Background Art Toy railways with miniature trains and rail ele- ments of wood of the type manufactured by the appli- cant for more than 50 years are very popular among pre- school children. Originally the trains were driven merely manually by the playing child, but in recent years battery-operated locomotives have been introduced. Such locomotives can run backward and forward while at the same time emitting light and/or different sounds. The options of integrating new functions in such locomotives are practically unlimited.

A battery-operated locomotive which can perform various functions will, however, be more complicated to drive, especially for a small child who still has undeve- loped fine motor ability. This is due to the fact that the various controls of the locomotive must be made small enough to be accommodated, or that more complicated mul- tifunction controls have to be used.

Summary of the Invention An object of the present invention is to wholly or partly eliminate the above problem.

This object is achieved by a rail element as claim- ed in claim 1, a toy vehicle as claimed in claim 14 and a toy system as claimed in claim 19.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a rail element according to the preamble to claim 1,

which comprises an information carrier, which enables electronic reading of a rail type identity stored there- in and associated with the rail element.

A toy vehicle, which is provided with a reading device for reading the rail type identity stored in the information carrier, can then be made to perform steps that correspond to the rail type identity, for instance stop, increase speed, hoot etc. This makes it possible, also for a small child, to use all options of a toy vehicle with many functions, without having to use small controls on the vehicle. A child can thus, by laying out a toy track comprising a number of such rail elements, "program"how a toy vehicle running on the track is to act.

The rail element may be intended to form a toy track in the form of a toy railway, and the guide means may then comprise two parallel grooves which are formed in the flat side surface.

In one embodiment, the information carrier is an RFID transponder. This requires no power supply of its own and allows reliable reading.

In a preferred embodiment, the RFID transponder is arranged between the grooves in the rail element and lowered into the same. This results in exact positioning of the transponder relative to a reading device in a vehicle running along the rail element.

The transponder can be covered by a lid of plastic whose upper surface coincides with said flat side sur- face. The lid can be circular and have a diameter which is greater than the distance between the grooves, and then has notches corresponding with the grooves. As a result, the lid and, thus, the transponder can be made larger.

In a preferred embodiment, the rail element has a symbol that corresponds to the rail type identity. This makes playing easy.

In an alternative embodiment, the information car- rier can be a bar code. The bar code and a symbol, which correspond to the rail type identity, can be printed simultaneously on the rail element.

Preferably the above-mentioned rail type identity corresponds to a step which is to be performed by a toy vehicle that is moved along the rail element.

The rail type identity and the corresponding step can involve one of the following a) a stop rail where the vehicle is to stop, b) a signal rail where the vehicle is to emit a signal, c) a high speed rail where the vehicle is to begin or continue a motion at a relatively high speed, d) a low speed rail where the vehicle is to begin or continue a motion at a relatively low speed, e) a turning rail where the vehicle is to change its direction of travel, f) a station rail where the vehicle is to stop tem- porarily, g) a repair depot rail where the vehicle is to stop temporarily, and h) a collision rail where the vehicle is to change its speed.

Such a toy track may be made of wood, for instance beech.

According to a second aspect, the invention relates to a toy vehicle for a toy track such as a toy railway.

The vehicle is adapted to be driven along rail elements, preferably of wood, which form the toy track, and com- prises a reading means for electronic reading of an iden- tity stored in an information carrier, which is located in or in the vicinity of a rail element, and means for initiating a step which is to be performed by the vehicle and corresponds to the identity. This gives advantages corresponding to those mentioned above for the rail ele- ment.

In a preferred embodiment, the toy vehicle comprises an actuating means, the actuation of which causes return to a normal state of the vehicle. This makes playing easy since one control can be used for a plurality of diffe- rent functions.

According to a third aspect, the invention relates to a toy system comprising a plurality of rail elements, preferably made of wood, which can be interconnected to form a toy track, such as a toy railway, and a toy vehicle which is adapted to be driven on the toy track.

The system is characterised in that at least one rail element comprises an information carrier which enables electronic reading of a rail type identity which is asso- ciated with the rail element, and that the vehicle com- prises a reading means for electronic reading of the rail type identity of the rail element, and means for initiat- ing a step which is to be performed by the vehicle and corresponds to the identity. The toy system has advan- tages corresponding to those mentioned above for the rail element and the toy vehicle.

Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a rail element accord- ing to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a rail element accord- ing to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view A-A through the rail ele- ment in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section through a toy vehicle according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the toy vehicle in Fig. 4.

Description of Preferred Embodiments First a rail element will be described with refe- rence to Figs 1-3 and after that a toy vehicle with

reference to Figs 4 and 5. The rail element and the toy vehicle can together be included in a toy system.

Fig. 1 shows a rail element 1 according to an embo- diment of the invention. The rail element 1 is made of a flat, elongate right parallelepiped of wood, preferably of beech. It is also possible to make the rail element out of injection-moulded plastic. The rail element 1 has sawn-out connecting elements 2,3 in the form of a recess 2 and a pin 3 which allow connection of the rail element 1 to other straight and curved rail elements in order to provide a toy track. The rail element 1 further has at least at one flat side surface 5 guide means in the form of two parallel milled grooves 6,7, which are intended to receive the wheels of a toy vehicle driven along the rail element 1.

The rail element 1 is provided with an RFID trans- ponder 8 (RFID = Radio Frequency Identification), which frequently also is referred to as an RFID tag. In Fig. 2 the RFID transponder 8 is concealed by a plastic lid 9.

The RFID transponder 8 is arranged between the grooves 6,7 and lowered into the rail element 1. The upper surface of the lid 9 coincides with the flat side surface 5 of the rail element 1, see Fig. 3.

The lid 9, which protects the RFID transponder 8, can be circular or rectangular with an extent greater than the distance between the grooves 6,7. In this case, the lid has recesses 12 which correspond with the shape of the grooves 6,7 when the lid 9 is mounted. The lid 9 can be glued to the rail element 1 or, as is preferred, be attached by screws 11.

The RFID transponder 8 consists of an information carrier which allows electronic reading of a rail type identity which is stored in the RFID transponder 8. The rail type identity can correspond to a step which is to be performed by a toy vehicle which is moved along the rail element 1 and reads the rail type identity by a reading device integrated in the vehicle. Examples of

rail type identities may then be stop rail, signal rail, high speed rail, low speed rail, turning rail etc, as will be described below.

Preferably, the rail element 1 has a symbol 13 printed thereon (see Fig. 2), which corresponds to the rail type identity. If, for example, the rail element is a stop rail, the symbol can be a stop sign (STOP). Alter- natively, the symbol can be made as a label.

RFID transponders are well known per se and are used to a great extent in various logistics and security sys- tems. An RFID transponder consists of a small antenna and an electronic circuit. When the antenna receives an elec- tromagnetic signal from a reading/polling device, the RFID transponder emits a reply signal, which contains information stored in the circuit. The RFID transponder can be passive, which means that the energy in the signal received by the transponder is used to generate the reply signal. Thus the RFID transponder needs no battery or the like. It is virtually indestructible.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section through a toy vehicle according to one embodiment of the invention. The toy vehicle consists of a locomotive 14 comprising a coal carriage 15. The locomotive 14 has at least one magnet 16 which allows simple connection of carriages and other locomotives for the purpose of forming a train.

The locomotive 14 has a reading means 17 and a con- trol unit 18, which are shown schematically. The reading means 17 is used for electronic reading of an identity stored in an information carrier, which is positioned in the rail element along which the locomotive runs.

The information carrier can also be located in another object, which in use of the locomotive is close to the same, for instance in a sign or a building. The reading means 17 consists of a polling unit for polling an RFID transponder. The control unit 18 is actuated by the read- ing means 17 and by one or more buttons 19 or like ope- rating means. The control unit 18 controls the motor (not

shown) of the locomotive 14 and can also control lighting and sounding means (not shown). The control unit 18 can thus initiate various steps which are to be performed by the locomotive 14.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the toy vehicle in Fig. 4. The reading means is preferably directed towards the underside of the vehicle and arranged so as to be located (at 20) over a line right between the grooves of a rail element when the vehicle is being used. This allows exact positioning of the reading means relative to the information carrier in the rail element, both ver- tically and sideways.

When a child is playing with a toy system compris- ing a number of rail elements, of which at least one is designed as described above, and a train comprising at least one toy vehicle, which is designed as described above, the train can perform a plurality of different activities without having to be actuated manually in a complicated manner.

Now assume, for instance, that a train is run along a railway that has a stop rail, a high speed rail, a low speed rail, a signal rail and a turning rail. All these rails have information carriers, preferably RFID trans- ponders, which contain the corresponding rail type iden- tities. As the locomotive arrives at the stop rail, the rail type identity"stop rail"is read. Then the loco- motive stops while at the same time it emits a sound resembling that emitted by a braking steam locomotive since the control unit 18 initiates these steps. By the playing child pressing a reset button on the locomotive, the train starts to run again, or alternatively it can be restarted by itself after a certain time has elapsed. As the locomotive arrives at a signal rail, it emits in a similar way a hooting signal. As the locomotive arrives at a high speed rail, it begins to move at a relatively high speed, until a certain time has elapsed or until the reset button is pressed. A low speed rail functions ana-

logously. As the locomotive arrives at a turning rail, it changes its direction of travel, i. e. begins to reverse in case it travels forwards and vice versa. This conti- nues for a certain time or until the reset button is pressed. The different rail elements are provided with symbols corresponding to their rail type identities, so that a child can easily lay out a railway where the train runs in a predetermined manner.

Also other types of rail elements are conceivable, for instance a rail element that is included in a tunnel where the locomotive emits light while passing through the tunnel.

Moreover, station rails can be provided, where the locomotive stops temporarily while at the same time it emits"station hall sounds".

Similarly, repair depot rails are provided. On col- lision rails there is an obstacle, for instance in the form of a stone block. When the locomotive arrives at such a rail, it changes speed and at the same time emits a"collision sound".

The invention is, of course, not limited to the embodiments shown above, and may be varied within the scope of the appended claims.

For instance, in an alternative embodiment the information carrier may consist of a bar code printed on the rail element. The bar code can alternatively be placed on a label which is glued to the rail element. The label may also have a symbol that corresponds to the rail type identity. The bar code and the symbol can be placed on one and the same label or be printed simultaneously on the rail element. In a design corresponding to this alternative embodiment, the toy vehicle is provided with a bar code reader.

In another alternative embodiment, the guide means of the rail element may consist of edgings instead of milled grooves.

If the rail element is made of plastic, the grooves need of course not be milled, but can be formed by providing a suitable form to the used mould.

Briefly, the invention relates to a rail element which can be connected to other rail elements to form a toy track, preferably a toy railway. The rail element has means, allowing electronic reading of a rail type identity which is associated with the rail element. A toy vehicle running along the rail element can read the rail type identity and perform steps accordingly. The invention also relates to such a vehicle and a system formed by the rail element and the vehicle.