KR20230048774A - Smart cube and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a smart cube apparatus and an operation method thereof. According to one embodiment, the smart cube apparatus comprises: a plurality of unit cube blocks provided in a hexahedral shape, and outputting a light of a predetermined color based on user touch inputs for the surface; and a controller, when the user touch inputs for the surface are obtained, changing a color of the light output from the unit cube blocks from which the user touch inputs were obtained and the unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. Provided are the smart cube apparatus which changes colors of cube blocks, and the operation method thereof.

Description

Smart cube device and its operating method {SMART CUBE AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF}

The present disclosure relates to a smart cube device and an operating method thereof. More particularly, it relates to a smart cube device and an operating method for changing the color of cube blocks based on a user touch input.

A Rubik's Cube is a type of puzzle, usually representing the shape of a large cube made up of several smaller cubes. It is made to rotate in each direction, so you can complete the puzzle by matching the color of each scattered face to the same color.

Thanks to the recent development of smartphone technology, technologies for sensing and processing user touch inputs have been actively researched, and thanks to the rapid increase in demand for LEDs, various products using LEDs are being disclosed.

In such a technological environment, technology development for smart cube devices and puzzles that operate based on user touch input is required.

Korean Patent Publication No. 2013-0132359

According to one embodiment, a smart cube device and its operating method may be provided.

More specifically, a smart cube device and its operating method for changing the color of cube blocks based on a user's touch input may be provided.

As a technical means for achieving the above technical problem, according to an embodiment, the smart cube device is provided in the form of a hexahedron, and a plurality of unit cubes outputting light of a predetermined color based on user touch inputs to the surface. blocks; and a controller for changing the color of light emitted from unit cube blocks from which the user touch inputs have been obtained and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks, when the user touch inputs on the surface are obtained. can include

According to another embodiment for achieving the above-described technical problem, a method of operating a smart cube device including a plurality of unit cube blocks having a hexahedral shape includes identifying user touch inputs on a surface of the smart cube device; among the identified user touch inputs, identifying a location of a touch sensor at which two or more user touch inputs have been obtained; identifying a direction of a user gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the identified location of the touch sensor; and based on the direction of the identified user gesture, output from unit cube blocks including touch sensors from which the at least two or more user touch inputs are obtained and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. Changing the color of the light to be; can include

According to another embodiment for achieving the above technical problem, in the operating method of a smart cube device including a plurality of unit cube blocks in the form of a hexahedron, identifying user touch inputs to the surface of the smart cube device ; among the identified user touch inputs, identifying a location of a touch sensor at which two or more user touch inputs have been obtained; identifying a direction of a user gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the identified location of the touch sensor; and based on the direction of the identified user gesture, output from unit cube blocks including touch sensors from which the at least two or more user touch inputs are obtained and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. Changing the color of the light to be; A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for performing the method including a may be provided.

1 is a block diagram of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.
2 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operation of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.
3 is a flowchart of a method of operating a smart cube device according to an embodiment.
4 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.
5 is a block diagram of a controller in a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

Terms used in this specification will be briefly described, and the present disclosure will be described in detail.

The terms used in the present disclosure have been selected from general terms that are currently widely used as much as possible while considering the functions in the present disclosure, but they may vary according to the intention or precedent of a person skilled in the art, the emergence of new technologies, and the like. In addition, in a specific case, there is also a term arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning will be described in detail in the description of the invention. Therefore, terms used in the present disclosure should be defined based on the meaning of the term and the general content of the present disclosure, not simply the name of the term.

When it is said that a certain part "includes" a certain component throughout the specification, it means that it may further include other components without excluding other components unless otherwise stated. In addition, terms such as "...unit" and "module" described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented as hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. .

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly describe the present disclosure in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

1 is a block diagram of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include a plurality of unit cube blocks 120 and a controller 140. For example, the smart cube device 1000 may change the color of light output from the plurality of unit cube blocks based on user touch inputs to the plurality of unit cube blocks.

According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may be provided in a polygonal shape having six sides, but is not limited thereto. According to an embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include a plurality of unit cube blocks and output light of a predetermined color through unit surfaces of the plurality of unit cube blocks located on the surface of the smart cube device. .

According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include, but is not limited to, 8 unit cube blocks, 27 unit cube blocks, or 64 unit cube blocks, and any n*n*n number of Can contain unit cube blocks. According to an embodiment, the shape of each unit cube block may correspond to the shape of the entire smart cube device. According to one embodiment, unit cube blocks may be provided in a hexahedron shape. According to an embodiment, unit cube blocks may output light of a predetermined color based on user touch inputs to the surface.

According to one embodiment, the unit cube blocks 120 may include touch sensors 122 and light sources 124 . The touch sensors 122 may be located below the surface of unit cube blocks corresponding to the surface of the smart cube device. In addition, the touch sensors 122 may be located under each surface of the smart cube device as many as the number of unit cube blocks located on each surface of the smart cube device.

According to another embodiment, the touch sensors 122 may be provided in the form of a display panel located on the surface of unit cube blocks. According to an embodiment, the touch sensors 122 may sense a user's touch input to the surface of the unit cube blocks by being located on the surface of the unit cube blocks, and transmit the user's touch input value to the controller 140. . Light sources 124 may include a plurality of LED light sources. The light sources 124 may output light of a predetermined color under the control of the controller 140 . For example, the light sources 124 may output light of a predetermined color through surfaces of a plurality of unit cube blocks in the smart cube device.

According to one embodiment, the controller 140 may include an Arduino circuit 142 , a shift register 144 and pcb boards 146 . However, the configuration is not limited to the above, and the controller 140 may further include a memory for storing one or more instructions and at least one processor for executing the one or more instructions stored in the memory.

According to an embodiment, when user touch inputs are obtained from a plurality of unit cube blocks, the controller 140 determines the unit cube blocks from which the user touch inputs have been obtained and the unit cube blocks located on the cube line including the unit cube blocks. It is possible to change the color of the light output from the fields. For example, the controller 140 may identify whether or not a user touch input has been obtained with the surfaces of which unit cube blocks on each side of the smart cube device.

For example, the controller 140 may obtain or identify in advance location information indicating which unit cube blocks the touch sensors that have transmitted the user touch input are located in. Based on the location information, the controller 140 may identify which unit cube blocks the user's touch input was acquired through. Also, the controller 140 may identify unit cube blocks from which user touch inputs have been obtained and a cube line formed by the unit cube blocks. According to one embodiment, the cube line may include a plurality of unit cube blocks appearing as one row or column on each surface of the smart cube device.

The Arduino circuit 142 may be a development tool controlled by a single board microcontroller based on open source. According to an embodiment, the Arduino circuit 142 may control the color of LED light sources positioned below each surface of a plurality of unit cube blocks to be changed based on values obtained from a plurality of touch sensors.

According to one embodiment, the shift register 144 may be connected to one end of the Arduino circuit 142. Also, according to an embodiment, the PCB boards 146 may be connected to the Arduino hero through the shift register 144 or directly connected to the Arduino circuit. Shift register 144 may be a set of processor registers installed in a linear fashion in a digital circuit. The shift register 144 may transmit and receive touch sensor values and LED control signals between the Arduino circuit and PCB boards.

The PCB board 146 is a printed circuit board and may provide a wiring board for connecting at least one electrical element. According to one embodiment, the PCB substrates 146 may be located on each lower part of the six sides of the smart cube device. According to one embodiment, the PCB substrates 146 may be located under a plurality of unit cube blocks constituting six sides of the smart cube device. According to an embodiment, the PCB substrate 146 may provide a wiring board for fastening predetermined electric elements such as resistors and condensers as well as device modules such as memory and processor necessary for the operation of the smart cube device.

According to one embodiment, the controller 140 may include a memory (not shown) for storing one or more instructions and at least one processor for executing the one or more instructions. For example, a processor (not shown) obtains user touch inputs acquired on the surface of the smart cube device by executing one or more instructions stored in memory, identifies the location of the touch sensor where the user touch inputs are obtained, and identifies the The color of light output from the plurality of unit cube blocks may be changed based on the position of the touch sensor.

2 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operation of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include six sides. According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include 27 unit cube blocks, but is not limited thereto. For example, it is assumed that the upper surface of the hexahedral smart cube device 1000 shown in FIG. 2 is the first surface 222 and the surface positioned in the front direction in FIG. 2 is the second surface 224.

As shown in FIG. 2 , surfaces of a plurality of unit cube blocks may appear on the first surface 222 and the second surface 224 . Referring to FIG. 2, the surface of 9 unit cube blocks may appear on each side of the smart cube device 1000, but is not limited thereto, and if the smart cube device 1000 includes 8 unit cube blocks, Of course, the surface of four unit cube blocks may appear on each side of the smart cube device 1000.

Under each surface of each smart cube device, the number of touch sensors corresponding to the number of surfaces of unit cube blocks appearing on each surface may be located. Each touch sensor may be located on the surface of the smart cube device. A processor (not shown) may identify touch sensors from which a user touch input has been obtained, among a plurality of touch sensors, and identify unit cube blocks including the identified touch sensors. The processor may change the color of light output from unit cube blocks from which user touch inputs have been obtained and unit cube blocks positioned on a cube line including the unit cube blocks.

For example, a processor or a controller including a processor can obtain user touch inputs from the second surface 224 . The processor may identify that user touch inputs are obtained from the first unit cube block 202 , the second unit cube block 204 , and the third unit cube block 206 , which appear on the second surface 224 .

More specifically, the processor selects the first unit cube block 202, the second unit cube block 204, and the third unit cube block 202, from which user touch inputs are obtained, among the plurality of unit cube blocks appearing on the second surface 224. A cube block 206 can be identified. Also, according to an embodiment, the processor may identify the time at which a user touch input is obtained in unit cube blocks constituting each surface of the smart cube device or the order in which a user touch input is obtained in unit cube blocks.

Also, according to an embodiment, the processor may identify unit cube blocks from which user touch inputs have been obtained and a cube line 232 including the unit cube blocks. For example, when user touch inputs are obtained from the surfaces of the first unit cube block 202, the second unit cube block 204, and the third unit cube block 206, the processor determines the first unit cube block 202 ), all unit cube blocks located in the cube line including the second unit cube block 204 and the third unit cube block 206 may be identified. The processor may change at least some of the colors of all unit cube blocks located on the cube line.

According to another embodiment, when user touch inputs are obtained from touch sensors of unit cube blocks not located on a cube line in a smart cube device, the processor outputs output from unit cube blocks not located on an upper cube line. The color of light may not be changed.

According to another embodiment, the processor obtains a user touch input from all touch sensors of unit cube blocks in the smart cube device or all touch sensors of unit cube blocks constituting each surface in the smart cube device, the corresponding User touch inputs may not change the color of acquired unit cube blocks.

According to an embodiment, the processor determines the location of unit cube blocks including at least two or more touch sensors from which the user touch input has been obtained, among user touch inputs acquired through touch sensors, and the user touch input in the unit cube blocks. The color of light of unit cube blocks located in the cube line may be changed based on at least one of the obtained time points or the order in which user touch inputs are acquired in the unit cube blocks.

According to another embodiment, the processor identifies the unit cube blocks to which the user touch input was obtained first and the unit cube blocks to which the user touch input was obtained last among the unit cube blocks constituting each surface of the smart cube device. can do. According to an embodiment, the processor receives the first user touch input 212 and the second user touch input from the first unit cube block 202, the second unit cube block 204, and the third unit cube block 206, respectively. 214 and a third user touch input 216 may be acquired.

According to an embodiment, the processor may identify when the first user touch input 212 is obtained, when the second user touch input 214 is obtained, and when the third user touch input 216 is obtained. there is. According to an embodiment, the processor is based on the first user touch input and the latest user touch input among user touch inputs obtained within a preset time range from the time point when the first user touch input 212 is obtained. Thus, the direction of the user's gesture can be identified.

For example, when the third user touch input 216 is obtained within a preset time range from the point in time at which the first user touch input 212 is obtained, the processor first obtains the first user touch input 212, It may be identified that the third user touch input is acquired last. The processor may identify a direction of a user gesture with respect to the surface of the smart cube device based on at least one of a location, a time sequence, or a viewpoint at which touch inputs are obtained.

For example, when the second user touch input 214 and the third user touch input 216 are acquired within a preset time range from the point in time at which the first user touch input 212 is obtained, the processor determines whether the first user touch input 212 is acquired. A user gesture direction 234 may be identified as a direction from the first unit cube block 202 where the touch input 212 is obtained to the third unit cube block 206 where the third user touch input 216 is obtained. The processor may change the color of unit cube blocks located on the cube line 232 based on the gesture direction 234 .

