A surface position sensing structure and intelligent Rubik's Cube

Abstract

The present invention discloses a surface position sensing structure, which is formed by piecing together six printed circuit boards into a regular hexahedron as the axis of an intelligent Rubik's Cube. The main control chipset recognizes the rotation of the layer simply by brushing a brush across copper foil to cause a level change. While making the recognition of the layer position change more accurate and the step loss rate lower, the number of parts is reduced and the assembly process is simplified. The present invention also discloses an intelligent Rubik's Cube, which concentrates all the surface position sensing-related parts on the axis, so that the corner blocks, edge blocks and center blocks of the Rubik's Cube have space to install other functional components such as an axis floating elastic force adjustment system and a magnetic positioning system. The intelligent Rubik's Cube can be rotated more easily and freely, and its intelligent functions run more smoothly, thereby improving the user experience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of intelligent toys with mutually movable elements, in particular to an intelligent Rubik's Cube with prompting and recording functions and a central axis structure of the intelligent Rubik's Cube. Background Art

[0002] The Rubik's Cube is a popular puzzle toy with a simple structure and a variety of possibilities. The traditional three-dimensional Rubik's Cube consists of a central axis, six core blocks connected to the axis, 12 edge blocks embedded between each two core blocks, and eight corner blocks embedded between three edge blocks.

[0003] The traditional three-order Rubik's Cube has the following defects:

[0004] (1) It is difficult to restore the Rubik's Cube. The Rubik's Cube has many variations. It is difficult to restore the Rubik's Cube without knowing the formula. The formula is complicated and difficult for users to remember.

[0005] (2) It is difficult to accurately time the game. In current Rubik's Cube solving competitions, players need to press the stop button after successfully solving the game, so there will always be a timing error of about 0.5 seconds.

[0006] (3) It is not convenient for players to communicate with each other. Because the hands are blocked during the restoration operation, it is difficult for onlookers or cameras to observe the complete operation process. It is also difficult to record the steps of the Rubik's Cube restoration process.

[0007] In order to solve the above technical problems, the prior art provides a smart Rubik's Cube with prompt and recording functions, as disclosed in Publication No. WO / 2016 / 173476. However, the smart Rubik's Cube has the following disadvantages:

[0008] (1) The numerous electronic components and plastic parts make the machine heavy, which is not conducive to the athlete's explosive speed;

[0009] (2) The assembly process is complicated, resulting in high manufacturing costs and inconvenience for users to disassemble and debug;

[0010] (3) Due to the excessive arrangement of components related to surface orientation sensing, sensing errors are prone to occur, which in turn leads to incorrect judgment of the main control in the intelligent Rubik's Cube, affecting the user experience;

[0011] (4) The face position sensor of the smart Rubik's Cube, i.e., the physical detection module circuit in the prior art text, is generally installed in the center block, making it impossible for the user to adjust the axis and floating amplitude of the smart Rubik's Cube by using the axis floating elastic force adjustment system in the prior application with publication number CN210384805U;

[0012] (5) The various sensors and surface detection mechanisms of the smart Rubik's Cube are all welded by wire welding and FPC flat wire welding. The welding cost is high and the wire layout is messy. After long-term use, it is easy to cause cold soldering and broken wires, making the smart Rubik's Cube unable to be used normally. Summary of the Invention

[0013] In order to solve the above technical problems, the first purpose of the present invention is to provide a surface position sensing structure, which aims to reduce the number of parts of the smart Rubik's Cube, improve the sensing accuracy and have higher long-term stability.

[0014] In order to solve the above technical problems, the second purpose of the present invention is to provide an intelligent Rubik's Cube, which aims to enable Rubik's Cube players to adjust the elasticity, floating amplitude and positioning performance of the Rubik's Cube to obtain better competition performance while having the basic functions of the traditional intelligent Rubik's Cube.

[0015] In order to achieve the first purpose, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0016] A surface position sensing structure, characterized by comprising:

[0017] Six printed circuit boards, the printed circuit boards being electrically connected to each other and forming a regular hexahedron, each printed circuit board having an outer surface provided with a circular copper foil centered at the center of the printed circuit board, and four arc-shaped copper foils having a common center and equal radius being equally spaced around the outer periphery of the circular copper foil, with the circular copper foil and the arc-shaped copper foil having a common center;

[0018] Six shafts, each shaft having a disc base at its bottom, a chassis copper foil fixed to its bottom surface, and three brushes protruding toward one side of the printed circuit board, namely, a first brush, a second brush, and a third brush;

[0019] A through hole is provided at the center of the circle on the printed circuit board, a boss corresponding to the through hole and penetrating the copper foil of the chassis is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the disc base, and the shaft is inserted into the through hole through the boss and can be rotatably mounted on the printed circuit board along its own central axis;

[0020] When the chassis copper foil rotates with the shaft, the paths swept by the first and second brushes are located above the annular copper foil and are electrically connected to the printed circuit board. At the same time, the path swept by the third brush covers the four arc-shaped copper foils, and the third brush is electrically connected to the printed circuit board when sweeping over the arc-shaped copper foil.

[0021] A main control chipset and a battery for powering the main control chipset are provided in the regular hexahedron. The main control chipset is electrically connected to the annular copper foil. When one of the shafts rotates, the main control chipset receives a level change signal caused by the third brush brushing across the arc-shaped copper foil.

[0022] It also includes a spherical cover formed by an upper and a lower semi-circular spherical cover. The regular hexahedron is arranged inside the spherical cover, and the shaft passes through the spherical cover and extends out of the spherical cover.

[0023] Furthermore, the gap line of the ball cover is located above the common horizontal plane of the four shafts, and the positions of the ball covers corresponding to the four shafts are provided with upper semicircular tubes and lower semicircular tubes, the upper semicircular tubes are all located in the upper semicircular ball cover, and the lower semicircular tubes are all located in the lower semicircular ball cover. After the upper and lower semicircular ball covers are closed, each corresponding upper and lower semicircular tubes are covered into a circular tube that is sleeved on the shaft body, and each of the circular tubes is sleeved by the ball shaft.

[0024] Furthermore, a battery slot for installing a CR button battery is provided on the inner side of a printed circuit board on one face of the regular hexahedron, and a battery entrance and exit for taking out or putting in the CR button battery is provided on the spherical cover corresponding to the position of the battery slot, and the bottom of the printed circuit board corresponding to the battery entrance and exit is cut off.

[0025] Furthermore, a battery cover is included to close the battery entrance and exit.

[0026] In order to achieve the second purpose, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0027] An intelligent Rubik's Cube comprises a central axis, six central blocks connected to the central axis, twelve edge blocks embedded between every two central blocks, and eight corner blocks embedded between three of the edge blocks, characterized in that the central axis is the surface position sensing structure.

[0028] Furthermore, a protrusion is provided at the end of the shaft rod and is connected to the central block via an axis floating elastic force adjustment system.

[0029] Furthermore, first magnets are provided on three sides of the corner block adjacent to the edge block, and second magnets corresponding to the first magnets are provided on two sides of the edge block adjacent to the corner block.

[0030] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0031] (1) Six printed circuit boards are assembled together to form a regular hexahedron as the axis of the intelligent Rubik's Cube. The main control chipset recognizes the rotation of the layer by simply brushing the copper foil to cause a change in electrical level. This makes the recognition of layer position changes more accurate and the step loss rate lower, while reducing the number of parts and simplifying the assembly process.

