Title of Invention	"A MODULAR CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES"
Abstract	A. modular control system for electrical and electronic devices, said system comprising: a start block, said start block connected to command blocks and, an end block with the said start and command blocks stacked on it.

Full Text

Field of the Invention: The invention relates to modular control blocks using hardware programs with embedded analog circuitry without the use of any programming language. Background of the Invention: With the increasing dominant use of computers in day to day life and the knowledge of knowing mere than their use becoming a necessity, introducing children to the basics of programming has become an evident need. Introducing programming to children is a challenge more due to the interface presented by computer than by the act of programming itself. It becomes even more difficult to teach computer programming to children from rural areas. Rural and slum children aren't much familiar to the computers. Moreover they were even strangers to English, which is the most commonly used language in computation. The other problem they faced, was a lack of power supply in rural areas, which is needed to run the computers. It is therefore desirable to have a tool, which can be used to teach programming as efficiently as a computer, but will take less power (a 9 Volt battery), less space, and will not be language or literacy biased. Even for literate users, the current technology used for programming is computer, which is expensive, literacy dependent, cumbersome and serves a lot of applications at a time, which the customer might not require. Hence the need for application specific, cheap, small and very easy to program method and devices. A person ideally need not know any programming language to program such a device. Physical Programming is the concept of mapping algorithms in physical world. Concept of Physical Programming is shown using a tool called Programmable Blocks. The current work in Physical Programming uses the concept where application specific set of blocks are made and are embedded with a micro-controller inside that is programmed to control the blocks and thereby achieve the desired functionality. But this approach apart from being costly because of the use of micro controller also requires the knowledge of programming these micro controllers, which the end user normally does not have. Also these set of blocks are strictly application specific and can not be reconfigured to be used in other set of applications. Objects and Summary of the Invention: The objective of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing better programmable blocks. The present invention has the objective to provide programmable blocks that require very low literacy level specially computer literacy from a user in order to use them. It is another objective of the present invention to provide programmable blocks that are cost-efficient. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide programmable blocks that do not require external source of power to operate. It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide programmable blocks that can be reconfigured, to be used in different applications. To achieve the aforementioned objectives and to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention provides for a system, programmable blocks, with analog circuitry inside and although serve only one set of functions at a time, but are reconfigurable into different sets of functions. The tool is made up of several basic modular parts. The invention also provides a method for the above system, which describes the flow of the instruction triggered through a switch in a start block. Brief Description of Accompanying Drawings: Figure 1 shows the block diagram of a start block according to the preferred embodiment. Figure 2 is a block diagram of the end block in accordance with the preferred embodiment. Figure 3 shows two command blocks and their interconnection. Figure 4 shows a branching block in the preferred embodiment. Figure 5 shows the interconnection of basic blocks to achieve desired result. Detailed Description of the Drawings: Physical Programming translates all the features of a programming language into real world. Unlike a computer in which several utilities are integrated and can be used simultaneously, Physically Programmable tools serve only one utility at a time but can be reconfigured into different utilities by altering there modular configuration physically. A Modular configuration is one that consists of elementary parts, which can be arranged, in different fashions to give different physical structures to the body. Concept of Physical Programming is realized by tools, which can serve only one set of functions at a time, but are re-configurable into different sets of functions. The tool is made up of several basic modular parts. Each Time a new application is to be needed the modules are reconfigured physically in a particular fashion. The number and type of modules needed depends on the specific application the whole system is supposed to do. Programmable Blocks is a tool to create a program to control specific applications using stackable blocks. It can be considered as a physical flow chart with electronic hardware acting as each block of the flow chart. Each block is a command to the application, and if the blocks are stacked one above the other, and connected to the application, the application will behave according to the fashion of commands arranged. Programmable Block can be used to program specific appliances. The general structure of Programmable Blocks include: 1) Start Block: Consist of a switch to start the execution of a program (shown in figure 1). 