Method for waking up a smart Rubik's cube and a smart Rubik's cube

Abstract

To disclose a wake-up method of a smart Rubik's cube (Rubik's Cube (R)), and the smart Rubik's cube.SOLUTION: By providing a smart Rubik's cube with an accelerometer, acceleration in one direction of three axes of a smart Rubik's cube is detected via the accelerometer when the smart Rubik's cube is in a sleep state, and the smart Rubik's cube is woken up so as to enter a normal operation mode when a detected acceleration value is larger than a preset wake-up threshold. A wake-up method of a smart Rubik's cube, and the smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of this application drastically saves energy consumption of the smart Rubik's cube in a sleep state, improves a battery lifetime of the smart Rubik's cube, and can provide a user with a better and smarter experience.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of educational toys, and more particularly to a wake-up method for waking up a smart Rubik's cube that is in a sleep state to reduce power consumption, and a smart Rubik's cube capable of implementing the wake-up method. [Background technology]

[0002] The smart Rubik's cube is equipped with components such as a control module, a sensing device, and a communication module inside, and can record the rotation state of the Rubik's cube in a timely manner during the rotation of the smart Rubik's cube. By connecting to a smart terminal device such as a mobile phone, Rubik's cube enthusiasts can obtain information about the Rubik's cube, such as the rotation information of the Rubik's cube, the restoration information of the Rubik's cube, and the restoration time information. All of the above components need to be powered through a battery to meet the requirements of operation. The battery of the smart Rubik's cube cannot be replenished with power at any time for operation, so it is necessary to replace the battery regularly or charge it regularly. Therefore, if the number of battery replacements or charging can be reduced, it can give users a better use experience and also achieve the purpose of energy saving and environmental protection.

[0003] As a result of the investigation, it is found that the actual use time of the smart Rubik's cube (i.e., the time when each functional module needs to operate at full power) is limited, and most of the time it is in a stationary state, i.e., it does not need to operate at full power. Therefore, in order to achieve the purpose of reducing the power loss as much as possible, saving energy and extending the use time of the battery, most of the smart Rubik's cubes in the prior art provide a sleep function, i.e., when it detects that the Rubik's cube is in an idle state within a certain period of time, the smart Rubik's cube will enter a sleep state, and most of the functional modules will be in a low power consumption or off state, thus saving a large amount of power.

[0004] When the smart Rubik's cube is in a sleep state, it is necessary to monitor the state of the Rubik's cube in real time in order to timely discover that the smart Rubik's cube needs to enter an operating mode, timely wake up each functional module from a sleep or off state to enter a full-power operating mode, and timely record the rotation state of the smart Rubik's cube.

[0005] To achieve the above objective, in the smart Rubik's cube products provided by the prior art, the control module (MCU: Microcontroller Unit) of the Rubik's cube is usually woken up by rotating the faces of the Rubik's cube. This method has the effect of waking up the Rubik's cube in a timely manner, but when the Rubik's cube is in a sleep state, it is necessary to monitor the IO (Input / Output) ports connected to the six faces in real time for interrupt interception. The interception function of the Rubik's cube in a sleep state provided by the prior art consumes relatively high power, which has a certain impact on the normal operation time of the battery. At the same time, in the method of waking up the smart Rubik's cube by rotation, when the smart Rubik's cube detects that one face has been woken up by rotation, it needs a certain wake-up time, and during this period, it cannot timely record the operation state of the smart Rubik's cube, giving the user of the Rubik's cube the experience of waiting for power-on, that is, giving the user of the Rubik's cube the experience of having to perform a power-on operation every time the Rubik's cube product is used, which brings an unpleasant experience to the true intelligence of the smart Rubik's cube. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In response to the above technical problems of the conventional smart Rubik's cube, the embodiment of the present invention provides a wake-up method for a smart Rubik's cube. An accelerometer is installed inside the smart Rubik's cube, and the acceleration of the three axes of the smart Rubik's cube is detected through the accelerometer. When the acceleration value in any direction of the three axes of the smart Rubik's cube exceeds a preset value, the smart Rubik's cube will automatically wake up from the sleep state, and each functional module will enter into the normal operation mode. The wake-up method for a smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of the present application can reduce the power consumed by monitoring when the Rubik's cube is in the sleep state, and can achieve the purpose of energy saving compared with the prior art. At the same time, when the user of the Rubik's cube picks up the Rubik's cube, the smart Rubik's cube will start to enter into the normal operation mode, and the user of the Rubik's cube does not need to do any action, providing the user of the Rubik's cube with a better and more intelligent use experience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The first embodiment of the present invention is Step S10: detecting acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube along the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis by an accelerometer provided on the smart Rubik's cube; Step S20: acquiring an acceleration value when detecting that acceleration occurs in any axis direction of the smart Rubik's cube; Step S30: comparing the acceleration value with a preset wake-up threshold, and sending a wake-up signal to the micro control unit of the smart Rubik's cube via the accelerometer if the acceleration value is greater than the wake-up threshold; Step S40: restarting the system of the smart Rubik's cube by the microcontroller unit, so that the smart Rubik's cube enters a normal operation mode; The present invention provides a method for waking up a smart Rubik's cube, comprising:

