GB2285225A

GB2285225A - Radio toy controller.

Info

Publication number: GB2285225A
Application number: GB9326587A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Chun Kai Lee
Original assignee: AMIGO TOYS Ltd
Current assignee: AMIGO TOYS Ltd
Priority date: 1993-12-31
Filing date: 1993-12-31
Publication date: 1995-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2013-12-31
Also published as: HK1006950A1; GB2285225B; GB9326587D0

Abstract

A radio toy controller 10 for controlling the operation of two radio toy cars 11 and 12, which controller comprises a single casing 13, an electronic circuitry provided within the casing, at least one antenna 14 supported by the casing, said electronic circuitry being adapted to generate two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies for emission via said at least one antenna in order to independently control the operation of the two toy cars, and two control switching means 15 and 16 (B, B' Fig 2) provided on the casing for a user to control the operation of the two toy cars simultaneously with his two hands. <IMAGE>

Description

RADIO TOY CONTROLLER The present invention relates to a radio toy controller.

According to the invention, there is provided a radio toy controller for controlling the operation of two powerdriven radio toy mechanisms, which controller comprises a single casing, an electronic circuitry provided within the casing, at least one antenna supported by the casing, said electronic circuitry being adapted to generate two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies for emission via said at least one antenna in order to independently control the operation of the two toy mechanisms, and two control switching means provided on the casing for a user to control the operation of the two toy mechanisms simultaneously with his two hands.

In a preferred embodiment, the electronic circuitry comprises two parts for independently generating the two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies, each of said parts being connected to a respective said antenna for emitting the radio control signal of the corresponding carrier frequency.

Preferably, the two antennas are placed closely together to resemble a single antenna configuration.

In another preferred embodiment, the controller comprises a single said antenna, and the electronic circuitry comprises two parts for independently generating the two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies, said parts being connected in parallel to the antenna.

Preferably, each said part of the electronic circuitry is connected to the antenna by means of blocking means adapted to block the control signal generated by the other part of the electronic circuitry.

More preferably, the blocking means is provided by an inductor.

It is preferred that the minimum frequency separation between the two carrier frequencies is 5MHz.

In a preferred arrangement, the two switching means are provided on opposite sides of the casing.

In a specific construction, each of the switching means is formed by a button operating on opposite sides thereof a pair of press-switches.

The radio toy controller may be used to control the operation of two radio toy cars.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a radio toy controller in accordance with the invention, for controlling two radio toy cars; Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic circuitry of the controller of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a detailed circuit diagram of the electronic circuitry of Figure 2.

Referring firstly to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a radio toy controller embodying the invention, for controlling two battery-operated radio toy cars 11 and 12.

The controller 10 has a one-piece casing 13 which supports a single forward-extending antenna 14 and on which there are provided a pair of press-buttons 15 and 16 for controlling the operation of the two toy cars 11 and 12, respectively, and an on/off slide switch 17 for switching on and off the controller 10.

Each press-button 15 or 16 is arranged to operate a pair of upper and lower carbon film press-switches (S1 to S4, as hereinafter described) for controlling the associated toy car 11 or 12 to perform two different actions. The toy car 11 or 12 will move straight forward when the upper side of the press-button 15 or 16 is depressed and will spin when the lower side is depressed. The press-buttons 15 and 16 are positioned on opposite sides of the controller casing 13 such that a player can operate the corresponding pressbuttons 15 and 16 simultaneously with his two hands while holding the controller 10.

Reference is now made to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings.

The radio toy controller 10 incorporates an electronic circuitry, as shown, which is designed to generate and emit two sets of radio control signals at different carrier frequencies of 27MHz (27.145MHz) and 50MHz (49.860MHz).

The toy cars 11 and 12 are tuned to receive radio control signals at these two carrier frequencies, which are sufficiently different for the toy cars 11 and 12 to respond independently. For each toy car 11 or 12, a modulated control signal frequency of 2kHz represents a forward moving action and a modulated control signal frequency of 400Hz represents a spinning action.