[0032] (2) By concentrating all the components related to surface position sensing at the axis, there is space inside the corner blocks, edge blocks and center blocks of the Rubik's Cube to install other functional components such as the axis floating elastic adjustment system and the magnetic positioning system. This makes the smart Rubik's Cube easier to rotate and exert force, and its intelligent functions run more smoothly, thereby improving the user experience. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 A three-dimensional diagram of a regular hexahedron composed of six printed circuit boards according to the present invention;

[0034] Figure 2 for Figure 1 is an exploded view of the structure of the regular hexahedron;

[0035] Figure 3 A three-dimensional diagram of the surface position sensing structure of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the surface position sensing structure of the present invention when the battery is removed;

[0037] Figure 5 for Figure 3 An exploded schematic diagram of some components of the surface position sensing structure;

[0038] Figure 6 This is an exploded diagram of some parts of the smart Rubik's Cube of the present invention;

[0039] Figure 7 This is an exploded diagram of the structure of the detection position of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 8 This is a block diagram of the circuit structure of the main control chipset and each detection bit of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 9 This is a diagram of the level changes detected by the main control chipset when a shaft rod according to the present invention rotates 360° clockwise;

[0042] Figure 10 This is a diagram of the level changes detected by the main control chipset when a rotating shaft according to the present invention rotates once within an arc-shaped copper foil range;

[0043] Among them: 1 center block; 2 edge blocks; 3 corner blocks; 4 regular hexahedron; 41 top PCB; 42 bottom PCB; 43 front PCB; 44 rear PCB; 45 left PCB; 46 right PCB; 5 circular copper foil; 6 arc-shaped copper foil; 7 battery slot; 8 ball cover; 81 upper semi-circular cover; 82 lower semi-circular cover; 9 battery entrance and exit; 10 battery cover; 11 shaft; 111 disc base; 112 boss; 113 boss; 114 rod body; 12 gap line; 13 round tube; 131 upper semi-circular tube; 132 lower semi-circular tube; 14 ball shaft sleeve; 15 chassis copper foil; 151 first brush; 152 second brush; 153 third brush; 16 first magnet; 17 second magnet; 18CR button battery; 19 axis floating elastic adjustment system; 20 through hole. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments.

[0045] It should be noted that if the embodiments of the present invention involve directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, vertical, horizontal, longitudinal, counterclockwise, clockwise, circumferential, radial, axial...), then the directional indications are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indications will also change accordingly.

[0046] In addition, if the embodiments of the present invention include descriptions involving "first" or "second," the descriptions are for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying their relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, features specified as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of these features.

[0047] In addition, the technical solutions between the various embodiments can be combined with each other, but they must be based on the fact that ordinary technicians in this field can implement them. When the combination of technical solutions is mutually contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such a combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

[0048] The present invention provides a surface position sensing structure.

[0049] In an embodiment of the present invention, the surface position sensing structure includes six PCBs (printed circuit boards), each PCB corresponding to a shaft 11, a spherical cover 8 formed by upper and lower semi-circular spherical covers 82, and a main control chipset arranged on the PCB.

[0050] Specifically, if Figures 1 to 4As shown, six PCBs are spliced together to form a regular hexahedron 4. The six PCBs are respectively a top PCB 41, a bottom PCB 42, a front PCB 43, a rear PCB 44, a left PCB 45, and a right PCB 46. The six PCBs are electrically connected to each other, and a circular copper foil 5 is provided on the outer surface of each PCB with its center at the center of the printed circuit board. Four arc-shaped copper foils 6 with the same center and the same radius are evenly spaced around the outer periphery of the circular copper foil 5. The circular copper foil 5 and the arc-shaped copper foil 6 are co-centered. In order to power the main control chipset, a battery slot 7 for installing a CR button battery 18 is provided on the side of the bottom PCB 42 facing the interior of the regular hexahedron 4. The front PCB The bottom portion of 43 is cut off at the position corresponding to the battery slot 7. The regular hexahedron 4 is disposed within a spherical cover 8 formed by the upper and lower semi-spherical covers 82. The spherical cover 8 has a battery inlet and outlet 9 corresponding to the position of the battery slot 7 for taking out or inserting the CR button battery 18, and a battery cover 10 is also provided for the battery inlet and outlet 9.

