Systems and methods for providing electric power to mobile and arbitrarily positioned devices
First Claim
1. Electromechanical apparatus, comprising:
- an electromechanical device, which is powered by electricity and is turnable and moveable in any direction on a support surface, said electromechanical device having a plurality of electric contacts that are spaced apart in relation to each other in positions to make electric contact with the support surface, said electric contacts being electrically connected to a rectifier circuit that is capable of rectifying electric power from said electric contacts whenever at least one of said electric contacts is at a first voltage level and at least another one of said electric contacts is at a second voltage level;
a contact system having a plurality of pads that comprise at least part of said support surface, wherein some of said pads are at the first voltage level and others of said pads are at the second voltage level, and further wherein the pads at the first voltage level are interspersed with the pads at the second voltage level in such a manner that movement of the electromechanical device in any direction on the support surface can result in a condition in which at least one of the contacts touches at least one pad at the first voltage level while at least one other of the contacts touches at least one pad at the second voltage level.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various contact systems and methods for manufacturing and using such are disclosed herein. Examples of the contact systems include a surface with one set of pads biased at a first voltage level, and another set of pads biased at a second voltage level. Such a contact system can be used, for example, to transfer power to an electromechanical device disposed thereon. In one particular example, the electromechanical device can include a power storage element and two or more couplings. When one of the couplings contacts a pad biased at the first voltage level, and another of the couplings contacts a pad biased at the second voltage level, a circuit is completed where some derivative of the differential between the first voltage level and the second voltage level is placed across the power storage element. Completion of the circuit causes the power storage element to charge. Power can be drawn from the power storage element to operate the electromechanical device.
95 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. Electromechanical apparatus, comprising:
-
an electromechanical device, which is powered by electricity and is turnable and moveable in any direction on a support surface, said electromechanical device having a plurality of electric contacts that are spaced apart in relation to each other in positions to make electric contact with the support surface, said electric contacts being electrically connected to a rectifier circuit that is capable of rectifying electric power from said electric contacts whenever at least one of said electric contacts is at a first voltage level and at least another one of said electric contacts is at a second voltage level;
a contact system having a plurality of pads that comprise at least part of said support surface, wherein some of said pads are at the first voltage level and others of said pads are at the second voltage level, and further wherein the pads at the first voltage level are interspersed with the pads at the second voltage level in such a manner that movement of the electromechanical device in any direction on the support surface can result in a condition in which at least one of the contacts touches at least one pad at the first voltage level while at least one other of the contacts touches at least one pad at the second voltage level.
-
-
2. A method for providing electric power to an electromechanical device that is moveable to, and positionable at, divers locations on a support surface, comprising:
-
providing the support surface with a plurality of pads at one voltage level interspersed with a plurality of pads at another voltage level;
providing the electromechanical device with a plurality of electric contacts, at least two of which are spaced apart from each other a sufficient distance to accommodate positioning of one of said contacts to be in electric contract with one of said pads at said one voltage level simultaneously with positioning another of said contacts to be in electric contact with another of said pads at said another voltage level;
rectifying electric current flowing between said contacts to provide electric power for operating said electromechanical device, regardless of which one of said contacts is positioned in electric contact with the pad at said one voltage level and which another of said contacts is positioned in electric contact with the pad at said another voltage level.
