FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method including a motion sensing and an annunciator responding to the sensed motion, and more particularly, to a toy or any other amusing device including a motion sensor and an annunciator.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A ball is a round, generally spherical shaped object, but sometimes ovoid, with various uses. In a ball game, the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Ball can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch, marbles and juggling. Simple balls are commonly formed of flexible plastic material, while others use synthetic leather. Various ball games are known for amusement, sport and other recreation activities, are played with a ball or balls, and are subject to rules, such as cricket, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis, rugby, golf, volleyball and others. Examples of balls used in game balls are illustrated inFIG. 1, showing a soccer (a.k.a. football outside of the U.S.) ball1, commonly consisting of twelve regular pentagonal and twenty regular hexagonal panels positioned in a truncated icosahedron spherical geometry, and made up of a latex bladder which enables the football to be pressurized. A basketball ball2is shown as a sphere shaped inflated ball used in the game of basketball. A ball3is used in volleyball is a spherical, made of leather or synthetic leather ball, having a circumference of 65-67 cm and a weight of 260-280 grams. A prolate spheroid (‘egg-shaped’) ball4is used in U.S. football game, and a golf ball5is used for the game of golf. Tennis balls such as ball6are commonly covered in a fibrous fluffy felt which modifies their aerodynamic properties. Examples of golf balls are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,758 to Solheim, U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,098 to Molitor et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0034991 to Sasaki et al. and U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0125135 to Iwami, all titled: “Golf Ball” and incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

One example of a prior-art pet toy that comprises a ball that has an opening and an exit and used for treat dispensing, having sound recording and playback is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,671 to Herrenbruck titled: “Treat Dispensing Toy”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Another prior-art food dispensing treat pet toy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,362 to DeGhionno titles: “Lightweight, Hollow, Reusable, Food-Dispensing Treat Toy and Combination of Food-Dispensing Treat Toy with an Enclosing Container Designed for Intellectual Stimulation, Enrichment and Amusement of Animals, and Reduction of Boredom or Separation Anxiety That May Lead to Destructive or Undesirable Behavior in Puppies and/or Other Animals”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. An impact sensitive talking ball including a plunger that operates a test switch when the ball is squeezed in described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,839 to Pagani titled: “Impact Sensitive Talking Ball”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. A game ball with a timer or clock is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,887 to Oister et al. titled: “Game Ball with Clock”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

In consideration of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a method and system that is simple, cost-effective, faithful, reliable, has a minimum part count, minimum hardware, or uses existing and available components for providing additional amusement, education, entertainment and a better user experience relating to a device such as a ball game, toy and the like, preferably without departing from the conventional ‘look and feel’ of a common toy or ball. Further, it would be advantageous if such a toy or ball provides added educational value and stimulus for playing, adding to the user experience more curiosity and excitement, as well as added pleasure and amusement and making the toy more versatile and attractive to play with, while being easy to construct and manufacture, robust and consistent in aesthetic appearance and function, and preferably without significantly departing from the conventional ‘look and feel’ of such a toy or a ball.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the invention, a device for signaling in response to a sensed motion is described. The device may be housed in a single enclosure, and may include an accelerometer for sensing the device acceleration, an annunciator for signaling to a person or an animal using visual or audible signaling, and a controller coupled between the accelerometer and the annunciator for activating or controlling the annunciator in response to the sensed device acceleration according to a predetermined logic. A power source is included that may power the electrical components such as the accelerometer, the annunciator, the controller and any other power-consuming components. Each of the annunciator, the power source, the accelerometer, the controller and other of the device components may be mechanically attached to the enclosure.

The power source may include a primary or a rechargeable battery housed in a battery compartment secured in the device enclosure. The battery compartment may be accessed for replacing the battery via an opening in the enclosure, by removing a securely removable cover, which may be having a perforated front surface covering a mating aperture being flush with the surface surrounding the aperture. A power connector on the external surface of the enclosure may be used for connecting to a power source or for charging the battery using a battery charger. The charging may use a DC power from a domestic AC power outlet providing AC powering, using an AC/DC adapter comprising a step-down transformer and an AC/DC converter. In one aspect of the invention, the device is powered from a generator that converts the kinetic energy of the device to an electrical energy, such as by using a coil and a magnetic field, which their relative movement is generated in response to the device motion. The device may be powered or charged contactlessly using induction. In this case, the device further includes an induction coil for wirelessly receiving AC power and charging the rechargeable battery when the device is put in an electromagnetic field.

The accelerometer may be piezoelectric, piezoresistive, capacitive, MEMS or electromechanical switch accelerometer, measuring the magnitude and the direction the device acceleration in a single-axis, 2-axis or 3-axis (omnidirectional).

The device may include one or more annunciators. Each annunciator may be a visual or an audible signaling component (or both), operated or controlled by the controller. An annunciator may further contain a smoke generator.

The visual signaling component may contain a visible light emitter based on a semiconductor device (e.g. LED—Light Emitting Diode), an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp. The illumination may be blinking or steady, and can further be used to illuminate part of or all of an image. The visible light emitter positioning, appearance, type, color or steadiness may be associated with the device theme or device shape. The visible light emitter may be a numerical or an alphanumerical display, capable of displaying numbers, letters, symbols, words or characters, which may be displayed as scrolling, static, bold or flashing. The visible light emitter may be a video or image display and may be based on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), TFT (Thin-Film Transistor), FED (Field Emission Display) or CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

The audible signaling device may be based on electromechanical or piezoelectric means capable of generating single or multiple tones, and can be a buzzer, a chime or a ringer. In one aspect of the invention, the audible signaling device comprising a loudspeaker and a digital to analog converter coupled to the loudspeaker. The volume, type, steadiness, pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre or texture of the sound emitted from the audible signaling device may be associated with the device theme or the device shape. Alternatively, the sound emitted from the audible signaling device is a song or a melody, wherein the song or melody name or content relates to the device theme or shape. In one aspect, the sound emitted from the audible signaling device is a human voice talking sounding of a syllable, a word, a phrase, a sentence, a short story or a long story, using speech synthesis or being pre-recorded.

