Motion responsive toy

• US 7,361,073 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2005
• Issued: 04/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mattel Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mattel Incorporated
• Inventors: Martin, Raymond J., Barri, Darin
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzuto; Robert E
• Assistant Examiner(s): RADA, ALEX P
• Application Number:
  US11/198,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20060046606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: 446129-130, 446/242
• US Class Current: 446/129
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/00 Remote-control arrangements specially adapted for toys, e.g. for toy vehicles steering mechanisms for toy vehicles A63H17/36; for model railways A63H19/24, A63H19/28
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/22 Optical, colour, or shadow toys puzzles with optical elements A63F9/0613; kaleidoscopes G02B27/08
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/26 Magnetic or electric toys electric drives A63H29/22 ; indoor games played with small balls using magnetic power A63F7/0088, A63F7/068
• 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: A63J 21/00 Conjuring appliances; Auxiliary apparatus for conjurers

Abstract

A toy may include a housing, an electromagnetic-field sensor, an output, a controller, and/or a source of an electromagnetic field. The housing may be adapted to be supported on a support surface. In some examples, the housing may support the field sensor in a fixed orientation or position relative to the support surface. In some examples, the field sensor may be adapted to produce a signal having a magnitude representative of a change in a field passing through the sensor. In some examples the output may have a changeable sensible output. The controller may be adapted to operate the output to have different outputs for different magnitudes of the signal. The source of the field may be moveable by a user relative to the sensor to expose the sensor to a field that changes according to the movements of the source by the user.

Claims

1. A toy comprising:

a housing;

an electromagnetic field sensor supported in the housing, and adapted to produce a signal having a magnitude representative of a change in an electromagnetic field passing through the sensor;

a changeable output, the output being changeable in magnitude;

a controller adapted to change the output for different magnitudes of the signal, the controller being further adapted to change the magnitude of the output for a change in the magnitude of the signal; and

a source of a magnetic field, the source being moveable by a user relative to the sensor to expose the sensor to an electromagnetic field that changes according to movement of the source relative to the sensor by the user.

2. The toy of claim 1, in which the output includes one or more of a light and/or a speaker.

3. The toy of claim 2, in which the controller is adapted to operate the output to vary one or more of illumination and/or sound when the magnitude of the signal varies.

4. The toy of claim 1, in which the controller includes a comparator adapted to detect when the signal reaches a threshold level, and the controller operates the output when the signal exceeds the threshold level.

5. The toy of claim 1, in which the housing includes a base adapted to support the field sensor in a fixed position relative to a support surface.

6. A toy comprising:

a magnet adapted to be moved by a user relative to an external surface; and

a base unit, the base unit including

a housing adapted to be supported in a fixed position relative to the surface;

a magnetic-field sensor supported in the housing, and adapted to produce a sensor signal having a magnitude representative of a change in a magnetic field of the magnet passing through the sensor;

an amplifier adapted to amplify the sensor signal;

a comparator adapted to produce a control signal representative of the magnitude of the amplified sensor signal when the amplified sensor signal exceeds a threshold value; and

an output circuit including at least one light and/or speaker, the output circuit activating the at least one light and/or speaker corresponding to the control signal.

7. The toy of claim 6, in which the output circuit modulates the light illumination according to the magnitude of the sensor signal.

8. The toy of claim 6, wherein the comparator is further adapted to produce a control signal representative of a magnitude of the amplified sensor signal, and the output circuit is further adapted to change a magnitude of an output produced by at least one light and/or speaker for a change in the magnitude of the sensor signal.

9. A method of operating a toy including an electromagnetic field sensor, a sensible output, and a source of an electromagnetic field, the method including:

moving the field source relative to the sensor;

detecting a magnitude of change in the field in the sensor;

producing a signal having a magnitude representative of the detected magnitude of change in the field; and

in response to the produced signal, producing a sensible output representative of the detected magnitude of change in the field.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising detecting a different magnitude of change in the field in the sensor, producing a signal having a magnitude representative of the detected different magnitude of change in the field, and producing a different sensible output representative of the detected different magnitude of change in the field.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein producing a different sensible output includes changing the magnitude of the sensible output for a change in the magnitude of the signal.