JP2013539994A - Method and system for identifying game pieces - Google Patents

Abstract

  Place one or more conductive rings in a defined concentric location at the bottom of the game piece and place it in the detection location by detecting the presence or absence of the conductive ring with a sensor that is not affected by the rotational orientation of the game piece. Method and system for determining the presence and identification information of a played game piece.

Description

  The present invention relates to the use of multiple sensing structures to detect coded indicia on an object.

  Games that include electrical and electronic components are common. Many traditional board games may be implemented in electronic form, and some of the functions of the game are performed by electronic circuits rather than human actions. A useful function of such a game is the detection of the position and identification information of the game piece on the game board. For example, U.S. Pat.No. 5,129,654 by Bogner describes an electronic game device in which game piece presence and identification information is detected by a series of two intersecting transmission lines that are located within each game piece. Transmitting different frequencies to excite the retained resonant circuit, each piece circuit has a distinct resonant frequency that uniquely identifies the game piece. Similarly, U.S. Pat.No. 5,853,327 by Gilboa states that each game piece is responsive to a transponder that responds to an electromagnetic query signal and a response signal generated by the game piece, thereby determining the location of the game piece and A system containing a plurality of sensors for determining identification information will be described. In yet another example from the prior art, US Pat. No. 6,168,158 by Bulsink incorporated a resonant coil within each game piece so that the electrical and magnetic properties of each resonant coil indicate the type of game piece. And a game board equipped with a series of transmit and receive coils, with each playing square having a unique pair of transmit and receive coils beneath it. In each of these systems, the presence of a game piece with specific identification information at a specific location can be used to control game behavior.

  In the above-described system described in the prior art, in the game each game piece must be equipped with a complex circuit that reacts to external stimuli, and the game board identifies the location and identification information of the piece Must be equipped with multiple sensors and complex driving and sensing control circuitry. These factors make such a system expensive for a simple board game and thus limit its usefulness.

  A simpler system for determining identification information of an article by detecting an indicia on the article is described. For example, U.S. Pat.No. 4,355,300 by Weber states that a series of sensing elements read conductive indicia at a fixed position on a substrate, each sensing position signals the presence or absence of an indicia, and the resulting binary bits are completely Describes a system for generating unique code values. The Weber system has the advantage of being simple and inexpensive, but to facilitate identification, the identified object needs to be placed in a specific location and in a specific orientation. These latter requirements are impractical in children's games where the placement of objects is often unplanned and the orientation of the objects may not be easily known.

  None of the above-mentioned inventions and patents, taken alone or in combination, are considered as describing the present invention.

U.S. Pat.No. 5,129,654 U.S. Pat.No. 5,853,327 U.S. Patent No. 6,168,158 U.S. Pat.No. 4,355,300

  What is needed is a system that uses simple indicia on a game piece in conjunction with a simple sensing circuit to determine the location and identification information of the game piece within the game playing area.

  A method and system for encoding an identification indicia on a game piece and for clearly determining the identification information of the game piece placed at the sensing location regardless of the rotational orientation of the game piece on the sensing location.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the indicia is a ring of fixed width and multiple diameter conductive material placed concentrically on the bottom of the game piece, the number and diameter of the rings depending on the type of game piece. The indicia is detected by a capacitive sensor located in a corresponding concentric region within the circular sensing area, so that the sensor's response to the presence of the conductive ring Independent of rotational orientation.

  In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the indicia is a ring of conductive material of multiple widths and diameters concentrically placed at the bottom of the game piece, the number, width, and diameter of the rings being Represents a code identifying the type of piece, the indicia being detected by a capacitive sensor located in the corresponding concentric region within the circular sensing area, whereby the sensor's response to the conductive ring Although it depends on the width, it does not depend on the rotational orientation of the game piece.

  Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Further benefits and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which specify and illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention.

  The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the detailed description, the principles and practice of the invention. It is useful to explain.

1 is a diagram illustrating a system that embodies the features of the present invention. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method for assembling a sensor for use with the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a game piece configured for use with the present invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the game piece and sensor in the system of this invention. It is a top view of the relationship between the sensor and the mark in the system of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary procedure for reading a series of sensors and deriving a decoded numerical value. FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative embodiment using multiple indicia widths.

  Before the detailed description of the present invention begins, the following description is in order. Where appropriate, the same related materials and characters are used to indicate the same, corresponding, or similar components in different drawings. The drawings associated with this disclosure are generally not drawn to scale and that is, such drawings are focused on clarifying the display and understanding other than dimensional accuracy. It is drawn.

  In the interest of clarity, not all routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. In the development of such actual implementations, a number of implementation-specific decisions must be made that vary from implementation to implementation, for example, to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as following application-related and business-related constraints, Of course, it is understood that these specific goals will vary from implementation to implementation and from developer to developer. Furthermore, while such development efforts are complex and time consuming, it will be understood that those skilled in the art who still benefit from this disclosure are routine engineering efforts.

  FIG. 1 shows the component parts of an exemplary system 100 for reading encoded values using the method of the present invention. Sensor assembly 110 is coupled to processor 150, which is also connected to program memory 160 and data memory 170. The sensor assembly 110 includes a conductive reference element 120 that is preferentially a semi-disc and a plurality of conductive sensor elements 130, 140 that are preferentially arcuate segments, the axis of the semi-disc sensor element 120 being A plurality of sensor elements arranged to coincide with the axes of the arched segments 130, 140 are provided. Each of the elements 120, 130, 140 of the sensor assembly 110 is electrically connected to the processor 150. Under the control of the program instructions stored in the program memory 160, the processor 150 sequentially reads the sensor elements 130, 140 and reads the capacitance between the sensor element and the reference element 120 each time. The processor 150 uses the calibration data stored in the data memory 140 to convert the sensor reading into an identity value that is reported to an external device via the communication channel 150. Program memory 160 and data memory 170 can be any type of memory, including solid state, optical, magnetic, or other memory means, and program memory 160 and data memory 170 can be contained within a single memory system. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that it can be the logical divisions of some physical memory. Although the exemplary system shows two sensor elements, more than two sensor elements may be included in the sensor assembly 110 to allow decoding of a greater number of combinations of indicia.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the assembly of the components of the sensor assembly on the non-conductive substrate 200. FIG. Within the circular raised ring 210 on the substrate 200, the conductive reference element 120 and the conductive sensor elements 130, 140 are arranged such that the axis of the reference element 120 and the sensor elements 130, 140 coincides with the axis of the circular raised ring 210 Has been. A non-conductive shield 220 is installed on the elements 120, 130, 140 in the raised ring 210. For the sake of clarity, the electrical connections of the elements 120, 130, 140 are not shown.

  FIG. 3 shows an exemplary game piece for use with the system 100. Game piece 300 is shown upside down, but includes a non-conductive body 310 having a flat bottom surface 320 with conductive indicia disposed at a plurality of home positions 330,340. Indicia may be placed in some or all of the plurality of home positions 330, 340, whereby the number and placement of indicia uniquely encodes the game piece identification information.

  FIG. 4 shows in more detail the relationship between game piece 300 and sensor assembly 110 when determining the presence and identification information of game piece 300 by the method of the present invention. A game piece 300 is placed in the ring 210 by the player, which limits the ring 210 to a position above the location of the sensor assembly 110. The indicia at locations 330, 340 are thereby carried near the reference element 120 and the sensor elements 130, 140, and a non-conductive shield 220 provides a fixed spacing between the indicia 330, 340 and the elements 120, 130, 140. Maintained. The relationship between indicia locations 330, 340 and sensor elements 120, 130, 140 is shown schematically in FIG. 5, which shows a schematic plan view of these elements and their spatial relationship. ing. The conductive indicium at position 330 spans the gap between the conductive reference element 120 and the conductive sensor element 130, thereby changing the capacitance measured between the reference element 120 and the sensor element 130. Similarly, the conductive indicia at location 340 spans the gap between the reference element 120 and the sensor element 140, thereby increasing the capacitance measured between the reference element 120 and the sensor element 140. change. When determining the identification information of game piece 300, the presence or absence of indicia at locations 330, 340 determines the capacitance measured by processor 150. Due to the circular symmetry of the indicia at locations 330 and 340, and the positional relationship between the indicia locations 330 and 340 and the sensor elements 120, 130, and 140, the measured capacitance of each sensor element is determined by the rotation of the game piece 300. Independent of orientation.

  The embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 uses a raised ring to limit the position of the game piece, but alternative methods of positioning the game piece relative to the sensor can be used. For example, the sensor assembly 110 can be placed in a circular recess in the substrate 200, or a series of pins or posts can be used in place of the raised ring 210, or on the substrate 200 under the sensor 210 and in the game A magnet can be incorporated into the piece 300. Either of these or other alternative methods allows game piece 300 to be positioned coaxially with sensor assembly 110 when determining the presence and identification information of the game piece without departing from the spirit and intent of the present invention. Can be used to ensure.

  The processor 150 can measure the capacitance of the various sensor elements 130, 140 without the need for additional external switching circuitry, thus reducing the complexity of the system 100.

