WO2000012188A1

WO2000012188A1 - Articulated toys

Info

Publication number: WO2000012188A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/002882
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mark Christopher Simpson; Peter Richard Manning
Original assignee: Dixon-Manning Limited
Priority date: 1998-09-01
Filing date: 1999-09-01
Publication date: 2000-03-09
Also published as: GB9819023D0

Abstract

An articulated toy constructed of two or more parts so that when one or more joints are placed in a certain position a visual or audio effect occurs. This makes the toy semi-interactive with the user and is particularly appropriate with humanoid and similar action figure toys. Circuits causing the instructions are only formed when the joints are in certain positions. For example if the left arm joint (12a) of the toy is out at right angles to the torso (4) and the lower arm (12) is held by the elbow joint (12b) up at right angles to the upper arm and the neck joint (14a) is holding the neck upright then a message 'Halt who goes there' issues.

Description

ARTICULATED TOYS

This invention relates to articulated toys, and in particular to articulated toys constructed from two or more parts that are attached together by one or more joints.

Articulated toys are known. Such toys are often figures of substantially human shape and include a torso to which is attached a head, two arms, and two legs. The joints between the torso and the head and limbs are constructed to allow a degree of movement of the head or limb relative to the torso. Some figures are provided with one or more joints within one or more of the limbs, such as ankle, knee, wrist and elbow joints, and/or a joint within the torso to resemble a human waist, and/or more than one joint in the neck. Each of these joints allows relative movement between the two body portions that form the joint. The provision of one or more joints in the toy allows a person playing with the toy to place it in a number of poses so enhancing enjoyment of the toy. Though a lot of articulated toys are of substantially human shape, they can be of any other shape. Broad categories of shapes include real animals, mythical creatures, wholly imaginary creatures, robots, and machines . Toys of all of these shapes are provided with the appropriate number of joints in the appropriate positions. Again this allows a person playing with the toy to place it in a number of poses or positions so enhancing enjoyment of the toy.

According to the present invention there is provided an articulated toy constructed from two or more parts, each part being attached to at least one other part by a joint, in which at least one of the joints in the toy is moveable and allows the joined parts to move relative to each other, characterised in that the toy emits an audio or visual effect when at least one of the movable joints is in a predetermined position.

A toy according to the present invention is accordingly, to a degree, interactive with the user of the toy in that when the joint or joints of the toy are placed in the predetermined position an effect occurs. Preferably, the effect that occurs is appropriate to the position of the joint or joints and thus the overall configuration of the toy. For example, if the toy were placed in a fighting configuration then a suitably aggressive sound or phrase such as "prepare to die" would be emitted. Alternatively, the effect could be in the form of some sort of visual effect. Examples of such effects could be the lighting up of the eyes of a human or animal figure, the illumination of a weapon for a warrior or a robot fighter, or even a change in colour of all or part of the toy due to an electrocromic or thermocromic effect. If illumination of all or part of the toy is to occur, such illumination is preferably caused by one or more high brightness light emitting diodes.

The effect can be triggered by the correct positioning of just one joint, or it could only occur when two or more joints are, at the same time, each manipulated to be in a particular position.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the toy is made up of a number of parts which can be manipulated one relative to the others so that the toy can be made to have several different configurations such as a human, a robot, or a mythical beast. The toy can be so configured such that it will produce a series of different effects, such as sounds and/or speech, if the manipulation of the toy occurs in such a fashion that the toy passes through a series of predetermined configurations in a particular order. The effects can either occur as the manipulation occurs, or once the manipulation has finished, or both. For example, a possible set of effects for the transformation of a human figure to a beast could be "I'm getting angry", "you will grurrr regret this grurrr", and "roarrrrr".

The toy of the present invention has a substantially human, animal, mythical animal, invented animal, robotic or other mechanical shape .

To produce a toy according to the present invention, it is most preferred that at least one movable joint in the toy includes a position determination means for determining the position of the two parts linked by that joint relative to each other; one of the parts of the toy contains an interrogation means for interrogating each position determination means and a power supply; and the interrogation means may compare the results of the interrogations with a stored set of interrogation results and may cause an audio or visual effect to be emitted via appropriate means if the results match one of the stored set of interrogation results.

The interrogation means is preferably in the form of a printed circuit board and surface mounted circuitry, but could also be in the form of an integrated circuit on a silicon chip. The exact structure and configuration of the interrogation means will be determined by the requirements for a particular toy but may be created using known electronic techniques.

