Electronic dice and method of determining dice number thereof

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electronic dice and a method of determining a dice number. There is provided an electronic dice in which an acceleration sensor and a wired or wireless transmit-receive unit are provided. According to the electronic dice of the present invention, the dice number can be determined and transmitted to an external device based on changes in acceleration values over time, which are detected by the acceleration sensor in accordance with the movement of the dice, thereby combining play of the physical dice with a software game.

1 . An electronic dice, comprising:
 a main body having a regular polyhedron shape;   an acceleration sensor disposed at a center of the main body to sense acceleration values with respect to three perpendicular axes;   a control unit for determining that the electronic dice has moved from a stationary state if a displacement of an acceleration value sensed by the acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold value for a certain period of time, determining a state as a peak detection state if the displacement of the acceleration value over time exceeds a predetermined threshold displacement, determining a state as a stationary state or a completed state where the action of rolling the dice has been completed if the displacement of the acceleration value is smaller than the predetermined threshold value for a certain period of time, and determining a dice number based on the acceleration values sensed in the stationary state or the completed state; and   a transmit-receive unit for transmitting the dice number determined by the control unit to an external device.   
     
     
         2 . The dice as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising a memory unit for storing the acceleration values sensed by the acceleration sensor and previously storing numerals of the dice each of which is allocated depending on whether a direction of a top face of the stationary dice is +X, −X, +Y, −Y, +Z or −Z. 
     
     
         3 . The dice as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the control unit determines the direction of the top face of the stationary dice based on the acceleration values sensed with respect to the three axes of X, Y and Z in the stationary or completed state, and determines the dice number by reading said numerals of the dice each of which is allocated depending on whether the direction of the top face of the stationary dice is +X, −X, +Y, −Y, +Z or −Z, from the memory unit storing said numerals previously. 
     
     
         4 . The dice as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising an output unit for visually or aurally expressing an operation state of the electronic dice or the operation result for a user. 
     
     
         5 . The dice as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the acceleration sensor has a measurement range of ±2 g for each axis, and the predetermined threshold displacement for sensing the peak detection state is 1 g. 
     
     
         6 . The dice as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the transmit-receive unit is an apparatus capable of communicating with the external device through a short-range wireless communication using Bluetooth, wireless USB, Zigbee, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Nordic, or SimliciTi. 
     
     
         7 . A method of determining a dice number of an electronic dice, comprising:
 determining that the electronic dice has moved from a stationary state if a displacement of an acceleration value sensed by an acceleration sensor exceeds a predetermined threshold value for a certain period of time, the acceleration sensor being disposed at a center of a main body of the electronic dice having a regular polyhedron shape, and sensing acceleration values with respect to three perpendicular axes;   determining a state as a peak detection state if the displacement of the acceleration value over time exceeds a predetermined threshold displacement;   determining a state as a stationary state or a completed state where the action of rolling the dice has been completed if the displacement of the acceleration value is smaller than the predetermined threshold value for a certain period of time; and   determining a dice number based on the acceleration values sensed in the stationary state or the completed state, and transmitting the dice number to an external device.   
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein a direction of a top face of the stationary dice is determined based on the acceleration values sensed with respect to the three axes of X, Y and Z in the stationary or completed state, and the dice number is determined by reading numerals of the dice each of which is allocated depending on whether the direction of the top face of the stationary dice is +X, −X, +Y, −Y, +Z or −Z, from a memory unit storing said numerals previously, and transmitted to the external device. 
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , further comprising visually or aurally expressing an operation state of the each step or the operation result for a user. 
     
     
         10 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the acceleration sensor has a measurement range of ±2 g for each axis, and the predetermined threshold displacement for sensing the peak detection state is 1 g. 
     
     
         11 . The method as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the transmitting of the dice number to the external device is performed through a short-range wireless communication using Bluetooth, wireless USB, Zigbee, Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Nordic, or SimliciTi.