  FIG. 6 shows an exemplary procedure 400 for determining game piece identification information. In the first step 410, the ID value is set to 0 and measurement is started from the first sensor. In a further step 420, the sensor is read. In a further step 430, the sensor reading is converted to a number, i.e. 0 indicating that there is no sign in the position of this sensor, or 1 indicating that there is a sign in this position. This conversion in step 430 is performed using a calibration table stored in data memory 170. In a further step 440, the number derived in step 430 is added to the ID value. In a further step 450, a test is performed to determine if there are more sensors to be read. If there are more sensors to be read, the ID value is multiplied by 2 in a further step 460. In a further step 470, the next sensor is selected and processing continues in step 420. Once all sensors have been read, the ID value is output in a further step 480 to signal the game piece identification information. Preferentially, the game piece has at least one indicia placed on the bottom and executes step 430 so that the processor 150 measures one value on at least one sensor, thereby the presence of the game piece Minimize the possibility of misjudgment. Thus, for a sensor assembly 110 having N sensor elements, the number of unique codes that can be distinguished is (2 to the power of N) minus one.

  FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the system of the present invention that encodes game piece identification information using multiple sized indicia at fixed locations 330, 340. In the left panel, indicia of a first width 500, 501 are placed on the sensor elements 120, 130, 140. In the right panel, indicia of different widths 502 are placed on the sensor element 130. In this alternative embodiment, game piece identification information is determined by detecting both the presence and characteristics of indicia. Using multiple sized indicia allows for a greater number of unique codes to be distinguished, thereby reducing the number of sensor elements for distinguishing a fixed number of unique game pieces.

  It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing description of exemplary implementations is merely intended to provide an example of the use of the present invention and is not a limitation on the potential use of the present invention. Other similar embodiments may be designed or modified to take advantage of the features of this description without departing from the spirit and intent of the present invention.

  Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous changes and modifications can be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. Of course, changes in the various aspects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, some will be apparent only after research, and others will be of routine mechanical, chemical, and electronic design. It is understood that it is a problem. None of the features, functions, or characteristics of the preferred embodiments are essential. Other embodiments are possible, and the specific design depends on the specific application. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments described herein, but should be defined only by the appended claims and their equivalents.

100 system
110 Sensor assembly
120 Conductive reference element
130 Sensor elements
140 Sensor elements
150 processor
160 Program memory
170 Data memory

Claims (14)

A method for encoding and decoding numerical values on an object, comprising:
Defining at least two concentric home positions in the object;
Placing an annular indicium on at least one of said at least two home positions. Decoding the numerical value on the object by placing the object on a sensor assembly having a sensor under the at least two home positions, whereby the response of the sensor to the indicia is The method for encoding and decoding numerical values on an object according to claim 1, further comprising the step of being unaffected by the rotational orientation of the object on the sensor assembly. Decoding the numerical value on the object by placing the object on a sensor assembly having a sensor under the at least two home positions, whereby the response of the sensor to the indicia is Unaffected by the rotational orientation of the object on the sensor assembly, the indicia is a fixed width conductive annulus, the sensor is a capacitive sensor, and the numerical value is the indicia at multiple sensor locations. The method for encoding a numerical value on an object according to claim 1, further comprising the step of being decoded by detecting the presence or absence. Decoding the numerical value on the object by placing the object on a sensor assembly having a sensor under the at least two home positions, whereby the response of the sensor to the indicia is Unaffected by the rotational orientation of the object on the sensor assembly, the indicia is a conductive ring whose width is selected from a plurality of fixed widths, the sensor is a capacitive sensor, and the numerical value The method for encoding numerical values on an object according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: decoding by interpreting the magnitude of the response of the sensor at a plurality of sensor locations. An object comprising a base, wherein the base comprises at least one conductive annulus;
A sensor assembly including at least one capacitive sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the object based at least on the capacitance of the at least one conductive ring shape, wherein the sensor assembly includes a rotational orientation of the object placed thereon. And a sensor assembly that is substantially unaffected.   The system of claim 5, wherein the base further comprises a plurality of conductive ring shapes each having a substantially fixed width.   The system of claim 5, wherein the object further comprises a game piece.   The system of claim 5, wherein the sensor assembly further comprises a game board. One or more game pieces, each game piece including a substantially circular base; and
A gaming system comprising at least one annular indicia coupled to each of the substantially circular bases to encode the numerical value of each game piece.   The gaming system of claim 9, wherein each annular indicia further comprises at least one conductive annular indicia.   The gaming system of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of conductive annular indicia, each having substantially the same ring width.   The gaming system of claim 9, further comprising a gaming board that includes at least one sensor coupled to the substantially circular base of the game piece to detect the numerical value of the game piece.   The gaming system of claim 12, wherein the sensor further comprises a capacitance sensor to detect the numerical value of the game piece based on at least a capacitance of the at least one annular indicia.   The gaming system of claim 13, wherein the sensor is substantially unaffected by the rotational orientation of the game piece.

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