[0008] The smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the embodiment of the present application provides an accelerometer on the ball shaft of the smart Rubik's cube, so that when the smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep state, the accelerometer detects the acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube in the three axial directions, and when any acceleration value reaches the wake-up threshold, it means that the smart Rubik's cube is used, and it needs to enter the normal operation mode to record the state of the smart Rubik's cube. At this time, a wake-up signal is sent to an MCU (micro control unit), and the MCU controls the system to enter the normal operation mode, that is, controls various functional modules of the smart Rubik's cube to enter the operation mode. At this time, any operation on the smart Rubik's cube is recorded in a timely manner and can be uploaded to a terminal device connected to the smart Rubik's cube. When the smart Rubik's cube is in a sleep state, the battery only needs to supply operating power to the accelerometer, and the MCU only needs to monitor the state of one port where an interrupt is introduced, and the other parts can enter the sleep or off state without using the power amount of the battery, which can greatly reduce the energy consumption of the smart Rubik's cube in the sleep state, increase the operating time of the battery, and improve the user's usage experience. At the same time, when the user picks up the smart Rubik's cube, the smart Rubik's cube will accelerate, and it will take a certain time for the user to rotate the smart Rubik's cube to use it, which is enough time for the MCU to enter normal operation mode. At this time, when the user rotates the smart Rubik's cube, various sensors installed in the smart Rubik's cube will enter normal operation mode, and the user's operation can be detected and recorded normally, so that the user can experience that the smart Rubik's cube can intelligently record the operation at any time, and improve the user's operation experience.

[0009] Based on the same object, the present application provides a smart Rubik's cube including a ball shaft provided in the center, six center blocks, eight corner blocks, and twelve edge blocks, wherein the ball shaft is provided with a micro control unit, an HP filter, and an accelerometer, the accelerometer is connected to the micro control unit via the HP filter, one center block is provided on each rotation axis, one edge block is provided for every two adjacent center blocks, and one corner block is provided for every three adjacent edge blocks, and the accelerometer and the micro control unit in the smart Rubik's cube realize the wake-up method of the smart Rubik's cube provided by the above embodiment.

[0010] The smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of the present application can implement the smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the embodiment by installing an accelerometer and writing an embedded program, when the program is executed, it can realize the smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the embodiment, which can save the energy consumption of the smart Rubik's cube in sleep mode, and give the user the experience that the smart Rubik's cube can intelligently record its operation at any time, improving the user's operation experience.

[0011] Based on the same object, another embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored therein, the computer program being capable of realizing the wake-up method for a smart Rubik's Cube provided by the first embodiment when the computer program is executed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] In order to more clearly describe the technical means in the embodiments of the present invention, the following briefly introduces the drawings that need to be used to describe the embodiments. The drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that a person skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without requiring creative labor.

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a partial exploded structural schematic diagram of a smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a partial exploded structural schematic diagram of a smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the connection between an accelerometer and a chip provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of an accelerometer provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the wake-up process of the smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of accelerometer detection in the wake-up process of the smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a detailed process of the wake-up method for the smart Rubik's cube provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 9A] A schematic diagram showing that the accelerometer of the present application obtains the posture state of the Rubik's Cube through three-axis acceleration. [Figure 9B] A schematic diagram showing that the accelerometer of the present application obtains the posture state of the Rubik's Cube through three-axis acceleration. [Figure 10] 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a ball shaft provided according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. [Figure 11]1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a ball shaft provided according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 2 is an exploded structural schematic diagram of a ball shaft provided according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 13A] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a sensing device provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 13B] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a sensing device provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 13C] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a sensing device provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the connection state between a micro control unit, an electronic sensing unit, and a magnetic positioning unit provided by an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 15] This is a schematic diagram of the connection between the Hall sensors and magnets used on each side of the Rubik's Cube. [Figure 16] 10 is a schematic diagram for explaining output values ​​of a Hall sensor when a face is rotated, taking rotation of one face as an example. FIG. [Figure 17] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the rotation state of a Rubik's Cube and the operating principle of a Hall sensor. [Figure 18] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a circuit board combined with a circuit board fixing base provided by an embodiment of the present invention; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] In order to make the objectives, technical means and advantages of the present invention clearer, the technical means of the present invention will be described clearly and completely in the following by referring to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is clear that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and are not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor based on the embodiments of the present invention belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

[0015] In the description of the present invention, when "first" and "second" are stated, it is merely for the purpose of distinguishing technical features and cannot be understood as implying or suggesting relative importance, implying the number of technical features described, or implying the sequential relationship of the technical features described.

[0016] In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise clearly defined, terms such as "provided" should be understood in a broad sense, and a person skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meaning of the above terms in the present invention by referring to the specific content of the technical means.

[0017] As a research and development engineer of smart Rubik's cube, the inventor has provided various realization means of smart Rubik's cube. After in-depth research into the wake-up method of existing smart Rubik's cube, when the existing smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep state, when a user picks up the smart Rubik's cube and rotates one side of it, the MCU module of the smart Rubik's cube receives one wake-up trigger signal and wakes up the Rubik's cube to enter a normal operation mode. The wake-up method of smart Rubik's cube provided by the prior art can accurately determine that the smart Rubik's cube is actually in use and can timely enter the normal operation mode from the sleep mode, but when the user rotates the smart Rubik's cube, he or she may not intentionally rotate a specific side, but may randomly rotate any side. Therefore, in order to detect the user's rotation operation when the user rotates any side, the smart Rubik's cube needs to detect the IO ports of the six sides in the sleep state so that it can receive the wake-up signal in a timely manner. In this way, the smart Rubik's cube requires a lot of energy consumption to monitor in sleep, which reduces the user's usage experience. For example, in the case of a button battery, if it is used for several months without operation, it may be necessary to replace or charge the battery. Otherwise, the battery will run out of power and all the functional modules will not operate normally due to lack of power. Meanwhile, in the wake-up operation of the existing smart Rubik's cube, the user needs to rotate one face to send a wake-up trigger signal. Generally, when rotating the smart Rubik's cube, the user of the smart Rubik's cube does not wake up the smart Rubik's cube, but rather operates the smart Rubik's cube to perform some kind of disruption or restoration operation. However, the existing smart Rubik's cube requires a certain amount of time to wake up each functional module from a sleep state to enter a normal operation mode during the wake-up process.During this period, the user's operations are not detected and recorded by various sensors in the smart Rubik's cube, which requires the user to power on the smart Rubik's cube, giving the user a usage experience that is not smart enough.

[0018] Therefore, the present application aims to improve the above problems and provides a method for waking up a smart Rubik's Cube.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3, the following will take a typical cubic Rubik's cube as an example to describe in detail the smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of the present application. The smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application includes six faces, each face includes nine cube blocks, and the six faces include six center blocks 1, eight corner blocks 2, and twelve edge blocks 3, totaling 26 cube blocks. It further includes a ball shaft 4 located in the center and functioning as a rotation center. The center block 1 is provided on the rotation axis of each face, and as the center of rotation of the cube block on that face, its position does not change, and only one face has a color or pattern. The edge block 3 is a cube block embedded between any two center blocks, and its two faces are composed of different colors or patterns. Every three adjacent edge blocks are connected by a corner block 2. In the initial state of the Rubik's cube, the colors of each face are different, but the colors of the same face are the same. Of course, each face can also be distinguished by providing different patterns. The way to play is to disturb the cube blocks on each side so that each side can contain a different color or pattern, and finally restore them to their initial state.

[0020] The smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application is provided with a microcontroller unit, an accelerometer, an HP filter, a Bluetooth module, and a battery module inside the ball shaft 4. The battery module supplies power to each functional component such as the microcontroller unit, the accelerometer, the HP filter, and the Bluetooth module, and the accelerometer is connected to the microcontroller unit through the HP filter, and the microcontroller unit is also connected to the Bluetooth module. The ball shaft of the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the above components, and may further include sensors for complementing the functions of the smart Rubik's cube, such as sensors for sensing the rotation and rotation angle of each face of the smart Rubik's cube. The connection structure schematic diagram of the accelerometer and the microcontroller unit provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. 4. The accelerometer is mainly used to detect the acceleration value of an object, and currently there is a mature means for detecting the acceleration value of an object in three directions, and it has mature applications in airplanes, drones, smart terminals, intelligent processing and manufacturing equipment, etc. In an embodiment of the present application, a lis2dw12 accelerometer is used to detect the acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube in three directions, the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis, and a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the accelerometer provided by the present application is shown in FIG.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 6, the wake-up method of the smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of the present application includes: Step S10: detecting acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube along the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis by an accelerometer provided on the smart Rubik's cube; Step S20: acquiring an acceleration value when detecting that acceleration occurs in any axis direction of the smart Rubik's cube; Step S30: comparing the acceleration value with a preset wake-up threshold, and sending a wake-up signal to the micro control unit of the smart Rubik's cube via the accelerometer if the acceleration value is greater than the wake-up threshold; Step S40: restarting the system of the smart Rubik's cube by the microcontroller unit, so that the smart Rubik's cube enters a normal operation mode; Includes.

[0022] The smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the embodiment of the present application provides an accelerometer on the ball shaft of the smart Rubik's cube, so that when the smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep state, the accelerometer detects the acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube in the three axial directions, and when any acceleration value reaches the wake-up threshold, it means that the smart Rubik's cube is used, and the smart Rubik's cube needs to enter a normal operation mode to record its status. At this time, a wake-up signal is sent to an MCU (micro control unit), and the MCU controls the system to enter a normal operation mode, that is, controls various functional modules of the smart Rubik's cube to enter an operation mode. At this time, any operation on the smart Rubik's cube is recorded in a timely manner and can be uploaded to a terminal device connected to the smart Rubik's cube. When the smart Rubik's cube is in a sleep state, the battery only needs to supply operating power to the accelerometer, and the MCU only needs to monitor the status of one port where an interrupt is introduced, and the other parts can enter a sleep or off state without using the power of the battery, which can greatly reduce the energy consumption of the smart Rubik's cube in a sleep state and increase the operating time of the battery. Using the method provided by the present application, the button battery can provide the smart Rubik's cube with three years of battery power if there is no other use, thus improving the user's usage experience. At the same time, when the user picks up the smart Rubik's cube, the smart Rubik's cube will accelerate, and it will take a certain time for the user to rotate the smart Rubik's cube and use it, which is enough time for the MCU to enter normal operation mode. At this time, when the user rotates the smart Rubik's cube, various sensors installed in the smart Rubik's cube will enter normal operation mode, and the user's operation can be detected and recorded normally, so that the user can experience that the smart Rubik's cube can intelligently record the operation at any time, improving the user's operation experience.

[0023] In a preferred embodiment of the smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the present application, step S30 specifically includes: If it is determined that the acceleration value is greater than the preset wake-up threshold, a timer is started, and the acquired acceleration value is continuously compared with the preset wake-up threshold in step S31; Step S32: if the acceleration value continuously obtained by the timer within the preset timing time is greater than the preset wake-up threshold, send a wake-up signal to the microcontroller unit; Includes.

[0024] In further research, the inventor found that when using the smart Rubik's cube wake-up method provided by the present application to wake up the smart Rubik's cube, there are some false wake-up situations, resulting in the smart Rubik's cube being woken up even when it does not need to be woken up, entering a normal operation mode, and wasting battery power. After analysis, it was found that this situation is mainly caused by some sudden vibrations, and the smart Rubik's cube suddenly generates a large acceleration value that far exceeds the wake-up threshold in a certain direction. However, in daily life, most of such vibrations are not continuous, that is, a large vibration occurs suddenly, but disappears immediately. When a user picks up the smart Rubik's cube and operates the Rubik's cube, continuous acceleration occurs. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the present application, when the accelerometer detects that the acceleration value of the smart Rubik's cube is greater than the wake-up threshold, a timer is started for timing, and when it continuously detects that the acceleration value is greater than the wake-up threshold within a certain period of time, an interrupt pin is enabled, and an MCU is enabled via the interrupt pin to wake up the smart Rubik's cube.

[0025] In this application, the implementation method for making the smart Rubik's cube enter into normal operation mode is to reboot the system of the smart Rubik's cube by the micro control unit. In the preferred embodiment, the firmware system is rebooted, that is, after step S40, Step S50: starting a firmware program of the smart Rubik's cube and starting an accelerometer; Setting the output data rate of the accelerometer, step S51; Setting the measurement range of the accelerometer, step S52; Setting the X, Y, and Z offsets of the accelerometer, step S53; Setting a wake-up threshold, step S54; Step S55: setting the interrupt pin to be wake-up interrupt driven; When the smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep mode, step S10 is started; step S56; Further includes:

[0026] In terms of software design and implementation, the embodiment of the present invention uses the HP filter to realize a wake-up program to identify events. As shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8, the basic process is as follows: Start the firmware program, Start the accelerometer, initialize the accelerometer, Set the accelerometer ODR (accelerometer output data rate) to 200Hz and set it as high performance mode. Set the accelerometer FS (measurement range) to ±2g and set it as LOW_NOSIE mode. Enable HP Filter, enable interrupts, Set the X, Y, and Z offset values ​​for the accelerometer, Set the wake-up threshold of the accelerometer, the setting value of the wake-up threshold can be set according to the test data, in one embodiment of the present application, the wake-up threshold is set to 62.5mg (=2*FS / 64).

[0027] Set the wake-up interrupt drive on the interrupt pin of the accelerometer chip. At this time, the smart Rubik's cube enters into normal operation mode, and each functional module such as the sensor, Bluetooth module, microcontroller unit, etc. all enter into normal operation mode.

[0028] When the smart Rubik's cube is in working mode, the MCU detects in real time and determines whether the smart Rubik's cube is in idle state, thereby allowing the smart Rubik's cube to enter sleep mode when it is idle to save battery power. The smart Rubik's cube determines whether it needs to enter sleep mode in the following way:

[0029] The MCU detects whether the smart Rubik's cube is connected to a terminal device. When the smart Rubik's cube needs to be in normal operation mode, there are usually two states. In one state, the user connects to the smart Rubik's cube through a smart terminal (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, etc.) and obtains the data of the smart Rubik's cube, or operates the smart Rubik's cube through a mobile phone, for example, setting the smart Rubik's cube. In the other state, the user rotates the smart Rubik's cube to operate the smart Rubik's cube.

[0030] In a preferred embodiment provided by the present application, the MCU monitors the Bluetooth module in real time, and when the Bluetooth module is not connected to any smart terminal, it determines that the smart Rubik's cube may be in an idle state, and at this time, the MCU reads the acceleration value of the accelerometer. If the acceleration value of the smart Rubik's cube is greater than the activity threshold, it means that the smart Rubik's cube is operated, and the smart Rubik's cube is kept in a normal working state. If it is detected that the acceleration value of the smart Rubik's cube is less than the activity threshold, it means that the smart Rubik's cube is not operated and is in an idle state. By driving the smart Rubik's cube to enter a sleep mode, most of the functional modules can be turned off or put into a low power consumption state.

[0031] In a preferred embodiment provided by the present application, when the smart Rubik's cube is not connected to a terminal device and the acceleration value of any of the detected three axes is less than the activity threshold, a timer is started for timing, and the connection status of the Bluetooth module and the acceleration value of the accelerometer are continuously detected. When the preset timing time is exceeded, the smart Rubik's cube is controlled to enter a sleep mode, and if the Bluetooth module or the acceleration value does not meet the sleep condition, the normal operation mode of the smart Rubik's cube is maintained and re-detected. In this way, it is possible to avoid the smart Rubik's cube frequently going into sleep and restarting when the user takes a short break. The timer time setting can be set according to needs or according to statistical data, such as setting it to 1 minute. If it is found through statistics that the smart Rubik's cube is often woken up within 2 minutes from the sleep state, it can be set to 2 minutes. The activity threshold of the smart Rubik's cube can be set according to needs, and may be the same as the wake-up threshold, or may be different from the wake-up threshold.

[0032] When the smart Rubik's cube enters the sleep mode, the system enters the wake-up detection state, that is, performs the wake-up operation using the smart Rubik's cube provided by the embodiment of the present application. If the value measured by the accelerometer is greater than the wake-up threshold continuously for a certain period of time, that is, if the difference between the continuously measured data and the register setting within a certain time exceeds the set threshold, a wake-up interrupt signal is generated for each X, Y, Z data. Since the WU_THS field of the WAKE_UP_THS register is set to 000010b, the wake-up threshold is 62.5mg (=2*FS / 64), which wakes up the device and the program runs normally. The continuous time here can be set as needed, such as set to 2 seconds. The time cannot be set too short, if it is too short, the timer timing effect cannot be obtained, and it cannot be set too long, if it is too long, the user may be operating the smart Rubik's cube, but the smart Rubik's cube has not yet entered the normal operation mode.

[0033] The present invention determines the posture of the smart Rubik's cube by obtaining the values ​​of the X, Y, and Z axes of the accelerometer, thereby realizing the function of waking up by picking up the Rubik's cube, giving the user a wake-up mode without his / her awareness, making the design of the smart Rubik's cube more humane. Secondly, such a wake-up method requires interrupt interception for only one IO port of the interrupt pin of the accelerometer, which reduces the interrupt interception of the IO port of the smart Rubik's cube in sleep mode compared with the prior art method of intercepting the IO port of each face of the smart Rubik's cube in sleep mode, and can greatly reduce the power consumption of the Rubik's cube in sleep mode. In the present invention, by configuring the Rubik's cube in this way, the Rubik's cube can operate in sleep mode for up to three years using only a 140mAh button battery.

[0034] The smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application can be converted into the posture state of the Rubik's cube through three-axis acceleration when the smart Rubik's cube is in normal operation mode when the accelerometer is used. The realization principle will be described below with reference to Figures 9A and 9B.

[0035] Using the right-hand rule, the X-axis of the accelerometer chip is aligned forward, the Y-axis to the left, and the Z-axis up, with the thumbs pointing in the positive directions of the X, Y, and Z-axes of the gyroscope respectively, and the directions and angles pointed by the four fingers are positive. Pitch angle θ=asin(-ax) Roll angle = atan(ay / az)

[0036] When the accelerometer is placed horizontally, i.e., when the Z axis is pointing vertically upward, the Z axis reads a value of 1g (g is the acceleration due to gravity) and both the X and Y axes read 0, which can be recorded as (0, 0, g). When the tilt angle shown in Figure 9B appears, for example, it can be seen that the tilt angle is always absolute data generated based on gravity.

[0037] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the three-axis acceleration can be further converted into the attitude state of the Rubik's Cube.

[0038] The inventor of this application found that the problem of assembling a smart Rubik's cube is that the structure is complicated. At the same time, the assembly process of the smart Rubik's cube requires strict processes, and in the process of connecting the six PCB boards to each other, each PCB board needs to be adjusted to be perpendicular to each other, and the connection between each PCB board requires soldering, and the soldering points are small and numerous. All of these cause the processing of the smart Rubik's cube to be complicated, the production efficiency to be reduced, and the production cost to be increased.

[0039] By carefully analyzing the problems existing in existing smart Rubik's cubes, the inventors of the present application creatively improve the sensors and ball shafts of smart Rubik's cubes, greatly simplifying the structure of the sensing device for smart Rubik's cubes and greatly reducing the use of circuit boards, which can greatly reduce material costs, as well as greatly reducing the complexity of the processes required for its assembly, thereby improving the efficiency of the assembly processing of smart Rubik's cubes and reducing production costs.

[0040] As shown in Figures 2 and 3, and also referring to Figures 10 and 11, the smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application has made an important improvement to its ball shaft structure. The ball shaft 4 provided by the embodiment of the present application includes a ball shaft housing 41, which includes an upper half housing 411 and a lower half housing 412, and the upper half housing 411 and the lower half housing 412 are detachably connected by means of screws, buckles, etc. The upper half housing 411 and the lower half housing 412 are detachably connected to each other, so that the sensing device 5 can be built into the second housing space 44 formed inside the ball shaft housing 41.

[0041] A three-dimensional coordinate system is constructed on the ball shaft housing 41 with the ball center of the ball shaft housing 41 as the origin, and as shown in FIG. 10 (in FIG. 10, the coordinate system is moved to the outside of the ball shaft to avoid influence on each part), a right rotation shaft 421 is provided in the positive direction of the X axis, a left rotation shaft 422 is provided in the negative direction of the X axis, a front rotation shaft 423 is provided in the negative direction of the Y axis, a rear rotation shaft 424 is provided in the positive direction of the Y axis, an upper rotation shaft 425 is provided in the positive direction of the Z axis, and a lower rotation shaft 426 is provided in the negative direction of the Z axis. A positioning module 54 is attached to each of the rotation shafts 42, and the positioning module 54 rotates together with the rotation shafts 42. A second accommodation space 44 for accommodating a sensing device 5 is provided inside the ball shaft housing 41. The second storage space 44 is provided with a battery compartment 45 in which a storage battery 46 can be installed. In the embodiment of the present application, a button battery, specifically a CR2032 button battery, is used as the storage battery 46. The battery can last for 10 hours, and when the smart Rubik's cube is not used, the standby time can reach 1 year, which can meet the usage scenario of the smart Rubik's cube. The upper half housing 411 of the ball shaft housing is provided with a battery cover 47, which is detachably attached to the upper half housing. It is convenient to replace the battery by opening the battery cover 47.

[0042] In one embodiment provided by the present application, a rotating shaft mounting hole is provided in each rotating shaft direction of the illustrated ball shaft housing 41 (as shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12), and a through-hole is provided in the lower half of each rotating shaft 42, and the mounting of the rotating shaft and the ball shaft housing is realized by inserting the through-hole into the mounting hole. The connection method between the through-hole and the ball shaft housing may be a buckle connection or a screw connection, but is not limited thereto. In the embodiment provided by the present application, a mounting hole corresponding to the upper rotating shaft 425 is provided in the upper half housing 411, and a mounting hole corresponding to the lower rotating shaft 426 is provided in the lower half housing 412. The mounting holes of the left rotating shaft 422, the right rotating shaft 421, the front rotating shaft 423, and the rear rotating shaft 424 are divided into two parts, half of which is provided in the upper half housing 411, and the other half is provided in the lower half housing 412. The above arrangement makes the cube more balanced in each direction as a whole, which is helpful for holding and operating the smart Rubik's cube.

[0043] As shown in FIG. 11, FIG. 12, and FIG. 13A-FIG. 13B, the ball shaft for the smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application further includes a sensing device 5 provided in the second accommodation space 44 in the ball shaft housing 41. The illustrated sensing device 5 includes a main circuit board 51 and a sub-circuit board 52. A microcontroller unit (not shown) is provided on the main circuit board 51, and the main circuit board 51 includes a first circuit board surface 511 provided on the front side of the main circuit board and a second circuit board surface 512 provided on the back side of the main circuit board. A plane rectangular coordinate system is constructed with the center of the first circuit board surface 51 as the origin, the positive direction of the X axis as the first direction, the negative direction of the X axis as the third direction, the positive direction of the Y axis as the second direction, and the negative direction of the Y axis as the fourth direction. In each direction, a first electronic sensing element 531, a second electronic sensing element 532, a third electronic sensing element 533, and a fourth electronic sensing element 534 are provided correspondingly, and a fifth electronic sensing element 535 is provided in the middle area of ​​the second circuit board surface 512, and each of the electronic sensing elements is communicatively connected to the microcontroller unit. The sub-circuit board 52 is provided on a preset surface parallel to the first circuit board surface 511, and the preset surface and the second circuit board surface 512 are respectively located on both sides of the first circuit board surface 511, and the sub-circuit board 52 is provided with a sixth electronic sensing element 536 communicatively connected to the microcontroller unit.

