Claims
- 1. A multi-piece picture puzzle comprising:plural puzzle pieces, plural ones of which bear one or more combination decoding lens/encoded image portions, wherein at least a first assembled image is formed when the puzzle pieces are assembled in a first puzzle-solving arrangement and at least a second assembled image is formed the puzzle pieces are assembled in a second different puzzle-solving arrangement.
- 2. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein a first group of puzzle pieces comprise respective combination decoding lens/encoded image portions and a second group of puzzle pieces comprise respective unencoded image portions.
- 3. The puzzle of claim 1 further comprising a retaining means.
- 4. The puzzle of claim 3, wherein the retaining means are selected from the group consisting of interlocking sections of the puzzle pieces; interconnecting sections of the puzzle pieces; pressure fit joints; slide together joints; an adhesive substrate; a frame; a mounting surface; one or more magnets; a magnetic surface for use with metal-containing puzzle pieces; a metal surface for use with magnetic puzzle pieces; an adhesive which is applied to the puzzle pieces; an adhesive that is applied to a surface on which the puzzle is assembled; static cling; a respositionable adhesive; a permanent adhesive; a container; one or more receptacles on the puzzle pieces; mating male and female connections; overlapping portions of puzzle pieces and combinations thereof.
- 5. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein two or more of the puzzle pieces are overhanging puzzle pieces, each comprising a decoding lens overhang and an encoded image overhang.
- 6. The puzzle of claim 5, wherein the decoding lens overhang comprises a majority of the decoding lens portion and the encoded image overhang comprises a majority of the encoded image portion.
- 7. The puzzle of claim 5, wherein the decoding lens overhang comprises a minority of the decoding lens portion and the encoded image overhang comprises a minority of the encoded image portion.
- 8. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein the puzzle comprises at least three combination decoding lens/encoded image portions, wherein:a first one of the combination decoding lens/encoded image portions comprises at least a first source image portion and a second source image portion; a second one of the combination decoding lens/encoded image portions comprises at least another first source image portion and a third source image portion; a third one of the combination decoding lens/encoded image portions comprises another first source image portion, another second source image portion, another third source image portion, and/or a fourth source image portion; and said first and second combination decoding lens/encoded image portions together form a first assembled decoded image from said first source image portions when viewed from a first angle and an unassembled decoded image when viewed from a second angle.
- 9. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plural combination decoding lens/encoded image portions forms an assembled image with an unencoded image portion.
- 10. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower surfaces of two or more of the plural puzzle pieces each bears a combination decoding lens/encoded image portion or an unencoded image portion such that an assembled image can be formed on upper and lower surfaces of the puzzle.
- 11. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein the upper shape of the decoding lens is selected from the group consisting of a cross, pentagon, circle, square, octagon, triangle, hexagon, rectangle, ellipse, heptagon, rectangle, parallelogram, multi-pointed star having three to twenty points, letter of the alphabet, multi-sided polygon having nine to twenty sides and combinations thereof.
- 12. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein the puzzle comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polymer, paper, plastic, rubber, film, laminate, laminated paper, cloth, wood, metal, paper, comestible material, fiber, glass, screen, mesh, paperboard, cardboard, and a combination thereof.
- 13. The puzzle of claims 1, wherein two or more of the plural combination decoding lens/encoded image portions have different orientations when the puzzle is assembled.
- 14. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein the decoding lens of the plural combination decoding lens/encoded image portions is independently selected at each occurrence from a lens that can filter out color from an image, add color to an image, distort an image, filter out light, permit passage of selected light waves, selectively view portions of an image, form an assembled image of spaced-apart image portions of an image and combinations thereof.
- 15. The puzzle of claim 14, wherein the lens is independently at each occurrence one of a fresnel, colored, color filtering, fly's eye, compound, light filtering, lenticular, spheric, aspheric, paraboloid, hyperboloid, concave-convex, concave-concave, convex-convex, grating, diffracting, refracting, prismatic, diffusing, focusing, magnifying, and reducing lens and a combination thereof.
- 16. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein one or more parts of the puzzle are edible or made from a comestible material.
- 17. The puzzle of claim 1, wherein plural combination decoding lens/encoded image portion each comprise at least two source images, and at least two assembled images are formed when said puzzle is assembled.
- 18. A multi-piece puzzle comprising two or more overhanging puzzle pieces, each comprising a combination decoding lens/encoded image portion, a decoding lens overhang extending beyond the edge of the encoded image portion and an encoded image portion overhang extending beyond the edge of the decoding lens, wherein the puzzle is assembled by placing the decoding lens overhang of a first overhanging puzzle piece over the encoded image overhang of one or more other overhanging puzzle pieces to form at least one assembled image.
- 19. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein at least one overhanging puzzle piece can overhang, or mate with, at least two other overhanging puzzle pieces.
- 20. The puzzle of claim 18 further comprising retaining means.
- 21. The puzzle of claim 20, wherein the retaining means is selected from the group consisting of one or more receptacles; interlocking sections of the puzzle pieces; interconnecting sections of the puzzle pieces; pressure fit joints; slide together joints; an adhesive substrate; a frame; a mounting surface; ore or more magnets; a magnetic surface for use with metal-containing puzzle pieces; a metal surface for use with magnetic puzzle pieces; an adhesive which is applied to the puzzle pieces; an adhesive that is applied to a surface on which the puzzle is assembled; static cling; a respositionable adhesive; a permanent adhesive; a container; one or more receptacles on the puzzle pieces; mating male and female connections; overlapping portions of puzzle pieces and combinations thereof.
- 22. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein the decoding lenses of a puzzle are all oriented in the same direction.
- 23. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein a majority of the decoding lens is a decoding lens overhang and a majority of the encoded image is an encoded image overhang.
- 24. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein a minority of the decoding lens is a decoding lens overhang and a minority of the encoded image is an encoded image overhang.
- 25. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein the decoding lens overhang will decode the encoded image of at least one encoded image overhang of another puzzle piece or the encoded image of an encoded image overhang will be decodable by at least one decoding lens overhang.
- 26. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein the shape of the decoding lens overhang of an overhanging puzzle piece is substantially the same as the shape of a respective encoded image overhang of the same overhanging puzzle piece.
- 27. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein at least a first assembled image is formed when the puzzle pieces are assembled in a first manner and at least a second assembled image is formed the puzzle pieces are assembled in a second different manner.
- 28. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein a first group of decoding lenses are oriented in a first direction and a second group of decoding lenses are oriented in a second direction.
- 29. The puzzle of claim 18, wherein two or more groups of decoding lenses are oriented in respective different directions.
Parent Case Info
This application claims benefit of Prov. Appl. No. 60/147,925 filed Aug. 9, 1999.
US Referenced Citations (21)
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/147925 |
Aug 1999 |
US |