Patent ID: 8098240

Claim:
A computer peripheral toy comprising: a capacitive touchpad assembly comprising: a capacitive touch surface; a pulse generator configured to provide pulses defining recurring intervals; a logic-controlled switch for altering a voltage of the capacitive touch surface during each interval until the voltage of the capacitive touch surface reaches a threshold voltage; a timer configured to measure the time required for the voltage of the capacitive touch surface to reach the threshold voltage in each interval; an accumulator configured to accumulate the times measured by the timer during a predetermined number of intervals; and control circuitry configured to produce a signal indicative of the capacitive touch surface being touched where the accumulated time is greater than a predetermined value; a housing having a surface adapted to receive a playing card; a reader configured to read from a playing card placed on the surface identification information about the playing card; an interface between the toy and a computing device; and a controller configured to: receive from the reader the identification information about the playing card placed on the surface; and communicate instructions through the interface to the computing device to cause the computing device to provide an output related to the received identification information; wherein the capacitive touch surface is formed on the surface adapted to receive a playing card, and the capacitive touch surface is configured to detect touching through the playing card.