Data-Based Vehicle Characteristic System

Abstract

Toy vehicles are configured such that at least one performance characteristic may be determined based upon information obtained from a data card and/or from encoded information from other sources, such as key-pads, smart phones, etc.

1 . A toy vehicle, comprising:
 a toy vehicle body including at least one of a mechanical locomotion component and a mechanical steering component mounted thereto;   a control circuit operatively mounted to the vehicle body and operative to control the at least one of the mechanical locomotion component and the mechanical steering component in accordance with one or more performance characteristics taken from a group consisting of, vehicle top speed, vehicle acceleration, and vehicle turning radius; and   a data card reader communicatively coupled to the control circuit;   the control circuit being configured to adjust the one or more performance characteristics based upon data communicated to the control circuit by the data card reader.   
     
     
         2 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is mounted to the toy vehicle body. 
     
     
         3 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from memory storage provided on a data card. 
     
     
         4 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from an electrical component provided on a data card. 
     
     
         5 . The toy vehicle of  claim 4 , wherein the electrical component provided on the data card is a resister component. 
     
     
         6 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from a physical shape of a data card component. 
     
     
         7 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data from two or more electrical contacts provided on a data card. 
     
     
         8 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein the data card reader is configured to obtain data that is encoded onto a data card. 
     
     
         9 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the toy vehicle comprises on-board memory storing a plurality of different sets of performance characteristic data combinations; and   the control circuit utilizes one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations based upon data communicated to the control circuit by the data card reader.   
     
     
         10 . The toy vehicle of  claim 9 , wherein the on-board memory further includes a default performance characteristic data combination, and the control circuit utilizes the default performance characteristic data combination if no data is communicated to the control circuit by the data card reader to select one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristics. 
     
     
         11 . The toy vehicle of  claim 9 , further comprising a plurality of data cards, each of the plurality of data cards being configured operate with the data card reader to cause the data card reader to communicate data corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations. 
     
     
         12 . The toy vehicle of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of an LED and an electronic display operative to indicate a value of the one or more performance characteristics. 
     
     
         13 . The toy vehicle of claiml, wherein the mechanical locomotion component comprises at least one of a wheel and a propeller. 
     
     
         14 . A toy vehicle, comprising:
 a toy vehicle body including at least one of a mechanical locomotion component and a mechanical steering component mounted thereto;   a control circuit operatively mounted to the vehicle body and operative to control the at least one of the mechanical locomotion component and the mechanical steering component in accordance with one or more performance characteristics taken from a group consisting of, vehicle top speed, vehicle acceleration, and vehicle turning radius; and   the control circuit being configured to adjust the one or more performance characteristics based upon performance characteristic selection data communicated to the control circuit.   
     
     
         15 . The toy vehicle of  claim 14 , further comprising a data card reader operative to communicate the performance characteristic selection data to the control circuit based upon information read from a data card. 
     
     
         16 . The toy vehicle of  claim 15 , wherein the data card reader is mounted to the toy vehicle body. 
     
     
         17 . The toy vehicle of  claim 14 , further comprising a keypad assembly operative to communicate the performance characteristic selection data to the control circuit based upon keys actuated on the keypad. 
     
     
         18 . The toy vehicle of  claim 14 , further comprising an interface for connecting to a memory device and operative to communicate the performance characteristic selection data to the control circuit based upon information read from a memory device received into the interface. 
     
     
         19 . The toy vehicle of  claim 18 , wherein the interface is an SD memory card interface. 
     
     
         20 . The toy vehicle of  claim 14 , further comprising a wireless transceiver assembly operative to communicate the performance characteristic selection data to the control circuit based upon information received by the wireless transceiver assembly. 
     
     
         21 . The toy vehicle of  claim 20 , further comprising a remote control unit operative to wirelessly communicate the performance selection data to the wireless transceiver. 
     
     
         22 . The toy vehicle of  claim 21 , wherein the remote control unit is operative to communicate vehicle operation information to the control circuit, the vehicle operation information including one or more of, move forward, move left, move right, and move backward. 
     
     
         23 . The toy vehicle of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the toy vehicle comprises on-board memory storing a plurality of different sets of performance characteristic data combinations; and   the control circuit utilizes one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations based upon the performance selection data communicated to the control circuit.   
     
     
         24 . The toy vehicle of  claim 23 , wherein the on-board memory further includes a default performance characteristic data combination, and the control circuit utilizes the default performance characteristic data combination if no performance selection data is communicated to the control circuit to select one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristics. 
     
     
         25 . The toy vehicle of  claim 23 , further comprising a plurality of data cards, each of the plurality of data cards being configured operate a data card reader to cause the data card reader to communicate performance selection data corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of adjustment sets of performance characteristic data combinations.