US-12618267-B1 - Interactive door knob

US12618267B1US 12618267 B1US12618267 B1US 12618267B1US-12618267-B1

Abstract

A door knob assembly that provides an interactive visual and aural assembly familiar to a room occupant and that responds to variations in the manner of rotation of the knob in a plurality of responses, depending on the direction and rate of rotation applied to the knob, providing messages appropriate to the entertainment, safety and/or training of the knob operator and/or room occupant.

Inventors

Edmond Wallace
Miguel Vasquez

Assignees

Edmond Wallace
Miguel Vasquez

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20241010

Claims (8)

1 . A door knob assembly comprising; one or more knobs; a spindle or shaft connected to said one or more knobs, said spindle extending through a deadlatch mechanism for door latch actuation; knob rotation sensing components coupled to said spindle, said knob rotation sensing components comprised of two tilt switch sensors plus electronics components capable of determining the rate of rotation of said knob based on the difference in time in activation of each said tilt switch sensor; and a power source.
2 . The door knob assembly of claim 1 wherein; said electronic components activate the sound features of the system when said knob said knob is rotated at a rate faster than a predetermined rate.
3 . The door knob assembly of claim 2 wherein; said door knob assembly is equipped with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and/or speakers driven by said activation stage electronic component's activation, so that power up and rate of rotation and/or direction of rotation may be used by the system electronics in generating one or more pre-determined audio and/or visual responses.
4 . The door knob assembly of claim 1 wherein; said tilt switch sensors are asymmetrically angled.
5 . The door knob assembly of claim 4 wherein; the first tilt switch sensor is mounted so that when the board is at rest, said first tilt switch sensor is angled at half the angle of the second sensor.
6 . The door knob assembly of claim 5 wherein; the first tilt switch sensor is mounted so that when the board is at rest the first tilt switch sensor is angled at 22.5 deg. and the second sensor is angled at 45 deg.
7 . The door knob assembly of claim 6 wherein; said electronic components activate the sound features of the system when said knob said knob is rotated at a rate faster than a predetermined rate.
8 . The door knob assembly of claim 7 wherein; said door knob assembly is equipped with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and/or speakers driven by said activation stage electronic component's activation, so that power up and rate of rotation and/or direction of rotation may be used by the system electronics in generating one or more pre-determined audio and/or visual responses.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/618,920 titled “Interactive Door Knob”, filed on Jan. 9, 2024, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. PATENTS CITED The following documents and references are incorporated by reference in their entirety, Steele (U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,404), Hopkins (U.S. Pat. No. 6,104,288), Dounis (U.S. Pat. No. 8,912,903), Faltico (U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,892), Federkevic et al (U.S. Pat. No. 8,590,182), Lippman (U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,107), Stahl et al (U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,539) and LaFleur et al (US Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2007/0146153). FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a door knob assembly that provides an interactive visual and aural assembly familiar to a room occupant and that responds to variations in the manner of rotation of the knob in a plurality of responses, depending on the direction and rate of rotation applied to the knob, providing selection from a plurality of pre-recorded messages and/or display behavior appropriate to the entertainment, safety and/or training of the knob operator and/or room occupant. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART The traditional door knob is a utilitarian design that has evolved over centuries, primarily designed for the utilitarian functionality that turning/twisting a knob results in the mechanical release of a latch mechanism keeping the door closed. In some rooms, such as children's, decorators and parents sometimes take care to create a particular friendly decor and environment. The above sometime occurs with window coverings, bedspreads, pillows, rugs, furniture, wall covering, pictures and even light switch cover plates, which are selected with a theme, or with a specific purpose. However, the door knob, even in these days of electronic interoperability, has been essentially abandoned. With the exception of Steele (U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,404) who proposes a creative talking doorknob, but which suffers from the limitations of having two operating modes (as it depends on a ‘tilting’ switch, and thus makes operation a function of the direction in which the door knob is twisted. There exists in the market a demonstrated necessity for detection of a door operation/action (both for children and elders) as well as a need to provide inside/outside aural (sound) and light entertainment in addition to decorative features. The disclosure thus, includes an extension of the functionality of the doorknob beyond the mere prior art functionality of controlling a door movement, providing educational, entertaining and decorative value in a device that may promote household safety as well. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This section is for the purpose of summarizing some aspects of the present invention and to briefly introduce some embodiments. Simplifications or omissions may be made to avoid obscuring the purpose of the section. Such simplifications or omissions are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. All references, including any patents or patent applications cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents form part of the common general knowledge in the art. It is acknowledged that the term ‘comprise’ may, under varying jurisdictions, be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term ‘comprise’ shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e., that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements. This rationale will also be used when the term ‘comprised’ or ‘comprising’ is used in relation to one or more steps in a method or process. In one aspect, the invention is about a door knob assembly comprising; one or more knobs, a spindle or shaft connected to said one or more knobs, said spindle extending through a deadlatch mechanism for door latch actuation, knob rotation sensing components coupled to said spindle, said knob rotation sensing components comprised of two tilt switch sensors plus electronics components capable of determining the rate of rotation of said knob based on the difference in time in activation of each said tilt switch sensor and a power source. In another aspect said electronic components activate the sound features of the system when said knob said knob is rotated at a rate faster than a predetermined rate. In yet another aspect said door knob assembly is equipped with Light Emitting Diodes (L