For example, since the current gesture direction 234 is the downward direction of the first row of unit cube blocks located on the second face 224, the processor determines the surface of the unit cube blocks located on the cube line of the second face 224. The color (indicated by b) may be changed to the surface color (indicated by a) of unit cube blocks located on the cube line of the first surface 222 . Although not shown in FIG. 2 , the surface color of unit cube blocks located on the cube line on the lower surface of the smart cube device 1000 can be changed to b, of course. In addition, the surface color of unit cube blocks constituting a cube line in the smart cube device 1000 may be changed based on the direction of the user gesture described above.

According to an embodiment, the method of changing the surface color of unit cube blocks based on user touch inputs on the surfaces of unit cube blocks by the smart cube device 1000 according to the present disclosure corresponds to the operation method of the Rubik's Cube. It can be.

The smart cube device 1000 according to the present disclosure may obtain a user touch input from unit cube blocks located on two or more different cube lines among unit cube blocks in the smart cube device. In this case, the smart cube device may count the number of unit cube blocks for which a user touch input is obtained in each unit cube line, and determine a cube line having a larger number of unit cube blocks for which a user touch input is obtained.

The smart cube device 1000 determines the color of unit cube blocks located on a cube line in which the number of unit cube blocks for which user touch inputs have been obtained is greater, the location of unit cube blocks for which user touch inputs have been obtained, and the order in which user touch inputs have been obtained. , user touch inputs may be changed based on at least one of acquisition time points.

3 is a flowchart of a method of operating a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

In S310, the smart cube device 1000 may identify user touch inputs on the surface of the smart cube device. As described above, the smart cube device 1000 may include a plurality of unit cube blocks, and user touch inputs may be obtained through surfaces of the unit cube blocks facing the outside of the smart cube device.

In S320, the smart cube device 1000 may identify the location of the touch sensor where at least two or more user touch inputs were acquired among the identified user touch inputs. For example, on the surface of the smart cube device, touch sensors corresponding to the number of unit cube blocks may be located, and the smart cube device 1000 determines the number of touch sensors from which user touch inputs are acquired among a plurality of unit cube blocks. Locations or locations of unit cube blocks including the touch sensor may be identified.

In S330, the smart cube device 1000 may identify the direction of the user's gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the location of the identified touch sensor. The smart cube device 1000 may identify the direction of a user gesture based on at least one of the positions of unit cube blocks from which user touch inputs are obtained, the order in which user touch inputs are obtained, or the time point at which user touch inputs are obtained. .

According to an embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 is selected from the position of the first user touch input obtained among the user touch inputs acquired in unit cube blocks located on one cube line on each side of the smart cube device. The user gesture direction may be identified as the location direction of the user touch input obtained last.

In S340, the smart cube device 1000 is located on unit cube blocks including touch sensors from which at least two or more user touch inputs have been acquired and cube lines including the unit cube blocks, based on the direction of the identified user gesture. It is possible to change the color of the light output from the unit cube blocks.

4 is a diagram for explaining the structure of a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may include a plurality of unit cube blocks and a controller 420 . According to one embodiment, the smart cube device 1000 may further include a plurality of touch sensors 410 . The plurality of touch sensors shown in FIG. 4 may be located on the surface of the smart cube device shown in FIG. 2 or below the surface of each surface of the smart cube device.

5 is a block diagram of a controller in a smart cube device according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, the controller 500 may include a memory 510 storing one or more instructions and at least one processor 520 executing the one or more instructions. The processor 520 obtains user touch inputs on the surface of the smart cube device by executing one or more instructions stored in the memory 510, and based on the obtained user touch inputs, the color of light output from unit cube blocks. can be changed.

According to an embodiment, the processor 520 identifies user touch inputs on the surface of the smart cube device, and among the identified user touch inputs, identifies a location of a touch sensor where at least two or more user touch inputs are acquired. and identifying a direction of a user gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the location of the identified touch sensor, and based on the identified direction of the user gesture, a touch sensor from which the at least two or more user touch inputs are obtained. It is possible to change the color of light output from unit cube blocks and unit cube blocks positioned on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. The processor 520 may control the overall operation of the smart cube device 1000 and perform at least some of the operation methods of the smart cube device described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 .

The memory 510 may store programs for processing and control of the processor 520 and may store data input or output to the smart cube device 1000. In addition, the memory 510 identifies user touch inputs on the surface of the smart cube device 500, and at least one of the order in which the user touch inputs are obtained, the location at which the user touch inputs are obtained, and the timing at which the user touch inputs are obtained. It may further include other algorithms for identifying the direction of the user's gesture based on and changing the color of light of unit cube blocks based on the direction of the gesture.

The memory 510 may be a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (eg SD or XD memory, etc.), RAM (RAM, Random Access Memory) SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic memory, magnetic disk , an optical disk, and at least one type of storage medium.

A method of operating a smart cube device according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. Program instructions recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and configured for the present invention or those known and usable to those skilled in computer software.

Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tapes, optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic media such as floptical disks. - includes hardware devices specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as magneto-optical media, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter, as well as machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements made by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention defined in the following claims are also included in the scope of the present invention. fall within the scope of the right

Claims (10)

In the smart cube device,
a plurality of unit cube blocks provided in a hexahedral shape and outputting light of a predetermined color based on user touch inputs to the surface; and
When the user touch inputs on the surface are obtained, a controller for changing the color of light output from unit cube blocks from which the user touch inputs have been obtained and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks; Including, smart cube device. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of unit cube blocks
touch sensors positioned on or below the surface of the unit cube blocks to sense user touch inputs to the surface; and
light sources located below surfaces of the unit cube blocks and outputting light based on a user touch input to the touch sensors; including,
When user touch inputs for the touch sensors are obtained, the controller outputs output from unit cube blocks in which the touch sensors from which the user touch inputs are obtained are located and unit cube blocks located in a cube line including the unit cube blocks. A smart cube device that changes the color of light. The method of claim 2, wherein the controller
Arduino circuit;
a shift register connected to the Arduino circuit; and
pcb boards connected to the Arduino circuit through the shift register or directly connected to the Arduino circuit, and positioned under a plurality of unit cube blocks constituting six sides of the smart cube device; Characterized in that, the smart cube device comprising a. The method of claim 2, wherein the controller
a memory that stores one or more instructions;
at least one processor to execute the one or more instructions; including,
The at least one processor outputs unit cube blocks from which the user touch inputs are acquired and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks, based on user touch inputs to the touch sensors. A smart cube device that changes the color of light. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor
When a user touch input is obtained from all touch sensors of unit cube blocks in the smart cube device, the color of the light sources is not changed. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor
In the smart cube device, when user touch inputs are obtained from touch sensors of unit cube blocks not located on the cube line, the color of light output from unit cube blocks not located on the cube line does not change. Characterized in that, the smart cube device. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor
Among the user touch inputs obtained through the touch sensors, based on the positions of unit cube blocks including at least two or more touch sensors from which the user touch input was obtained,
A smart cube device that changes the color of light of unit cube blocks located on the cube line. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor
Among the user touch inputs obtained through the touch sensors, based on the positions of unit cube blocks including at least two or more touch sensors from which the user touch input was obtained,
A smart cube device that identifies a direction of a user gesture with respect to the surface of the smart cube device and changes the color of light of unit cube blocks located on the cube line based on the direction of the identified gesture. In the method of operating a smart cube device including a plurality of unit cube blocks in the form of a hexahedron,
identifying user touch inputs to the surface of the smart cube device;
among the identified user touch inputs, identifying a location of a touch sensor at which two or more user touch inputs have been obtained;
identifying a direction of a user gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the identified location of the touch sensor; and
Based on the direction of the identified user gesture, the at least two or more user touch inputs are output from unit cube blocks including the acquired touch sensor and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. changing the color of light; Including, method. In the method of operating a smart cube device including a plurality of unit cube blocks in the form of a hexahedron,
identifying user touch inputs to the surface of the smart cube device;
among the identified user touch inputs, identifying a location of a touch sensor at which two or more user touch inputs have been obtained;
identifying a direction of a user gesture with respect to the smart cube device based on the identified location of the touch sensor; and
Based on the direction of the identified user gesture, the at least two or more user touch inputs are output from unit cube blocks including the acquired touch sensor and unit cube blocks located on a cube line including the unit cube blocks. changing the color of light; A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for performing the method is stored, including a.

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