Motion-Sensing Ball Display With Event-Triggered Signaling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toys and ball games lack innovative features to enhance amusement, education, and user experience while maintaining a conventional look and feel, and there is a need for a cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-manufacture solution that provides additional stimulation and pleasure.
Innovation Solution
A motion-sensing device housed in a single enclosure, equipped with an accelerometer, annunciator, and controller, which uses a power source to activate visual or audible signaling components in response to sensed motion, allowing for customizable responses to acceleration, tilt, and event counting, with options for battery-powered or kinetic energy harvesting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If motion-sensing components and signaling components are integrated into a conventional ball or toy, then user experience and amusement are enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional components (accelerometer, controller, annunciator, power source) into a single integrated device housed within a conventional ball or toy enclosure. This merging approach enables motion sensing and interactive signaling capabilities while maintaining the familiar appearance and feel of traditional toys, thereby enhancing user experience without requiring multiple separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is designed to perform multiple functions within a single unit: motion detection via accelerometer, signal processing via controller, and output signaling via annunciator (visual, audible, or tactile). This multi-functionality allows the device to provide diverse interactive experiences (games, education, entertainment) while maintaining a compact conventional form factor.
2Adaptability or versatility
If electronic components are added to enhance functionality, then user experience is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller is designed to manage multiple output types (visual, audible, tactile) through a single integrated unit, reducing the need for separate component assemblies. This universal approach allows the same basic electronic architecture to support various interactive modes, simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing per-unit costs compared to implementing separate devices for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables different interactive experiences by changing operational parameters (acceleration thresholds, signal patterns, output modes) rather than requiring different hardware configurations. This parameter-based flexibility allows a single manufactured device to provide varied functionality, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple signaling modes are implemented, then user experience and educational value are enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The annunciator is designed as a universal signaling component capable of producing multiple output types (visual, audible, tactile) through a single integrated unit. This multi-functional approach allows the device to provide diverse feedback modes for different applications (education, entertainment, games) without requiring separate signaling systems for each mode, thereby managing complexity while enhancing versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller manages different signaling modes by adjusting operational parameters (output type, signal pattern, intensity, duration) of the annunciator rather than requiring separate hardware pathways for each mode. This parameter-based control simplifies the control system architecture while enabling rich interactive experiences across multiple signaling modalities.
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
The device enhances user experience by providing interactive and educational elements, increasing curiosity and excitement, while being robust, easy to construct, and maintaining a conventional aesthetic, offering a versatile and attractive play option for both humans and pets.
Implementation Method 1
an accelerometer for sensing the device acceleration
Implementation Method 2
A power source is included that may power the electrical components such as the accelerometer, the annunciator, the controller and any other power-consuming components
Data Source
AI summary
A device includes a signaling means and a motion sensor, and logic for activating or controlling the signaling means in response to a sensed motion according to an embedded logic. The device may be used as a toy, and may be shaped like a play ball or as a handheld unit. It may be powered from a battery, either chargeable from an AC power source directly or contactless by using induction or by converting electrical energy from harvested kinetic energy. The embedded logic may activate or control the signaling means, predictably or randomly, in response to sensed acceleration magnitude or direction, such as sensing the crossing of a preset threshold or sensing the peak value. The visual means may be a numeric display for displaying a value associated with the count of the number of times the threshold has been exceeded or the peak magnitude of the acceleration sensed.