Modular Toy System with Conductive Touch Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toy systems with touch screen detection capabilities lack variability and interactivity, limiting their play value and engagement.
Innovation Solution
A modular toy system with interconnectable elements, including a user-activatable trigger and releasable toy elements, that alter touch patterns detectable by a touch screen, allowing for varied spatial structures and user-perceptible outputs, and a computing device that recognizes these patterns to generate responses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If toy systems use fixed touch patterns for interaction, then the system is simple to operate, but the play value and engagement are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic touch patterns that change based on user actions. The trigger mechanism alters the arrangement of conductive elements, transforming static touch patterns into dynamic ones that adapt to user interaction, thereby increasing play value without requiring complex additional components
Solution Approach 2:
The toy system automatically detects and responds to trigger activation through its own conductive elements. The release mechanism itself serves as both the mechanical component and the touch interface, eliminating the need for separate sensors and reducing system complexity while enhancing interactivity
2Adaptability or versatility
If toy systems include release mechanisms with triggers, then interactivity increases, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the release mechanism with the touch interface by making the mechanical components themselves conductive. The trigger and held object are integrated into the touch pattern system, combining mechanical interactivity with electronic detection into a unified structure that reduces overall complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The conductive elements serve multiple functions: they are both mechanical components (trigger, held object) and electronic interface elements (touch points). This multi-functionality allows the same components to provide both physical interactivity and digital detection, reducing the need for additional specialized parts
3Adaptability or versatility
If modular toy elements are used to create diverse spatial structures, then adaptability increases, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the toy system into modular elements, each with integrated conductive components. These standardized modules can be assembled in various configurations to create different spatial structures and touch patterns, allowing high adaptability while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through repetition of standard components
Solution Approach 2:
The patent achieves structural variability by changing the spatial arrangement and orientation of identical modular elements rather than manufacturing different types of components. By varying parameters like position, orientation, and configuration of the same basic module, diverse spatial structures are created without increasing manufacturing complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances play value by providing increased variability in interaction between physical and virtual worlds, allowing users to construct diverse spatial structures and unlock progression levels in computer games through detectable touch patterns.
Implementation Method 1
a first toy element... configured to be detectable by a touch screen when brought within a proximity of the touch screen
Data Source
Figure 1~2C
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Figure 5
AI summary
A toy system comprising one or more toy elements configured to be detectable by a touch screen when brought within a proximity of the touch screen; and a computing device configured to: detect said one or more toy elements within a proximity of the touch screen; detect, in addition to detecting said one or more toy elements, one or more further touch events on the touch screen in a first predetermined spatial relationship to the detected one or more toy elements; and responsive to the detection of said one or more further touch events on the touch screen in said first predetermined spatial relationship to the detected one or more toy elements, to cause a user-perceptible output.