Position-sensitive educational product

• US 6,215,978 B1
• Filed: 09/10/1991
• Issued: 04/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Rome, Patrick, Thomas, Larry Dale Jr., Ruzic, Steven Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H.
• Application Number:
  US07/759,192
• Time in Patent Office: 3,500 Days
• Field of Search: 434/176, 434/308, 434/327, 434/335, 434/337, 434/343, 434/345, 434/365, 434/393, 434/397, 434/402, 434/403, 434/428, 434/429, 434/485, 434/311.159, 273/85.G, 273/153.R, 273/85.E, 273/299, 273/301, 273/302, 273/440, 273/454, 273/445-448, 273/456, 273/138.A, 273/146, 844/76, 340/686, 340/689, 340/692, 446/397, 404/42
• US Class Current: 434/311
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 5/00 Musical or noise- producing devices for additional toy effects other than acoustical musical tops A63H1/28; sound-producing dolls A63H3/28; musical toy vehicles A63H17/268; acoustical vehicle-signalling devices A63H17/32; whistling toy locomotive arrangements A63H19/14; music, sound or noise production in general G10
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied

Abstract

An educational toy (10) having a dodecahedron shape is formed with a different visual display on each planar face (17-28). A position sensing mechanism (50) is oriented inside the toy (10) to inform a microprocessor (62) which one of the planar faces (17-28) is in the “up” position. As the toy (10) is turned or moved a signal is generated to “power on” and a musical tune is played. When one of the planar faces (17-28) is stopped in the “up” position, the position sensing mechanism (50) informs the microprocessor (62) and an aural response corresponding to the visual display is transmitted through a speaker (44). If the toy (10) is left alone for a specified period of time, a warning tune is transmitted. If the toy (10) is still not moved thereafter, the toy (10) will automatically “power off”.

Claims

1. A didactic device comprising:

a power source;

a position sensing mechanism;

a sound-producing circuit responsive to said position sensing mechanism;

a speaker;

at least said sound-producing circuit and said speaker being electrically connected to said power source;

a container having an outer surface defined at least in part by a plurality of facet positions of respectively uniform size and configuration, each of said facet positions having a fixed unit visual display thereon different from the respective visual displays on the other facet positions at all times;

an initial placement of said container on a supporting surface locating only one of said plurality of facet positions in an “

up”

position in substantially parallel spaced relation to the supporting surface with only another one of said plurality of facet positions located in a “

down”

position in engagement with the supporting surface, any one of said plurality of facet positions on said container being locatable in the “

up”

position with a corresponding another one of said plurality of facet positions being locatable in the “

down”

position;

said container holding said power source, said position sensing mechanism, said sound-producing circuit and said speaker;

said position sensing mechanism being responsive to the initial placement of said container on the supporting surface with said another one of said plurality of facet positions in the “

down”

position in engagement with the supporting surface to signal said sound-producing circuit to produce a first aural response which provides educational information corresponding to the fixed unit visual display on said one facet position of said container located in the “

up”

position; and

following the initial placement of said container on the supporting surface, said position sensing mechanism being further responsive to the subsequent placement of said container on the supporting surface locating a different one of said plurality of facet positions in the “

up”

position and a different another one of said plurality of facet positions located in the “

down”

position to signal said sound-producing circuit to produce a second aural response different from the first aural response and providing educational information corresponding to the fixed unit visual display on said different one of said plurality of facet positions of said container currently located in the “

up”

position.

2. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow slide tubes;

a plurality of sliding conductors, a respective one of said sliding conductors being located within each of said tubes; and

a plurality of contacts, a respective one of said contacts corresponding to each of said tubes to indicate to said sound-producing circuit an open and a closed condition based upon the location of said conductor within said tube corresponding thereto by generating a signal to said sound-producing circuit when said conductor engages said contact.

3. A didactic device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each of said tubes is made of a conductive material.

4. A didactic device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each of conductors said sliding comprises a metal ball.

5. A didactic device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each of said sliding conductors comprises a conductive liquid.

6. A didactic device as set forth in claim 5, wherein said conductive liquid is a material taken from the group consisting of sodium, potassium and mercury.

7. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow slide tubes;

a plurality of opaque sliding weights, a respective one of said plurality of opaque sliding weights being disposed within each of said tubes;

a plurality of light transmitters; and

a plurality of light receivers, each one of said light receivers being located opposite to a respective one of said light transmitters such that said light receivers indicate to said sound-producing circuit an open and a closed condition based upon a location of said opaque weight by generating a signal to said sound-producing circuit when light is received by a light receiver from the light transmitter corresponding thereto.

8. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow opaque slide tubes;

a plurality of reflective weights, a respective one of said reflective weights being located in each of said tubes; and

a plurality of reflective optical switches, a respective one of said reflective optical switches being located in each of said tubes such that an indication is provided to said sound-producing circuit of an open and a closed condition of a respective reflective optical switch based upon a location of said reflective weight corresponding thereto.

9. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of slide tracks;

a plurality of magnets, a respective one of said magnets being located within each of said tracks; and

a plurality of magnetic sensors, a respective one of said magnetic sensors corresponding to each of said tracks to indicate to said sound-producing circuit an open and a closed condition based upon a location of the magnet corresponding thereto by generating a signal to said sound-producing circuit when the magnet is detected.

10. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a hollow sphere within said container;

a conductive liquid partially filling said sphere; and

a plurality of contacts within said sphere and respectively connected to said sound-producing circuit, a respective one of said contacts being located opposite to a respective one of each of said facet positions of said container such that a contact generates a signal to said sound-producing circuit when said contact is covered by said liquid.

11. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

an inner container matching the shape of said container; and

a conductive weight located within said inner container such that said conductive weight contacts said inner container to generate a signal to said sound-producing circuit to indicate a location of said conductive weight.

12. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a conductive housing;

a nonconductive base fixed to said conductive housing to form a vessel;

a conductive liquid partially filling said vessel; and

a plurality of conductive leads extending through said base into said liquid such that an indication is provided to said sound-producing circuit as to an open and a closed condition of respective leads based upon the placement of said container on a supporting surface orienting a particular one of said plurality of facet positions on said container to be located in the “

up”

position.

13. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

an inner container matching the shape of said container;

a light source within said inner container;

a plurality of light detectors, a respective one of said light detectors fixed to said inner container and corresponding to each facet position of said container; and

an opaque substance within said inner container such that said opaque substance will cover one of said light detectors based upon the placement of said container on a supporting surface to dispose the facet position corresponding to said one light detector in engagement with the supporting surface to provide an open condition to said sound-producing circuit.

14. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a conductive ball positioned within said container;

a plurality of contacts, a respective one of said contacts being located in a position corresponding to each facet position of said container such that gravity causes said conductive ball to engage one of said contacts to generate a signal to said sound-producing circuit to indicate a position of said container in which the facet position on said container directly opposite from the facet position corresponding to the contact in engagement with the conductive ball is located in the “

up”

position.

15. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said sound-producing circuit includes a microprocessor having a memory in which digital data representative of a plurality of different sounds respectively corresponding to the fixed unit visual display of each one of said plurality of facet positions on said container is stored;

and

said microprocessor being responsive to a signal from said position sensing mechanism to selectively access digital data representative of sounds from the memory thereof corresponding to the fixed unit visual display of the one facet position of said container located in the “

up”

position for playout.

16. A didactic device as set forth in claim 15, wherein the memory of said microprocessor includes digital data stored therein for effecting a turn-off of the device when accessed;

said microprocessor being responsive to inactivity of said position sensing mechanism over a predetermined time period to access said turn-off digital data from the memory thereof; and

said sound-producing circuit being inactivated in response to the accessing and execution of said turn-off digital data by said microprocessor.

17. A didactic device as set forth in claim 15, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of reed switches; and

a plurality of magnets respectively corresponding to said plurality of reed switches, each of said magnets being subject to movement in a direction activating the reed switch corresponding thereto in response to a specific placement of said container on a supporting surface orienting a particular one of said plurality of facet positions on said container to be located in the “

up”

position.

18. A didactic device as set forth in claim 17, wherein said position sensing mechanism further includes

a plurality of slide tubes corresponding in number to said plurality of reed switches and said plurality of magnets, each of said slide tubes being disposed in registration with a respective reed switch and being mounted within said container so as to be perpendicular to one of said facet positions, said slide tubes being oriented with respect to each other such that adjacent slide tubes are arranged in equiangular relation;

and

each of said plurality of magnets being mounted in a respective slide tube and being movable to selectively activate said reed switch corresponding thereto based upon the placement of said container on the supporting surface in a specific orientation in which a particular one of said plurality of facet positions on said container is located in the “

up”

position.

19. A didactic device as set forth in claim 18, wherein said plurality of reed switches and said plurality of magnets are fewer in number than said plurality of facet positions on said container;

and

each of said magnets being potentially responsive to the placement of said container on the supporting surface so as to orient any one of said plurality of facet positions on said container in the “

up”

position to move in a direction activating the reed switch corresponding thereto so as to provide at least a number of combinations of activated reed switches equal to the number of facet positions on said container for generating a coded signal representative of the activated reed switches corresponding to the facet position on said container in the “

up”

position to said microprocessor.

20. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said container is a dodecahedron having an outer surface defined by twelve facet positions.

21. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said container is a regular prism having an outer surface defined by six facet positions.

22. A didactic device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of reed switches; and

a plurality of magnets respectively corresponding to said plurality of reed switches, each of said magnets being subject to movement in a direction activating the reed switch corresponding thereto in response to a specific placement of said container on a supporting surface orienting a particular one of said plurality of facet positions on said container to be located in the “

up”

position.

23. A didactic device as set forth in claim 22, wherein said position sensing mechanism further includes

a plurality of slide tubes corresponding in number to said plurality of reed switches and said plurality of magnets, each of said slide tubes being disposed in registration with a respective reed switch and being mounted within said container so as to be perpendicular to one of said facet positions, said slide tubes being oriented with respect to each other such that adjacent slide tubes are arranged in equiangular relation;

and

each of said plurality of magnets being mounted in a respective slide tube and being movable to selectively activate said reed switch corresponding thereto based upon the placement of said container on the supporting surface in a specific orientation in which a particular one of said plurality of facet positions on said container is located in the “

up”

position.

24. A didactic device comprising:

a dodecahedron housing having an outer surface defined by twelve flat facet positions of respectively uniform size and configuration, each of said facet positions having a fixed unit visual display thereon different from the respective visual displays on the other facet positions at all times;

said housing being disposable on a supporting surface in an initial placement of said housing such that only one of said twelve facet positions is located in an “

up”

position in substantially parallel spaced relation to the supporting surface with only another one of said twelve facet positions on said housing located in a “

down”

position in engagement with the supporting surface, any one of said twelve facet positions on said housing being locatable in the “

up”

position with a corresponding another one of said twelve facet positions being locatable in the “

down”

position;

a position sensing mechanism located within said housing and providing an indication as to which one of said twelve facet positions on said housing is in the “

up”

position;

sound-producing means located within said housing and including a microprocessor responsive to the indication from said position sensing mechanism for generating an aural response representative of the visual display on said one facet position located in the “

up”

position;

a speaker located within said housing and operably connected to said microprocessor for transmitting said aural response; and

a power supply located within said housing for providing electrical energy at least to said microprocessor and said speaker;

said position sensing mechanism being responsive to the initial placement of said housing on the supporting surface with said another one of said twelve facet positions in the “

down”

position in engagement with the supporting surface to signal said sound-producing means to produce a first aural response representative of the fixed unit visual display on said one facet position of said housing located in the “

up”

position; and

following the initial placement of said housing on the supporting surface, said position sensing mechanism being further responsive to the subsequent placement of said housing on the supporting surface locating a different one of said twelve facet positions in the “

up”

position and a different another one of said twelve facet positions located in the “

down”

position to signal said sound-producing means to generate a second aural response different from the first aural response and corresponding to the fixed unit visual display on said different one of said twelve facet positions of said housing currently located in the “

up”

position.

25. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow slide tubes, each slide tube being positioned perpendicular to one of said facet positions of said dodecahedron housing;

a plurality of conductors, a respective one of said conductors being slidably received within each of said tubes; and

a plurality of contacts, a respective one of said contacts corresponding to each of said tubes to indicate to said microprocessor an open and a closed condition based upon the location of said conductor within said tube corresponding thereto by generating a signal to said microprocessor when said conductor engages said contact.

26. A didactic device as set forth in claim 25, wherein each of said tubes is made of a conductive material.

27. A didactic device as set forth in claim 25, wherein each of said sliding conductors comprises a metal ball.

28. A didactic device as set forth in claim 25, wherein each of said sliding conductors comprises a conductive liquid.

29. A didactic device as set forth in claim 25, wherein said plurality of hollow slide tubes comprises five in number.

30. A didactice device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow slide tubes;

a plurality of opaque sliding weights, a respective one of said plurality of opaque sliding weights being disposed within each of said tubes;

a plurality of light transmitters proximate each of said tubes; and

a plurality of light receivers, each one of said light receivers being located opposite to a respective one of said light transmitters, such that said light receivers indicate to said microprocessor an open and a closed condition based upon a location of said opaque weight by generating a signal to said microprocessor when light is received by a light receiver from the light transmitter corresponding thereto.

31. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of hollow opaque slide tubes;

a plurality of reflective weights, a respective one of said reflective weights being located in each of said tubes; and

a plurality of reflective optical switches, a respective one of said reflective optical switches proximate to each of said tubes such that an indication is provided to said microprocessor of an open and a closed condition of a respective reflective optical switch based upon a location of said reflective weight corresponding thereto.

32. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of slide tracks;

a plurality of magnets, a respective one of said magnets being slidably received within each of said tracks; and

a plurality of magnetic sensors, a respective one of said magnetic sensors proximate to each of said tracks to indicate to said microprocessor an open and a closed condition based upon a location of the magnet corresponding thereto by generating a signal to said microprocessor when the magnet is detected.

33. A didactic device device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a hollow sphere within said dodecahedron housing;

a conductive liquid partially filling said hollow sphere; and

a plurality of contacts within said sphere and respectively connected to said microprocessor, a respective one of said contacts being located opposite to a respective one of each of said facet positions of said dodecahedron housing such that a contact generates a signal to said microprocessor when said contact is covered by said liquid.

34. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

an inner container matching the shape of said dodecahedron housing; and

a conductive weight located within said inner container, such that said conductive weight contacts said inner container to generate a signal to said microprocessor to indicate a location of said conductive weight.

35. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a conductive housing;

a nonconductive base fixed to said conductive housing to form a vessel;

a conductive liquid partially filling said vessel; and

a plurality of conductive leads extending through said base into said liquid such that an indication is provided to said microprocessor as to an open and a closed condition of respective leads based upon the placement of said dodecahedron housing on a supporting surface orienting a particular one of said twelve facet positions on said dodecahedron housing to be located in the “

up”

position.

36. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

an inner container matching the shape of said dodecahedron housing;

a light source within said inner container;

a plurality of light detectors, a respective one of said light detectors fixed to said inner container and corresponding to each facet position of said dodecahedron housing; and

an opaque substance within said inner container such that said opaque substance will cover one of said light detectors based upon the placement of said dodecahedron housing on a supporting surface to dispose the facet position corresponding to said one light detector in engagement with the supporting surface to provide an open condition to said microprocessor.

37. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, therein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a conductive ball positioned within said dodecahedron housing; and

a plurality of contacts, a respective one of said contacts being located in a position corresponding to each facet position of said dodecahedron housing such that gravity causes said conductive ball to engage one of said contacts to generate a signal to said microprocessor to indicate a position of said dodecahedron housing in which the facet position on said dodecahedron housing directly opposite from the facet position corresponding to the contact in engagement with the conductive ball is located in the “

up”

position.

38. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said microprocessor has a memory in which digital data is stored for effecting a turn-off of the device when accessed;

said microprocessor being responsive to inactivity of said position sensing mechanism over a predetermined time period to access said turn-off digital data from the memory thereof; and

said sound-producing means being inactivated in response to the accessing and execution of said turn-off digital data by said microprocessor.

39. A didactic device as set forth in claim 24, wherein said position sensing mechanism comprises:

a plurality of reed switches; and

a plurality of magnets respectively corresponding to said plurality of reed switches, each of said magnets being subject to movement in a direction activating the reed switch corresponding thereto in response to a specific placement of said housing on a supporting surface orienting a particular one of said twelve of facet positions on said housing to be located in the “

up”

position.

40. A didactic device as set forth in claim 39, further including a plurality of slide tubes corresponding in number to said plurality of reed switches and said plurality of magnets, each of said slide tubes being disposed in registration with a respective reed switch and being mounted within said housing so as to be perpendicular to one of said facet positions, said slide tubes being oriented with respect to each other such that adjacent slide tubes are arranged in equiangular relation;

and

each of said plurality of magnets being mounted in a respective slide tube and being movable to selectively activate said reed switch corresponding thereto based upon the placement of said housing on the supporting surface in a specific orientation in which a particular one of said twelve facet positions on said housing is located in the “

up”

position.

41. A didactic device as set forth in claim 40, wherein said plurality of reed switches and said plurality of magnets are fewer in number than said twelve facet positions on said housing;

and

each of said magnets being potentially responsive to the placement of said housing on the supporting surface so as to orient any one of said twelve facet positions on said housing in the “

up”

position to move in a direction activating the reed switch corresponding thereto so as to provide at least a number of combinations of activated reed switches equal to the number of facet positions on said housing for generating a coded signal representative of the activated reed switches corresponding to the facet position on said housing in the “

up”

position to said microprocessor.

42. A didactic device as set forth in claim 41, wherein said plurality of reed switches, said plurality of magnets, and said plurality of slide tubes are each five in number.