U.S. patent application number 13/483905 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-05 for remote-controlled toy with bumper sensor.
The applicant listed for this patent is Robert Schwartz. Invention is credited to Robert Schwartz.
Application Number | 20130324004 13/483905 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49670780 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130324004 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schwartz; Robert |
December 5, 2013 |
REMOTE-CONTROLLED TOY WITH BUMPER SENSOR
Abstract
A remote-controlled toy is controllable by an application
executing on a wireless communications device. The toy includes a
wireless receiver for receiving a wireless control signal from the
wireless communications device, a motor for moving the toy in
response to receiving the wireless control signal, and a contact
sensor disposed on an outer portion of the toy, the contact sensor
generating a contact signal in response to physical contact on the
contact sensor. The toy may be a wheeled vehicle such as a car,
truck, etc. or a spinning top. The spinning top may include a
detachable droid-shaped upper portion. The device may be used not
only to control the toy and display contact data, but also to view
and reconfigure performance characteristics of the toy. In one
implementation, the toy includes an elastomeric bumper extending
around the toy for accommodating a plurality of contact
sensors.
Inventors: |
Schwartz; Robert; (Montreal,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Schwartz; Robert |
Montreal |
|
CA |
|
|
Family ID: |
49670780 |
Appl. No.: |
13/483905 |
Filed: |
May 30, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
446/259 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63H 17/395 20130101;
A63H 30/04 20130101; A63H 17/40 20130101; A63H 11/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
446/259 |
International
Class: |
A63H 1/20 20060101
A63H001/20 |
Claims
1. A remote-controlled toy comprising: a movable toy body
comprising a bumper having one or more contact sensors disposed on
the bumper; a motor for moving the toy body; and a wireless
receiver for receiving a wireless control signal from a wireless
controller to control motion of the toy body.
2. The toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein the wireless controller is
a wireless communications device.
3. The toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein the toy body is a wheeled
vehicle wherein the motor drives the vehicle forward and wherein
the vehicle further comprises a servo for steering the vehicle.
4. The toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein the toy body is a spinning
top and wherein the motor steers the top.
5. The toy as claimed in claim 4 wherein the spinning top comprises
a detachable upper portion shaped like a droid or robot.
6. The toy as claimed in claim 5 wherein the detachable upper
portion of the spinning top has character-like elements that
resemble a head, arms and a torso.
7. The toy as claimed in claim 1 comprising a wireless transmitter
for transmitting contact signals received by the contact sensors in
the bumper to the wireless controller.
8. The toy as claimed in claim 7 wherein the wireless controller is
a wireless communications device having a processor operatively
coupled to a memory for executing an application that displays
contact data based on the contact signals received from the
wireless transmitter.
9. The toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bumper comprises a
plurality of contact sensors, and wherein the contact signals
transmitted to the wireless controller indicate which contact
sensor was contacted.
10. A remote-controlled toy controllable by an application
executing on a wireless communications device, the toy comprising:
a wireless receiver for receiving a wireless control signal from
the wireless communications device; a motor for moving the toy in
response to receiving the wireless control signal; and a contact
sensor disposed on an outer portion of the toy, the contact sensor
generating a contact signal in response to physical contact on the
contact sensor.
11. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising a bumper disposed on
the outer portion of the toy.
12. The toy as claimed in claim 11 wherein the bumper is an
elastomeric bumper comprising a plurality of contact sensors
embedded within the bumper.
13. The toy as claimed in claim 12 wherein the bumper extends
around an entire perimeter of the toy.
14. The toy as claimed in an claim 12 wherein the bumper extends
around only a portion of the toy.
15. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising a wheeled vehicle
body.
16. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising a spinning top shaped
like a droid.
17. The toy as claimed in claim 16 wherein the spinning top is a
transformable spinning top having a detachable upper droid body
that may be detached from the spinning top.
18. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising an onboard
programmable logic circuit that may be remotely programmed using
the application executing on the wireless communications device to
reconfigure one or more performance characteristics of the toy.
19. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising an onboard
programmable logic circuit that may be remotely and automatically
programmed by the application executing on the wireless
communications device to automatically reconfigure one or more
performance characteristics of the toy in response to receiving
contact data from the toy.
20. The toy as claimed in claim 10 comprising an onboard
programmable logic circuit that is programmed to activate a toy
feature if a number of contact signals exceeds a predetermined
threshold.
21. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions in code
which, when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a
wireless communications device, causes the wireless communications
device to: receive contact signals from contact sensors of a
remote-controlled toy that are transmitted wirelessly from the
remote-controlled toy to the wireless communications device; and
display contact data based on the contact signals.
22. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 21 further
comprising computing and displaying a real-time score based on the
contact data wherein different points are awarded based on
different locations of the contact sensors.
23. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 21 further
comprising displaying motion cues on a display of the wireless
communications device, receiving user input via the user interface
of the wireless communications device, and transmitting control
signals from the wireless communications device to the
remote-controlled toy using a Bluetooth.RTM. transceiver.
24. The computer-readable medium as claimed in claim 21 further
comprising generating modified control signals in response to the
contact data to thereby modify the performance characteristics of
the toy in response to the contact signals received by the wireless
communications device.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is the first application filed for the present
invention.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention generally relates to a toy and, more
particularly, to a remote-controlled toy such as a
remote-controlled car or spin-droid that may be controlled using a
wireless communications device.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Most remote-controlled toys use radiofrequency signals to
control movement of the toy, for example, radio-controlled cars,
trucks, boats, aircraft, robots, plush animals, etc.
[0004] It is also known to use Bluetooth.RTM. technology to
radio-control a toy car, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application
Publication 2005/0054450.
[0005] Remote-controlled spinning tops, which are disclosed in U.S.
Pat. No. 7,063,589 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,427,225, are toy tops that
may be controlled by respective players to battle each other in a
small stadium.
[0006] Recently, applications for wireless communication devices or
handheld mobile devices have been developed to enable a user to
remotely control a toy, such as a vehicle or aircraft, using
radiofrequency signals transmitted from the mobile device.
[0007] Due to the popularity of such toys, further improvements and
enhancements on these technologies remain highly desirable.
SUMMARY
[0008] In general, the present invention provides a novel toy that
is remotely controlled using a wireless communications device or
other mobile device. The toy includes one or more contact sensors
disposed in an outer portion of the toy such as, for example, in an
elastomeric bumper extending around a perimeter of the toy. When
the contact sensor is physically contacted, a contact signal is
generated. This signal is transmitted back to the wireless
communications device and/or to an opponent's device. Contact data
may be used for keeping score. In other embodiments, which will be
elaborated below, the contact data may be used to activate toy
features. As will also be described below, the application may be
used to manage games, view standings, create leagues, manage
tournaments, invite players, view replays, share photos, videos and
blogs about the games, toys, players, etc. The application may also
be used to view and reconfigure performance characteristics of the
toy. Many other features may be implemented, as will be described
below in greater detail.
[0009] The toy may be a wheeled vehicle like a car, truck, boat,
aircraft, etc. or it may be a spinning top. In one embodiment, a
spin droid includes a spinning top and a detachable upper portion
that resembles a robot or droid.
[0010] As will be appreciated, this novel toy provides a number of
significant enhancements relative to the prior art. These
enhancements will be elucidated in the detailed description
below.
[0011] Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is a
remote-controlled toy comprising a movable toy body comprising a
bumper having one or more contact sensors disposed on the bumper, a
motor for moving the toy body, and a wireless receiver for
receiving a wireless control signal from a wireless controller to
control motion of the toy body.
[0012] Another aspect of the present invention is a
remote-controlled toy controllable by an application executing on a
wireless communications device, the toy comprising a wireless
receiver for receiving a wireless control signal from the wireless
communications device, a motor for moving the toy in response to
receiving the wireless control signal, and a contact sensor
disposed on an outer portion of the toy, the contact sensor
generating a contact signal in response to physical contact on the
contact sensor.
[0013] Yet another aspect of the present invention is a
computer-readable medium comprising instructions in code which,
when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a wireless
communications device, causes the wireless communications device to
receive contact signals from contact sensors of a remote-controlled
toy that are transmitted wirelessly from the remote-controlled toy
to the wireless communications device and display contact data
based on the contact signals.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] Further features and advantages of the present technology
will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken
in combination with the appended drawings, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a remote-controlled wheeled
vehicle and a remote-controlled spin droid that may be controlled
using a wireless communications device in accordance with two
specific embodiments of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a transformable spin droid
with a detachable droid-like upper body portion;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an outer portion of the
toy body of a spinning top showing the bumper and contact sensor in
one embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 4 is schematic depiction of a wireless communications
device and a remote-controlled toy having a transceiver for sending
and receiving signals to the wireless communications device;
[0019] FIG. 5 depicts an application executing on a wireless
communications device that is used to interact with the
remote-controlled toy;
[0020] FIG. 6 depicts a game management screen of the application;
and
[0021] FIG. 7 depicts a reconfiguration screen of the application
for reconfiguring performance characteristics of the toy.
