Thumb twiddle operated amusement device
First Claim
1. A thumb twiddling device comprising:
- a flat housing sized to be held between a user'"'"'s hands, said housing including elongate aperture means suitable for receiving the fingers of a user and a cylindrical aperture suitable for rotatably receiving a wheel;
a wheel rotatably mounted in said cylindrical aperture in said housing, said wheel including a slot positioned such that the thumbs of a user'"'"'s hand can be positioned at the ends of said slot when said housing is held between a user'"'"'s hands and the fingers of the user'"'"'s hands are located in said elongate aperture means; and
,electronic means for sensing the rotation of said wheel and producing a fluctuating signal whose frequency is related to the frequency of rotation of said wheel suitable for controlling a display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Thumb twiddling devices that include a flat, hand-held housing (23) having a centrally located wheel (21) with an oblong thumb slot (35) and finger slots (33a, 33b) peripherally located about the wheel are disclosed. Thumb twiddling causes the rotation of the wheel (21) when a user'"'"'s fingers (63) are interleaved together in the finger slots (33a, 33b) such that the thumbs lie in the thumb slot (35). In a toy form of the invention, thumb twiddle wheel rotations are sensed and the result used to control a display (49). In a controller form of the invention, sensed thumb twiddle wheel rotations are used to provide control signals suitable for controlling the movement of a video game object. Direction (e.g., steering) signals are provided by a tilt sensor mounted in the flat housing. Several thumb twiddle controllers can be used simultaneously by several video game "players" to control their respective objects in an interactive game.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A thumb twiddling device comprising:
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a flat housing sized to be held between a user'"'"'s hands, said housing including elongate aperture means suitable for receiving the fingers of a user and a cylindrical aperture suitable for rotatably receiving a wheel; a wheel rotatably mounted in said cylindrical aperture in said housing, said wheel including a slot positioned such that the thumbs of a user'"'"'s hand can be positioned at the ends of said slot when said housing is held between a user'"'"'s hands and the fingers of the user'"'"'s hands are located in said elongate aperture means; and
,electronic means for sensing the rotation of said wheel and producing a fluctuating signal whose frequency is related to the frequency of rotation of said wheel suitable for controlling a display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. Apparatus for producing control signals suitable for controlling the movement of video game objects comprising:
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(a) a plurality of twiddle controllers, each of said twiddle controllers comprising; (1) a flat housing sized to be held between a user'"'"'s hands, said housing including elongate aperture means suitable for receiving the interleaved fingers of a user'"'"'s hand and a cylindrical aperture suitable for rotatably receiving a wheel; (2) a wheel rotatably mounted in said cylindrical aperture in said housing, said wheel including a slot positioned such that the thumbs of a user'"'"'s hand can be positioned at the ends of said slot when said housing is located between a user'"'"'s hands and the fingers of the user'"'"'s hands are located in said elongate aperture means; and
,(3) speed and tilt means for; (i) sensing the rotation of said wheel; (ii) producing two fluctuating speed signals whose frequency is related to the speed of rotation of said wheel and whose phase relationship is related to the direction of rotation of said wheel; (iii) detecting the angle of tilt of said housing; and
,(iv) producing a steering signal whose magnitude is related to said angle of tilt; (b) an interface for interfacing said twiddle controllers to a video game controller, said interface comprising; (1) converter means connected to said twiddle controllers and said video game controller for; (i) receiving said steering signals; (ii) converting said steering signals into a form suitable for receipt by said video game controller; and
,(iii) transmitting said converted signals to said video game controller; and
,(2) speed and drive means connected to said twiddle controllers and said video game controller for; (i) receiving the two fluctuating speed signals produced by each of said twiddle controllers, determining the speed of rotation and the direction of rotation of said wheel of each of said twiddle controllers based on said two fluctuating speed signals; (ii) converting said speed of rotation and direction information into a signal form suitable for receipt by said video game controller; and
,(iii) transmitting said converted signals to said video game controller. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification