EP1289613B1 - Details de construction d'un panneau avec grille de jeu - Google Patents

Details de construction d'un panneau avec grille de jeu Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1289613B1
EP1289613B1 EP01984313A EP01984313A EP1289613B1 EP 1289613 B1 EP1289613 B1 EP 1289613B1 EP 01984313 A EP01984313 A EP 01984313A EP 01984313 A EP01984313 A EP 01984313A EP 1289613 B1 EP1289613 B1 EP 1289613B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
points
grid
point
player
press
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP01984313A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1289613A1 (fr
Inventor
Yehouda Harpaz
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
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Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from PCT/GB2000/002863 external-priority patent/WO2001014028A1/fr
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Publication of EP1289613A1 publication Critical patent/EP1289613A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1289613B1 publication Critical patent/EP1289613B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F3/00—Board games; Raffle games
    • A63F3/00643—Electric board games; Electric features of board games
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F3/00—Board games; Raffle games
    • A63F3/00173—Characteristics of game boards, alone or in relation to supporting structures or playing piece
    • A63F3/00261—Details of game boards, e.g. rotatable, slidable or replaceable parts, modular game boards, vertical game boards
    • A63F2003/00406—Details of game boards, e.g. rotatable, slidable or replaceable parts, modular game boards, vertical game boards with a vertical game board
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F3/00—Board games; Raffle games
    • A63F3/00643—Electric board games; Electric features of board games
    • A63F2003/00662—Electric board games; Electric features of board games with an electric sensor for playing pieces

Definitions

  • This invention is related to electronic grid games boards, in which players play by pressing a point in a grid of points on an electronic board, and the board displays the state of the game by illuminating some of the points. It describes a construction to achieve an implementation of the grid itself which is cheap and robust, feel good to play on and is visually attractive.
  • Electronic games boards like the ones which are described by Harpaz(1999, GB 9919551.3 and GB-A-2334680 are played by the users pressing points on the board, and in respond the board changes the illumination of some points.
  • they require a grid of points (each of which will be referred to as a grid point in this text), each of which can sense when it is pressed, and can be illuminated by different colours.
  • it needs some controller that manages the games and puzzles that the board can play, which means it is notified when a point is pressed, and changes the illumination of the points according to the rules of the current game.
  • This invention is concerned with the implementation of the grid points.
  • buttons A touch screen seems to be too expansive and damage-sensitive to be really useful, and the few small toys which are already on the market and have such points seem to be all made of buttons. These are also relatively expensive, suffer mechanical wear, and it is difficult to illuminate the buttons in an attractive way. Additional problem with buttons is that they have to be pressed vertically, and when playing fast that is a problem for the players, because they have to move their hand horizontally to the right place and stop it to actually press the point.
  • a possible solution with current technology is to use membrane keyboard for the input, which solves the main problems of robustness and is relatively cheap.
  • simply using a membrane keyboard above point light sources like LEDs does not look appealing.
  • the main problems are that the illuminated area is not uniformly illuminated (it is brighter just above the light source, and there are also smaller inhomogeneities), and that if more than one light source is used, they illuminate somewhat different areas.
  • the invention here describes a construction that gives an almost uniformly illuminated area, with more than one light source, and is based on standard and cheap components.
  • the grid of points is constructed from the following four layers:
  • the four layers are held together, and the thickness of the separation layer is such that the light sources are not immediately below the translucent area, but some distance away.
  • the distance needs to be more than quarter of the diameter of the hole in the separation layer, and would typically be 40-140% of the diameter of the hole.
  • the membrane keyboard and the control of the light sources are both connected to a CPU with some memory which uses them to manage various games and puzzles.
  • the sources of light are not immediately below the translucent layer, the light spreads before it reaches the translucent layer, so the difference between the illumination in the centre of the illuminated area and in its periphery is not so marked
  • the sides of the holes reflect light that doesn't reach the translucent layer directly, and this reflected light is distributed homogeneously or even more at the periphery of the illuminated area, so makes the distribution of illumination more homogeneous.
  • the translucent layer smoothes out short range changes in the illumination.
  • the overall result is illumination that still decrease from the point above the source of light, but the change is small and smooth. Outside the circular transparent areas in the graphics layer of the membrane keyboard illumination drops to zero, thus giving a circular and almost homogeneous illuminated area.
  • the membrane keyboard will also need some marking which show the players where the grid points are even when they are not illuminated.
  • the grid that is shown in the specific embodiment is a square grid, but the grid can have other arrangement, e.g. hexagonal, triangular or rectangular.
  • the important part for the invention are just the cylinders around each point
  • the space between the cylinders maybe completely empty, completely full, or any other possibility between these extremes.
  • Figure 1 shows the grid from above, so only the membrane keyboard 1 and the illumination of grid points 3 are visible. Unilluminated points are denoted by empty circles, and illuminated points are denoted one of two patterns, one for red and one for green.
  • the membrane keyboard contains an obliterating gray layer 2, with a circular hole for each grid point
  • the translucent layer 4 is made of HIPS (High Impact PolyStyrene) .
  • the layout of the membrane keyboard is specially designed for the board, but otherwise it is made by standard techniques.
  • the separation layer 5 is made of an injected material.
  • the walls of the holes 6 are smooth, so they also reflect some of the light.
  • the space between the cylinders 12 is empty, except a connecting layer just below the translucent layer.
  • the PCB 7 is a standard PCB, and for each grid point it has two LEDs 8, one green and one red, and are mounted to project their light upwards.
  • the actual shape of the all the layers is a rectangle, such that they extend more than the square grid of points to one direction.
  • the CPU and memory 9 are mounted above the PCB at this region, and on the top there are input and display devices 10 to allow the players to control the games that the CPU manages.
  • This region also contains the electronic connection between the PCB and the membrane keyboard and the power input (not shown).
  • the LEDs produce a cone of light 11, and the thickness of the separation layer is such that the cone of light intersects the walls of the hole a small distance below the translucent layer.
  • the periphery of the illuminated area receives more reflected light from the top of the walls than the centre, thus increasing the homogeneity of the illumination.
  • the LEDs are tilted slightly towards the centre, to compensate for the fact that they are not exactly in the middle of the hole.
  • the two LEDs in each grid point can be switched on independently, so the grid points can be illuminated either by green or red , which are marked with different patterns in Fig 1.
  • the membrane keyboard is glued to the translucent layer, which is glued to the separation layer.
  • the separation layer is connected by screws to another layer 13 of the same material, and together they hold the PCB 7 and form a box around it.
  • the press-sensitive area for one grid point is indicated in Figure 1 by the square in broken line 14. As discussed above it is much larger than the illuminated area of the grid point, to make it easier for the players to press a point.
  • Each game has several parameters that can be set, but only a minority of these are described here.
  • Each two-players game can also be played against the board, and has a time limit for performing a move, which can be set by the players.
  • Othello, CountLines and Visiput flash the legal moves for a player that presses a point that is an illegal move.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Pinball Game Machines (AREA)
  • Input From Keyboards Or The Like (AREA)
  • Toys (AREA)
  • Road Paving Structures (AREA)
  • Medicines Containing Plant Substances (AREA)
  • Paper (AREA)
  • Nonwoven Fabrics (AREA)

Claims (10)