[0022] It will be noted that, throughout the appended drawings,
like features are identified by like reference numerals.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0023] By way of general overview, the present invention provides a
remote-controlled toy that may be controlled wirelessly by a
wireless controller such as a wireless communications device
executing an application that provides a software-implemented
control interface for the toy. The remote-controlled toy includes
one or more contact sensors in or on the body of the toy, such as,
for example, in the bumper, that generate a contact signal when
physically contacted.
[0024] Two such toys, a wheeled vehicle 10 and a spin droid 12, are
depicted by way of example in FIG. 1. The vehicle 10 and the spin
droid 12 may be operated on a play surface such as a stadium 14,
which may be a generally circular, oval or elliptical surface
surrounded by a low wall 16 or parapet designed to confine the
vehicle or spin droid within the stadium. It will be appreciated
that the stadium is optional and that the toys may be operated on
the floor, on a tabletop, or any other suitable surface. The
stadium 14 may be used as a forum for battles between toys. A
battle typically involves two toys bumping into one another with
the objective being to hit the opponent's toy at the opponent's
contact sensors to register hits or points. As will be explained,
the contact signals may be transmitted to one or more wireless
communications devices for keeping score. In other embodiments,
when the number of hits reaches a certain threshold, a winner may
be declared. In some embodiments, the toy may activate a feature
(e.g. cause an LED to blink, a sound to be played, a hood or trunk
to open, etc.) to signify that the toy has sustained too many hits
and has lost the battle.
[0025] In the embodiments depicted in FIG. 1, each toy has a bumper
18 and a plurality of contact sensors 20 each of which generates a
contact signal when the sensor is physically contacted. The contact
sensors may be disposed within the bumper 18 or disposed within any
other outer portion 18 of the body of the toy. The contact sensors
may be embedded or surface-mounted.
[0026] To illustrate the inventive concepts, FIG. 1 shows only two
examples of remote-controlled toys: a wheeled vehicle and a spin
droid, i.e. a spinning top having a detachable droid-shaped upper
portion. It is to be emphasized that these two toys are presented
solely by way of example and it should therefore be understood that
many other shapes or types of toys may be utilized to implement the
inventive concepts presented herein. For example, the toy may be
shaped like a car, truck, off-road vehicle, all-terrain vehicle,
dune buggy, tank or other military vehicle, boat, ship or other
watercraft, plane, helicopter or other aircraft, hovercraft,
spacecraft, plush animal, dinosaur, action figure, dragon or other
mythical creature, robot, droid, alien, monster, etc. Each of these
toys may be remotely controlled to move using wheels, e.g. in its
base or feet, propellers, rotors or by using any other suitable
means of locomotion.
[0027] In one set of embodiments, the toy, such as the illustrated
spin droid, may have a transformable body. The transformable body
may take may other shapes and forms other than the one illustrated.
A spin droid is but one example of the concept. Any foldable or
detachable mechanism may be employed to create a transformable
body. The toy thus has dual play value, first as a droid with a
name, character/personality, fictitious biography, special powers,
technical specifications, performance characteristics, etc., and
then as a spin top that can be remotely controlled to battle with
another spin top or with another type of toy, such as a
vehicle.
[0028] The toy body may be formed or moulded integrally from
plastic (polymers) or composites, although the toy or any
components thereof may be made of other materials such metal or
wood, for example. The toy body may be monocoque or assembled from
components. The toy body may be sold in the form of a kit and
assembled by the player prior to use from various blocks, parts, or
components. Decals, paints, accessories and the like may be
provided to customize the bodywork of the toy.
[0029] The radio-controlled vehicle 10 shown in FIG. 1 may be
constructed with an electric motor that drives one or more of the
wheels and with a steering servo for steering the front wheels. The
motor may be unidirectional or bidirectional (reversible) to permit
the vehicle to travel forward and backward. As shown in FIG. 1, the
contact sensors 20 may be disposed within the bumper 18 of the
wheeled vehicle 10. Bumpers may be provided only at the front and
rear of the vehicle or, alternatively, around the entire vehicle as
shown in FIG. 1. In one embodiment, contact sensors are provided
only in a front bumper or only in a rear bumper. The bumper may be
made of rubber or rubberized material, any suitable elastomer or
elastomeric material, or any other elastic or shock-absorbent
material.
