Educational music instrument for children
First Claim
1. A musical toy which allows one or more musical sequences to be played, the toy comprising:
- a base with a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media;
a plurality of receiving portions, each of said receiving portions is in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks including a portion which is configured to engage one of said receiving portions;
wherein when one of said blocks engages one of said receiving portions, a musical sequence is played by the toy, and wherein each of said plurality of blocks is generally shaped like a cube and each face of the cube is configured to engage one of said receiving portions.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The educational music instrument is a musical toy that allows one or more musical sequences to be played. The toy includes a base with a signal processing unit and five receiving portions. The toy also includes five blocks which are configured to be inserted to the receiving portions. When the blocks are engaged with the receiving portions, a musical sequence or phase is played by the toy. The musical sequence played by the toy is dependent upon which face of the block is engaged with the receiving portion and different blocks preferably cause different musical sequences to be played. Accordingly, the musical toy can play numerous different musical sequences depending upon location and orientation of the blocks in the receiving portions.
48 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A musical toy which allows one or more musical sequences to be played, the toy comprising:
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a base with a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media;
a plurality of receiving portions, each of said receiving portions is in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks including a portion which is configured to engage one of said receiving portions;
wherein when one of said blocks engages one of said receiving portions, a musical sequence is played by the toy, and wherein each of said plurality of blocks is generally shaped like a cube and each face of the cube is configured to engage one of said receiving portions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An educational musical toy for children, the toy allowing one or more musical sequences to be played according to a pattern determined by a child, the toy comprising:
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a base with a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media;
a plurality of receiving portions, each of said receiving portions including a first contact which is in communication with said signal processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said plurality of blocks configured to engage one of said plurality of receiving portions, each of said blocks including a second contact, said second contact is configured to be in communication with said first contact when said block is engaged with one of said plurality of receiving portions. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A musical toy which allows one or more musical sequences to be played, comprising:
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a base including a programmable computer with computer readable memory storage, said computer configured to produce one or more output signals and receive one or more input signals;
a speaker in communication with said computer and configured to produce sounds corresponding to an output signal from said computer;
a plurality of first receiving portions in communication with said computer, each of said first receiving portions including a sensor; and
a plurality of objects having at least one portion configured to contact at least one of said first receiving portions;
wherein when one of said objects is in contact with one of said first receiving portions, said computer determines which of said objects is in contact with which of said first receiving portions, wherein each of said objects has a plurality of portions configured to contact at least one of said first receiving portions; and
wherein said computer determines a musical sequence to be played by the toy;
wherein said musical sequence is determined at least in part by which of said plurality of portions of said object is in contact with which of said first receiving portions.
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16. A musical toy which allows one or more musical sequences to be played, comprising:
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a base including a programmable computer with computer readable memory storage, said computer configured to produce one or more output signals and receive one or more input signals;
a speaker in communication with said computer and configured to produce sounds corresponding to an output signal from said computer;
a plurality of first receiving portions in communication with said computer, each of said first receiving portions including a sensor; and
a plurality of objects having at least one portion configured to contact at least one of said first receiving portions;
wherein when one of said objects is in contact with one of said first receiving portions, said computer determines which of said objects is in contact with which of said first receiving portions, further comprising a second receiving portion in communication with said computer. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A musical toy, comprising:
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a base including a speaker, a signal processing unit and a plurality of receiving portions;
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a plurality of sides configured to contact one of said receiving portions;
means for determining which block is in which receiving portion; and
means for playing a musical sequence, wherein the musical sequence is determined at least in part according to which of said plurality of blocks is in which of said plurality of receiving portions.
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19. A musical toy, comprising:
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a base including a speaker, a signal processing unit and a plurality of receiving portions;
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a plurality of sides configured to contact one of said receiving portions;
means for determining which block is in which receiving portion; and
means for playing a musical sequence, wherein the musical sequence is determined at least in part according to which one of said plurality of sides of said blocks is in contact with which of said plurality of receiving portions.
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20. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, further comprising a play button in communication with said signal processing unit;
wherein activation of said play button causes said device to play one or more musical sequences according to the placement of said plurality of blocks in said plurality of receiving portions.- View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, wherein each block of said plurality of blocks causes the device to play a different musical sequence when said block is placed in one of said receiving portions.
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23. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, wherein the sequence of said plurality of blocks placed in said plurality of receiving portions determines a sequence of musical sounds.
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24. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, further comprising a replaceable cartridge in communication with said signal processing unit, said replaceable cartridge configured to provide musical data to said processing unit to allow the device to play music.
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25. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, wherein said plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of cubes and wherein each face of said cubes includes identifying indicia. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A device in which one or more musical sequences may be played, comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine readable storage media, said processing unit configured to receive music sequence data and to send an audio signal to a speaker;
a speaker configured to receive said audio signal and produce sounds corresponding to said audio signal;
a plurality of receiving portions in communication with said processing unit; and
a plurality of blocks, each of said blocks having a surface configured to engage one of said receiving portions, wherein each of said plurality of blocks are readily movable between each of said plurality of receiving portions to allow the device to readily play different musical sequences.
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30. An educational musical toy comprising:
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a block having a first side configured to mate with a base of said toy, said first side having contacts configured to engage contacts of said base to complete an electric circuit;
said block contacts being electrically connected to an electrical element in the block that identifies a particular musical sequence in said toy base and causes said particular musical sequence to be audibly played when energized;
said block having a second side having spaced contacts configured to engage contacts of said base, the contacts of said second side being electrically connected by an element within the block which completes a circuit when energized and identifies a particular musical sequence within said toy that is different from the sequence identified by the electrical element connected to said first block contacts, thereby enabling said block to be able to initiate the playing of two different musical sequences. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An educational musical toy involving one or more musical sequences to be played, creating a pattern determined by the user of the toy, the toy comprising:
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a base including a signal processing unit and machine-readable storage media, said storage media containing information to provide a plurality of musical sequences; and
a plurality of receiving portions, each of said portions including a first contact which is in communication with said signal processing unit, each of said portions being configured to receive an object having an electrical contact on an exterior surface, each of said receiving portions being configured to cause said second contact to engage said first contact when the object is positioned in the receiving portion, said signal processing unit and said machine-readable storage media being adapted to produce a musical sequence when said contacts are engaged and energized. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification