TOY VEHICLE WITH ON-BOARD ELECTRONICS
First Claim
1. A toy vehicle comprising:
- a housing configured to resemble a vehicle;
at least one wheel supporting the housing and configured to rotate when the vehicle moves along an external surface;
a display on the housing for displaying a speed value;
a rotary encoder configured to count rotations of the at least one wheel and output encoder data representative of the rotation count; and
a microprocessor configured to calculate toy vehicle velocity from the encoder data and to send a value to the display.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A toy vehicle that measures and displays performance characteristics is presented. The toy vehicle may be configured to measure performance of the toy, such as speed or acceleration, and display a value for the performance characteristic. A display for showing the performance values may be mounted on the body of the toy vehicle. Movement of the toy vehicle may be measured using an accelerometer. The toy vehicle may determine the number of wheel rotations in a set period of time using a rotary encoder. The value of the performance characteristic may be output to a microprocessor onboard the toy vehicle. The microprocessor may use the value in calculations and the result of the calculations, such as a scaled speed value, may be shown on the display screen.
43 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A toy vehicle comprising:
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a housing configured to resemble a vehicle;
at least one wheel supporting the housing and configured to rotate when the vehicle moves along an external surface;
a display on the housing for displaying a speed value;
a rotary encoder configured to count rotations of the at least one wheel and output encoder data representative of the rotation count; and
a microprocessor configured to calculate toy vehicle velocity from the encoder data and to send a value to the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A toy vehicle comprising:
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a housing configured to resemble a vehicle;
a display on the housing for displaying a speed;
an accelerometer for measuring vehicle motion; and
a microprocessor configured to;
calculate toy vehicle velocity value from measured vehicle motion; and
send the velocity value to the display. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A speedometer to be used in a toy vehicle having a body supported on at least one wheel that rotates when the vehicle is moved along a support surface comprising:
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an optical rotary encoder, including an encoder pattern, configured to count rotation of the at least one wheel;
control inputs;
a display on the toy vehicle;
a power source; and
a microprocessor, operably connected to the control inputs, the encoder, the display and the power source, the microprocessor configured to determine and display a value based on counted wheel rotation. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of measuring toy velocity, comprising:
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accelerating a toy;
measuring toy motion from onboard the toy;
calculating toy velocity from the measurements; and
displaying a calculated speed on the toy. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification