2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a minicar racing is for determining the superiority in comparison with the performance of minicars of children, which has only a rail of given length. That is, the above rail has no additional device, preferably, no device for displaying total racing time of each minicar, sound thereof, and order thereof.

Accordingly, the above minicar racing has no other function except for a function for simply operating the minicar at the rail, thereby providing no reality of the racing to the children. Due to this, it has problems of generating the troublesome feeling to the children for the short time and not certainly embodying the function as children toy.

Meantime, a Korea Mode ! Utility Publication No. 86-334 discloses<BR> a car racing toy for loading a doll to a conventional racing minicar and rapidly racing the minicar without unloading of the doll in the minicar, thereby taking the victory.

It is obvious that the above car racing toy is useful in comparison with a conventional minicar racing which generates no interesting feeling in the car racing for the children (hereinafter, referred to as"a minicar racing").

However, the above car racing toy has no effect except for the effect of only loading the doll to the conventional minicar and racing the minicar, preferably, the effect displayed at real car racing, such as the total racing time, the sound, and the order. Therefore, it provides not interesting feeling but the troublesome feeling to the children for racing upon using it for the long time.

SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention for solving the above problem to provide a minicar racing toy for displaying the racing time, the order, and the proper number of the minicar bv the minicar.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device for recognizing and displaying the total racing time, the sound, the order, and the proper number of the minicar and a method therefor.

These and other objects can be achieved according to the first aspect of the present invention with a minicar racing which has a plurality of minicars and a rail of given length, comprising : an ID tag sticked to each minicar and having a proper code value therein; a first driving circuit for receiving the input of a start signal of each minicar from the ID tag and standardizing the received signal as a TTL signal; and, a second driving circuit for displaying racing time, racing order and proper number of each minicar in correspondence with the TTL signal outputted from the first driving circuit.

Also, these and other objects can be accomplished according to the second aspect of the present invention with a method for recognizing and displaying racing time and racing order by the minicar in a minicar racing which has a plurality of minicars including an ID tag having a proper code value and a rail, comprising the steps of: receiving the input of code value outputted from the minicar and storing the received value; driving an inner timer in response to the input of the code value; comparing racing total rotation number of the minicar with preset racing rotation number; checking whether timer total value is below preset overtime value when the racing total rotation number thereof was equal to the preset racing rotation number; and, determining higll score and displaying the order of the minicar and the timer total value when the timer total value was below the preset overtime value. OFTHEBRIEFDESCRIPTION DRAWINGS A more complete appreciation of this invention, many of the attendant aclvmtages thereof, will be readily apparent as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference symbols indicate the same or similar elements components, wherein, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a device for recognizing the racing state of a minicar according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention ; FIGs. 2a to 2d are flow charts illustrating the method for recognizing and displaying the racing state of a minicar by the minicar according to the present invention; FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating main parts of a coil unit installed at side surface of a rail in a device for displaying racing time of the minicar and recognizing proper number of the minicar according to the present invention; and FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the construction of an ID tag sticked at a bumper of a minicar in a device for recognizing the racing state of the minicar according to the present invention. <BR> <BR> <P>DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF TIIE PREFERRED<BR> EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be in detail explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. Most of all, throughout the drawings, it is noted that the same <BR> reference numerals of the letter will be used to designate li (ce or equipment elements having the same function. Further, in the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. A detailed description of known functions and constructions unnecessarily obscuring the subject matter of the present invention has been omitted in the following description for clarity.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a device for recognizing the racing state of a minicar according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is capable of controlling the display of the total racing time of the minicar, the sound thereof, the order thereof, and the proper number thereof. In the above drawing, the device for recognizing the racing state of the minicar is largely divided into two, that is, an ID tag 60 for displaying a proper code value by being installed at each minicar, a frist driving circuit 10 and a second driving circuit 26, the driving circuits displaying all information of the minicar by receiving the input of the given signal from the ID tag 60.

Here, the first driving circuit 10 is comprised of a coil unit 14, a receiving unit 16, a standardization unit 18, a logic gate 20 and a first central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as CPU). Also, the second driving circuit 26 is comprised of a speaker 28, an amplifier 30, a voice synthesizing unit 32, a display unit 36, and a second CPU 38. The detailed description of the first and second <BR> driving circuits 10 and 26 will be easily understood by the following description.

The coil unit 14 forms the constant magnetic field by receiving the supply of the given voltage from a voltage supply unit 12 and inputs a signal (hereinafter, referred to as"start signal") outputted from the ID tag 60 installed at the minicar, to the receiving unit 16, which will be mentioned later. Namely, when the magnetic field arises in the coil unit 14, the ID tag 60 of the minicar generates the start signal under the affect of the magnetic field and inputs the generated signal to the receiving unit 16. The coil unit 14 and the ID tag 60 will be in detail described in FIGs. 3 and 4, which will be mentioned later.

