A MODULAR TOY CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM WITH INTERACTIVE TOY CONSTRUCTION ELEMENTS

Abstract

A modular toy construction system, comprising: a plurality of interactive toy construction elements, each interactive toy construction element comprising a sensor and/or a function device, the function device operable to perform a user-perceivable function; each interactive toy construction element further comprising a first communications circuit configured to wirelessly communicate signals and to wirelessly harvest energy for operating the function device and/or the sensor.

Claims

1. A modular toy construction system, comprising a plurality of interactive toy construction elements, each interactive toy construction element comprising a sensor and/or a function device, the function device operable to perform a user-perceivable function; each interactive toy construction element further comprising a first communications circuit configured to wirelessly communicate signals and to wirelessly harvest energy for operating the function device and/or the sensor; the toy construction system further comprising at least one control toy construction element comprising a processing circuit and a second communications circuit; the second communications circuit being configured to communicate with one or more of the plurality of interactive toy construction elements; wherein the control toy construction element and a set of one or more of the interactive toy construction elements are configured to form a network of communicating nodes and wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine a network topology of said network; wherein the control toy construction element is configured to detect, when the control toy construction element and said set of interactive toy construction elements are directly or indirectly interconnected with each other so as to form a toy construction model, a physical topology of said set of interactive toy construction elements in said toy construction model, from the determined network topology; and wherein the processing circuit is configured to control the interactive toy construction elements of the toy construction model so as to provide a desired model behaviour, based on the detected physical topology.

2. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the modular toy construction system is configured to impose structural rules for physically interconnecting the toy construction elements of the toy construction system; and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to detect the physical topology using the structural rules.

3. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the first communications circuit is configured for contactless, ultra-short-range communication, and for contactless energy transfer.

4. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one control toy construction element comprises a rechargeable energy storage device.

5. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive sensor data from one or more of the interactive toy construction elements and to generate control signals for controlling the user-perceivable function of one or more of the interactive toy construction elements.

6. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the second communications circuit is further configured to wirelessly transfer energy to said one or more interactive toy construction elements.

7. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the first and second communications circuits are configured for contactless, ultra-short-range communication, and for contactless energy transfer.

8. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the control toy construction element comprises an energy receiving circuit for wirelessly receiving energy and for charging the energy storage device.

9. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the control toy construction element is configured to detect a presence of one or more other control toy construction elements in a vicinity of the control toy construction element.

10. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the control toy construction element is configured to receive and store one or more program instructions for controlling a behaviour of the control toy construction element.

11. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the control toy construction elements include a processing unit operable to infer one or more user-selected functions from one or more sensor inputs received by an interactive toy construction element communicatively coupled to the at least one control toy construction element.

12. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the control construction element includes a third communications circuit operable for short-range, wireless communications.

13. A modular toy construction system according to claim 12, wherein the third communications circuit is configured to establish wireless communications with one or more remote electronic devices.

14. A modular toy construction system according to claim 13, comprising the remote electronic device; wherein the remote electronic device is configured to communicate with one or more control toy construction elements of the same or of different separate toy construction models.

15. A modular toy construction system according to claim 14, wherein the remote electronic device is configured to receive information from the control construction element about one or more interactive toy construction elements coupled to the control toy construction element.

16. A modular toy construction system according to claim 14, wherein the remote electronic device is configured to control operation of the control construction element and/or of one or more interactive toy construction elements coupled to the control toy construction element.

17. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of interactive toy construction elements is a passive interactive toy construction element without own energy storage device.

18. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of interactive toy construction elements comprises an energy storage device.

19. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of interactive toy construction elements includes: at least a first interactive toy construction element comprising a first type of function device; at least a second interactive toy construction element comprising a second type of function device, different from the first type of function device.

20. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of interactive toy construction elements includes: at least a first interactive toy construction element comprising a first type of sensor; at least a second interactive toy construction element comprising a second type of sensor, different from the first type of sensor.

21. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the interactive toy construction elements comprises a function device and sensor; wherein the function device is configured to perform a user-perceivable function, the user-perceivable function being perceivable as a first physical quantity; and wherein the sensor is operable to sense said first physical quantity.

22. A modular toy construction system according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the interactive toy construction elements comprises a motor and an encoder.

23. A modular toy construction system according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the interactive toy construction elements comprises a light source and a light detector.

24. A modular toy construction system according to claim 21, wherein at least one of the interactive toy construction elements comprises a sound source and a sound detector.

25. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the interactive toy construction elements are configured such that their respective function devices interact with each other to perform a combined function when the interactive toy construction elements are interconnected with each other in a predetermined manner.

26. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, comprising one or more electronic figurines, wherein the electronic figurine comprises a rechargeable energy storage device, a processing unit and a communications circuit operable for short-range wireless communications.

27. A modular toy construction system according to claim 26, wherein the communications circuit of the electronic figurine is operable for short-range wireless communications with one or more of the interactive toy construction elements and/or with one or more control toy construction elements.

28. A modular toy construction system according to claim 26, wherein the electronic figurine includes coupling members for detachably attaching the electronic figurine to other toy construction elements of the toy construction system.

29. A modular toy construction system according to claim 26, wherein the electronic figurine further comprises one or more function devices, in particular a motor and/or a light source and/or a sound source.

30. A modular toy construction system according to claim 26, wherein the electronic figurine further comprises one or more sensors, in particular an encoder and/or a light sensor and/or a sound sensor and/or an accelerometer.

31. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein each of the interactive toy construction elements comprises coupling members for detachably attaching the interactive toy construction element to other toy construction elements of the toy construction system.

32. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, comprising an electronic toy having an image capturing device and being configured to capture one or more images of a play scene including one or more interactive toy construction elements and/or control toy construction elements.

33. A modular toy construction system according to claim 32, wherein the electronic toy is configured to process the captured one or more images so as to detect one or more aspects of the play scene.

34. A modular toy construction system according to claim 33, wherein the electronic toy is configured to play digital content responsive to the detected one or more aspects of the play scene.

35. A modular toy construction system according to claim 33, wherein the electronic toy comprises a communications circuit operable for short-range wireless communications with one or more of the interactive toy construction elements and/or with one or more control construction elements.

36. A modular toy construction system according to claim 35, wherein the electronic toy is configured to send control signals to one or more interactive toy construction elements and/or control toy construction elements included in the play scene.

37. A modular toy construction system according to claim 36, wherein the electronic toy is configured to send control signals to one or more interactive toy construction elements and/or control toy construction elements included in the play scene responsive to the detected one or more aspects of the play scene.

38. A modular toy construction system according claim 1, wherein each interactive toy construction element includes a single function device and/or a single sensor.

39. A modular toy construction system according to claim 1, wherein the function device of at least one interactive toy construction element is chosen from: a motor, a light source, and a sound source.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0074] FIGS. 1-3 show examples of interactive toy construction elements.

[0075] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an example of an interactive toy construction element.

[0076] FIGS. 5A-B show an example of a control toy construction element.

[0077] FIGS. 6A-C show examples of a relay toy construction element.

[0078] FIGS. 7A-D illustrate examples of toy construction models constructed from a toy construction system as described herein.

[0079] FIG. 8 illustrates another example of a toy construction system.

[0080] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a mechanism for transferring data, such as a configuration parameters and/or a computer program, to a control toy construction element.

[0081] FIG. 10 schematically shows another example of a toy construction model constructed from toy construction elements as described herein.

[0082] FIGS. 11-15 illustrate examples of uses of a toy construction system as described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] Various aspects and embodiments of a modular toy construction system comprising a plurality of interactive toy construction elements and one or more control toy construction elements will now be described with reference to toy construction elements in the form of bricks. In this particular and corresponding embodiments, the interactive toy construction elements and control toy construction elements each have a housing that is generally shaped as an orthogonal polyhedron with flat side faces and having coupling members extending from its upper surface and a cavity extending into its bottom surfaces. However other shapes and sizes of interactive toy construction elements may be used, e.g. box-shaped or tile-shaped toy construction elements of different dimensions and with different numbers of coupling members. Moreover, while the brick-shape has proven to be particularly useful, the invention may be applied to other forms of toy construction elements for use in play applications educational applications, and/or the like.

[0084] FIG. 1 shows an example of an interactive toy construction element, generally designated 100. In particular, the interactive toy construction element comprises a generally box-shaped housing 101 with coupling pegs 104 extending from its top surface and with a cavity extending into the element from the bottom. The cavity is defined by side walls 102 and by a central, downwardly extending tube 103. The coupling pegs of another toy construction element can be received in the cavity in a frictional engagement as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,005,282. The construction elements shown in the remaining figures have this known type of coupling members in the form of cooperating pegs and cavities. However, other types of coupling members may also be used in addition to or instead of the pegs and cavities. The coupling pegs are arranged across the top surface in a square planar grid, i.e. defining orthogonal directions along which sequences of coupling pegs are arranged. The distance between neighbouring coupling pegs is uniform and equal in both directions. This or similar arrangements of coupling members at coupling locations defining a regular planar grid allow the toy construction elements to be interconnected in a discrete number of positions and orientations relative two each other, in particular at right angles with respect to each other. In a constructed model, the coupling members of multiple toy construction elements may thus be located on grid points of a three-dimensional grid defined relative of the oy construction model.

[0085] In some embodiments, the toy construction elements are made from plastics material, e.g. thermoplastic polymers, or from another suitable material. The toy construction elements may e.g. be made by an injection molding process or by another suitable manufacturing process.

[0086] The interactive toy construction element 100 comprises a sensor in the form of a microphone 106 and a function device in the form of a loudspeaker 105 or other sound source, both accommodated within the housing 101 of the interactive toy construction element. As will be described in more detail below, other examples of interactive toy construction elements may comprise another type of sensor and/or another type of function device.

[0087] For example, FIG. 2 shows another example of an interactive toy construction element, generally designated 200, similar to the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 1. However, the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 2 comprises a light sensor 206 instead of a microphone, and an LED or other suitable light source 205 instead of a loudspeaker.

[0088] Similarly, FIG. 3 shows yet another example of an interactive toy construction element, generally designated 300, similar to the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 1. However, the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 3 comprises a tubular hole 315 extending through the housing and configured to receive a shaft, e.g. an axel having a suitable cross section, e.g. a cross-shaped cross section. The interactive toy construction element 300 comprises a motor for imparting torque onto a shaft that extends into the hole, and a rotational encoder configured to detect an angular position of the shaft. The motor and encoder are accommodated inside the housing 101 and not visible in FIG. 3.

[0089] The interactive toy construction elements of FIGS. 1-3 are similar in construction. They all have the same general shape such that they can interchangeably be inserted into a toy construction model and easily attached to each other. They also all include a sensor, a function device, a communications circuit and first and second inductive elements, as will be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 4. The interactive toy construction elements of FIGS. 1-3 only differ in the type of sensor and function device they comprise. However, it will be appreciated that other embodiments of toy construction systems may include interactive toy construction elements of different shapes or sizes, e.g. so as to accommodate the specific sensors of function devices and/or in order to make them more easily distinguishable by the user.

[0090] FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an example of an interactive toy construction element, generally designated 400, e.g. of one of the interactive toy construction elements shown in FIGS. 1-3.

[0091] The interactive toy construction element comprises a housing 101 defining a top face which is provided with coupling members 104 as described above. The interactive toy construction element further comprises, accommodated within housing 101, a communications circuit 409, a first inductive element 407 and a second inductive element 408, a sensor 406 and a function device 405.

[0092] The first and second inductive elements may comprise respective loops or coils, of electrically conductive wire, ribbon, etc. In the example of FIG. 4, the first inductive element 407 is arranged proximal to a bottom face of the toy construction element and substantially defining a plane parallel to the bottom face. Similarly, the second inductive element 408 is arranged proximal to a top face of the toy construction element and substantially defining a plane parallel to the top face. In this manner, the first inductive element can provide an inductive coupling with a corresponding second inductive element of another interactive toy construction element, of a control toy construction element or of a relay toy construction element as described herein when the other interactive toy construction element, control toy construction element or relay toy construction element is in close proximity to the housing 101, in particular when the other interactive toy construction element, control toy construction element or relay toy construction element is attached to the housing 101 via corresponding coupling members. The interactive toy construction element may thus communicate with and harvest energy from said other interactive toy construction element, control toy construction element or relay toy construction element.

[0093] Similarly, the second inductive element 408 can provide an inductive coupling with a corresponding first inductive element of another interactive toy construction element, of a control toy construction element or of a relay toy construction element for communication and for allowing the other interactive toy construction element, control toy construction element or relay toy construction element to harvest energy from the second inductive element 408.

[0094] The communication via the respective inductive couplings may use any suitable communications technology for ultra-short-range communication, such as near-filed-communication. The energy harvesting may use any suitable mechanism for contactless inductive energy transfer between inductive elements. The communication and energy transfer is controlled by the communications circuit 409.

