. A toy building system may comprise several of such function bricks responsive to different external mechanical actions. Nevertheless, if all function bricks include corresponding trigger elements that are responsive to the same mechanical actions in a uniform manner, such function bricks may easily be interchanged within a toy construction built from the building bricks described herein. For example, a function brick including a lamp may simply be replaced by a function brick including a sound source or loudspeaker, without having to change any other part of the construction, since both function bricks are activated in the same way. 
     FIG. 10  illustrates three groups of toy building bricks: sensor bricks (S 1 , S 2 , . . . , SN), logic bricks (L 1 , L 2 , . . . , LM) and function bricks (F 1 , F 2 , . . . , FK) for use in a toy building set comprising building elements with coupling means for releasably interconnecting building elements, e.g. the known bricks shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . The function bricks are described above. 
   Sensor bricks  20  each have a sensor  21  that is responsive to an external physical event symbolized by an arrow. Examples of such external physical events comprise mechanical forces, push, pull, rotation, human manipulation, touch, proximity of an object, electrical signals, radio frequency signals, optical signals, visible light signals, infrared signals, magnetic signals, temperature, humidity, radiation, etc. Preferably, each sensor is responsive to only a particular type of such physical events, thereby providing a number of different sensor bricks S 1 , S 2 , . . . , SN. 
   Each sensor brick  20  has an output  22 , and when an external physical event has reached the sensor, the sensor brick will respond by outputting a mechanical output action on its output  22 . All sensor bricks preferably output an output action of uniform nature as to impart a force, a momentum, an angular momentum, or the like on a corresponding trigger input. For example, the output  22  may include an output member that performs a translational movement (e.g. a push or pull) or a rotation of an output member such as a shaft or pin, thereby conveying a mechanical force and/or momentum and/or angular momentum. Preferably, all sensor brick outputs are arranged in a second uniform manner relative to the coupling means, i.e. to the coupling studs on the top surface and/or to the coupling cavity in the bottom. Furthermore, in some embodiments, all sensor bricks provide a mechanical output of a uniform nature such that the sensor brick outputs cooperate with the trigger inputs of the function bricks and/or logic bricks as to impart a mechanical action of a uniform nature, such as a predetermined force or momentum. This makes the sensor bricks interchangeable, and in a toy construction built with bricks as in  FIGS. 1-3  several sensor bricks can be used interchangeably, and a particular sensor brick can be used in several constructions. 
   Sensor bricks can be used alone with the toy building set or in combination with one or more function bricks described above. 
   Logic bricks  30  each have a mechanical input  31  and a mechanical output  32 . The input  31  of a logic brick  30  accepts an output action from the output  22  of any sensor brick  20 . The logic bricks  30  are adapted to perform a logic function on the logic brick input action and to output an output action that is a result of the logic function performed on the logic brick input action. Preferably, the output action from the logic bricks  30  are of the same mechanical nature as the output actions from the sensor bricks  20 , which means that both sensor bricks and logic bricks output e.g. an electrical or a mechanical action. Furthermore, in preferred embodiments, the logic brick inputs are adapted to be responsive to the same mechanical inputs as the function brick inputs. 
   Examples of logic functions performed by the logic bricks comprise delay output relative to input, repeat input a predetermined number of times on output, output only if input meets certain criteria e.g. a certain sequence or pattern is received as input, output a predetermined sequence or pattern of output actions. Hence in a toy building set there may be a number of different logic bricks L 1 , L 2 , . . . , LM allowing to implement different logic functions by simply interchanging the logic bricks in a given construction. 