[0044] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the smart Rubik's cube further includes a first positioning module, a second positioning module, a third positioning module, a fourth positioning module, a fifth positioning module, and a sixth positioning module, which are respectively provided on the six rotation axes of the smart Rubik's cube, and each electronic sensing element is respectively sensorily positioned by the positioning module 54 on its direction. In an embodiment provided by the present invention, the electronic sensing element is a magnetic sensor, and the magnetic sensor includes, but is not limited to, one or more combinations of Hall elements, tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR), anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), and giant magnetoresistance (GMR). The positioning modules 54 are all magnetic positioning modules. In the sensing device provided by the present application, the main circuit board is attached to the ball shaft of the smart Rubik's cube and is located at the center position of the smart Rubik's cube. Therefore, the magnetic sensor, which is the electronic sensing element, is also provided at the center position of the smart Rubik's cube, and the magnetic positioning module is provided on the rotation axis. When the magnetic positioning module, such as a magnet, mounted on the rotating shaft rotates, the magnetic field direction of the magnet also rotates as a whole, and at this time, the relationship between the magnetic field direction and the magnetic sensor changes, which causes a change in the sensed electromotive force or sensed current of the magnetic sensor, which is transmitted to the microcontroller unit, and the microcontroller unit can determine the rotation angle of the rotating shaft from the change situation or trend of the current or electromotive force.

[0045] As shown in Figures 13A-13C and 14-17, in the embodiment of the present application, the electronic sensing element is a Hall sensor. As shown in Figures 14 and 15, two Hall sensors are provided on the circuit board in each rotation axis direction. The Hall sensor on the yellow side is provided on the back side of the figure shown in Figure 15, and its installation position corresponds to the white side, and is provided on the second circuit board surface of the main circuit board 51, and the Hall sensor on the white side is provided on the sub-circuit board 52. The two Hall sensors respectively detect the magnetic field direction of the magnetic positioning module on the corresponding rotation axis, and generate a sensed current or a sensed electromotive force according to the detected magnetic field direction and send it to the microcontroller unit (MCU). Therefore, once the initial state of the two Hall sensors corresponding to each face is determined (the initial state of the Hall sensors is the value determined by the corresponding relationship between the Hall sensors and the magnets obtained by the APP when the state of the smart Rubik's cube is inputted into the APP), the rotation of the subsequent cube faces rotates by 90 degrees, and each twist of one face of the Rubik's cube rotates the magnet by 90 degrees, and each Hall sensor outputs a signal of 0 or 1 to the MCU, and according to the combination of the two Hall sensors, there are a total of four combination signals (00, 01, 10, 11), which respectively represent the four different magnetic field directions of the magnet. Then, the MCU obtains the rotation angle of the Rubik's cube according to the combination of signals received from the pair of Hall sensors on the corresponding rotation axis, and updates the state of the Rubik's cube. As shown in FIG. 16, if the initial state of one face of the Rubik's Cube corresponds to a HALL value of 01, when the cube face rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise, the HALL value becomes 00, when the cube face rotates 90 degrees clockwise, the HALL value becomes 11, and when the cube face rotates 180 degrees, the HALL value becomes 10. In the above embodiment, a binary switch type Hall sensor is used as an example, but the technical means provided by the embodiment of the present application can also use a linear Hall element. When a linear Hall element is used as a sensing electronic element, after the output signal is ADC (analog-to-digital conversion) converted, information on any rotation angle, not limited to 90 degrees, can be obtained.

[0046] As shown in Figure 17, when the initial state of each cube face is determined (i.e., defined as the first state), the values ​​of the two Hall sensors of the corresponding face change according to the face that rotates. For example, when the white face rotates, the positional relationship between the Hall sensor of the white face and the magnet of the corresponding face changes, and the Hall sensor of the white face generates a corresponding value and sends it to the microcontroller unit. For the explanation of the relationship between the Hall sensor value and the magnet position, please refer to the explanation of Figure 16 above. At this time, it corresponds to the second state.

[0047] When one face of a Rubik's Cube is continuously rotated, two things can happen:

[0048] If the side rotated in the first step continues to rotate, that is, when one side rotates 180 degrees, it becomes a one-sided rotation mechanism. In the initial state of one side, it is assumed that the HALL value corresponds to 01. If one side can rotate freely and the Tps speed is greater than the hall acquisition speed, the hall cannot capture the number of 90-degree rotations. As long as the speed of the Rubik's Cube decreases and the MCU can capture the HALL value, it will back-estimate the position of one side from the HALL value of the Rubik's Cube based on Figure 16 to synchronize the state of the Rubik's Cube. This is the third state.

[0049] When rotating a surface different from that in the first step by 90 degrees, it is determined which surface is rotated by 90 degrees based on the changes in the two HALL values ​​of the corresponding surface, and the rotation direction is estimated based on the HALL initial value of that surface in the second state and Fig. 16. This is the fourth state.

[0050] After the third and fourth states are updated, they are set as the initial states. The above procedure is repeated based on the rotation of each face relative to the newly determined initial state.