[0051] Specifically, if Figures 3 to 5 As shown, the rod body 114 of the shaft rod 11 passes through the spherical cover 8 and extends outside the spherical cover 8. The gap line 12 of the spherical cover 8 is located above the horizontal plane shared by the axes of the shaft rods 11 corresponding to the front, rear, left and right PCBs 43, 44, 45, and 46. The positions of the spherical covers 8 corresponding to these four shaft rods 11 are all provided with upper semicircular tubes 131 and lower semicircular tubes 132. The upper semicircular tubes 131 are all located in the upper semicircular spherical cover 81, and the lower semicircular tubes 132 are all located in the lower semicircular spherical cover 82. After the upper and lower semicircular spherical covers 82 are closed, each corresponding upper and lower semicircular tubes 132 are covered to form a circular tube 13 that is connected to the rod body 114 of the shaft rod 11, and each circular tube 13 is sleeved by the ball sleeve 14.

[0052] Specifically, if Figure 5 As shown, a disc base 111 is provided at the bottom of the rod body 114 of each shaft 11, and a chassis copper foil 15 is fixed to the bottom surface of each disc base 111. The chassis copper foil 15 is provided with three brushes protruding toward the PCB side, namely the first brush 151, the second brush 152 and the third brush 153. A through hole 20 is provided at the center of the circle on each circular copper foil 5, and a convex column 112 corresponding to the through hole 20 and penetrating the chassis copper foil 15 is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the disc base 111. Each shaft 11 The boss 112 is inserted into the through hole 20 and can be rotatably installed on the corresponding PCB along its own central axis. When the chassis copper foil 15 rotates with the shaft 11, the paths swept by the first brush 151 and the second brush 152 are located above the circular copper foil 5 and are electrically connected to the PCB. At the same time, the path swept by the third brush 153 covers the four arc-shaped copper foils 6, and the third brush 153 is electrically connected to the PCB when sweeping over the arc-shaped copper foil 6, and is not electrically connected to the PCB when sweeping over the gap between the two arc-shaped copper foils 6.

[0053] Specifically, the main chipset includes a level detection module, a data processing module, an operation storage module, and a Bluetooth sending module. When one of the shafts 11 rotates, the level detection module in the main control chipset receives the level change signal caused by the third brush 153 on the base copper foil corresponding to the shaft 11 brushing over the arc copper foil 6.

[0054] The present invention also provides an intelligent Rubik's Cube.

[0055] In the embodiment of the present invention, Figure 6 As shown, the intelligent Rubik's Cube uses the surface position sensing structure of the present invention as the central axis, and also includes six center blocks 1 connected to the shaft 11 of the surface position sensing structure, twelve edge blocks 2 embedded between every two center blocks 1, and eight corner blocks 3 embedded between three edge blocks 2. First magnets 16 are provided on the three sides of the corner blocks 3 adjacent to the edge blocks 2, and second magnets 17 corresponding to the first magnets 16 are provided on the two sides of the edge blocks 2 adjacent to the corner blocks 3. A protrusion 113 is provided at the end of the shaft 11, which is connected to the center block 1 through an axial floating elastic force adjustment system 19. For the specific structure and usage of the axial floating elastic force adjustment system 19, please refer to the prior public text with announcement number CN210384805U, which will not be repeated here.

[0056] Specifically, if Figure 7 As shown, each PCB of the surface position sensing structure and its corresponding shaft 11, the circular copper foil 5 and four arc-shaped copper foils 6 on the PCB, and the first, second and third brushes 153 on the chassis copper foil 15 at the bottom of the shaft 11 together constitute a detection position. The circuit connection relationship between it and the main control chipset is shown in FIG. Figure 8 .

[0057] For example, when the detection position corresponds to the rotation of the layer, when the layer rotates 360 degrees, the shaft 11 of the corresponding layer also rotates 360 degrees. At this time, the third brush 153 sweeps all the arc-shaped copper foils 6, so that the main control chip group detects the following: Figure 9 The level changes shown, Figure 8 Each peak corresponds to an arc-shaped copper foil 6, which means that a corresponding high level appears every 90° rotation. The main control chipset converts these level changes into digital signals for calculation and storage, and finally sends them to the APP of the smart terminal via Bluetooth to present the rotation of the corresponding level of the smart Rubik's Cube.