[0030] In the embodiment depicted by way of example in FIG. 1, the
spin droid 12 may include a spinning top (also known as a "toy
top") which may be similar to the types shown by way of example in
U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,589 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,427,225, which are
hereby incorporated by reference, but with one or more contact
sensors disposed in the body of the top or in a bumper that
includes the one or more contact sensors.
[0031] Although spinning tops and vehicles are presented as the
main implementations of this technology, it should be appreciated
that the toy may be any other type of remote-controlled toy
including, but not limited to, remote-controlled boats, aircraft,
robots (droids), action figures, animals, etc. Regardless of the
shape of the toy and its means of locomotion, the toy includes at
least one contact sensor that registers hits, bumps or any such
form of physical contact.
[0032] Each one of the two illustrated remote-controlled toys 10,
12 is controlled by its own respective wireless controller 30. This
wireless controller may be a dedicated handheld controller with
control sticks (joysticks) or a control wheel or knob or it may be
a generic wireless communications device running a dedicated
application for interacting with the toy. The wireless
communications device may be any mobile device, cell phone, smart
phone, PDA, tablet, notebook, palmtop, laptop, etc. having a
processor operatively coupled to a memory and further including a
wireless radiofrequency transmitter for transmitting control
signals to a wireless receiver in the toy. Communication may be
unidirectional, i.e. one-way (from controller to toy only) or it
may be bidirectional. For unidirectional communication, the
wireless controller requires only a transmitter and the toy
requires only a receiver. For bidirectional communication, each of
the wireless controller and the toy includes an RF transceiver. In
the latter instance, contact signals may be transmitted back to the
wireless controller to enable various functionalities that will be
described below.
[0033] In one specific embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1 and in
greater detail in FIG. 2, the spinning top 12 may be adapted to
connect to a droid-shaped upper portion having elements that
resemble a head, arms and an upper torso. The toy is thus
transformable between a droid or robot and a spinning top by
mounting and dismounting the droid-shaped upper portion. This
provides dual play value as an assembled droid and also as a spin
top.
[0034] As depicted in FIG. 2, the spin droid may be constructed of
a generally conical lower body 40 and a top cap 42. The top cap may
be connected to the lower body by threaded fasteners 44 such as
small screws sized to fit into respective internally threaded holes
45. Other fastening means may be employed such as clips or snap-in
tabs. Inside the conical lower body and top cap is installed a
motor subassembly 46 that includes an electric motor 48, a drive
shaft 50 and battery receptacles 52 for receiving disposable or
rechargeable batteries 54. In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 2,
the drive shaft extends through a hole 56 in the lower conical body
such that the shaft contacts the surface in operation. The hole 56
extends to the conical tip 58 of the conical lower body. Rotation
of the shaft in either a same direction or an opposite direction as
the body of the spinning top enables the top to be steered. The
bumper 18 with the contact sensors 20 may be press-fitted, bonded,
fastened or otherwise attached around the perimeter of the top cap
and lower conical body at the interface or junction thereof as
shown in FIG. 2 or it may attached to only one of the top cap or
conical lower body. The bumper should constitute the most radially
outward extension of the toy so that the bumper absorb all of the
bumps and collisions from other toys during the battle. The contact
sensors may be disposed at regular intervals around the perimeter
of the body or bumper, as depicted in FIG. 2, or the contact
sensors may be disposed in any other arrangement.
[0035] As further depicted by way of example in FIG. 2, the
droid-shaped upper portion 60 may be detachably mounted to the
upper surface of the top cap by a press-fit connection between a
circular protrusion 43 and a correspondingly sized bore in the
bottom on the droid-shaped upper portion. This enables the
droid-shaped upper portion to be easily snapped on or off. Any
other suitable connecting means may be employed. The droid-shaped
upper portion 60 may have elements that resemble a head, arms and
torso as illustrated. The droid-shaped upper portion comprises a
head portion 62, arm portions 64 and a torso portion 66 which may
be moulded in one integral component as shown by way of example in
this figure. The circular protrusion may be uniquely mated to the
bore in the bottom of the droid-shaped upper portion so that only
that particular droid-shaped upper portion may be affixed to that
particular spin top. Alternatively, all protrusions and bores for
all toys in the class or collection may be identical to permit
mixing and matching.
