A building plate for a toy building set

Abstract

A building plate for a toy building set, the building plate comprising a translucent or transparent baseplate (1) having an upper surface area (2) provided with multiple coupling knobs (3). A light emitting device (4) is arranged below the baseplate for selectively illuminating single or groups of the multiple coupling knobs (3) to form an image on the baseplate (1), A position detection scanner (6) with light emitters (9) is arranged for forming a grid (10) of light beams extending above the coupling knobs (3) and comprises light receivers (8) adapted for sensing the presence or interruption of light emitted from the light emitters (9). A controller (11) is adapted for receiving signals from the position detection scanner (6) and to control the light emitting (4) device in dependence of the signals received from the position detection scanner (6).

Description

[0001] Title:

[0002] A building plate for a toy building set

[0003] Prior art:

[0004] The present invention relates to toy building plates and especially to an interactive toy building plate comprising a baseplate having an upper surface area provided with multiple coupling knobs arranged in a repetitive pattern and where at least the multiple coupling knobs comprises a translucent or transparent material so that light can pass from below the baseplate and illuminate the coupling knobs, and a controller and a light emitting device is arranged below the baseplate and being adapted for selectively illuminating single or groups of the multiple coupling knobs.

[0005] US patent no. 9168464 discloses such a building plate having a transparent baseplate with coupling knobs. According to this prior art a touch sensitive membrane and an image generating device is arranged underneath the transparent baseplate so that the coupling knobs can be pressed against the touch sensitive membrane and thereby cause the image generated by the image generating device to change.

[0006] Object of the invention:

[0007] On this background it is the object of the present invention to provide such a building plate being relatively simple and sturdy in construction and at the same time providing the possibility of designing the appearance of the building plate.

[0008] According to the invention this is obtained by the building plate as defined in claim 1 where the building plate further comprises a position detection scanner with light emitters adapted for forming a grid of light beams extending above the coupling knobs and light receivers adapted for sensing the presence or interruption of light emitted from the light emitters, and where the controller is adapted for receiving signals from the position detection scanner and to control the light emitting device in dependence of the signals received from the position detection scanner.

[0009] In this relation the position scanner that forms a grid of light beams extending above the coupling knobs provides that the baseplate may be made at least as sturdy as existing conventional non-interactive baseplates for toy construction and thereby also provide an increased protection of the light emitting device.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment the coupling knobs are arranged in a square pattern all having the same modular distance between two closest neighboring coupling knobs.

[0011] The position detection scanner may in this relation comprise a square or rectangular frame extending along the periphery of the baseplate.

[0012] It will be apparent to the skilled person that any type of non-tactile position detection scanner, such as the position detection sensor disclosed in US patent no. 7903097 which is hereby incorporated by reference and that may be suitable for this purpose as long as it is able to detect the position an object, e.g. the tip of a users finger, touching any one of the coupling knobs and thereby interrupts one or more light beams extending above the coupling knobs. In a preferred embodiment, however, the light emitters and receivers are advantageously arranged in the frame so that at least two light beams are crossing each other over each of the multiple coupling knobs.

[0013] I this relation the controller may preferably be adapted to turn on the illumination of a selected coupling knob when the position detection scanner detects interruption of two light beams crossing over the selected coupling knob.

[0014] In an especially simple embodiment he light emitting device comprises an array of LED,s arranged below the baseplate, and the array of LED’s comprises a single LED or a group of LED’s arranged beneath each one of the coupling knobs comprising the translucent or transparent material.

[0015] The controller and the light emitting device is preferably adapted to control the color of the light emitted through each of the multiple coupling knobs.

[0016] Advantageously the baseplate comprises a second area forming a user interface allowing the user to program the controller.

[0017] In this relation the light beams from the position detection scanner may advantageously also extend above the second area and where the controller being adapted to control the color of and / or to switch on or off the illumination of a selected coupling knob in dependence of where the position detection scanner detects interruption of two light beams crossing over the second area. The position detection scanner, the baseplate and the light emitting device may be formed as a single assembly / unit.

[0018] The present invention also relates to a toy construction set comprising a building plate as mentioned above as well as a number of building blocks each having complementary coupling sockets adapted for mounting each building block on the coupling knobs.

[0019] The drawing:

[0020] Figure 1 : Is a principle drawing showing one embodiment of the building plate according to the invention in an exploded view.

[0021] Figure 2: Is a principle drawing showing the assembled building plate shown in figure 1 .

[0022] Description of an embodiment:

[0023] Figure 1 and 2 shows one embodiment of the invention where figure 1 shows an exploded view of the components of the building plate according to the invention and figure 2 shows the assembled building plate.

[0024] According to this embodiment the building plate comprises a baseplate 1 having an upper surface area 2 provided with multiple coupling knobs 3 adapted for mounting e.g. toy building blocks. In this embodiment the baseplate is made from a translucent or transparent plastic material. The baseplate also comprises a second area 13 forming a user interface with a number of touch fields allowing the user to program the controller 11

[0025] A light emitting device 4 is arranged below the baseplate and the light emitting device 4 comprises multiple LED’s 5 each being controllable independently of the other LED’s 5 and each being able to emit light in multiple colors such as e.g. RGB LED’s. Thereby the light emitting device 4 can be controlled by the controller 11 to display an image.

[0026] In this embodiment the number and mutual distance of the LED’s 5 correspond to the number and mutual distance of the coupling knobs 2 on the baseplate 1 , so that the LED’s 5 can efficiently illuminate each individual coupling knob 2 so that the image displayed by the LED’s 5 is transmitted to the baseplate 1 .

[0027] The building plate further comprises a position detection scanner 6 with a frame 7 or bezel extending along the periphery of the baseplate 1. Multiple light emitters 8 and light receivers 9 are arranged on the inside of the frame 7 so that they form a grid of light beams 10 extending above the coupling knobs 3 on the baseplate 1 . Thereby the position detection scanner 6 can detect the position of any interruption of the light beams and transmit this information to the controller 11 .

[0028] The controller 11 is adapted so that it can turn any LED 5 on or off and to switch the color of any of the LED’s when an interruption of the light beams 10 extending over a selected coupling knob 3 or touch field 12 on the baseplate 1 is detected, and thereby a user can change the image on the baseplate via the user interface by e.g. changing the color of each LED 5 independently. Figure 2 shows the use of the building plate where the user can easily touch any one of the coupling knobs 3 or any one of the touch fields 12 some of the light beams are interrupted so that the position detection scanner 6 detects the position of the interruption and can transfer this information to the controller 11 so that it chang the image on the light emitting device in accordance with the users input. The interruption may also be provided by mounting one or more building blocks 14 on the coupling knobs 3 such as shown in figure 2. Thereby the building blocks 14 forming part of a toy building set may also be used to program the controller.

Claims

C l a i m s:1 . A building plate for a toy building set, the building plate comprising a baseplate having an upper surface area provided with multiple coupling knobs arranged in a repetitive pattern and where at least the multiple coupling knobs comprises a translucent or transparent material so that light can pass from below the baseplate and illuminate the coupling knobs, and where a controller and a light emitting device is arranged below the baseplate and being adapted for selectively illuminating single or groups of the multiple coupling knobs, and wherein the building plate further comprises a position detection scanner with light emitters adapted for forming a grid of light beams extending above the coupling knobs and light receivers adapted for sensing the presence or interruption of light emitted from the light emitters, and where the controller is adapted for receiving signals from the position detection scanner and to control the light emitting device in dependence of the signals received from the position detection scanner.

2. A building plate according to claim 1 , wherein the coupling knobs are arranged in a square pattern all having the same modular distance between two closest neighboring coupling knobs.

3. A building plate according to claim 2, wherein the position detection scanner comprises a square or rectangular frame extending along the periphery of the baseplate.

4. A building plate according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the light emitters and receivers are arranged in the frame so that at least two light beams are crossing each other over each of the multiple coupling knobs.

5. A building plate according to claim 4, wherein the controller is adapted to turn on the illumination of a selected coupling knob when the position detection scanner detects interruption of two light beams crossing over the selected coupling knob.

6. A building plate according to one or more of the preceding claims, wherein the light emitting device comprises an array of LED,s arranged below the baseplate, and where the array of LED’s comprises a single LED or a group of LED’s arranged beneath each one of the coupling knobs comprising the translucent or transparent material.

7. A building plate according to one or more of the preceding claims wherein the controller and the light emitting device is adapted to control the color of the light emitted through each of the multiple coupling knobs.

8. A building plate according to claim 7, wherein the baseplate comprises a second area forming a user interface allowing the user to program the controller.

9. A building plate according to claim 8, wherein the light beams from the position detection scanner also extend above the second area and where the controller is adapted to control the color of and / or to switch on or off the illumination of a selected coupling knob in dependence of where the position detection scanner detects interruption of two light beams crossing over the second area.

10. A building plate according to one or more of the preceding claims wherein the baseplate, the position detection scanner and the light emitting device forms a single unit. 11 .A toy construction set comprising a building plate according to any of the preceding claims and a number of building blocks each having complementary coupling sockets adapted for mounting each building block on the coupling knobs.

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