Patent ID: 8079890

Claim:
A building block toy set, comprising: a plurality of interconnectable toy blocks comprising at least one smart block and a plurality of standard blocks, each having at least one first connection device at one end and at least one second connection device at an opposite end, one of the connection devices comprising a male connection device and the other connection device comprising a female connection device, whereby at least two of the plurality of interconnectable toy blocks can be interconnected by mating the first connection device of either block with the second connection device of the other block; the smart block having a sensor device associated with a the first connection device and configured to be actuated by connection of the first connection device with a mating second connection device on a standard block, and a processing unit associated with the sensor device which produces a sensory output signal at the smart block in response to actuation of the sensor device; the standard blocks comprising at least first and second standard blocks each having a contoured end face on the second connection device, the end face of the second connection device of the first standard block having a contour of a shape different from the contour on the end face of the second connection device of the second standard block; and the sensor device being configured to distinguish between the different shapes of the contoured end faces of the second connection devices of the first and second standard blocks when the first connection device of the smart block is engaged by the second connection device of the first and second smart block, respectively, and to provide a first sensor input to the processing unit when actuated by connection of the smart block to the first standard block and a second different sensor input to the processing unit when actuated by connection of the smart block to the second standard block.