[0036] Due to the asymmetry of the droid-shaped upper portion, it
is generally the case that the spin top will only spin properly
when the droid-shaped upper portion is detached. However, a
symmetrical droid-shaped upper portion may be provided to enable
this droid-shaped upper portion to remain on the spin droid during
spinning. Alternatively, if the droid-shaped upper portion is
sufficiently light, the top, if it has sufficient rotational
inertia, may be able to spin properly even if with the upper
portion attached.
[0037] On larger toys, such as radio-controlled cars, aircraft or
boats, the toy may include other equipment or components such as an
onboard digital camera. The camera may be used to take photos or
videos. Data may be stored in a memory chip on the toy for transfer
and playback after the game and/or relayed in real-time wirelessly
back to the mobile device or to any other device (e.g. a
spectator's device) or broadcast or multicast, e.g. by
web-streaming.
[0038] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an outer portion of the
toy body of a spinning top showing the bumper 18 and contact sensor
20 in one embodiment. This cross-section is taken along the section
shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows the bumper 18 mounted to an outer
surface of the toy body. In this case, it is mounted at the
junction or interface of the conical lower body 40 and the top cap
42. Inside or embedded within the bumper 18 is the contact sensor
20 with wires 70 surrounded by protective wire sheaths 72 leading
to an onboard programmable logic circuit.
[0039] FIG. 4 is schematic depiction of a wireless communications
device 30 and a remote-controlled toy 10 having a wireless (RF)
transceiver 80 for sending and receiving signals to the wireless
communications device 30. FIG. 4 also shows a schematic depiction
of the onboard programmable logic circuit 90. This circuit 90 may
be a small microprocessor or microcontroller disposed inside the
toy for receiving the contact signals and for instructing the
wireless transceiver 80 to transmit the contact signals to the
mobile device 30. The programmable logic circuit (or
microprocessor) 90 may also be used to process the control signals
received from the transceiver 80 and to control the motor 48 or
other any onboard steering servo 84. The toy includes one or more
contact sensors 20 and optionally also a memory 92 coupled to the
logic circuit or microprocessor. A Bluetooth.RTM. transceiver 82
may be provided in addition or in lieu of the RF transceiver 80. In
one embodiment, the toy may be configurable to switch between the
RF transceiver and the Bluetooth.RTM. transceiver. In another
embodiment, the toy may receive control signals using one
transceiver and provide contact sensor data and/or live video feed
from the onboard camera using the other transceiver.
[0040] The wireless communications device 30 may be any mobile
device, personal communications device, smart phone, cell phone,
PDA, tablet, notebook, palmtop or any functionally equivalent
device. As shown in FIG. 5, the device 30 includes a microprocessor
100, a memory 102, an RF transceiver 104, and a user interface 106
including a display 108 that may be touch-sensitive or a
keypad/keyboard 110. A Bluetooth.RTM. transceiver 112 and/or an
accelerometer (tilt sensor) 114 may optionally be provided.
[0041] As described above, each contact sensor 20 in the toy is
adapted to generate a contact signal upon physical contact. In main
embodiments, the sensitivity of the contact sensor is factory
preset and not adjustable by the user. In other embodiments,
however, the sensitivity of the contact sensor may be adjustable so
that only substantial physical contact above a certain
predetermined force threshold will register as contact. In yet
other embodiments, the contact sensor may be a force transducer
that senses the actual force applied to the contact sensor. The
contact signal may thus indicate the actual force sensed by the
contact sensor whereas in other (simpler) implementations the
contact sensor merely indicates that there was some physical
contact without specifying the force of the collision. Force
transducers may be used to award differential points based on the
force of the impact. For example, a hard hit may be worth 3 points,
a middle hit may be worth 2 points and a soft hit may be worth only
1 point.
[0042] In one embodiment, registering a hit or bump on a contact
sensor causes the toy to react in some discernible way. For
example, if the front bumper of a toy car is hit a certain number
of times, this will trigger the opening of the hood. Hitting the
rear bumper may cause the trunk of the car to open. In other
examples, the car may be intentionally broken apart, disabled,
lights may flash or sound effects played. These effects may
additionally or alternatively be displayed in a virtual rendition
or replay of the crash on the display of the device.
[0043] In another embodiment, registering a bump on a contact
sensor may cause the mobile device to vibrate in the user's hands
to provide real-time tactile feedback to the user.
