Electronic drawing assist toy

• US 6,676,411 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2003
• Issued: 01/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rehco LLC
• Original Assignee: Rehco LLC
• Inventors: Rehkemper, Jeffrey, Rehkemper, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H.
• Application Number:
  US10/347,478
• Publication Number:
  US 20030104343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 357 Days
• Field of Search: 434/81, 434/84-88, 434/98, 434/100, 434/165, 434/307.R, 434/308, 434/317, 434/327, 434/362, 434/365, 434/371, 434/408, 345/173, 345/179, 315/291, 315/324, 352/50-52, 352/87, 178/18.01
• US Class Current: 434/85
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 11/04 Guide sheets or plates; Tracing charts templets for drawing purposes B43L13/20
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 11/06 Devices involving the use of transparent or translucent tracing material, e.g. copy books

Abstract

An electronic drawing assist toy comprising a drawing control mechanism operative to selecting a pattern to be displayed. A display screen is arranged in a two dimensional memory array and is selectively energized to sequentially display a selected pattern in response to operation of said control mechanism to assist the user in creating a corresponding drawing.

Claims

1. An electronic drawings toy comprising:

a memory for storing at least one image;

a digital display having a plurality of display elements arranged in a two dimensional array, each being capable when energized of displaying a component of the stored image;

a control mechanism for operating said digital display and energizing various ones of said display elements to display the stored image incrementally to sequentially simulate creating said stored image; and

a support for a drawing surface on which the displayed image can be reproduced, whereby a user is assisted in manually reproducing the stored image and thereby in the creation on the drawing surface of a drawing corresponding to the stored image displayed on said digital display.

2. The toy of claim 1 in which the memory is in the form of a removable cartridge.

3. The toy of claim 1, wherein said control mechanism is manually operable to suspend energizing said digital display elements and the display of further portions of the stored image.

4. The toy of claim 3, wherein said control mechanism is manually operable to reenergize said digital display elements and the display of additional portions of the stored image.

5. The toy of claim 1 in which the memory is in the form of a removable cartridge.

6. An electronic drawing assist toy in combination with a drawing surface comprising:

a memory for storing at least one image;

a digital display having a plurality of display elements arranged in a two dimensional array, each being capable when energized of displaying a component of the stored image; and

a control mechanism for operating said digital display and energizing various ones of said display elements to slowly display the stored image incrementally to simulate a sequence of how said stored image is created,

whereby a user viewing the stored image being slowly displayed on the digital display is assisted for manually reproducing the stored image on said drawing surface.

7. The drawing toy of claim 6 further comprising:

a support for the drawing surface on which the displayed image can be reproduced and thereby a user is capable of creating on the drawing surface a drawing corresponding to the stored image slowly displayed on said digital display.

8. A method of assisting in the manual reproduction of an electronically stored image comprising:

storing an image in an electronic memory; and

slowly displaying said stored image on a digital display pixel by pixel to simulate the creation of said stored image,

wherein a user viewing said slow display of said stored image pixel by pixel is assisted in manually reproducing said stored image on a drawing surface and thereby in creating a drawing representing said stored image displayed on said digital display.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising providing a removable image memory cartridge that is in communication with said electronic memory.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising providing a support for the drawing surface on which the displayed image can be reproduced.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising manually controlling the slow display of said stored image such that the display is capable of being suspended and re-energized.