[0095] Accordingly, the interactive toy construction element may receive electrical energy via the inductive element 407 for powering the communications circuit 409, the sensor 406 and the function device 405. Moreover, the interactive toy construction element may receive control signals and control the function device responsive to the received control signal. In particular, the control signal may represent an on/off signal and/or other operational parameters of the function device. For example, when the function device is a motor, the control signal may represent a direction and/or speed of rotation. Similarly, when the function device is a loudspeaker, the control signal may represent a volume and/or audio content to be played; when the function device is a light source, the control signal may represent a brightness and/or color of the light to be emitted.

[0096] The communication may be a two-way communication, so as to allow the interactive toy construction element to communicate its identity and/or operational characteristics, e.g. by communicating a unique identifier and/or an identifier identifying a type of interactive toy construction element, e.g. whether it comprises a motor, light source, loudspeaker etc. Moreover, in some embodiments, the interactive toy construction element may communicate a sensor signal representing a quantity sensed by the sensor 406. Yet further, the interactive toy construction element may communicate identifiers identifying other interactive toy construction elements of a chain or network of interconnected interactive toy construction elements, as will be described below. To this end, the communication circuit may comprise a memory for storing an ID of the interactive toy construction element and/or received identifiers from neighboring interactive toy construction elements.

[0097] The interactive toy construction element may further forward control signals received via one of the inductive elements to the other of the inductive elements. Similarly, the interactive toy construction element may inductively transfer electrical energy which the interactive toy construction element has received by one of the inductive elements via the other of the inductive elements.

[0098] The data communication and/or energy transfer via the inductive elements is controlled by communications circuit 409. The communications circuit may perform relevant functions for implementing a suitable communications protocol, e.g. functions such as the encoding/decoding of data, message arbitration, error correction, etc. It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the interactive toy construction elements may comprise separate communications circuits associated with the respective inductive elements. Moreover, the communications circuit may control operation of the function device and/or the sensor, or at least receive sensor signals from the sensor and forward control signals to the function device. Alternatively, the interactive toy construction element may include a separate control circuit communicatively coupled to the communications circuit 409.

[0099] It will be appreciated that several modifications may be made to the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 4. For example, some embodiments of interactive toy construction elements ma include only a single inductive element which may be used for both harvesting and forwarding electrical energy and for both upstream and downstream communication. Yet alternative embodiments of interactive toy construction elements may merely receive electrical energy but not inductively relay it to another toy construction element. Yet further, some embodiments of an interactive toy construction element may include one or more inductive elements proximal to one or more of the side faces of the interactive toy construction elements so as to allow communication and/or energy transfer across said side faces. Such inductive elements may be provided in addition or alternative to the inductive elements proximal to the top and bottom surfaces. Yet further, some interactive toy construction elements may only include a function device but no sensor or vice versa.

[0100] The senor may be a light sensor, sound sensor, rotational encoder, proximity sensor, accelerometer, gyro, and/or any other suitable sensor.

[0101] The function device may be a light source, e.g. an LED, a loudspeaker, a motor, and or another function device operable to perform a user-perceivable function.

[0102] FIGS. 5A-B illustrate an example of a control toy construction element, generally designated 500. In particular, FIG. 5A shows views of the control toy construction element while FIG. 5B shows a schematic block diagram of the control toy construction element. The control toy construction element comprises a housing 101 having coupling members 103 and 104 as described in connection with FIG. 1.

[0103] Moreover, the control toy construction element comprises, accommodated inside the housing, a processing unit 511, first and second communications circuits 517 and 518, respectively, first and second inductive elements 507 and 508, respectively, an energy storage device 514, a wireless communications circuit 512 and an antenna 513.

[0104] The processing unit 511 may e.g. comprise one or more microcontrollers, one or more microprocessors, and/or one or more other suitable processing units, or combinations thereof.

[0105] The energy storage device 514 may be a rechargeable energy storage device, such as a rechargeable battery, a rechargeable capacitor, or the like. The energy storage device 514 is configured to provide electrical energy to the other components of the control toy construction element, including energy to be inductively transferred to other toy construction elements via the inductive elements 507 and 508.

[0106] The first and second inductive elements 507 and 508, respectively, may comprise respective loops or coils, of electrically conductive wire, ribbon, etc. In the example of FIG. 5, the first inductive element 507 is arranged proximal to a bottom face of the toy construction element and substantially defining a plane parallel to the bottom face. Similarly, the second inductive element 508 is arranged proximal to a top face of the toy construction element and substantially defining a plane parallel to the top face. In this manner, the first inductive element can provide an inductive coupling with a corresponding second inductive element of an interactive toy construction element or of a relay toy construction element as described herein when the interactive toy construction element or relay toy construction element is in close proximity to the housing 101, in particular when the interactive toy construction element or relay toy construction element is attached to the housing 101 via corresponding coupling members. The control toy construction element may thus communicate with and inductively provide energy to said interactive toy construction element or relay toy construction element.

[0107] Similarly, the second inductive element 408 can provide an inductive coupling with a corresponding first inductive element of an interactive toy construction element or of a relay toy construction element for communication and for inductively transferring electrical energy to the interactive toy construction element relay toy construction element.

[0108] As described in connection with the interactive toy construction element of FIG. 4, the communication via the respective inductive couplings may use any suitable communications technology for ultra-short-range communication, such as near-filed-communication. The energy harvesting may use any suitable mechanism for contactless inductive energy transfer between inductive elements.

[0109] Accordingly, the control toy construction element may provide electrical energy to other toy construction elements via the inductive element 507 or via inductive element 508. Moreover, the control toy construction element may transmit control signals to interactive toy construction elements that are directly or indirectly coupled inductively to the control toy construction element so as to control the function device of such interactive toy construction element.

[0110] The control toy construction element may further receive signals from such inductively coupled interactive toy construction element, such as signals representing the identity and/or operational characteristics of such interactive toy construction element and/or sensor data indicative of a sensed quantity by a sensor of the interactive toy construction element.

[0111] The data communication and/or energy transfer via the inductive elements are controlled by respective communications circuits 517 and 518, respectively. The communications circuits may perform relevant functions for implementing a suitable communications protocol, e.g. functions such as the encoding/decoding of data, message arbitration, error correction, etc. It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, communications circuits 517 and 518 may be integrated into a single circuit.

[0112] The control toy construction element further comprises a wireless communications circuit 512 and an antenna 513 coupled thereto. The communications circuit 512 may e.g. comprise a communications transceiver, or the like, connected to the processing unit 511 and operable for short-range radio-frequency communication with other control toy construction elements and/or with one or more other electronic devices such as with one or more additional electronic toys. The short-range radio-frequency communication may be implemented using the Bluetooth technology or another suitable communications technology such as Wifi. The wireless communications circuit 512 may further be operable to harvest energy from electromagnetic fields in the environment of the control toy construction element, such as the RF electromagnetic fields employed for communication. The harvested energy may be used to charge the rechargeable energy storage device 514. Alternatively or additionally, the control toy construction element may be operable to be charged in a different manner, e.g. via one of the inductive elements, via a wired connector or the like.

[0113] The processing unit 511 is configured, e.g. by a suitable program executed on the processing unit, to control the communications circuits and to process the data received from interactive toy construction elements, from other control toy construction elements and/or from additional electronic toys or other external processing devices with which the control toy construction element is communicatively coupled via the communications circuits 517 and 518 and/or via the wireless communications circuit 512. The processing unit further creates control data and/or other data to be transmitted to interactive toy construction elements, to other control toy construction elements and/or to additional electronic toys with which the control toy construction element is communicatively coupled via the communications circuits 517 and 518 and/or via the wireless communications circuit 512. These data may e.g. include control data for controlling the function device of an interactive toy construction element.

[0114] In particular, the processing unit may execute a control process which determines control data responsive to the received sensor data and/or other responsive to other data. Moreover, the processing unit may determine a physical topology of one or more interactive toy construction elements inductively coupled to the control toy construction elements. Moreover, the control toy construction element may communicate identification data, information about the determined physical topology and/or other information with other control toy construction elements and/or with one or more additional electronic toys.

[0115] The wireless communications circuit 512 may further be operable to detect a signal strength of a received wireless communications signal so as to allow the processing unit 511 to determine at least an estimate of a relative distance to another control toy construction element or to an additional electronic toy within the communications range of the wireless communications circuit. Alternatively or additionally, the processing unit may be configured to estimate a distance to another control toy construction element and/or other electronic toy (or at least detect a presence of such control toy construction element or other electronic toy within a proximity of control toy construction element 500) in another manner.

[0116] It will be appreciated that several modifications may be made to the control toy construction element of FIG. 5. For example, some embodiments of control toy construction elements may include only a single inductive element. Yet further, some embodiments of a control toy construction element may include one or more inductive elements proximal to one or more of the side faces of the control toy construction elements so as to allow communication and/or energy transfer across said side faces. Such inductive elements may be provided in addition or alternative to the inductive elements proximal to the top and bottom surfaces. Yet further, some control toy construction elements may further include a function device and/or a sensor.

[0117] FIGS. 6A-B illustrate an example of a relay toy construction element, generally designated 600. In particular, FIG. 6A shows views of the relay toy construction element while FIG. 6B shows a schematic block diagram of the relay toy construction element. The relay toy construction element comprises a housing 101 having coupling members 103 and 104 as described in connection with FIG. 1.

[0118] Moreover, the relay toy construction element comprises, accommodated inside the housing, first and second inductive elements 607 and 608, respectively.

[0119] The first and second inductive elements 607 and 608, respectively, may comprise respective loops or coils, of electrically conductive wire, ribbon, etc. and they may be arranged as described in connection with FIG. 4. The inductive elements are electrically connected with each other, optionally, via a suitable communications circuit.

[0120] Accordingly, the relay toy construction element may receive electrical energy and/or communication signals via one of the inductive elements and forward, i.e. relay, the received energy and/or signals to another toy construction element via the other inductive element. Accordingly, a control toy construction element may be inductively coupled with an interactive toy construction element via one or more relay toy construction elements, thus allowing the interactive toy construction element and the control toy construction elements to be spaced apart from each other, thereby increasing the flexibility of constructing control structures.

[0121] As described above, the interactive toy construction elements may, in addition to performing a function by means of a function device and/or sensing a physical quantity by means of a sensor, also operate as a relay toy construction element.

[0122] It will be appreciated that several modifications may be made to the relay toy construction element of FIG. 6, e.g. in terms of the number and geometric arrangement of the inductive elements, e.g. as described in connection with the interactive toy construction elements and/or the control toy construction elements.

[0123] For example, FIG. 6C shows another example of a relay toy construction element with multiple inductive elements 607A-B and 608A-B for relaying electrical energy and communications signals along multiple paths so as to allow the user to construct more complex toy construction models.

[0124] FIGS. 7A-D illustrate examples of toy construction models constructed from a toy construction system as described herein. In particular, the toy construction models include one or more control toy construction elements, e.g. as described in connection with FIGS. 5A-B, one or more interactive toy construction elements, e.g. as described in connection with FIGS. 1-4 and, optionally, one or more relay toy construction elements, e.g. as described in connection with FIGS. 6A-C. While not necessarily explicitly shown in FIGS. 7A-D for ease of illustration, it will be appreciated that examples of toy construction models may include further toy construction elements, including toy construction elements other than interactive, control and relay toy construction elements.

[0125] FIG. 7A schematically illustrates a toy construction model comprising a control toy construction element 500 and an interactive toy construction element 400, stacked on top of the control toy construction element such that the two elements are interconnected by their respective coupling members. The control toy construction element and the interactive toy construction element are inductively coupled via the first inductive element 407 of the interactive toy construction element and the second inductive element 508 of the control toy construction element. Accordingly, the control toy construction element can inductively forward a portion of the electrical energy stored in the energy storage device 514 to the interactive toy construction element 400 for driving the function device 405 of the interactive toy construction device. Moreover, the control toy construction element may receive sensor signals from the sensor 406 of the interactive toy construction element 400, process the received sensor signals so as to generate a control signal, and forward the generated control signal to the interactive toy construction element so as to control the function device 405 of the interactive toy construction element 400.

[0126] FIG. 7B schematically illustrates another example of a toy construction model. The toy construction model comprises a control toy construction element 500, three interactive toy construction elements 400A-C, and a relay toy construction element 600. The toy construction elements are stacked on top of each other such that adjacent elements are interconnected by their respective coupling members. The control toy construction element 500 is inductively coupled to interactive toy construction element 400A, as described in connection with FIG. 7A.