[0058] Similarly, taking the rotation of the layer corresponding to the above detection position as an example, if the layer rotates less than 90 degrees in the reverse direction, the level change detected by the main control chipset is as follows Figure 10As shown, at this time, the level change is converted into a digital signal, and the algorithm built into the main control chipset defines the level change as a signal that the level has been rotated and not sent to the smart terminal to avoid errors in the APP presentation of the smart terminal.

[0059] It should be noted that those skilled in the art are not limited to the circuit designed in this embodiment to enable the third brush 153 to achieve the following when brushing the arc-shaped copper foil 6. Figure 9 or Figure 10 Other forms of circuits can also be set as long as the level change signal generated when the third brush piece 153 brushes the arc-shaped copper foil 6 can be normally recognized by the main control chipset.

[0060] The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. All equivalent structural transformations made based on the contents of the present invention's description and drawings, or direct / indirect applications in other related technical fields, are included in the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A surface position sensing structure, comprising: Six printed circuit boards, the printed circuit boards being electrically connected to each other and forming a regular hexahedron, each printed circuit board having a circular copper foil disposed on its outer surface with its center at the center of the printed circuit board, and four arc-shaped copper foils having a common center and equal radius disposed at equal intervals around the outer periphery of the circular copper foil, wherein the circular copper foil and the arc-shaped copper foil have a common center; Six shafts, each shaft having a disc base at its bottom, a chassis copper foil fixed to its bottom surface, and three brushes protruding toward one side of the printed circuit board, namely, a first brush, a second brush, and a third brush; A through hole is provided at the center of the circle on the printed circuit board, a boss corresponding to the through hole and penetrating the copper foil of the chassis is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the disc base, and the shaft is inserted into the through hole through the boss and can be rotatably mounted on the printed circuit board along its own central axis; When the chassis copper foil rotates with the shaft, the paths swept by the first and second brushes are located above the annular copper foil and are electrically connected to the printed circuit board. At the same time, the path swept by the third brush covers the four arc-shaped copper foils, and the third brush is electrically connected to the printed circuit board when sweeping over the arc-shaped copper foil. A main control chipset and a battery for powering the main control chipset are provided in the regular hexahedron. The main control chipset is electrically connected to the annular copper foil. When one of the shafts rotates, the main control chipset receives a level change signal caused by the third brush brushing across the arc-shaped copper foil. It also includes a spherical cover formed by the upper and lower semi-spherical covers, the regular hexahedron is arranged inside the spherical cover, and the shaft passes through the spherical cover and extends outside the spherical cover, characterized in that: The slit line of the ball cover is located above the common horizontal plane of the four shafts. The positions of the ball covers corresponding to the four shafts are all provided with an upper semicircular tube and a lower semicircular tube. The upper semicircular tubes are all located in the upper semicircular cover, and the lower semicircular tubes are all located in the lower semicircular cover. After the upper and lower semicircular covers are closed, each corresponding upper and lower semicircular tubes are covered into a circular tube that is sleeved on the shaft body, and each circular tube is sleeved by a ball shaft. A battery slot for installing a CR button battery is provided on the inner side of a printed circuit board on one face of the regular hexahedron. A battery inlet and outlet for removing or inserting the CR button battery is provided on the spherical cover corresponding to the location of the battery slot. The bottom of the printed circuit board corresponding to the battery inlet and outlet is cut off, and a battery cover is further included for covering the battery inlet and outlet.

2. An intelligent Rubik's Cube comprising a central axis, six central blocks connected to the central axis, twelve edge blocks embedded between every two central blocks, and eight corner blocks embedded between three of the edge blocks, characterized in that: The central axis is the surface position sensing structure of the intelligent Rubik's Cube described in claim 1.

3. The intelligent Rubik's Cube according to claim 2, characterized in that: The end of the shaft rod is provided with a protrusion, which is connected to the central block through an axis floating elastic force adjustment system.

4. The intelligent Rubik's Cube according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: First magnets are provided on three sides of the corner block adjacent to the edge block, and second magnets corresponding to the first magnets are provided on two sides of the edge block adjacent to the corner block.

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