AN INFRA-RED GUN

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the invention

The invention relates to an apparatus for shooting a flying object that is electrically charged by mounting it on the gun. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for shooting a flying object with an infra-red gun by shooting the flying for a plurality of successful hits.

Description of the related art

Attempts have been made in the art to create toy guns for shooting toy devices or flying toys that are hit by radiation emitting guns. The flying toys are generally hit by a beam gun within the range of the gun. A receptor on the flying toy generally receives signals from the gun to indicate that the object was hit successfully. In some cases, the signals emitted by the gun are reflected back to the gun and a receptor detects that the target was hit.

The flying device or toy is generally powered by a motor. The gun emits radiation to hit the target when a trigger is pressed. The motor in the target is stopped as soon as the receptor detects the radiation. Then the device stops flying and falls down, and the user feels that the target was hit correctly. In such cases, the user has to launch/throw the device every time it was hit. The user cannot continue firing the same object for more than one attempt. There is a need for a shooting device for shooting a toy flying object that can be shot a plurality of times by the gun so that the shooting effect is observed in the flight of the object at the time of each attempt, and that the flying object can be charged by connecting the flying object with the gun. In addition, the use of such guns for charging the Hying objects is not seen in the art as the prior art flying toy devices typically use external charging systems for the flying toy devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An apparatus for shooting an ornithopter flying object with an infrared gun having an infra-red gun for producing an infrared beam, a flying object, and a firing cycle for hitting the Hying object is provided. The firing cycle includes shooting the flying object with the infra-red gun to destabilize flight.

The firing cycle includes a first successful hit where the flying object pauses a little, and then moves again. The firing cycle includes a second successful hit where the flying object pauses a little, and then moves again. The firing cycle includes a third successful hit where the flying object stops permanently, and falls down. In the preferred embodiment of the preseni invention, at least three successful hits are required to complete a firing cycle and to stop the flying toy object from flying.

The gun for firing infrared radiation includes a trigger, a handle, a barrel, a foldable shaft, a loader unit, and a battery lid. The body of the gun houses an indicator light, a microcontroller, an infra-red radiation emitter, an audio controller chip, a speaker, and a plurality of batteries. The batteries are replaceable by removing the lid. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FlG. 1 is a side view of a flying toy object mounted on a gun for charging in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the infra-red beam gun of FIG. 1 that shows the internal details of the gun;

FIG. 3 is a lop perspective view of the flying toy object of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the flying toy object of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the flying toy object of FIG. 1 along axis-X;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a transmission assembly of the flying object of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 7 is a front view of a rear tether connector of the flying object of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Although specific terms are used in the following description for the sake of clarity, these terms are intended to refer only to a particular structure of the invention selected for illustration in the drawings, and are not intended to define or limit the scope of the invention.

Referring to FIGs. 1 and 2, an apparatus 10 for a shooting game in accordance with the present invention is shown. The shooting game apparatus 10 includes a gun 12 and a flying toy object 14 that is positioned on the gun 12 with a predefined arrangement. The flying object 14 has at least two positions. In a first position, the flying object 14 is mounted on the gun 12. In a second position, the flying object 14 is separated from the gun 12. The flying object 14 is electrically charged in the first position. The flying object 14 is also configured to send/receive infra-red signals from IR gun 12. The gun 12, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, includes a housing that is preferably configured by joining a pair of shells along a predefined common boundary. The gun 12 can be configured in any shape, for example, a pistol, rifle, and a machine gun. The gun 12 is preferably made of materials such as plastic, fiber, or wood. The gun has a trigger 16, a handle 18, a barrel 20, a foldable shaft/adapter 22, a loader unit 24 A, and a battery lid 27.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the flying object 14 is mounted on the gun 12 with a shaft 22 that is received in a socket which is defined in a bottom portion of the flying toy object 14. A first end 25 of the shaft 22 is pivoted inside a pocket 28 that is defined in a front end portion 30 of the ban-el 20. The second end 32 that is preferably a plug, is inserted in the socket with a snap. The shaft 22 has two positions. In a first position, the shaft 22 is folded in the pocket 28 approximately along the axis of the barrel 20. In a second position, the shaft 22 is unfolded along an axis that is approximately perpendicular to the axis of the barrel 20.

The gun 12 also includes an indicator light 34, a microcontroller 36, an emitter 38, an audio chip 40, a speaker 42, and a plurality of batteries 44 that are positioned in a predefined pocket in a rear end portion 46 of the barrel 20. The indicator light 34 is preferably a LED. The loader unit 24 A is along a predefined path along the axis of the barrel 20. Battery lid 27 in the rear end portion 46 of the barrel 20 is removably assembled for changing/replacing batteries 44.