[0127] Moreover the interactive toy construction element 400A and the interactive toy construction element 400B are inductively coupled via the first inductive element 407B of the interactive toy construction element 400B and the second inductive element 408A of the interactive toy construction element 400A. Accordingly, interactive toy construction element 400A can forward electrical energy received from control toy construction element 500 to interactive toy construction element 400B. Moreover, interactive toy construction element 400A can relay sensor signals and control signals between control toy construction element 500 and interactive toy construction element 400B, i.e. control toy construction element 500 is indirectly inductively coupled to toy construction element 400B.

[0128] In a similar manner, control toy construction element 500 is indirectly inductively coupled to interactive toy construction 400C, namely via relay toy construction element 600.

[0129] Accordingly, control toy construction element 500 can supply electrical energy to each of interactive toy construction elements 400A-C and receive sensor signals from each of the sensors 406A-C of the respective interactive toy construction elements. Control toy construction element 500 may thus control the function devices 405A-C of the various interactive toy construction elements based on the various received sensor signals. For example, control toy construction element 500 may control function device 405B of interactive toy construction element 400B responsive to a sensor signal received from sensor 406C of interactive toy construction element 400C. This allows relatively complex interactions using only a few simple toy construction elements.

[0130] The skilled person will appreciate that the control toy construction element 500 and the interactive toy construction elements 400A-C may implement a bus architecture so as to allow the control toy construction element 500 to logically address a selected one of the interactive toy construction elements. To this end, the interactive toy construction elements may each include an ID which they are configured to return when queried. The IDs may then be communicated along the stack to the control toy construction element which may then establish a digital representation of the topology of the stack of toy construction elements, including information of the respective types of interactive toy construction elements of the stack. It will be appreciated that some embodiments of the toy construction model may allow a user to construct more complex bus or network structures, e.g. using the relay toy construction element shown in FIG. 6C.

[0131] FIG. 7C schematically illustrates yet another example of a toy construction model. The toy construction model comprises two control toy construction elements 500A-B, stacked on top of each other, and two interactive toy construction elements 300A-B, stacked on top of each other and on top of the stack of control toy construction elements 500A-B.

[0132] In this example, the interactive toy construction elements 300A-B each comprises a motor as described in connection with FIG. 3.

[0133] The two control toy construction elements each comprises an energy-storage device and a processing unit as described in FIG. 5. Including two or more inductively coupled control toy construction elements in a model thus provides additional energy that is available to drive the various function devices of interactive toy construction elements inductively coupled to the control toy construction elements. Alternatively or additionally, the processing units of the control toy construction elements may implement a suitable load-sharing process in order to allow for more complex control mechanisms. For example, the control toy construction element may control respective subsets of the inductively coupled interactive toy construction elements of the toy construction model.

[0134] Similarly, including two or more inductively coupled interactive toy construction elements in a model allows the interactive toy construction elements to supplement each other so as to perform a combined function. In the specific example of FIG. 7C, the interactive toy construction elements each comprises a central hole for receiving a shaft 721, as described in connection with FIG. 3. In the embodiment of FIG. 7C, the holes of the stacked interactive toy construction elements 300A-B are aligned with each other so as to allow the shaft to extend into both holes at the same time. Accordingly the motors of both interactive toy construction elements are operable to drive the shaft, thus allowing a larger torque to be imparted onto the shaft.

[0135] It will be appreciated that other types of interactive toy construction elements may provide other types of combined functions. For example, two inductively coupled interactive toy construction elements including respective light sources may emit a higher light intensity and/or light at multiple colors, etc.

[0136] Yet further, respective sensors of inductively coupled interactive toy construction elements may provide may supplement each other so as to provide a combined sensor signal.

[0137] FIG. 7D shows two separate toy construction models. The first toy construction model comprises a control toy construction element 500A and an interactive toy construction element 400A, mechanically and inductively coupled to the control toy construction element 500A, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 7A.

[0138] The second toy construction model also comprises a control toy construction element 500B and an interactive toy construction element 400B, mechanically and inductively coupled to the control toy construction element 500B.

[0139] The control toy construction elements 500A and 500B include respective wireless communications circuits for short-range communication, as described in connection with FIGS. 5A-B. This allows the control toy construction elements 500A-B to detect each other's presence within a communication range of the short-range communication and to communicate with each other. Accordingly, the control toy construction elements 500A-B may exchange control signals and/or information about the respective interactive toy construction elements inductively coupled to them. The exchanged information may comprise the type and/or identity of the respective interactive toy construction elements and/or their operational status and/or sensor signals from their respective sensors. Accordingly, the processing unit of the control toy construction element 500A may be configured to control the function device of the interactive toy construction element 400A inductively coupled to it responsive to the detected presence of the control toy construction element 500B. The control may even be responsive to information received from the control toy construction element 500B, e.g. responsive to the type of interactive toy construction element 400B, to its operational parameters, to sensor signals received from it, and/or the like. It will be appreciated that the interactive toy construction elements 400A-B may be of the same type (e.g. they may both include a motor) or they may be of different types. Similarly, one or both control toy construction elements may be connected and inductively coupled to more than one interactive toy construction element. Moreover, in some embodiments, more than two control toy construction elements may wireless communicate with each other.

[0140] While the example of FIG. 7D shows two physically separate, physically disconnected toy construction models, it will be appreciated that a single coherent toy construction model may also include multiple control toy construction elements that are not inductively coupled with each other, e.g. because they are connected to the model at respective positions that are two far apart to allow inductive coupling. The wireless short-range communication between such control toy construction elements thus allows a coordinated control of functions of different parts of a larger model, e.g. different wheels of a larger vehicle.

[0141] The wireless communication between control toy construction elements allows implementation of more complex play scenarios involving larger toy construction models and/or involving multiple separate models, as functions of different models or of different parts of a larger model may be controlled in a coordinated manner. Nevertheless, such coordinated control is possible by a distributed control scheme without the need for a large, bulky and expensive central controller.

[0142] FIG. 8 shows another example of a toy construction model comprising a control toy construction element 500 and an interactive toy construction element 400 physically attached and inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 7A.

[0143] The wireless communications circuit of control toy construction element 500 may be configured to establish wireless communications with one or more other remote electronic devices such as a tablet computer 810, an electronic toy 820 or another processing device. This wireless communication allows the remote electronic device to communicate with one or more control toy construction elements of the same or of different separate toy construction models. The remote electronic device may thus receive information about the interactive toy construction element 400 inductively coupled to the control toy construction element 500, including information about its type and/or sensor signals. The remote electronic device may display or otherwise represent the received information e.g. by presenting digital content corresponding to the received information. Alternatively or additionally, the remote electronic device may be operable to control operation of the control toy construction element 500 and the interactive toy construction element 400.

