Patent ID: 7312590

Claim:
An apparatus for providing power to a model vehicle, the apparatus comprising: a control knob configured to be rotated by a user over a range of positions; a light source; a sensing element in communication with the control knob and configured to detect a speed of rotation of the knob over a period of about 50 milliseconds or less, the sensing element comprising a first optical detector and a second optical detector; a rotatable disk in communication with the knob and intervening between the light source and the first and second optical detectors, wherein the first and second optical detectors are positioned at different locations along an outer circumference of the disk; and a processor in electrical communication with the sensing element, the processor configured to (1) correlate knob rotational speed with a magnitude of power provided from a power source to a model vehicle by multiplying a distance of rotation of the knob by a factor based upon speed of knob rotation and (2) detect a direction of knob rotation based upon a phase difference between electrical signals produced from the first and second optical detectors.