[0051] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in Figs. 13A to 13C and 18, the main circuit board 51 and the sub-circuit board 52 are formed of the same FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) board that is integrally connected, and the circuit connection between the main circuit board 51 and the sub-circuit board 52 is realized by a spare long-shaped connection structure 522. The main circuit board 51 and the sub-circuit board 52 can be processed on the same FPC board. A first hall sensor, a second hall sensor, a third hall sensor, and a fourth hall sensor are attached to a first circuit board surface 511 of the main circuit board 51, a fifth hall sensor is attached to the second circuit board surface 512, and a sixth hall sensor is attached to the sub-circuit board 52. Due to the flexibility of the FPC board, the positional relationship between the main circuit board 51 and the sub-circuit board 52 can be easily changed, the main circuit board and the sub-circuit board are attached to predetermined positions, and the circuit connection can be realized by the spare long-shaped connection structure 522 between them. Because it is the same FPC board, soldering between the main circuit board and the sub-circuit board is not required, which reduces the connection process required for soldering between different PCB boards in the conventional technology, and effectively improves the assembly speed of the smart Rubik's Cube.

[0052] In a preferred embodiment in which the main circuit board and the sub-circuit board are configured by the same FPC board, the preferred embodiment of the present application further provides a circuit board fixing seat 55. As shown in FIG. 18, a first fixing stand 551 is provided on the top of the circuit board fixing seat 55, and a second fixing stand 552 is provided on the bottom of the circuit board fixing seat 55, and the first fixing stand 551 is parallel to the second fixing stand 552. A first accommodating space is provided between the first fixing stand 551 and the second fixing stand 552, and a portion of the first accommodating space adjacent to the first fixing stand is provided as a battery chamber 45 for accommodating a battery, and a portion of the first accommodating space adjacent to the second fixing stand is provided as an electronic component accommodating chamber for accommodating an electronic sensing element. A through hole or blind hole for accommodating a fifth electronic sensing element is provided in the center of the second fixing stand, and the main circuit board is fixed to the second fixing stand, and the sub-circuit board is fixed to the first fixing stand. A number of cutouts are provided between the first fixed base 551 and the second fixed base 552, and by providing the cutout structure while ensuring the structural strength of the circuit board fixing base 55, the sensing device can be made lighter, i.e., the ball shaft can be made lighter, and the internal air flow can be strengthened, allowing the heat generated by the battery to be transferred to the outside of the Rubik's Cube.

[0053] The biggest advantage of using the same FPC board to make the main circuit board and the sub circuit board is that since the two circuit boards are the same board, there is no need to solder the circuits between them, which further reduces the process complexity and achieves a better assembly effect.

[0054] However, since the price of FPC materials is relatively high at present, it is possible that the use of FPC boards will become mainstream as science and technology and material technology develop in the future, but the current problem is that the cost is high. Therefore, the present application provides another embodiment.

[0055] In the second embodiment provided by the present application, a hard PCB board is used for the main circuit board 51, and a flexible circuit board FPC board is used for the sub-circuit board 52. In the sensing device provided by the present application, since the main body part is on the main circuit board 51 and the electronic sensing element and micro control unit provided thereon, a PCB board with mature technology and relatively low cost is used for the main body part, and an FPC board is used for the sub-circuit board whose arrangement position and direction need to be changed. The PCB board and the FPC board are connected via a spare long-shaped connection structure, and the PCB board is soldered between the long-shaped connection structures to realize the fixation and circuit connection between the two circuit boards.

[0056] Correspondingly, the present application further provides a corresponding circuit board fixing seat in a second circuit board embodiment, and a first fixing stand is provided on the top of the circuit board fixing seat. A first accommodating space is provided between the first fixing stand and the bottom of the circuit board fixing seat, and a part of the first accommodating space adjacent to the first fixing stand is provided as a battery chamber for accommodating a battery, and a part of the first accommodating space adjacent to the bottom of the circuit board fixing seat is provided as an electronic component accommodating chamber for accommodating an electronic sensing element. The auxiliary circuit board is fixed to the first fixing stand, and the main circuit board is fixed to the bottom of the circuit board fixing seat, and the first fixing stand is parallel to the main circuit board. Compared with the circuit board fixing seat provided by the first embodiment, the circuit board fixing seat provided by this embodiment does not need to be provided with a second fixing stand. This is because the PCB circuit board itself is a flat hard board, which can fully support various components provided thereon, and can maintain a stable shape when fixed to the circuit board fixing seat.

[0057] In another preferred embodiment provided by the present application, as shown in FIG. 12, an antenna fixing seat 62 is provided under the bottom of the circuit board fixing seat 55, that is, under the PCB board or the second fixing base 552, and the antenna 61 is fixed to the antenna fixing seat 62. The antenna fixing seat 62 and the antenna 61 are located inside the lower half housing 412 as a whole. In this way, when the entire sensing device is placed in the upper half housing, the antenna and the antenna fixing seat can balance the structural relationship inside the ball shaft. One embodiment of the antenna 61 is a Bluetooth antenna, and the antenna 61 is circuit-connected to the micro control unit. In the smart Rubik's cube provided by the present application, the micro control unit can be connected to an external terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet, a server) through the antenna, so that the terminal device can easily obtain the rotation state data of the Rubik's cube detected on the smart Rubik's cube. At the same time, the terminal device can also send a control command to the micro control unit through the antenna 61.

[0058] The overall assembly process of the smart Rubik's cube provided by this application is as follows. First, according to the installation and design requirements, the micro control unit and each electronic sensing unit are respectively mounted on the first circuit board surface 511, the second circuit board surface 512, and the sub-circuit board 52 of the main circuit board 51. In this process, since not all surfaces are provided with PCB boards, the need to precisely adjust the vertical relationship between each circuit board is eliminated, and the mature electronic component mounting process can be used, which not only improves the connection stability between each component, but also reduces the troublesome work of adjustment. At the same time, when the PCB board is used for the main circuit board and the FPC board is used for the sub-circuit board, the circuit connection between them is realized by soldering. Then, the assembled circuit board is mounted on the circuit board fixing seat 55. The overall mounting and fixing of the sensing device is realized. After the entire assembled sensing device and other components such as the antenna 61 and the antenna fixing seat 62 are mounted on the upper half housing or the lower half housing, the upper half housing and the lower half housing are combined to form a ball shaft. The rotation axis is attached to the ball shaft, and finally each cube block is attached to each face according to the design requirements, thereby realizing the overall assembly of the smart Rubik's cube.