-
-
3. A game surface comprising:
-
a plurality of first pads;
a plurality of second pads;
a power source coupling, wherein the power source coupling includes a first lead electrically coupled to the plurality of first pads and a second lead electrically coupled to the plurality of second pads, and wherein the first lead and the second lead are operable for biasing at a first voltage level and a second voltage level, respectively; and
an insulation region, wherein the plurality of first pads is spaced apart from the plurality of second pads by the insulation region. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A contact system, the contact system comprising:
-
a surface, wherein the surface includes a substantially non-conductive substrate, a plurality of first pads, and a plurality of second pads;
wherein the plurality of first pads and the plurality of second pads are disposed on the substantially non-conductive substrate; and
wherein an upper surface of the plurality of first pads and the plurality of second pads is a continuous surface; and
a power source, wherein the power source is electrically coupled to the plurality of first pads and to the plurality of second pads, and wherein the power source is operable to bias the plurality of first pads at a first voltage level and to bias the plurality of second pads at a second voltage level. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
-
20. A game system, the game system comprising:
-
a game surface, wherein the game surface includes a substantially non-conductive insulation region, a plurality of first pads, and a plurality of second pads disposed on a substantially non-conductive substrate;
a power source, wherein the power source is electrically coupled to the plurality of first pads and to the plurality of second pads, and wherein the power source is operable to bias the plurality of first pads at a first voltage level and to bias the plurality of second pads at a second voltage level;
an electromechanical device, wherein the electromechanical device includes a movement element, a power storage element, and a plurality of couplings; and
wherein the plurality of couplings complete a circuit including the power storage element, a first conductive contact between one of the plurality of couplings and one of the plurality of first pads, and a second conductive contact between another of the couplings and one of the plurality of second pads. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for manufacturing a contact system, the method comprising:
-
providing a substantially non-conductive substrate;
forming a conductive material on the substantially non-conductive substrate;
defining a plurality of first pads in the conductive material;
defining a plurality of second pads in the conductive material; and
defining an insulation region between the plurality of first pads and the plurality of second pads. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
-
28. A game system, the game system comprising:
-
a contact system;
an electromechanical device disposed on the contact system; and
a controller system, wherein the controller system includes;
a transmitter for transmitting one or more commands to the electromechanical device; and
a receiver for receiving location information associated with the electromechanical device.
-
-
29. A game system, the game system comprising:
-
a plurality of electromechanical game devices, with the plurality of electromechanical game devices being capable of moving in response to movement commands and further capable of transmitting positional signals;
a wireless receiver configured to receive the positional signals from the plurality of electromechanical game devices;
a plurality of user input devices adapted to receive user inputs;
a wireless transmitter that transmits movement commands to the plurality of electromechanical game devices; and
a processing system that communicates with the wireless receiver, the plurality of user input devices, and the wireless transmitter, with the processing system including a position-computing algorithm and a game algorithm, the processing system being configured to receive user movement inputs from the plurality of user input devices, determine a current position, a current orientation, and a current state of a particular electromechanical game device from the position-computing algorithm and from one or more successive positional signals received from the particular electromechanical game device, obtain a desired position of the particular electromechanical game device from the game algorithm, process the current position, the current orientation, and the current state with the desired position and thereby determine a movement command for the particular electromechanical game device, and transmit the movement command from the game controller to the particular electromechanical game device.
-
-
30. A method of controlling a plurality of electromechanical game devices in a game system, the method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving user movement inputs from one or more user input devices;
receiving one or more successive positional signals from a particular electromechanical game device;
determining a current position, a current orientation, and a current state of the particular electromechanical game device from a position-computing algorithm and from the one or more successive positional signals;
obtaining a desired position of the particular electromechanical game device from a game algorithm; and
processing the current position, the current orientation, and the current state with the desired position and thereby determining a movement command for the particular electromechanical game device; and
transmitting the movement command to the particular electromechanical game device;
wherein the particular electromechanical game device moves in response to the movement command. - View Dependent Claims (31)
-
-
32. A location system for locating a particular remote device of a plurality of remote devices, the location system comprising:
-
a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and antenna;
two or more spaced-apart microphones; and
a processing system in communication with the RF transmitter and the two or more spaced-apart microphones, with the processing system configured to transmit an audio response command to the plurality of remote devices through the RF transmitter, receive an audio response signal from the particular remote device in the two or more spaced-apart microphones in response to the audio response command, and determine a single bit of information and a position of the particular remote device relative to the two or more spaced-apart microphones.
-
-
33. A location method for locating a particular remote device of a plurality of remote devices, the method comprising:
-
transmitting an audio response command to the plurality of remote devices through the RF transmitter;
receiving an audio response signal from the particular remote device in the two or more spaced-apart microphones in response to the audio response command; and
determining a single bit of information and a position of the particular remote device relative to the two or more spaced-apart microphones.
-
Specification