Toy brick with sensing, actuation and control

Abstract

A toy brick includes a housing, a first coupling element, an operating assembly, and a power source. The first coupling element releasably couples the housing to the housing of at least one other toy brick. The operating assembly is carried by the housing. The operating assembly includes user reprogrammable computing control element, and at least one sensing element capable of sensing an input value, the at least one sensing element operably coupled to the computing control element. The user reprogrammable computing and control element is configured generate an actuator output based at least in part on the sensed input value. The operating assembly also includes at least one actuator operably coupled to the computing control element to receive the actuator output. A power source is coupled to the operating assembly to supply electrical power thereto.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A toy brick comprising;
 a housing;   a first coupling element for releasably coupling the housing to the housing of at least one other toy brick;   an operating assembly carried by the housing, the operating assembly comprising:
 a user reprogrammable computing control element; 
 at least one sensing element capable of sensing an input value, said at least one sensing element operably coupled to the computing control element; 
 the user reprogrammable computing and control element configured generate an actuator output based at least in part on the sensed input value; and 
 at least one actuator operably coupled to the computing control element to receive said actuator output; and 
   a power source coupled to the operating assembly to supply electrical power thereto.   
     
     
         2 . A toy brick comprising;
 a housing;   a first coupling element for releasably coupling the housing to the housing of at least one other toy brick;   an operating assembly carried by the housing, the operating assembly comprising:
 a computing control element; 
 at least one sensing element capable of sensing input values, said at least one sensing element operably coupled to the computing control element; 
 the computing and control element configured generate an actuator output based at least in part on a currently sensed input value and a previously sensed input value; and 
 at least one actuator operably coupled to the computing control element to receive said actuator output; and 
   a power source coupled to the operating assembly to supply electrical power thereto.   
     
     
         3 . A toy brick comprising;
 a housing;   a first coupling element for releasably coupling the housing to the housing of at least one other toy brick;   an operating assembly carried by the housing, the operating assembly comprising:
 a computing control element; 
 at least one sensing element capable of sensing a continuum of input values, said at least one sensing element operably coupled to the computing control element; 
 the computing and control element configured generate an actuator output based at least in part on said sensed continuum of input values; and 
 at least one actuator operably coupled to the computing control element to receive said actuator output; and 
   a power source coupled to the operating assembly to supply electrical power thereto.   
     
     
         4 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the computing control element comprises a chosen one of a microprocessor or a microcontroller with embedded firmware. 
     
     
         5 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the computing control element comprises at least one of digital logic chips, FPGA's, lookup tables in ROM or RAM, fuzzy logic, and analog circuits. 
     
     
         6 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the computing control element is configured for storage of sensing and actuation data for later retrieval. 
     
     
         7 . The toy brick according to  claim 2 , wherein the computing control element is a reprogrammable computing control element. 
     
     
         8 . The toy brick according to  claim 3 , wherein the computing control element is a reprogrammable computing control element. 
     
     
         9 . The toy brick according to  claim 2 , wherein the actuator output comprises a time course of actuator outputs. 
     
     
         10 . The toy brick according to  claim 3 , wherein the actuator output comprises a time course of actuator outputs. 
     
     
         11 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the power source comprises:
 a rechargeable electrical energy storage element; and   an inductive charging device operably connected to the rechargeable electrical energy storage element.   
     
     
         12 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the power source comprises:
 a rechargeable electrical energy storage element; and   a solar collector charging device operably connected to the rechargeable electrical energy storage element.   
     
     
         13 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the power source comprises:
 a rechargeable electrical energy storage element; and   an electrical connector carried by the housing and connected to the rechargeable electrical energy storage element so that the rechargeable electrical energy storage element can be connected to an external electrical energy charging source.   
     
     
         14 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the power source comprises:
 an electrical energy storage element in the form of a removable and replaceable battery; and wherein the housing comprises:   a battery access element permitting user access to the removable and replaceable battery.   
     
     
         15 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises at least one of a radio frequency receiver and a radio frequency transceiver. 
     
     
         16 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a sound receiver. 
     
     
         17 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a light sensor capable of sensing at least one of visible light and invisible light. 
     
     
         18 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises at least one of the following: an axis tilt sensor, a gyroscopic motion sensor, a gravity sensor, and an acceleration sensor. 
     
     
         19 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a digital camera capable of capturing at least one of still images and moving images. 
     
     
         20 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a position-triangulating-capable receiver which allows triangulation of position of the toy brick relative to its surroundings. 
     
     
         21 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a gripping force sensor. 
     
     
         22 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a switch. 
     
     
         23 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a magnetic field sensor. 
     
     
         24 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises an electrical field sensor. 
     
     
         25 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a temperature sensor. 
     
     
         26 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a plurality of sensing elements. 
     
     
         27 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the sensing element comprises a data sensing element configured to generate data signals for receipt by the computing control element. 
     
     
         28 . The toy brick according to  claim 27 , wherein:
 the sensing element is configured to generate analog signals based upon input to the sensing element; and   the computing control element comprises a microcontroller comprising an analog to digital conversion capability for converting the analog signals from the sensing element into digital signals for receipt by the actuation element, the actuation element being the form of a transmitter.   
     
     
         29 . The toy brick according to  claim 28 , wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit data to an external computing device. 
     
     
         30 . The toy brick according to  claim 28 , wherein the data gathering sensing element is configured to transmit gathered data in a wireless manner. 
     
     
         31 . The toy brick according to  claim 28 , wherein:
 the data gathering sensing element is configured to transmit the gathered data to the computing control element according to at least one of the following: (1) in real time, or (2) after a delay.   
     
     
         32 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises a shaft rotatable relative to the housing about a shaft axis. 
     
     
         33 . The toy brick according to  claim 32 , wherein the sensing element comprises a shaft angle sensor operably coupled to the shaft. 
     
     
         34 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises a shaft movable in a linear manner relative to the housing along a shaft axis. 
     
     
         35 . The toy brick according to  claim 34 , wherein the sensing element comprises a shaft linear position sensor operably coupled to the shaft. 
     
     
         36 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises at least one motor. 
     
     
         37 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises at least one sound emission device. 
     
     
         38 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises at least one light source of variable or fixed intensity and color. 
     
     
         39 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises a color or monochrome graphical or text display. 
     
     
         40 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises at least one electrical solenoid. 
     
     
         41 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the actuator comprises at least one radio frequency transmitter or transceiver. 
     
     
         42 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of actuators are simultaneously present in a single toy brick. 
     
     
         43 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the brick has a rectangular parallelepiped shape. 
     
     
         44 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the brick comprises:
 first and second surfaces, the first and second surfaces being parallel, spaced apart and opposite one another;   third and fourth surfaces joined to and oriented at right angles to the first and second surfaces, the third and fourth surfaces being parallel, spaced apart and opposite one another;   fifth and sixth surfaces, the fifth and sixth surfaces joined to the first, second, third and fourth surfaces, the fifth and sixth surfaces being spaced apart and opposite one another; and   the first, second, fifth and sixth surfaces defining a non-rectangular shape.   
     
     
         45 . The toy brick according to  claim 44 , wherein the nonrectangular shape is a trapezoid. 
     
     
         46 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the toy brick has a unique electronic identifier address. 
     
     
         47 . The toy brick according to  claim 46 , wherein the toy brick also has a group electronic identifier address so that a plurality of said toy bricks can be simultaneously addressed using the group electronic identifier address. 
     
     
         48 . The toy brick according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing is a hermetically sealed housing.