[0144] The remote electronic device may also be operable to provide a user-interface so as to allow a user to interact with the control toy construction element and, hence with the interactive toy construction element 400. The remote electronic device may further be operable to re-program the control toy construction element 500 so as to define a new behaviour of the toy construction model which includes the control toy construction element 500.

[0145] It will be appreciated that the control toy construction element 500 may be connected and inductively coupled to more than one interactive toy construction element. Moreover, in some embodiments, two or more control toy construction elements may wirelessly communicate with the remote electronic device at the same time.

[0146] In the example of FIG. 8, the control toy construction element 500 communicates with two remote electronic devices, namely a suitably programmed tablet computer 810 and an electronic toy 820.

[0147] The electronic toy 820 is in the form of a figurine or doll which comprises, accommodated inside the figurine, a processing unit 811, an energy storage device 814, a wireless communications circuit 812 and an antenna 813.

[0148] The processing unit 811 may e.g. comprise one or more microcontrollers, one or more microprocessors, and/or one or more other suitable processing units, or combinations thereof.

[0149] The energy storage device 814 may be a rechargeable energy storage device, such as a rechargeable battery, a rechargeable capacitor, or the like. The energy storage device 814 is configured to provide electrical energy to the other components of the electronic toy.

[0150] The wireless communications circuit 812 may e.g. comprise a communications transceiver, or the like, connected to the processing unit 811 and operable for short-range radio-frequency communication with control toy construction elements and/or one or more other electronic devices or additional electronic toys. The short-range radio-frequency communication may be implemented using the Bluetooth technology or another suitable communications technology such as Wifi. The wireless communications circuit 812 may further be operable to harvest energy from electromagnetic fields in the environment of the control toy construction element, such as the RF electromagnetic fields employed for communication. The harvested energy may be used to charge the rechargeable energy storage device 514. Alternatively or additionally, the electronic toy may be operable to be charged in a different manner, e.g. inductively, via a wired connector or the like.

[0151] The processing unit 811 is configured, e.g. by a suitable program executed on the processing unit, to control the communications circuits and to process the data received from one or more control toy construction elements and/or from additional electronic toys or other external processing devices with which the electronic toy 820 is communicatively coupled via the wireless communications circuit 812. The processing unit further creates control data and/or other data to be transmitted to one or more control toy construction elements and/or to additional electronic toys with which the electronic toy 820 is communicatively coupled via the wireless communications circuit 812. These data may e.g. include control data for controlling the functions device of an interactive toy construction element.

[0152] In particular, the processing unit may execute a control process which determines control data responsive to the received sensor data and/or other responsive to other data. The wireless communications circuit may further be operable to detect a signal strength of a received wireless communications signal so as to allow the processing unit to determine at least an estimate of a relative distance to a control toy construction element or to another electronic toy within the communications range of the wireless communications circuit. Alternatively or additionally, the processing unit may be configured to estimate a distance to a control toy construction element and/or other electronic toy (or at least detect a presence in a proximity of the electronic toy 820) in another manner. The processing unit may thus base the processing on such estimated distance. In some embodiments, electronic toy 820 may include one or more sensors, e.g. a light sensor, a sound sensor, a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, and/or the like and the processing unit may be configured to perform the processing based on a quantity sensed by such sensor. Alternatively or additionally, the electronic toy may comprise a function device, e.g. a light source, a sound source, a motor, and/or the like, and the processing unit may be configured to control the function device, e.g. responsive to a sensed quantity, received information and/or the like.

[0153] For example, the above electronic components may be accommodated within a suitable part of the figurine, e.g. a torso portion. The figurine may be constructed from multiple toy construction elements, such as from a central part that includes the electronic component and from one or more additional parts, such as a head, legs and/or arms that may be detachably attachable to the central part.

[0154] In other embodiments, the control toy construction element 500 may communicate with only a single remote electronic device or with more than two remote electronic devices. Moreover, the one or more remote electronic devices may be a different type of device, e.g. a different type of computer, a different type of electronic toy, etc. For example, the electronic toy may have a different physical appearance, other than a figurine or doll.

[0155] As mentioned above, the wireless communications circuit of the control toy construction element 500 may also include a wireless energy-harvesting circuit configured to harvest electrical energy from an electromagnetic field, e.g. from RF communications system. The energy-harvesting circuit may be configured to charge the energy storage device of the control toy construction element. In some embodiments this may be done continuously at a low charging rate. In some embodiments, the toy construction system comprises a dedicated charger device configured for concurrent wireless charging of one or more control toy construction elements.

[0156] Generally, the control toy construction elements may be pre-programmed to react to sensor signals and other received information in a predetermined manner. Alternatively or additionally, the control toy construction elements may be configured to implement an adaptive behaviour, e.g. a behaviour that changes over time, e.g. in response to received inputs.

[0157] The control toy construction elements may be manufactured with a pre-programmed behaviour. Alternatively or additionally, the control toy construction elements may be re-programmed by the user. To this end, a program for execution by the processing unit of the control toy construction element may be received by the control toy construction element by inductive data transmission via one of the inductive elements of the control toy construction element, or via wireless short-range communication via the wireless short-range communications circuit of the control toy construction element, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 8. Some tablet computers, smartphones or other electronic devices also allow ultra-short range communication e.g. via near filed communication.

[0158] FIG. 9 illustrates yet another example of a mechanism for transferring data, such as for transferring configuration parameters and/or a computer program, to a control toy construction element. In this example, a control toy construction element 500 is configured to read data from an RFID tag 923 or from another inductively readable device, e.g. by means of one of the inductive elements of the control toy construction element. The RFID tag may include a memory having stored thereon configuration data, program data and/or the like. When the control toy construction element 500 is brought into sufficient proximity of the tag 923, the control toy construction element energizes the tag and reads out the data stored by the tag.

[0159] In some embodiments, a toy construction set may thus include a plurality of toy construction elements, including one or more control toy construction elements and one or more interactive toy construction elements. The toy construction set may further include building instructions that provide instructions or guidance as to how to construct a toy construction model from the toy construction elements of the toy construction set. The building instructions may e.g. be provided on a suitable medium, e.g. on paper, in the form of a booklet or the like. The medium may have attached to it, or embedded into it, the tag 923. The building instructions may instruct the user to bring the control toy construction element into close proximity of the tag in order to program the control toy construction element by reading suitable program or configuration data from the tag. It will be appreciated that tags may be provided in other ways, e.g. embedded in a box, a container, wrapping, etc. that includes the toy construction elements.