The electronic circuitry is powered by a 9-volt battery cell which is arranged to be connected/disconnected by the on/off slide switch 17, as represented by Block A. The electronic circuitry is formed by a pair of equivalent control circuits which are connected in parallel to the antenna 14. Each control circuit is formed by a switching unit B or B', a low frequency (2k/400Hz) control signal generator C or C' and a high frequency (27MHz or 50MHz) carrier generator D or D'.

As the two control circuits are equivalent, only one of them is now referred to. The switch unit B is formed by a said pair of carbon film press-switches S1 and S2 (S3 or S4) for selectively connecting the DC power supply A to different parts of the control signal generator C. The control signal generator C is provided by a two-transistorbased bi-stable oscillator which is tuned at two different oscillating frequencies, namely 2kHz and 400Hz, depending on the connected resistance between the transistor bases and the power supply A. The transistor base connected resistance is selectable by means of the press-switches S1 and S2 (S3 and S4).The output of the control signal generator C is fed to the carrier generator D, which is provided by a frequency modulator tuned at a carrier frequency of 27MHz (50MHz), for producing an appropriate radio control signal at a modulated frequency of 2kHz or 400Hz. This radio control signal is finally supplied via an inductor L1 (L3) to the antenna 14 for radio emission.

Between the two control or transmitter circuits of the electronic circuitry, the respective indictors L1 and L3 are designed to have appropriate inductances (.2pH for L1 and 3.3pH for L3) for imposing an impedance sufficiently large to block against the frequency carrier of the other transmitter circuit sharing the same antenna 14 in order to avoid cross interference between the two control circuits.

With this arrangement, the antenna 14 is capable of simultaneously emitting two independent radio control signals for controlling the corresponding toy cars 11 and 12.

Other suitable carrier or transmitter frequencies are 35MHz, 40MHz, 45MHz and 57MHz. The minimum frequency separation between the two transmitter frequencies should be approximately 5MHz in order not to interfere with each other.

The construction and operation of the control signal generator C and the carrier generator D are generally known and will not be described herein.

It is envisaged that the controller of the present invention may incorporate two antennas, each being separately connected to the aforesaid control circuits of the main electronic circuitry. The two antennas may be placed close together within a rubber tube to resemble a single antenna configuration.

It is to be understood that the controller of this invention may be designed to control any power-driven radio toy mechanisms other than toy cars, such as toy boats and combatant games, etc.

The invention has been given by way of example only, and various other modifications of and/or alterations to the described embodiments may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as specified in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A radio toy controller for controlling the operation of two power-driven radio toy mechanisms, which controller comprises a single casing, an electronic circuitry provided within the casing, at least one antenna supported by the casing, said electronic circuitry being adapted to generate two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies for emission via said at least one antenna in order to independently control the operation of the two toy mechanisms, and two control switching means provided on the casing for a user to control the operation of the two toy mechanisms simultaneously with his two hands.

2. A radio toy controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic circuitry comprises two parts for independently generating the two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies, each of said parts being connected to a respective said antenna for emitting the radio control signal of the corresponding carrier frequency.

3. A radio toy controller as claimed in claim 2, wherein the two antennas are placed closely together to resemble a single antenna configuration.

4. A radio toy controller as claimed in claim 1, comprising a single said antenna, and wherein the electronic circuitry comprises two parts for independently generating the two radio control signals of different carrier frequencies, said parts being connected in parallel to the antenna.

5. A radio toy controller as claimed in claim 4, wherein each said part of the electronic circuitry is connected to the antenna by means of blocking means adapted to block the control signal generated by the other part of the electronic circuitry.

6. A radio toy controller as claimed in claim 5, wherein the blocking means is provided by an inductor.

7. A radio toy controller as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the minimum frequency separation between the two carrier frequencies is 5MHz.

8. A radio toy controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the two switching means are provided an opposite sides of the casing.

9. A radio toy controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the switching means is formed by a button operating on opposite sides thereof a pair of press-switches.

10. A radio toy controller as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, for controlling the operation of two radio toy cars.

11. A radio toy controller substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.