Patent Application
20110204564
The present invention generally relates to an electronic game board, and more particular to an electronic game board having a display panel for showing the grids and game pieces of various board games, and a touch-sensitive module for interacting with players.
Various board games such as chess, Go, checker, etc., all involve a number of game pieces manually placed, removed, or moved on a premarked game board according to a set of rules.
Different board games usually have different game boards and different game pieces and cannot share a same game board or a same set of game pieces. In order to play more than one board game, each board game's specific game board and game pieces have to be prepared.
In addition, one common problem to all board game players is that it is not uncommon that some game piece is missing when trying to play a board game.
Therefore, a novel electronic game board is provided herein capable of providing multiple board games of different grids and game pieces, and without worrying that any game piece would be missing.
The electronic game board has a display panel to present the grid and game pieces of a board game. A player is able to interact with the game board and plays a board game by moving displayed virtual pieces through a touch-sensitive manner.
The electronic game board contains
a casing;
a display panel in the casing exposed from a top side of the casing;
a touch-sensitive module on the top side of the casing against the display panel; and
a control device in the casing with a built-in game program capable of conducting one or more board games.
The electronic game board is able to provide multiple board games without acquiring sets of different game boards and game pieces. In addition, as the game pieces are actually displayed images, there is no need to worry that any game piece would be missing.
The control device contains a microprocessor, a memory, and a power module. The microprocessor is electrically connected to the display panel and the touch-sensitive module. The memory is electrically connected to the microprocessor and stores the game program.
The power module is electrically connected to the microprocessor and a power switch is configured on the casing and is electrically connected to the power module.
The control device operates according to the following steps after the electronic game board is started.
First, the touch-sensitive module is monitored to see if it is touched. If yes, the display panel is refreshed to show a new status of the game conducted and the touch-sensitive module is monitored again. If no, the next step is executed.
Then, the control device checks to see how long the game board has been idle. If the idle time is still within a limit, the control device returns to monitor the touch-sensitive module; otherwise, the next step is executed.
Then, the control device turns off the display panel, and stores the current game status.
Finally, the power module is shut down to save power.
The display panel contains a circuit board and a large number of light emitting elements configured on the circuit board. By controlling the on and off of the light emitting elements, a grid and game pieces for a specific board game are displayed.
The light emitting elements could be light emitting diodes or organic light emitting diodes.
The game program is capable of conducting at least a board game such as chess, Go, checker, Chinese chess.
The touch-sensitive module could be of a resistive type, a capacitive type, a surface acoustic wave type, or an infrared type.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
As shown in
The casing 10 usually has a rectangular shape for easy transportation and viewing. There is no specific requirement to the casing 10's dimension. The casing 10 could be small for hand holding, or the casing 10 could be of the size of a notebook computer.
As further shown in
The touch-sensitive module 50 is placed on the top side of the casing 10, right against the display panel 20. The touch-sensitive module 50 is also electrically connected to the display panel 20.
The control device 30 is housed inside the casing 10, and is electrically connected to the display panel 20 and the touch-sensitive module 50. The control device 30 has a build-in game program 321 capable of conducting at least a board game such as chess, Go, checker, Chinese chess, or any similar game requiring a game board and game pieces.
When the game program 321 is executed, based on a chosen board game, the control device 30 is able to show appropriate grid 24 and game pieces 25 on the display panel 20 and a player is able to move the game pieces 25 by the touch-sensitive module 50.
As shown in
As further shown in
First, the touch-sensitive module 50 is monitored to see if it is touched. If yes, the display panel 20 is refreshed to show a new status of the game conducted and the touch-sensitive module 50 is monitored again. If no, the next step is executed.
Then, the control device 30 checks to see how long the game board has been idle (i.e., not been touched). If the idle time is still within a limit, the control device 30 returns to monitor the touch-sensitive module 50; otherwise, the next step is executed.
Then, the control device 30 turns off the display panel 20, and stores the current game status.
Finally, the power module 33 is shut down to save power.
The touch-sensitive module 50 could be of a resistive type, a capacitive type, a surface acoustic wave type, an infrared type, or other types. Generally, a resistive touch-sensitive module contains a glass panel covered with a conductive layer and a resistive metallic layer with spacers sandwiched between the two layers. Then, an anti-scratch layer is further coated. When a user touches the module, the conductive layer and the resistive metallic layer are made to contact with each other and this change of electrical field could be detected as a touch signal. The touch signal is then delivered to the microprocessor for processing. On the other hand, capacitive touch-sensitive module uses capacitive sensors. When the module is touched, continuous current is conducted through the sensors and the sensors are able to store electrons along the vertical and lateral directions, forming a precisely controlled capacitive field. When a sensor's default capacitive field is altered by another capacitive field, implying the user has touched a separate location, the circuit of the touch-sensitive module then is able to calculate how much the capacitive field has changed and reports a touch signal to the microprocessor for processing.
With the above described means, the electronic game board of the present invention is able to provide multiple board games without acquiring sets of different game boards and game pieces. In addition, as the game pieces are actually displayed images, there is no need to worry that any game piece would be missing.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