[0160] It will be appreciated that other mechanisms for transferring data to the control toy construction element may be utilised, e.g. by reading a visible code, by ultrasonic communication, infrared communication and/or the like.

[0161] FIG. 10 schematically shows another example of a toy construction model constructed from toy construction elements as described herein. In the example of FIG. 10, the toy construction model 1024 is a vehicle, such as a car, but it will of course be appreciated that toy construction models representing other items may be constructed. The toy construction model 1024 is constructed from a plurality of conventional toy construction elements and from a number of control and interactive toy construction elements such that each interactive toy construction element is inductively coupled (directly or indirectly) with at least one of the control toy construction elements. In the specific example of FIG. 10, the toy construction model comprises four control toy construction elements 500A-D, respectively, each physically connected and inductively coupled to a respective interactive toy construction element 300A-D, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 7A. Each of the interactive toy construction elements 300A-D comprises a motor for driving a shaft 721A-D, respectively, that is inserted into a hole of the interactive toy construction element. Each shaft is attached to a corresponding wheel 1023A-D, respectively, such that each interactive toy construction element is operable to drive a corresponding one of the wheels.

[0162] The control toy construction elements are spaced apart from each other within the model and are not inductively coupled with each other. Nevertheless, they may wirelessly communicate with each other via their respective wireless communications interfaces by short-range wireless communication. This may allow for a coordinated control of the respective motors. For example, one of the control toy construction elements may operate as a master that sends control signals to the other control toy construction elements, the control signals including e.g. on/off signals, speed and/or direction signals. Alternatively, the control toy construction elements may all communicate with, and be controlled by, a remote electronic device, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 8. In yet other embodiments, each control toy construction element may operate autonomously. For example, each control toy construction element may control the motor of the interactive toy construction element inductively coupled to it responsive to sensor signals from an encoder included in the interactive toy construction element inductively coupled to the control toy construction element. In particular, in one example, when the encoder detects that the wheel is turned due to an external torque (e.g. because the user pushes the vehicle across a surface), the control toy construction element may control the motor in the same direction as the detected rotation, e.g. for a predetermined period of time or for a time dependent on the detected duration during which the wheel has been turned.

[0163] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a use of a toy construction system as described herein. In particular, FIG. 11 illustrates a toy construction set comprising an electronic toy 820 and toy construction elements from which toy construction models 1110 and 1120 have been constructed. In particular, the toy construction set comprises control toy construction elements 500A-B, and interactive toy construction elements 100, 200 and 300. Control toy construction elements 500A-B are control toy construction elements as described in connection with FIGS. 5A-B, except that the control toy construction elements of FIG. 11 are shaped as relatively flat tiles instead. Similarly, interactive toy construction element 100 is an interactive toy construction element as described in connection with FIG. 1 and it includes a loudspeaker. Interactive toy construction element 200 is an interactive toy construction element as described in connection with FIG. 2 in that it includes an LED light source, but the interactive toy construction element 200 of FIG. 11 is shaped as relatively flat tiles instead. Interactive toy construction element 300 is an interactive toy construction element as described in connection with FIG. 3 in that it includes a motor for driving a shaft 1121 insertable into a hole of the housing of the interactive toy construction element 300. The interactive toy construction element 300 of FIG. 11 differs from the example of FIG. 3 in that the hole for receiving the shaft 1121 is positioned on a side face of the housing rather than the top face.

[0164] The electronic toy 820 is in the form of a figurine or doll, as described in connection with FIG. 8. In particular, the electronic toy includes a wireless communications circuit operable to communicate with corresponding wireless communications circuits of control toy construction elements 500A and 500B.

[0165] Toy construction model 1110 comprises control toy construction element 500A, interactive toy construction elements 100 and 200 as well as additional, non-interactive toy construction elements, such as conventional toy construction elements. In this specific example, the additional toy construction elements include a transparent, dome-shaped cover 1111 that is attachable to interactive toy construction element 200 so as to create a void for accommodating another toy construction element 1112. Hence, light emitted by the light source of interactive toy construction element 200 illuminates toy construction element 1112 and provides a visible effect, observable by the user through the transparent dome-shaped cover. Interactive toy construction elements 100 and 200 are both physically attached and inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500A.

[0166] Toy construction model 1120 comprises control toy construction element 500B, interactive toy construction element 300 as well as additional, non-interactive toy construction elements, such as conventional toy construction elements. In this specific example, the additional toy construction elements include a shaft 1121 inserted into the hole of interactive toy construction element 300, and an elongated bar 1122 attached to shaft 1121 such that the bar is pivotable between a lowered position and a raised position. Interactive toy construction element 300 is physically attached to and inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500B.

[0167] Control toy construction element 500A may be configured to detect the presence of electronic toy 820 within a proximity of control toy construction element 500A. Responsive to such detection, the control toy construction element 500A may control interactive toy construction element 200 to emit light, and control interactive toy construction element 100 to emit a sound, e.g. simulating a siren. In some embodiments, an attribute of the light (e.g. a blinking frequency, a color, an intensity, etc.) and/or an attribute of the sound (e.g. a volume, a pitch, etc.) may be controlled by the control toy construction element responsive to the type of detected electronic toy 820, responsive to an estimated distance to the electronic toy and/or the like.

[0168] Control toy construction element 500A may further communicate with control toy construction element 500B via their respective wireless short-range communications circuits. For example, control toy construction element 500A may communicate information about the detected electronic toy 820 to control toy construction element 500B. Responsive to the received information, control toy construction element 500B may control interactive toy construction element 300 to operate the motor so as to raise or lower bar 1122. Alternatively or additionally, control toy construction element 500B may be triggered to control operation of interactive toy construction element 300 in a different manner. For example, toy construction model 1120 may further include another interactive toy construction element including a sound sensor and inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500B. Control toy construction element 500B may thus be configured to control interactive toy construction element 300 responsive to a detected sound, e.g. the sound emitted by interactive toy construction element 100 of toy construction model 1110. Yet alternatively or additionally, control toy construction element 500B may be triggered to control operation of interactive toy construction element 300 by a detected manual movement of bar 1122, e.g. a movement detected by the rotational encoder included in interactive toy construction element 300.

[0169] Accordingly, the above example illustrates that relatively involved game scenarios may be implemented with only a few relatively inexpensive interactive toy construction elements and control toy construction elements described herein.

