Motion sensing device which provides a signal in response to the sensed motion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9782637-B2
Application number	US-201615378198-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2016
Priority date	Mar 25, 2011
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

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

The invention 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 for producing an output signal responsive to the device acceleration;
an electric motor for affecting a physical movement;
a software and a processor for executing the software, the processor coupled to the accelerometer and to the electric motor, for activating or controlling the electric motor in response to the output signal;
a rechargeable battery connected to power the device; and
an induction coil for inductively receiving AC power when in an electromagnetic field, for charging the rechargeable battery from the received AC power.

2. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a visible light emitter coupled to be controlled by the processor for emitting a visible light signaling a first status to a person.

3. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter is coupled to the processor for activating or controlling the visible light emitter in response to the output signal.

4. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, comprises, is based on, or uses, a semiconductor component, an incandescent lamp, or fluorescent lamp.

5. The device according to claim 4 , wherein the semiconductor component consists of, or comprises, a single color Light Emitting Diode (LED) or a multi-color LED.

6. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter is operative to illuminate in multiple colors, and wherein the first status is indicated by changing between colors.

7. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the first status is indicated by steadiness, blinking, intensity level, duty-cycle, or flashing, of the illumination of the visible light emitter.

8. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, a numerical display for displaying one or more digits representing a number.

9. The device according to claim 8 , wherein the numerical display comprises, consists of, or uses, seven-segments display.

10. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, an alphanumeric display for displaying characters, numbers, letters, or symbols.

11. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises, a flat-panel digital display for displaying graphical or text information.

12. The device according to claim 11 , 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.

13. The device according to claim 12 , 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.

14. The device according to claim 2 , wherein the visible light emitter consists of, or comprises a DLP display or a video projector.

15. The device according to claim 2 , further comprising a controlled switch connected for switching DC power from the rechargeable battery to the visible light emitter or to the electric motor, wherein the switch is controlled by the processor in response to the output signal.

16. The device according to claim 15 , wherein the controlled switch is based on, comprises, or using, an electromechanical relay, a solid-state relay, or an optocouplers.

17. The device according to claim 2 , further comprising a peak-detector and a storage, respectively for detecting and storing a peak value of the sensed acceleration.

18. The device according to claim 17 , further operative to activate or control the visible light emitter or the electric motor in response to the peak value.

19. The device according to claim 2 , further comprising a timer for measuring a time interval, wherein the visible light emitter or the electric motor is activated or controlled to indicate to the person in response to a measured time interval between two events of the sensed acceleration being above an acceleration threshold.

20. The device according to claim 2 , 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 physical movement is associated with the device image, theme, or shape.

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

23. The device according to claim 22 , 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.

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

25. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer comprises, consists of, uses, or is based on, a mechanical accelerometer.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

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

31. The portable electronic device according to claim 30 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.

32. 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 electric motor is in response to the random number.

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

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

35. The device according to claim 32 , wherein the random number generator is software-based, and

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

• A63B2071/0625

  Emitting sound, noise or music · CPC title

• H02J7/32

  for charging batteries from a charging set comprising a non-electric prime mover {rotating at constant speed} · CPC title

• A63B2220/17

  Counting, e.g. counting periodical movements, revolutions or cycles, or including further data processing to determine distances or speed · CPC title