Interactive electronic handheld toy for play
View Patent ↗The present disclosure relates to a toy for handheld physical interactive play by a participant. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a toy that players physically interact with by pulling, flipping, spinning, or other movement in their hands.
1 . An apparatus, comprising:
a hand held toy having:
a continuous inner tube;
at least two joints; and
at least two outer tubes, arranged in a continuous closed loop around the continuous inner tube and connected by the at least two joints,
each joint having at least two end caps,
each end cap from the at least two end caps being made of a translucent elastic material,
each end cap from the at least two end caps containing a light source from a plurality of light sources,
the continuous inner tube containing electrical wiring that, for each end cap from the at least two end caps, connects a sensor located in the outer tube adjacent to the end cap to the light source for that end cap.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least two outer tubes include at least three, at least four, at least five or at least six outer tubes, connected by at least three, at least four, at least five or at least six joints from the at least two joints.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a diameter of a torus shape of the at least six outer tubes is substantially 8 inches.
4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a center gap of a torus shape of at least six end caps from the at least six joints is substantially 4 inches.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the continuous closed loop forms a substantially torus shape.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first light source is activated by the at least two outer tubes being pulled apart and the joint connecting the at least two outer tubes being stretched.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a subsequent activation of the sensor results in the first light source becoming deactivated.
8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the sensor is activated based on a first end cap from the at least two end caps from a first joint from the at least two joints being separated from a second end cap from the at least two end caps from the first joint by a predefined distance.
9 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein once the toy is activated, the plurality of light sources become activated one at a time in randomized order at increasing frequency.
10 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein, once the toy is activated:
the plurality of light sources become activated one at a time in randomized order and at increasing frequency,
the plurality of light sources are deactivated by pulling apart a first tube and a second tube of the at least two outer tubes adjacent to the light source before a subsequent light source from the plurality of light sources emits light.
11 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein, once the toy is activated:
the plurality of light sources become activated one at a time in randomized order and at increasing frequency,
the plurality of light sources remain activated if a first tube and a second tube of the at least two outer tubes adjacent to the light source are not pulled apart before a subsequent light source from the plurality of light sources emits light.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, for each end cap from the at least two end caps, the light source for that end cap is a LED bulb.
13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each pair of end caps forming a joint from the at least two joints is made of a translucent elastic material that is different in color than each remaining pair of end caps forming a joint from the at least two joints.
14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a speaker coupled to the sensor contained within an end cap from at least six end caps.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the speaker is configured to emit a sound based on/a signal received from the sensor.
16 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each end cap from the at least two end caps defines a gap that extends there through and that is configured to receive at least a portion of the continuous inner tube such that the end cap secures a position of the continuous inner tube within the gap.
17 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the continuous inner tube includes a rubber material.
18 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein for each end cap from the at least two end caps forming a joint from the at least two joints:
that end cap includes a first face and a second face opposite the first face,
the first face of that end cap is configured to fasten to an outer tube from the at least two outer tubes,
the second face of that end cap is configured to contact a face of a remaining end cap from the at least two end caps.
19 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the continuous inner tube is configured to transition between a stretched configuration and an unstretched configuration.
20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the sensor is configured to detect transitions between the stretched configuration and the unstretched configuration.