The audio chip 40 is positioned in the handle 18 and the speaker 42 is positioned in the bottom end portion of the handle 18. The microcontroller 36 is positioned in the barrel 20 in close proximity with the emitter 38. It is, understood, however, that the trigger 16, emitter 38, indicator light 34, batteries 44, audio chip 40 and speaker 42 form an electronic circuit that is controlled by the microcontroller 36.

In one embodiment, the loader unit 24A is displaced in a predefined path along the axis of the barrel 20 from a default first position to a second position. The loader 24 is preferably positioned to the first default position with spring 48. The loader unit 24A is manually moved by applying an external force towards the trigger 66 to the second position that loads the gun 12 for firing in a direction indicated by arrow P. The loader 24 activates a spring operated switch 50 when the second position is achieved. The loader 24 is displaced back immediately by the spring force in a direction indicated by arrow Q to the first position as soon as it is released.

Now referring to the components of the Hying toy object 14 as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the flying toy object 14 includes a body/housing 60 that is mounted on a frame 62 having a predefined configuration. Frame 62 is an arrangement of a straight and curved strips that are coupled together to define a structure that is adapted to support the body 60 of flying object 14. In addition, frame 62 securely holds various internal components flying object 14 at predefined positions. Frame 62 is approximately centrally positioned in the flying object 14. Frame 62 is preferably made of light weight materials, such as, plastic or fiber.

The body 60 is preferably configured with a pair of half shells that are mounted on the frame 62. The flying object can be configured in any shape, for example, a toy duck, a helicopter, an airplane, etc. The flying object 14 further includes a wing assembly 64, a tail 66, chargable power storage 68, a transmission assembly 70, a motor 72, and a microcontroller 74. The bottom end portion 26 of the flying object 14 defines socket 24B _: a receptor/sensor 78. and an on/off switch 76. Socket 24B receives shaft 22 for charging the flying object 14, and receptor 78 receives signals from the emitter 38 (See FIG. 2).

The wing assembly 64 includes a pair of wings 80 that is mounted on the body 60 with a first wing connector link 82. a second wing connector link 84, and rear tether connector 86. The flapping wings 80 are adapted to facilitate lift, thrust and flight to the flying object 14. The first connector link 82 and second connector link 84 are positioned at predefined positions on the front end of the flying object 14, and the rear tether connector 86 is permanently coupled with frame 62 at a predefined position

approximately in the rear end portion of the flying object 14. A bottom portion of the rear tether connector 86 is engaged with an edge/protrusion 1 15 in a predefined arrangement.

The flying object 14. in one preferred embodiment, is configured to receive infrared signals from IR gun 12. However, it is understood here that in other alternative embodiments the flying object 14 also can be configured to send infra-red signals back to IR gun 12 in addition to receiving the signals.

Now referring to the transmission assembly 70 as shown in FIG. 5 (cross sectional view of the flying toy object) and FIG. 6, the transmission assembly 70 mounted on frame 62 at a predefined position in close proximity with the front end of flying object 14 includes a pinion 90 mounted on the shaft of the speed control motor 72, a first gear 92 including a second pinion, a second gear 94 having a crank 96 and a connecting rod 98. The rotary motion of the pinion 90 is transmitted to the first gear 92, via the second pinion to the second gear 94 and finally through crank 96 to the connecting rod 98. The rotary motion is thereby, via crank 96 and connecting rod 98, transformed into a translatory motion.

An end point of the connector rod 98 defines a rotary joint 100 that translates along an axis-Z between two predefined points when the crank 96 rotates about a center of the gear 94. The first wing connector 82 is pivoted on the frame at a first point 102, and the second wing connector 84 is pivoted at a second point 104. The ends of the first connector 82 and second connector 84 are connected with the end of connecting rod 98 to form rotary joint 100. The rotary joint 100 is movable along the axis-Z.

The rotary joint 100 transmits power to wings 80 through respective connector links 82 and 84. One side edge of the first wing 80A is removably coupled to the first connector link 82, and a rear end of the first wing 8OA is removably coupled with a first hinge 1 10 of the rear tether connector 86 to facilitate replacement of the wing. The rear tether connector 86 is mounted on the frame 62 at a predefined position so that the rear tether connector 86 is positioned on the rear end of the body 60. Rear tether connector 86 can tilt left or right about a pivot point 11 1 defined along an axis-F that is approximately centrally positioned between first hinge 1 10 and second hinge 112. The pivot point 1 1 1 is preferably positioned on the frame 62. Rear tether connector 86 includes a direction controi lever i i 3 thai extends vertically along axib-F. A lower arcuate portion of the connector 86 defines internal teeth 1 14.