   In  FIG. 11  is illustrated an intended use of the sensor, logic and function bricks in  FIG. 10 . A sensor brick  20 , a logic brick  30  and a function brick  10  are arranged in series as shown, and they may be interconnected with other building bricks of the toy building system. The sensor brick  20  responds to an external physical event (the arrow) that is sensed by the sensor  21  by giving an output action on its output  22 . The logic brick  30  receives the output action from the sensor brick  20  on its input  31 . The logic brick  30  performs a logic function on the action received from the sensor brick and generates a corresponding output action on its output  32 . The function brick  10  receives the output action from the logic brick  30  on its input  11  and performs its function. Each of the sensor bricks, the logic bricks and the function bricks are interchangeable with other bricks from the same group. Hence, when a toy construction set includes several function bricks and/or several sensor bricks and/or several logic bricks with uniform mechanical inputs and outputs, a large variety of different functions triggered by different sensor inputs may be constructed simply by interchanging the various bricks. Since all mechanical interfaces are arranged in a uniform manner with respect to the coupling means and operate in a uniform manner, the various bricks can easily be interchanged within a construction. 
   In  FIG. 12  is illustrated another intended use of the sensor and function bricks in  FIG. 10 . The difference from  FIG. 11  is that a logic brick is missing. A sensor brick  20  and a function brick  10  are arranged in series as shown, and they may be interconnected with other building bricks of the toy building system. The sensor brick  20  responds to an external physical event (the arrow) that is sensed by the sensor  21  by giving an output action on its output  22 . The function brick  10  receives the output action from the sensor brick  20  on its input  11  and performs its function. Each of the sensor bricks and the function bricks are interchangeable with other bricks from the same group. 
   All logic bricks and all function bricks accept the output action from any sensor brick and from any logic brick as their input action. 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 13 , two or more identical or different logic bricks  30  can therefore be connected in series so that a logic brick receives the output action from a preceding logic brick as its input action, whereby the combined logic function of the two logic bricks are combined before the function brick  10  is triggered to perform its function. 
   Preferably, the function bricks have a preconfigured function, but functions may also be programmed or otherwise determined or influenced by the user. Likewise, the logic bricks preferably have a preconfigured logic function, but logic functions may also be programmed or otherwise determined or influenced by the user. 
     FIG. 14   a  shows a perspective view of the function brick, while  FIG. 14   b  shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the brick. The function brick  10  is a building brick of the general type described in connection with  FIGS. 1 and 2 , and includes coupling studs on its top surface arranged in a regular pattern and in a predetermined relation to the side walls. Furthermore, the brick includes one or more corresponding cavities on the bottom surface (not explicitly shown) for frictionally engaging with the protrusions of another such bricks. The function brick comprises a trigger in the form of a push button  11  on one of its side faces. The trigger is positioned at a predetermined position on the side face and thus relative to the cavity (and/or the protrusions), e.g. at a predetermined height from the bottom surface. 
   The push button  11  causes, when depressed, two electrical contacts  131  and  132  to close. The contacts are connected to batteries  133  and  134 , respectively. The brick  10  further includes an LED  135  electrically connected to the batteries. Consequently, as long as the push button  11  is pressed, the LED is turned on. 
     FIG. 15  shows a perspective view of another example of a function brick. The function brick  10  is similar to the function brick of  FIG. 14  and comprises a push button  11  positioned at the same relative location to the cavities on the bottom surface of the brick as the push button of the function brick of  FIG. 14 . Furthermore, the push buttons of both bricks have the same general shape and the same manner of activation. Hence, in a construction, when the function bricks of  FIGS. 14 and 15  are interchanged, the push button is positioned at the same location and can be activated in the same manner. Nevertheless, instead of the LED, the function brick  10  of  FIG. 15  includes a battery-driven sound generator  155  for providing an audible output. 
   Generally, when the trigger inputs of the function building elements, the outputs of the sensor building elements, and the inputs and outputs of the logic elements are positioned on a sidewall of the building elements that have coupling means on their top and bottom surfaces, the inputs and outputs do not interfere with the coupling means. Furthermore, this placement of the trigger interfaces allows the construction of entire sequences or even networks of function, sensor and logic elements within one horizontal layer/plane without the need of an additional means of transmitting the trigger events, in particular without the need of any specific base plate for conveying the trigger actions/events from one building element to the next.