In one aspect of the invention, the annunciator can be in one out of two states, and wherein the annunciator state is in response to an event defined by the sensed acceleration magnitude or direction exceeding a predefined value. An annunciator state may involve activating it by supplying power from the power supply via a switch, while the other state involves deactivating it by disconnecting the power supply. The control logic is operative to shift the annunciator between states until the next event occurs or for a predetermined period in response to an event or in response to a preset number of events. Further, the annunciator may toggle between states in response to an event or to a preset number of events. The annunciator may also continuously toggle between states, wherein the period in each state, the toggling frequency, the toggling period or the duty-cycle is affected as a response to an event or in response to the number of counted events. Alternatively or in addition, the annunciator may be in one out of a multiple states in response to an event. The annunciator may include multiple components, and the annunciator states may be defined as activating or powering a selected one (or more) of its components. In response to an event or multiple events, the annunciator state may shift between states according to a predictable or random order.

In one aspect of the invention, the controller is used to activate (or deactivate) or control the annunciator based on the sensed motion measured by the accelerometer. The control may use controlling the annunciator powering or via a dedicated control port of the annunciator. The controller may be based on a discrete logic or an integrated device, such as a processor, microprocessor or microcomputer, and may include a general-purpose device or may be a special purpose processing device, such as an ASIC, PAL, PLA, PLD, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Gate Array, or other customized or programmable device, and may includes a memory that may include a static RAM (random Access Memory), dynamic RAM, flash memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), or any other data storage medium. The memory may include data, programs, and/or instructions and any other software or firmware executable by the processor. The control logic can be implemented in hardware or in software, such as a firmware stored in the memory.

In one aspect, the annunciator activation or control use randomness using a random signal generator. The random signal generator may be based on a digital random signal generator having a digital output. Alternatively, the random signal generator may be based on analog random signal generator having an analog output. Analog random signal generator may use a digital random signal generator whose output is converted to analog using analog to digital converter, or can use a repetitive analog signal generator (substantially not synchronized to any other timing in the system) whose output is randomly time sampled by a sample and hold. A random signal generator (having either analog or digital output) can be hardware based, using a physical process such as thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other quantum phenomena, or can be software based, using a processor executing an algorithm for generating pseudo-random numbers which approximates the properties of random numbers.

The device may be substantially sphere shaped similar to play ball, and may be used as a toy for the amusement of a person or a pet. The ball shape may be similar to cricket, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis, rugby, golf, or volleyball play ball. Alternatively, the device may be shaped as a handheld unit including two disks attached to both ends of a rod.

The activation or control of the annunciator may be as a response to the combination of the direction or the magnitude of the sensed acceleration, or a combination thereof. One or multiple acceleration thresholds may be defined, and the device may be operative to activate or control the annunciator as a response to the magnitude of the sensed acceleration exceeding one or more of the acceleration thresholds. The device may further comprise a counter, such as an electromechanical counter, mechanical counter, hardware counter or software-based counter, for counting events for counting the times that the magnitude of the sensed acceleration exceeds an acceleration threshold, and according to the counter value to activate or control the annunciator. The annunciator may be a numerical display for displaying a representation of the counter value, or a loudspeaker for saying a representation of the counter value. The device may further comprise a peak-detector and a storage for detecting and storing a peak value of the sensed acceleration, and the annunciator may be activated or controlled according to the measured peak value. The annunciator may be a numerical display for displaying a representation of the peak value, or a loudspeaker for saying a representation of the peak value.

In one aspect, the motion sensor detects or measure the tilt angle of the device and the acceleration along the tilt angle, and the annunciator is activated or controlled in response to the sensed tilt angle value and the sensed acceleration magnitude in the tilt axis. The device may further operative the annunciator where one parameter of the annunciator is activated or controlled in response to the sensed tilt angle value, while another parameter of the annunciator is activated or controlled in response to the acceleration magnitude in the tilt axis. The annunciator may include an audible signaling component where either the sensed tilt angle value or the sensed acceleration magnitude in the tilt axis affects one or more of the volume, type, frequency, steadiness, pitch, rhythm, dynamics, timbre or texture of the sound emitted from the audible signaling component. Further, the emitted sound may resemble or accurately be the sound of a musical instrument such as drums, piano, tuba, harp, violin, flute or guitar.

The above summary is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of the present invention. Indeed, the inventor contemplates that his invention includes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitable combinations and derivatives of the various aspects summarized above, as well as those disclosed in the detailed description below and particularly pointed out in the claims filed with the application. Such combinations have particular advantages not specifically recited in the above summary.

It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein are shown and described only embodiments of the invention by way of illustration. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the claims. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description, drawings and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter. It is intended that all such additional apparatus and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.

The preferred embodiments of the invention presented here are described below in the drawings and the detailed specification. Unless specifically noted, it is intended that the words and phrases in the specification and the claims be given the plain, ordinary and accustomed meaning to those of ordinary skill in the applicable arts. If any other special meaning is intended for any word or phrase, the specification will clearly state and define the special meaning.