The left or right position of rear tether connector 86 may be changed manually by pushing direction control lever 1 13 from side to side as indicated by arrows G and H. The desired position of rear tether connector 86 is maintained by edge 1 15. The edge 1 15 is adapted to interact or engage with teeth 1 14. The connector 86 is made of a flexible material such as plastic to allow teeth 1 14 to jump over edge 1 15 when rear tether connector 86 is manually moved sideways by direction control lever 1 13.

The pair of wings 80 may be made out of. but not limited to, a flexible material. The flexible material may be cut out to give the wings a tapered shaped with a straight leading edge and a curved trailing edge. Because the wings 80 of an ornithopter with flapping wings are flexible, the incidence angles will vary over the wingspan and during the wing-strokes. During flight the flapping of the wings 80 produces thrust that in turn pushes the ornithopter/flying object 14 forward. Even if the incidence angles vary during the wing-strokes they produce sufficient lift to sustain flight.

The left/right direction of the flying object is control based on drag differences on the wings 80. The difference in drag is in turn a result of a difference in the average incidence angle on wing 80A with respect to the opposite wing 80B. When the rear tether connector 86 is kept in a tilted position the first and second hinges 1 10/1 12 will have different vertical positions and because the rear part of the wings 80A and 80B are connected to 1 10/1 12, respectively, they will also have different average incidence angels. The wing with the greater average incidence angle also has the largest drag. The flying object will turn in the direction of the wing having the higher average incidence angle and drag.

The microcontroller 74 in the flying object 14 includes at least two predefined states. According to a first state, the microcontroller 74 is programmed to stop the motor 72 for a while and then restart the motor 72. According to a second state, the motor 72 stops permanently. In this one preferred embodiment, the microcontroller 74 is programmed for a firing cycle with three successful hits. A firing cycle includes at least three firing rounds from the gun 12 to complete the cycle. The first time the flying object 14 is hit, flying object 14 pauses for a little, and then moves again. The second time the flying object 14 is shot, the flying object 14 again pauses a little, then moves again but does not fall down When the object 14 is shot for the third time, the object 14 stops flying and falls down. At least three successful hits are required to complete the firing cycle and to stop the flying toy object 14 from flying.

In operation, flying toy object 14 is mounted (see comment 1) on the shaft 22 for charging. The flying object 14 is switched on and thrown into a free flight. The gun 12 is loaded by shifting the loader 24A to the second position as indicated by arrow P (See FIG. 2). In response to the loader 24A movement, the spring switch 50 is switched on that activates the microcontroller 36. The spring switch 50 sends a signal to the audio chip 40 (see comment 4) that further sends a signal to the speaker 42 to produce the predefined sound for loading the gun 12. The audio sound indicates that the gun 12 is ready for firing.

The user directs the gun 12 towards the flying object 14 and hits the target flying object 14 by pressing the trigger 16. On pressing the trigger lό, a trigger switch (Not shown) is switched on that sends a signal to the microcontroller 36. The microcontroller 36 in turn activates the audio chip 40 to produce the predefined sound for firing and. The audio chip 40 also sends a firing signal to the microcontroller 36 which directs the emitter 38 to emit infrared radiation (IR beam). The emitter 38 emits an IR beam infrared radiation in a direction along the axis of the barrel 20. If the object 14 is hit correctly, then the signals are received by IR. receptor 78 and that is further received by the microcontroller 74.

Loading the gun 12 by moving the loader 24A to the second position indicates that the user the gun 12 is set for firing. If the trigger 16 is pressed without prior loading of the gun 12 with the loader unit 24 A, then the gun is not fired even after pressing the trigger 16. On pressing the trigger 16, microcontroller 36 activates the infra red radiating light or emitter 38 that emits infra-red radiation along the axis of the barrel 20. This signal is transmitted by infra-red radiation to the receptor 78 of the flying toy object 14.

In the firing cycle, when the object 14 is hit for the first time, the object 14 pauses for a little and again starts flying. This is also repeated after a second hit. The object 14 stops flying only after a third successful hit.

The invention is described in detail with reference to specific structure embodying the invention, while it should be understood that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements in the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.