[0059] The operation principle of the smart Rubik's cube provided by this application is as follows: when one face of the Rubik's cube is rotated, the rotation axis corresponding to that face rotates, and the rotation axis rotates the magnet on the rotation axis, changing the magnetic field direction of the magnet, and the change in the magnetic field direction acts on the corresponding Hall sensor to generate a correspondingly changing current or electromotive force, and transmits the current or electromotive force to the microcontroller unit, which can obtain the rotation angle of the rotation axis from the change in current or electromotive force. The microcontroller unit is connected to the smart terminal through a Bluetooth antenna, and transmits the obtained rotation state of each face to the smart terminal, and at the same time, the microcontroller unit can receive the control command transmitted from the terminal device through the antenna.

[0060] The various technical features of the above-described embodiments may be combined in any manner, and for the sake of brevity, we have not described all possible combinations of the various technical features in the above-described embodiments, but unless there is a contradiction, combinations of these technical features should be considered to be within the scope described in this specification.

[0061] Those skilled in the art can make various other corresponding modifications and variations according to the above technical means and concepts, and these modifications and variations should fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0062] 1...center block, 2...corner block, 3...edge block, 4...ball shaft, 41...ball shaft housing, 411...upper half housing, 412...lower half housing, 42...rotating shaft, 421...right rotating shaft, 422...left rotating shaft, 423...front rotating shaft, 424...rear rotating shaft, 425...upper rotating shaft, 426...lower rotating shaft, 44...second housing space, 45...battery chamber, 46...storage battery, 47...battery cover, 5...sensing device, 51. ..main circuit board, 511...first circuit board surface, 512...second circuit board surface, 52...sub-circuit board, 522...elongated connecting structure, 531...first electronic sensing element, 532...second electronic sensing element, 533...third electronic sensing element, 534...fourth electronic sensing element, 535...fifth electronic sensing element, 536...sixth electronic sensing element, 54...positioning module, 55...circuit board fixing base, 551...first fixing base, 552...second fixing base, 61...antenna, 62...antenna fixing base.

Claims

1. Step S10: detecting acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions by an accelerometer provided in the smart Rubik's cube; Step S20: acquiring an acceleration value when detecting that acceleration occurs in any axis direction of the smart Rubik's cube; Step S30: comparing the acceleration value with a preset wake-up threshold, and sending a wake-up signal to the micro-control unit of the smart Rubik's cube via the accelerometer if the acceleration value is greater than the wake-up threshold; Step S40: restarting the system of the smart Rubik's cube by the microcontroller unit, so that the smart Rubik's cube enters a normal operation mode; After step S40, Step S50: starting the firmware program of the smart Rubik's cube and starting the accelerometer; Setting the output data rate of the accelerometer, step S51; Setting the measurement range of the accelerometer, step S52; Setting the X, Y, and Z offsets of the accelerometer, step S53; Setting a wake-up threshold, step S54; Step S55: setting the interrupt pin to be wake-up interrupt driven; When the smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep mode, step S10 is started; step S56; A method for waking up a smart Rubik's Cube, comprising:

2. Specifically, step S30 includes the following steps: If it is determined that the acceleration value is greater than the preset wake-up threshold, a timer is started to continuously compare the acquired acceleration value with the preset wake-up threshold in step S31; Step S32: if the acceleration value continuously obtained by the timer within a preset timing time is greater than a preset wake-up threshold, send a wake-up signal to the microcontroller unit; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that in step S32, specifically, the smart Rubik's cube is woken up by enabling the interrupt pin of the accelerometer via the accelerometer, enabling the HP filter via the interrupt pin, and enabling the micro control unit via the HP filter.

4. Specifically, step S56 is Step S561: obtaining connection information between the Bluetooth module and the terminal device; If the Bluetooth module is not connected to any terminal device, obtain the acceleration values ​​of the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis of the smart Rubik's cube detected by the accelerometer in step S562; Step S563: comparing the acceleration value with a preset acceleration activity threshold, and if the acceleration value is smaller than the preset acceleration activity threshold, controlling the smart Rubik's cube to enter a sleep mode; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

5. In step S562, specifically, if the Bluetooth module is not connected to any terminal device, start a timer to continuously detect the connection state of the Bluetooth module; The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, if the Bluetooth module is not connected to any terminal device within a preset timing time, and the acceleration values ​​of the smart Rubik's cube in the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis detected by the accelerometer are all less than the activity threshold, the smart Rubik's cube enters a sleep mode, otherwise the smart Rubik's cube is kept in an operating mode.

6. In step S51, the output data rate of the accelerometer is set to 200 Hz and set as a high performance mode.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein in step S52, the measurement range of the accelerometer is set to ±2 g and set as a low noise mode.

7. When the smart Rubik's cube is in an operating mode, 7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the step S60 of detecting acceleration values ​​of the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis of the smart Rubik's cube by the accelerometer, and obtaining the posture state of the Rubik's cube based on the acceleration values.

8. A smart Rubik's cube, comprising a central ball shaft, six center blocks, eight corner blocks, and twelve edge blocks, The ball shaft is provided with a microcontroller unit, a high-pressure filter, and an accelerometer, the accelerometer being connected to the microcontroller unit via the high-pressure filter; One center block is provided on each rotation axis, one edge block is provided for every two adjacent center blocks, and one corner block is provided for every three adjacent edge blocks; A smart Rubik's cube, characterized in that the accelerometer and the microcontroller unit in the smart Rubik's cube realize the wake-up method for the smart Rubik's cube according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program being adapted to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 when executed.

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