  1. Une grille de points de la grille, constituée de quatre couches suivantes :
    Un clavier à membrane (1) et une grille de base avec des zones de contact (3), opaque, sauf la partie circulaire de chacun des points de contact qui elle est transparente
    Une couche d'un matériau uniforme, translucide (4) sous le clavier à membrane
    Une couche de séparation d'un matériau opaque(5) sous la couche translucide, possédant pour chaque point de la grille un trou circulaire transparent(6) correspondant aux parties circulaires et transparentes du clavier à membrane, avec des parois très fines ou réfléchissantes.
    Une carte de circuits imprimés (7) sous la couche de séparation, sur laquelle sont montées au moins deux sources lumineuses (8) autour du centre de chaque trou de la couche de séparation. Elle contient également les circuits permettant leur fonctionnement. Les quatre couches sont maintenues ensemble, et l'épaisseur de la couche de séparation garantit que la distance entre les sources de lumière provenant du bas de la couche translucide est supérieure au quart du diamètre du trou dans la couche de séparation. Le clavier à membrane et le contrôle des sources de lumière sont tous deux reliés à une unité centrale (9) qui les utilise pour faire fonctionner divers jeux et puzzles, dans lesquels les joueurs participent en appuyant sur les zones de contact. L'unité centrale modifie alors l'illumination des sources de lumière.
  2. Une grille décrite comme dans l'affirmation 1, où la zone de contact est 1,5 fois plus grande que la zone du trou dans la couche de séparation.
  3. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente, où la couche du matériau translucide est composée d'un polystyrène antichoc.
  4. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente, où le clavier à membrane possède, à la surface, un dôme au-dessus de chaque point de la grille.
  5. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente où, dans un jeu (ou plus), l'illumination change de manière périodique même lorsque les joueurs n'appuient sur aucun des points.
  6. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente, où lors de chaque période dans un jeu (ou plus), l'unité centrale vérifie combien des huit points avoisinant chaque point sont éclairés, et en fonction de cela décide si le point sera allumé dans la série suivante. Le(s) joueur(s) peut/peuvent allumer ou éteindre des points en appuyant dessus et la tache du/des joueur(s) est de maintenir certains point allumés aussi longtemps que possible, ou d'éteindre tous les points aussi vite que possible.
  7. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente où, dans un jeu (ou plus), l'unité centrale éclaire un point supplémentaire à intervalles de temps réguliers, et le(s) joueur(s) doit appuyer sur le dernier point s'étant allumé avant que le suivant ne s'allume à son tour.
  8. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente où, dans un jeu (ou plus), l'unité centrale éclaire une suite de points, puis la déplace à chaque intervalle de temps donné en allumant un point proche d'un point éclairé et en éteignant un des points éclairés; le joueur doit alors appuyer sur l'un des point pendant qu'il est encore éclairé.
  9. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente, où l'un des jeux est GO.
  10. Une grille décrite comme dans n'importe quelle affirmation précédente, dans laquelle un des jeux possède les règles suivantes : Chaque joueur allume à son tour un point de sa couleur en appuyant dessus;
    Un joueur n'a pas le droit d'appuyer successivement sur deux points trop près l'un de l'autre. La distance définissant ce qui est trop près peu être réglée par les joueurs.
    Le gagnant est le joueur qui a le plus grand nombre de lignes droites de quatre points de sa couleur lorsque tous les points sont allumés.
EP01984313A 2000-07-25 2001-07-23 Details de construction d'un panneau avec grille de jeu Expired - Lifetime EP1289613B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
WOPCT/GB00/02863 2000-07-25
PCT/GB2000/002863 WO2001014028A1 (fr) 1999-08-19 2000-07-25 Conception d'un plateau de jeu quadrille
GBGB0110600.4A GB0110600D0 (en) 2001-05-01 2001-05-01 Details of construcion of games grid board
GB0110600 2001-05-01
PCT/GB2001/003311 WO2002007832A1 (fr) 2000-07-25 2001-07-23 Details de construction d'un panneau avec grille de jeu

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1289613A1 EP1289613A1 (fr) 2003-03-12
EP1289613B1 true EP1289613B1 (fr) 2004-05-26

Family

ID=9913772

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP01984313A Expired - Lifetime EP1289613B1 (fr) 2000-07-25 2001-07-23 Details de construction d'un panneau avec grille de jeu

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1289613B1 (fr)
AT (1) ATE267632T1 (fr)
AU (1) AU2002224534A1 (fr)
DE (1) DE60103532T2 (fr)
GB (1) GB0110600D0 (fr)
WO (1) WO2002007832A1 (fr)

Family Cites Families (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS542077U (fr) * 1977-06-06 1979-01-08
GB2019226B (en) * 1978-04-17 1982-06-16 Atari Inc Touch type logic game
US5417425A (en) 1994-04-08 1995-05-23 Michael Ganor Puzzle device
US5743796A (en) 1996-01-16 1998-04-28 Tiger Electronics, Inc. Electronic game
NL1004407C2 (nl) 1996-11-01 1998-05-08 Adar Golad Computerspel.
AU7955598A (en) * 1997-06-26 1999-01-19 Michael Ganor Electronic game
GB2334680A (en) * 1999-03-29 1999-09-01 Yehouda Harpaz Electronic game board
GB2341107A (en) * 1999-08-19 2000-03-08 Yehouda Harpaz Electronic games board

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB0110600D0 (en) 2001-06-20
DE60103532T2 (de) 2005-06-02
ATE267632T1 (de) 2004-06-15
DE60103532D1 (de) 2004-07-01
AU2002224534A1 (en) 2002-02-05
EP1289613A1 (fr) 2003-03-12
WO2002007832A1 (fr) 2002-01-31

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