System and Method for a Motion Sensing Device which Provides a Visual or Audible Indication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016114221-A1
Application number	US-201614987781-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 5, 2016
Priority date	Mar 25, 2011
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A device includes a signaling means and a motion sensor, and logic for activating or controlling the signaling means in response to a sensed motion according to an embedded logic. The device may be used as a toy, and may be shaped like a play ball or as a handheld unit. It may be powered from a battery, either chargeable from an AC power source directly or contactless by using induction or by converting electrical energy from harvested kinetic energy. The embedded logic may activate or control the signaling means, predictably or randomly, in response to sensed acceleration magnitude or direction, such as sensing the crossing of a preset threshold or sensing the peak value. The visual means may be a numeric display for displaying a value associated with the count of the number of times the threshold has been exceeded or the peak magnitude of the acceleration sensed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device for signaling in response to a sensed motion, the device having a single enclosure, and in the single enclosure comprising:
an accelerometer attached to the single enclosure for producing an output signal responsive to the device acceleration; a visible light emitter for emitting a visible light signaling a first status to a person; an actuator operative to affect a physical phenomenon; a software and a processor for executing the software, the processor coupled to the accelerometer, to the actuator, and to the visible light emitter, for activating or controlling the emitted light or the actuator in response to the output signal; a rechargeable battery connected to power the device; and a battery charger connected for contactless charging of the rechargeable battery.

2 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the contactless charging is induction-based, and wherein the battery charger comprises, or consists of, an induction coil for inductively receiving AC power when in an electromagnetic field, and for charging the rechargeable battery from the received AC power.

3 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the actuator is operative to affect a temperature.

4 . The device according to claim 3 , wherein the actuator is a heater or a cooler.

5 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the actuator is operative to affect a physical movement.

6 . The device according to claim 5 , wherein the actuator is a motor or a fan.

7 . The device according to claim 5 , wherein the physical movement is associated with the device image, theme, or shape.

8 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the actuator is operative to convert energy.

9 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the actuator appearance, location, color, type, shape, or functionality is related to the device image, theme, or shape.

10 . The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery compartment mechanically secured to the single enclosure for housing the rechargeable battery.

11 . The device according to claim 10 , wherein the single enclosure further comprising a securely removable cover for covering the battery compartment, so that when the cover is removed the battery compartment is accessible for replacing the rechargeable battery.

12 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer comprises, consists of, uses, or is based on, a piezoelectric, piezoresistive, capacitive, Micro-mechanical Electrical Systems (MEMS), or electromechanical accelerometer.

13 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer produces the output signal in response to an absolute acceleration or to a relative-to-freefall acceleration of the enclosure.

14 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the output signal is responsive to the magnitude or the direction of the device acceleration, and wherein the accelerometer is a single-axis, two-axis, or a three-axis accelerometer.

15 . The device according to claim 1 , further operative to sense or measure the device mechanical orientation, vibration, shock, or falling, based on, or using, the output signal.

16 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer comprises, consists of, uses, or is based on, a piezoelectric accelerometer that utilizes a piezoelectric effect and comprises, consists of, uses, or is based on, piezoceramics or a single crystal or quartz.

17 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, comprises, is based on, or uses, a semiconductor component, an incandescent lamp, or fluorescent lamp.

18 . The device according to claim 17 , wherein the semiconductor component consists of, or comprises, a single color Light Emitting Diode (LED) or a multi-color LED.

19 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter is operative to illuminate in multiple colors, and wherein the first status is indicated by changing between colors.

20 . The device according to claim 1 , further comprising an additional visible light emitter attached to the single enclosure and coupled to the processor for emitting a visible light indicating a second status to the person.

21 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the first status is indicated by steadiness, blinking, intensity level, duty-cycle, or flashing, of the illumination of the visible light emitter.

22 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, a numerical display for displaying one or more digits representing a number.

23 . The device according to claim 22 , wherein the numerical display comprises, consists of, or uses, seven-segments display.

24 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, an alphanumeric display for displaying characters, numbers, letters, or symbols.

25 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, a flat-panel digital display for displaying graphical or text information.

26 . The device according to claim 25 , wherein the digital display is based on, comprises, or uses, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Thin-Film Transistor (TFT), or a Field Emission Display (FED) display.

27 . The device according to claim 26 , wherein the digital display is coupled to the processor using an interface that is according to, or based on, IEEE 1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Serial Digital Interface (SDI), FireWire™, High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Unified Display Interface (UDI), or DisplayPort standard.

28 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises a DLP display or a video projector.

29 . A portable electronic device comprising the device according to claim 1 .

30 . The portable electronic device according to claim 29 consisting of, or comprising, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, a media player, a cellular telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a digital camera, a video recorder, or any combination thereof.

31 . The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a random number generator coupled to the processor and operative to output a random number, wherein the activating or controlling the emitted light or the actuator is in response to the random number.

32 . The device according to claim 31 , wherein the random number generator is based on a physical process.

33 . The device according to claim 32 , wherein the physical process is one of a thermal noise, a shot noise, decaying nuclear radiation, a photoelectric effect, and a quantum phenomenon.

34 . The device according to claim 31 , wherein the random number generator is software-based, and the processor executes a pseudo-random number generator software.

35 . The device according to claim 31 , wherein the random numbers generated by the random number generator are substantially uniformly or Gaussianly distributed.

36 . The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a controlled switch connected for switching DC power from the rechargeable battery to the visible light emitter or to the actuator, wherein th

Assignees

• May Patents Ltd

Inventors

• Binder Yehuda

Classifications

• H02J7/865

  Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply (H02J7/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G10H1/26

  for automatically producing a series of tones · CPC title

• A63B2220/51

  Force · CPC title

• G01P15/18

  in two or more dimensions · CPC title

• A63H33/26

  Magnetic or electric toys (electric drives A63H29/22 {; indoor games played with small balls using magnetic power A63F7/0088, A63F7/068}) · CPC title