The position determination means of the present invention can either be of the type that can determine the relative positions of the two parts linked by the joint irrespective of the actual relative positions, or of the type that can determine whether the two parts are, or are not in a particular position relative to each other. A slight modification of the latter type of determination means allows for the determination as to whether the two parts are, or are not in one of a number of particular positions relative to each other.

A first possible configuration of a movable joints linking a first part to a second part in the present invention allows the second part to rotate about a central axis passing through the joint, and thus relative to the first part. In this joint the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts electrically connected to the interrogation means and which are mounted on the first part, and a contact strip mounted on the second part. The electrical contacts and the contact strip are so configured and mounted on the first and second parts respectively that the contact strip only makes or breaks an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

A second possible configuration of joint linking a first part to a second part is in the form of a ball and socket joint, and in which the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts which are electrically connected to the interrogation means and which are mounted so as to form part of the surface of the socket, and a contact strip associated with the ball, the electrical contacts and the contact strip being so configured and positioned in the socket and ball respectively that the contact strip only creates or breaks an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

Either the first or second possible configurations of joint can easily be adapted to determine whether the joint is in one of a plurality of different specific positions. A possible method of making that adaptation include either having a plurality of contact strips with the electrical resistance of each strip different, and configuring the interrogation means to determine the resistance of the contact strip. A second possibility is to have just one contact strip, and more than two electrical contacts. The interrogation means could react according to which contacts were either electrically connected or not connected. The present invention will be further described and explained by way of example with reference to the accompanying illustrations in which:

Figure 1 shows a humanoid action figure according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the internal components of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a logic diagram for the interrogations means for the action figure of Figure 1;

Figure 4 shows an exploded view of a joint incorporating a position determination means according to the present invention; and

Figure 5 shows an alternative contact strip for the joint of Figure 4.

Referring to Figure 1, a humanoid action figure 2 is provided with a torso 4, left and right legs 6, 8 respectively, left and right arms 10, 12 respectively, a neck 14 and a head 16. Each of limbs 6, 8, 10, and 12 include three joints 6a, 6b, 6c etc. Joint "a" links the limb to torso 4, and joints "b" and "c" link parts of each limb together.

The neck of action figure 2 has a joint at each end, joint 14a linking the neck 14 with the torso 4, and joint 14b the neck 14 with the head 16. The torso 4 is also provided with a "waist" joint 4a.

All of the joints in the action figure 2 are movable and allow the adjacent parts of the figure to move relative to each other. It is preferred if that the joints allow for substantially the same degree of movement as the equivalent joint in a human.

The torso 4 includes within it a power source 20, an interrogation means 22, and a loudspeaker 24. Figure 2 shows a schematic arrangement of these components . As may be seen, interrogation means 22 is additionally attached to position detection means 12a', 12b', and 14b' which are located in corresponding joints 12a, 12b, and 14b. Additionally, though not shown, torso 4 includes and on/off switch to turn the toy on or off.

When the toy is turned on, the interrogation means 22 repeatedly determines whether an audio or visual effect should be emitted. Figure 3 shows a flow diagram for one possible method of operation of the interrogation means 22 as shown in Figure 2.

The toy as schematically illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 is a very simple toy according to the present invention. It will be appreciated, however, that the present invention allows for any combination of the joints of the action figure to be provided with position determination means, and considerably more complex methods of operation than that shown in Figure 3.

With reference to Figure 4 , Torso 4 is comprised of a top shell 30 and a bottom shell (not shown) . Joint 12a links arm 12 to torso 4 at the junction of the top and bottom shells. Top shell 30 is provided with a half journal box 32 defined by the edge of shell 30, and contact apertures 36 and 38 likewise defined by the edge of shell 30. the bottom shell of body 4 is provided with an equivalent half journal box in a position so that the two half journal boxes make a complete journal box. Contacts 40, 42 are located in apertures 36, 38 and electrically connected with interrogation means 22.

The end of arm 12 that forms joint 12a is provided with a retaining flange 50 joined to the main body of the arm 12 by a journal 52. Adjacent to journal 52 and on the main body of the arm is face 54 which is substantially perpendicular to the face of journal 52. Overlying the majority of face 54 is an electrically conductive contact strip 56.

When journal 52 is located in half journal box 32 and contacts 40, 42 in apertures 36, 38 the contacts 40, 42 electrically connect with each other when contact strip 56 contacts both of the contacts 40, 42. The contact strip 56 is located on face 54 so that positioning the arm 12 relative to torso 4 in the position that is desired for the emission of an effect causes contact strip 56 to break contact with one of the contacts 40, 42.