[0044] In one embodiment, the
performance/motion/speed/controllability of the toy may be varied
as a function of the contacts (bumps it has received). For example,
if the toy is bumped at a sensor, the device may be "stunned" or
"slowed down" for a short period of time. The device may react to
hits or bumps (contact) by improving, degrading or modifying
behaviour or performance. The performance modification may be
predictable or unpredictable (i.e. a random effect).
[0045] The application may be used to display information ("specs")
on the toys in a given class or collection of toys. That way, if a
first player's toy is battling a second player's toy, the first and
second players can view their opponent's toy's strengths and
weaknesses. For example, a collection or class of transformable
droid spin tops may offer Droids A, B and C with different
character caps, different strengths and weaknesses. These strengths
and weaknesses (and any character information, history, traits,
etc) can be viewed on the mobile application before the battle. The
mobile application could also report wins, losses, ties, etc. of
the player with whom one is playing. The mobile application may
enable players to create and join a league with standings. The
mobile application may interact with a web site that hosts the
player stats, standings, etc., with a variety of web-enable
functionalities such as player-to-player chat, player invitations
(challenges) to play, posting photos, videos, blogs of the games
that have been played, etc.
[0046] In one implementation, the toy may be a programmable toy
where strengths and weaknesses can be programmed using the mobile
application prior to the battle. For example, a programmable toy
may permit the player to allocate a maximum of 10 points, for
example, between various characteristics such as speed, robustness,
and agility. For example, a player could choose to program a droid
by allocating 5 points to speed, 3 points to robustness and 2
points to agility whereas another player might choose to program
his droid by allocating only 2 points to speed, but 4 points to
robustness and 4 points to agility.
[0047] The mobile application may also provide upgrades for the
application that links to your car. Upgrades may be purchased, won
or provided free of charge. The upgrades may, for example, unlock
new features or enhance the performance of the vehicle or these may
enable the player to customize his vehicle. Customization may
involve mechanically retrofitting the toy with pre-designed
aftermarket components (such as special tires, wheels, tail pipes,
decals, bodywork, etc. for an RC car). Customization may also
involve customizing the responsiveness of the control algorithm,
e.g. adjusting steering sensitivity.
[0048] Another aspect of the present invention is the application
(software) that is loaded on a computing device such as, for
example, a mobile phone and which is configured to interact
remotely with the toy. The mobile phone application enables the
user to remotely control the toy. In addition, the mobile phone
application receives contact sensor data transmitted wirelessly
from the toy to the mobile device using any suitable wireless
connection. A Bluetooth.RTM. connection may be utilized, although
any other short-range wireless data transmission standard or
protocol may be used.
[0049] A computer-readable medium comprises instructions in code
which, when loaded into a memory and executed by a processor of a
wireless communications device, causes the wireless communications
device to receive contact signals from contact sensors of a
remote-controlled toy that are transmitted wirelessly from the
remote-controlled toy to the wireless communications device and
display contact data based on the contact signals.
[0050] In one embodiment, the code causes the device to compute and
display a real-time score based on the contact data wherein
different points are awarded based on different locations of the
contact sensors.
[0051] In one embodiment, the code causes the device to display
motion cues on a display of the wireless communications device.
User input received via the user interface of the wireless
communications device can then be transmitted as control signals
from the wireless communications device to the remote-controlled
toy, e.g. using a Bluetooth.RTM. transceiver. For Bluetooth.RTM.
implementations, the toy and wireless communications device may be
paired using any pairing protocol whether it requires a passkey or
not. Bluetooth.RTM. implementations may utilize concepts disclosed
in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0054450 which is hereby
incorporated by reference.
[0052] In one embodiment, the control signals are modified as a
function of the contact data to modify the motion performance of
the toy in response to contact signals being received. For example,
the device may receive contact signals indicating that the device
has been hit. This may cause the device to modulate a default
control signal to generate a modified or modulated control signal
that instructs the toy to perform in a lessened capacity. For
example, instead of transmitting a full speed signal, the device
may transmit a middle speed signal. Performance modulation may be
implemented by the onboard programmable logic circuit or by the
wireless device.