The receiving unit 16 receives the input of the start signal outputted from the minicar, preferably, the ID tag 60 and amplifies the received signal, and the standardization unit 18 receives the input of the signal amplified from the receiving unit 16 and removes the noise. The logic gate 20 converts the start signal from the standardization unit 18, preferably, the standardized start signal into a TTL signal and outputs the converted signal. The first CPU 22 receives the input of the TTL signal outputted from the logic gate, processes (collect and analyzes) the received signal, and stores the processed signal at a random access memory (hereinafter, referred to as RAM) 24, wherein the TTL signal is processed by 2.36Khz for 1 second.

The second CPU 38 outputs a voice signal and an image signal in response to the input of the TTL signal outputted from the first CPU 22 and has the RAM 40 for storing the data for displaying thereat. At this time, the RAi\4 40 stores all kinds of image data. preferably, the data for driving the timer by 1/100 second and the rotation number data for displaying the racing rotation number of the minicar, therein.

The voice synthesizing unit 32 includes typically three voice synthesizers, which stores all kinds of data, preferably, the effect sound generated upon starting of the minicar, the effect sound indicating"whistling"sound generated upon one-round rotation, the effect sound indicating"fanfare"sound generated after final racing, and the effect sound indicating the overtime. The voice synthesizing unit 32 transmits the voice data in response to the input of the voice signal outputted from the second CPU 38. The amplifier 30 receives the input of the voice data from the voice synthesizing unit 32, amplifies the received data, and outputs the amplified data to the speaker 28.

The display unit 36 has the RAM for receiving the input of minimized data from the second CPU 38, preferably, the data (image data) for driving the timer for 1/100 second and storing the received data therein. Also, the display unit 36 outputs the corresponding image data, that is, 1/100 second timer driving data and rotation number data to a monitor 34 in response to the input of the image signal outputted from the second CPU 38.

In the meanwhile, FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating main parts of a coil unit installed at side surface of a rail in a device for displaying racing time of the minicar and recognizing proper number of the minicar according to the present invention. Herein, the coil unit 14 is installed at the side surface, so that the coil is horizontal to the rail. That is, the coil 14 is comprised of first coils 50a, 50b, and 50c, and both side ends of these coils are overlapped with one another, for the sake of forming the magnetic field improved more 2 times than the conventional magnetic field and of preventing the noise.

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the construction of ID tag sticked at a bumper of a minicar in a device for recognizing the racing state of the minicar according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, the ID tag 60 has a load 62 at the center therein and a second coil 64 is wound in the logic 62. At this case, the ID tag 60 is vertical to the coil unit 14 and the second coil 64 is wound so as to be horizontal to the coil of the coil unit 14. I-Iere, a cllip 66 indicative of the proper code value by the minicar is adhered to the load 62.

Hereinafter, a method for displaying total racing time, effect sound, order and proper number of the minicar in the minicar racing according to the present invention as constructed above will be more concretely expressed hereinafter with reference to FIGs. 2a to 2d.

Most of all, while the method for recognizing and displaying the racing state of a minicar by the minicar according to the present invention, as shown in FIGs. 2a to 2d, is controlled by the first CPU 22 and the second CPU 38, operation of all units as shown in FIG. 1 will be easily understood by the aforesaid FIG. 1. Also, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

Therefore, the fact is previously known that the description of the control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is defined to only the control method of the first CPU 22 and the second CPU 38 as a representative function.

With reference to FIG. 2a, a user sets previously two conditions, that is, conditions of defining the number of the racing minicars to 3 and of setting the total rotation number of the minicar to 3.

Hereinafter, when the racing of the minicar is started, the first CPU 22 and the second CPU 38 initializes each port at step 100.

Next, the first CPU 22 checks at step 104 whether the minicar is started, preferably, whether the minicar is positioned at the coil unit 14 for signal inputting, the coil unit being installed at the rail. At this time, the ID tag 60 of the minicar outputs the start signal corresponding to the proper number of the minicar b the magnetic field of the coil unit 14. Following that, when checked at the step 104 that the minicar was started, namely, that the start signal (the proper number) was inputted, the first CPU 22 stores the code <BR> value at the RAM 24 at step 106. However, when the first CPU 22 checked at the step 104 that the code value was not inputted, the first CPU 22 performs the above step 100 again.