The joint as illustrated in Figure 4 will, if it is allowed to rotate through 360 degrees around the axis of the journal 52, have two positions in which there is no electrical contact between the contacts 40, 42. Alternative, unillustrated, embodiments of joints similar to that shown in Figure 4 may have the contacts 40, 42 positioned at differing distances from the half journal box 32 and a contact strip 56 configured as shown in Figure 5. In that embodiment one of the contacts is always in contact with zone bordered by dashed line 60 and the inner edge of the contact strip 56 and the other is either in contact or not with zone bordered by dashed line 62 and the outer edge. This will result in there only being one position in which the two contacts 40,42 are not electrically connected with each other.

The joint 12a could be of a ball and socket type instead of a journaled type as illustrated in Figure 4. The joint would operate in much the same fashion as discussed in connection with Figure 4. The mechanical principles of ball and socket type joints are well known and not illustrated further here. In a similar fashion, a joint could be a hinge joint, and again work on the principle of a pair of contacts and a contact strip that will or will not electrically connect the contacts depending upon the position of the hinge joint.

Claims

An articulated toy constructed from two or more parts, each part being linked to at least one other part by a joint, in which at least one of the joints in the toy is moveable and allows the linked parts to move relative to each other, characterised in that the toy emits an audio or visual effect when at least one of the movable joints is in a predetermined position.

A toy according to claim 1 characterised in that it includes at least two movable joints, and that the audio or visual effect occurs when each of two or more movable joints are in a predetermined position.

A toy according to claim 1 or 2 characterised in that the predetermined position or positions of the movable joint or joints corresponds to a particularly desired configuration of the toy either in part or as a whole.

A toy according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterised in that the toy has a substantially human shape.

A toy according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterised in that the toy has a substantially animal, mythical animal, invented animal, robotic or other mechanical shape.

A toy according to claim 4 or 5 characterised in that the audio effect is in the form of synthesised speech. A toy according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterised in that the visual effect is in the form of one or more illuminated light sources.

A toy according to claim 7 characterised in that the light source is a high brightness light emitting diode.

A toy according to any one of claims 1 to 8 characterised in that

at least one movable joint includes a position determination means for determining the position of the two parts linked by that joint relative to each other,

one of the parts of the toy contains an interrogation means for interrogating each position determination means and a power supply,

the interrogation means may compare the results of the interrogations with a stored set of interrogation results and may cause an audio or visual effect to be emitted via appropriate means if the results match one of the stored set of interrogation results.

A toy according to claim 9 characterised in that at least one of the position determination means is configured to determine whether the two parts linked by the joint including that position determination means are in a specific position relative to each other. A toy according to claim 9 or 10 characterised in that at least one of the position determination means is configured to determine whether the two parts linked by the joint including that position determination means are in one of a number of specific positions relative to each other.

A toy according to any one of claims 9 to 11 characterised in that at least one of the movable joints linking a first part to a second part allows the second part to rotate about a central axis passing through the joint, and in which the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts electrically connected to the interrogation means which contacts are mounted on the first part, and a contact strip mounted on the second part, the electrical contacts and the contact strip being so configured and mounted on the first and second parts respectively that the contact strip only makes an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

A toy according to any one of claims 9 to 11 characterised in that at least one of the movable joints attaching a first part to a second part allows the second part to rotate about a central axis passing through the joint, and in which the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts electrically connected to the interrogation means which contacts are mounted on the first part, and a contact strip mounted on the second part, the electrical contacts and the contact strip being so configured and mounted on the first and second parts respectively that the contact strip only breaks an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

A toy according to claim 12 or 13 characterised in that the joint therein is provided with stop means to prevent the joint rotating through an arc of more than 359 degrees.

A toy according to any one of claims 9 to 11 characterised in that at least one of the movable joints linking a first part to a second part is in the form of a ball and socket joint, and in which the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts which are electrically connected to the interrogation means and which are mounted so as to form part of the surface of the socket, and a contact strip associated with the ball, the electrical contacts and the contact strip being so configured and positioned in the socket and ball respectively that the contact strip only creates an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

A toy according to any one of claims 9 to 11 characterised in that at least one of the movable joints linking a first part to a second part is in the form of a ball and socket joint, and in which the position determination means for that joint includes a pair of contacts which are electrically connected to the interrogation means and which are mounted so as to form part of the surface of the socket, and a contact strip associated with the ball, the electrical contacts and the contact strip being so configured and positioned in the socket and ball respectively that the contact strip only breaks an electrical connection between the electrical contacts when the two parts are in a specific position relative to each other.

A toy according to any one of claims 12 to 16 characterised in that the joint includes at least two contact strips which either make or break electrical contact in the same number of specific positions as there are contact strips.