[0053] FIG. 5 depicts an application executing on a wireless
communications device that is used to interact with the
remote-controlled toy. The main toy-controlling user interface 200
illustrated in FIG. 5 shows control cues 202 for controlling the
toy. These control cues may be arrows for moving forward and
reverse and for steering. The device may be a touchscreen device in
which case the user's control input is provided by touching the
screen e.g. touching the control cues. The cues may alternatively
indicate which keys of a keyboard or keypad of a mobile device are
to be used to control the toy. The control cues may blink, change
colour or otherwise graphically indicate a confirmation when valid
control input is provided by the user. As shown by way of example
in FIG. 5, the screen or UI 200 may display points on a scoreboard
204 and may provide various user interface elements 206 to pause
the game, end the game, activate an HD camera, enter a messaging
module (e.g. to send messages and view received messages) or a game
manager module (e.g. go to a game management screen).
[0054] FIG. 6 depicts a game management screen 300 of the
application. For example, this screen or UI 300 may enable a user
to invite another player, start a game, end a game, view points
(hits registered by the contact sensors). Other features or options
may be provided on this screen. As will be appreciated, there may
be multiple linked screens or menus to access various features or
functions. The UI depicted in FIG. 6 is solely by way of example.
The UI 300 of FIG. 6 may include, for example, user interface
elements 302 to view a toy's specs, customize the toy, view
leagues, invite players, etc. These user interface elements may be
buttons, menus, toggles, etc. These may be touch sensitive buttons
or menus for a touch screen device or, alternatively, they may be
displayed on a non-touch LCD screen. FIG. 6 presents a graphical
rendition 304 of the toy, in this case a radio-controlled car. The
application may enable the toy to be rotated or viewed from
different angles, to remove components to view the internal
workings or mechanisms of the toy, to run diagnostics, etc. Further
user interface elements 306 may be provided to send messages, to
create blogs, send photos, view standings, create leagues, etc.
[0055] FIG. 7 depicts a reconfiguration screen 400 of the
application for reconfiguring performance characteristics of the
toy. The user (player) may use adjustable sliders 410 to adjust the
performance characteristics of the toy. Performance characteristics
430 may be graduated and qualified using labels 420, words, symbols
(e.g. minimal, fair, good, excellent) or they may alternatively be
configured by allocating numerical values in prescribed fields. Any
other graphical, symbolic or numeric system may be implemented to
enable the user to reconfigure the performance characteristics. The
toys may thus be configured by the players prior to a battle. This
provides for a strategy by allocating resources/strengths to
certain characteristics. The game-specific allocation of
performance characteristics may be made visible or invisible to the
player's opponent.
[0056] Although battles are generally one-on-one battles between
two toys, the battles may also involve more than two toys. Teams of
toys may be formed by grouping toys together. The teams may be
managed using the application on each player's mobile device.
Computing the aggregate points earned by all of the players on one
team as compared to another team enables the devices to declare one
team a winner.
[0057] The software application embodied by the computer-readable
medium may be executed on any computing device such as a mobile
device, smart phone, cell phone, wireless communications device,
personal digital assistant, tablet, notebook, laptop, etc. The
device requires a processor, a memory and a radiofrequency
transceiver for communicating with the toy. The toy requires a
radiofrequency transmitter and either a microprocessor,
microcontroller or a control circuit to convert control signals
into a drive signals for the toy's motor(s), actuator(s), steering
mechanism, braking mechanism, etc.
[0058] The steps, acts, procedures, routine, subroutines, or
operations of the application may be programmed or coded as
computer-readable instructions and recorded electronically,
magnetically or optically on a non-transitory computer-readable
medium, computer-readable memory, machine-readable memory or
computer program product.
[0059] A computer-readable medium can be any means that contain,
store, communicate, propagate or transport the program for use by
or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus
or device. The computer-readable medium may be electronic,
magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or any semiconductor
system or device. For example, computer executable code to perform
the methods disclosed herein may be tangibly recorded on a
computer-readable medium including, but not limited to, a
floppy-disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, RAM, ROM, EPROM, Flash Memory or any
suitable memory card, etc. The method may also be implemented in
hardware. A hardware implementation might employ discrete logic
circuits having logic gates for implementing logic functions on
data signals, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)
having appropriate combinational logic gates, a programmable gate
array (PGA), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.
[0060] The embodiments of the invention described above are
intended to be exemplary only. As will be appreciated by those of
ordinary skill in the art, to whom this specification is addressed,
many obvious variations, modifications, and refinements can be made
to the embodiments presented herein without departing from the
inventive concept(s) disclosed in this specification. The scope of
the exclusive right sought by the applicant is therefore intended
to be limited solely by the appended claims.
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