[0170] In the following, various examples of other play scenarios that can be implemented with embodiments of a toy construction system described herein will be described.

[0171] FIG. 12 illustrates another example of a toy construction set. The toy construction set of FIG. 12 includes figurines 820A-C as described in connection with FIGS. 8 and 11 and a toy construction model 1210 which includes one or more control toy construction element and one or more interactive toy construction element. The figurines may communicate and interact with each other and/or with the toy construction model in a similar manner as described in connection with FIG. 11. For example, toy construction model 1210 may include a door that may open/close when one of the figurines is detected in its proximity.

[0172] The toy construction set of FIG. 12 differs from the example of FIG. 11 in that the toy construction set of FIG. 12 further comprises an additional electronic toy 820D which includes a camera 821, a processing unit, a rechargeable energy storage device, and a loudspeaker 822. Optionally, the electronic toy 820D may further comprise a wireless communications circuit operable to communicate with wireless communications circuits of figurines 820A-C and/or with a control toy construction element or interactive toy construction element of toy construction model 1210. Electronic toy 820D may be operable to capture still or video images of a play scene including figurines 820A-D and the toy construction model 1210, process the captured images and detect one or more aspects of the play scene. Detectable aspects of the play scene may be the presence or absence of one or more of the figurines, distances of the figurines from each other and/or from the toy construction model 1210, interactions between the figurines and/or the toy construction model, and/or the like.

[0173] Electronic toy 820D may be operable to play audio content responsive to the detected aspects of the play scene. Additionally or alternatively, the electronic toy 820D may send control signals to the electronic toys 820A-C and/or to a control toy construction element of the toy construction model 1210 so as to cause functions of one or more of these elements.

[0174] FIG. 13 illustrates another example of a toy construction set. The toy construction set of FIG. 13 includes toy construction models 1310-1340 each including one or more control toy construction element and one or more interactive toy construction elements. In particular, toy construction model 1310 is an elongated wand constructed from multiple conventional toy construction elements and from control toy construction element 500A and interactive toy construction element 400 which is physically attached to and inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500A. Interactive toy construction element 400 includes an accelerometer and is configured to communicate movement data to control toy construction element 500A. Alternatively, control toy construction element 500A may comprise an internal accelerometer.

[0175] Toy construction model 1320 includes a control toy construction element 500B and an interactive toy construction element 200 which is inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500B and which includes a light source as described in connection with FIG. 2.

[0176] Toy construction model 1330 resembles a figurine and includes a control toy construction element (not explicitly visible in FIG. 13) and an interactive toy construction element (not explicitly visible in FIG. 13) which is inductively coupled to the control toy construction element and which includes a motor for effecting rotation of the figurine.

[0177] Toy construction model 1340 resembles a musical instrument and includes control toy construction elements 500C-E and an interactive toy construction elements 100A-C, each including a loudspeaker and each inductively coupled to a respective one of the control toy construction elements 500C-E.

[0178] When the user moves the wand 1310, the motion is detected by the accelerometer of interactive toy construction element 400; alternatively or additional a relative position of the wand relative to the toy construction elements 1320-1340, respectively, may be detected by the respective control toy construction elements, e.g. based on signal strength of wireless short-range communication between them or based on an internal accelerometer.

[0179] Responsive to the detected motion, the control toy construction element 500A may control the control toy construction elements of toy construction models 1320-1340 to cause the respective interactive toy construction elements inductively coupled to the control toy construction elements to perform their various functions, e.g. to cause the figurine 1330 to turn, the light of interactive toy construction element 200 to emit light and/or the interactive toy construction elements 100A-C to play a musical tune.

[0180] Alternatively or additionally, the control toy construction element of the toy construction models 1320-1340 may control the respective functions based on a detected proximity of the wand 1310 and/or based on detected sound or light and/or based on received control signals from one or more of the other control toy construction elements.

[0181] FIG. 14 illustrates yet another example of a toy construction set. The toy construction set of FIG. 14 includes an electronic toy 820 in the form of a figurine as described in connection with FIG. 8 and a toy construction model 1410. The toy construction model 1410 comprises a control toy construction element 500 and an interactive toy construction element 300 including a motor as described in connection with FIG. 3. Interactive toy construction element 300 is inductively coupled to control toy construction element 500 and configured to rotate a rotatable part 1411 of toy construction model 1410 that is shaped as a head of an animal or other creature.

[0182] Figurine 820 includes an accelerometer and a wireless communications circuit for communicating control signals indicative of a user-induced motion of the figurine to the control toy construction element 500. Responsive to the received control signals, control toy construction element 500 causes interactive toy construction element 300 to operate its motor so as to mimic the detected movement by the rotatable head 1411.

[0183] Accordingly, similar to the example of FIG. 11, the figurine may thus be operable as a wand or controller operable to control a function of toy construction model 1410.

[0184] FIG. 15 illustrates yet another example of a toy construction set. The toy construction set of FIG. 15 includes toy construction models 1510 and 1520 each including one or more control toy construction element and one or more interactive toy construction elements. In particular, toy construction model 1310 is a wearable toy construction model. It includes a wearable component, such as a wristband 1511, which comprises coupling members to which other toy construction elements can be attached. In the present example, toy construction model 1510 includes a control toy construction element 500 and an interactive toy construction element 400 that includes an accelerometer and that is inductively coupled and mechanically attached to control to construction element 500.

[0185] Toy construction element 1520 resembles a car. It includes one or more control toy construction elements and corresponding interactive toy construction elements (not explicitly shown) for driving one or more wheels of the car, e.g. as described in connection with FIG. 10. The toy construction model 1520 further comprises a control toy construction element and corresponding interactive toy construction element (not explicitly shown) for actuating a steering mechanism of the car.

[0186] The interactive toy construction element 400 of wearable toy construction model 1510 may thus detect motions of the users hand when the wearable component is worn around the wrist of the user. The control toy construction element 500 communicates corresponding control signals reflecting the detected movements to the control toy construction elements of the toy construction model which may control the wheels and steering mechanism responsive to the detective movements, e.g. so as to propel and steer the car.

[0187] Embodiments of the control circuits of the interactive modular construction elements described herein can be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and/or at least in part by means of a suitably programmed microprocessor.

[0188] In the claims enumerating several means, several of these means can be embodied by one and the same element, component or item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims or described in different embodiments does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

[0189] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, elements, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, steps, components or groups thereof.