Hereinafter, the first CPU 22 transmits the code value stored at the RAM 24 to the second CPU 38 at step 108. The second CPU 38, as shown in FIG. 2b, checks at step 110 whether the code value is transmitted from the first CPU 22. Here, when checked at the above step 110 that the code value was transmitted therefrom, the second CPU 38, at step 112, receives the code value, preferably, the code value of the minicar which is now racing at the rail, and stores the received code value at the RAM 40. Next, the second CPU 38 outputs the code value stored at the RAM 40 to the monitor 34 at step 114. Simultaneously, the second CPU 38 outputs the start sound indicating the starting of the minicar to the speaker 28 at step 116. After that, the second CPU 38 drives the inner timer for 1/100 second at step 118. <BR> <BR> <P> Following that, as shown in FIG. 2c, the second CPU 38 checks at step 120 whether 1/100 second is lasted. Then, when checked thereat that 1/100 second was lasted, the second CPU 38 increases the inner timer at step 112 and displays the timer at the monitor 34 at step 124, simultaneously. Preferably, the second CPU 38 outputs the time (timer) where the minicar drives at the rail, to the monitor 34 at step 124.

Next, the second CPU 38 checks at step 126, whether the code value is transmitted from the first CPU 22, preferably, whether the minicar drives continuously at the rail. At tl-iis moment, when checked thereat that the code value was transmitted therefrom, the second CPU 38 updates the code value at step 128. Herein, when checked, however, at the above step 126 that the code value was not transmitted therefrom, the second CPU 38 repeats the aforesaid step 120.

After that, the second CPU 38 compares the total rotation number of minicar which drives at the rail with the preset rotation number and checks whether the total rotation number of minicar is equal to the preset rotation number at step 130. At the aforesaid step 130, in the case that the total rotation number of the minicar was not equal to the preset rotation number, the second CPU 38 outputs the now rotation number, preferably, the rotation number where the minicar drives now, to the monitor 34. At the same time, the second CPU 38 outputs the effect sound of"whistling"sound for 0.5 second to the speaker 28 and performs the aforesaid step 122 again, sequentially. Namely, explaining as an example, in condition that the rotation number is preset as 3, when the minicar rotates one round, the second CPU 38 outputs"one-round"to the monitor 34 at steps 132 and 134 and outputs the signal sound ("wlistling"sound) indicating that the minicar driven one-round, to the speaker 28, simultaneously.

At the aforesaid step 130, in the case that the total rotation number of the minicar was equal to the preset rotation number, as shown in FIG. 2d, the second CPU 38 checks at step 136 whether the timer total value, preferably, total time that the minicar driven, is below the preset overtime value. At this event, when checked thereat that the timer total value was below the preset overtime value, the second CPU 38 checks at step 142 whether the high <BR> score is determined. When checked at the above step 142 that the high score was determined than total timer value of the first class, that is, that the high score was faster than the total racing time of the minicar which already finishes the racing, the second CPU 38 outputs the image data representative of the first class to the monitor 34 at step 148 and outputs the effect sound of"vlilstling" sound to the speaker 28 at step 150.

Then, when checked thereat that the high score was slower than the total racing time of the first class, the second CPU 38 checks at step 144 whether the total racing time of the minicar which already finishes the racing, is faster than the total timer value of the second class. Here, when checked that the total racing time thereof was faster than the total timer value of the second class, the second CPU 38 outputs the image data indicative of"second class"to the monitor 34 at step 152 and outputs the effect sound of "whistling"sound to the speaker 28 at step 154, simultaneously.

I-Iere, when checked at the above-mentioned step 144 that the high score was slower than the total racing time of the second class, the second CPU 38 checks al step 146 whether the total racing time of the minicar which already finishes the racing, is faster than the total timer value of the third class. IIere, when checked thereat that the total racing time thereof was faster than the total timer value of the third class, the second CPU 38 outputs the image data indicative of t'third class"to the monitor 34 at step 156 and outputs the effect sound of"whistling"sound to the speaker 28 at step 158, simultaneously. At this time, when checked at the aforesaid step 146 that the total racing time thereof was slower than the total timer value of the third class, the second CPU 38 completes the operation.

Therein, when checked at the above step 136 that the timer total value of the minicar which now finishes the driving was over the preset overtime value, the second CPU 38 outputs the image data indicative of"overtime"to the monitor 34 at step 138 and outputs the sound indicating"overtime"to the speaker 28 at step 140, simultaneously.

As may be apparent from the foregoing, the present invention has effects to inform total racing time of the minicar and the real racing class upon racing of the children. Since each minicar drives at the racing while having each proper number, the present invention has avantages in that the interesting feeling of the toy is provided to the children as well as the children is easily not troublesome.

In addition, the present invention has the effect on having more excellent value than the conventional minicar toy and good effect uncomparable with the conventional racing toy by displaying the total racing time of the minicar, all kinds of sounds, the racing order, and the proper number of the minicar, to the monitor.

While there have been illustrated and described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teaching of the present invention without departing from the central scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention, but that the present invention includes all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.