2) Command Blocks: Each command block has a male/female connector at the top and the counter connector i.e. female /male connector at the bottom. Each different command block has a different hardware, which gives different commands to the appliance (shown in figure 3). These command also include commands like 'repeat n times', 'repeat forever', 'wait n seconds'. 3) End Blocks: The stack of Start & command blocks is stacked on the End Block, Which has the hardware to convert the signals given by the stack of the blocks into the signals which are understandable by the appliance. The End Block is used instead of directly connecting the stack of Blocks to the appliance, so that for different appliances, only the hardware of End Block need to be changed, the hardware of the Command & the Start Block need not be changed. The End Block has the port to connect the cable going to the appliance, at the bottom (shown in figure 2). 4) Branching Blocks: Branching Blocks has the width equal to the number of branches times the width of single Command Block. It also has an input port, which can be connected to a sensor or a switch to decide which branch has to be chosen (shown in Figure 4). In the preferred embodiment the connectors shown in the figures are 8 pin connectors, which can change depending on different designs of circuits inside the blocks. The connector provides the block access to the 8 buses, which are running all through the stack of blocks. The upper connector's buses are input to that block and the lower connector's Buses are output for that Block. Figure 5 shows the stack of Blocks together with the Start Block connected to The End Block. The execution of every Block starts by the start pulse from the upper input Start Bus. This execution of a particular command of a particular circuit either stops by itself (because of the circuit configuration), or can only be stopped by the feedback pulse coming from the lower feedback bus. The circuitry of Programmable Blocks is purely analog design. This is also the reason of them being cheap. The instruction for controlling the motor flows through the blocks sequentially. At the start a trigger is passed to the first block, which passes this trigger to the next block after a delay of the time period of the system clock. This is true for all the blocks, except the wait n seconds block, which does so after n seconds. The next block after getting the trigger passes a feedback signal to the upper block, which inhibits it. All the blocks are controlling either of the two control lines, which are going through the whole system to control the motion of the motor. These programmable blocks have varied applications in diverse fields like: 1. Educational Devices, Teaching programming to children in a much more easy and 'learn while playing' way. Devices from learning simple arithmetic to complex computational programs. 2. Robotics: Programming robot's motors. 3. Toys: Toys using the philosophy of Modular Robotics, which is a branch of Robotics in which the whole robot is made up of modules, which makes simultaneously the mechanical structure as well as are the blocks of the program. Toys in which the same blocks are making the mechanical structure of the toy as well as programming the behavior of the toy. 4. Programming day-to-day devices: Programmable Blocks can be used to program devices like microwave ovens, AC units, Washing machines in a very easy way. 5. Programming for Blind: with Braille language written on the blocks, blind people can easily program day-to-day devices like washing machine, microwave oven etc. Except the intelligence and the specific identity assigned to each Block, if each block is also capable of a physical characteristics, than a whole evolutionary Robot can be developed out of the Programmable Blocks. Simultaneous physical and intelligent characteristics give rise to the concept of Modular Robotics. Modular Re-configurable Robotics is an approach to building robots for various complex tasks. Instead of designing a new and different mechanical robot for each task, you just build many copies of one simple module. The module can't do much by itself, but when you connect many of them together you get a system that can do complicated things The same way here the Programmable Blocks constitute both the physical structure of the machine and simultaneously are responsible for the behavior of that machine also. The relationship between the physical arrangement of the Blocks and the behavior needed by the machine is of primary concern. Because the physical requirement of a robot may not match with the way the blocks are being stacked in 3-D. It will readily be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments shown herein. Thus variations may be made within the scope and spirit of the accompanying claims without sacrificing the principal advantages of the invention. We Claim: 1. A modular control system for electrical and electronic devices, said system comprising: - a start block, - said start block connected to command blocks and, an end block with the said start and command blocks stacked on it. 2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said devices include educational devices, robotics, toys, programming day-to-day devices and programming for the blind. 3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said blocks incorporate analog circuits. 4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said blocks are programming blocks. 5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said start block starts comprises a switch to start the execution of a program. 6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said command block comprises connectors at the top and bottom, 7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said connectors include 8 pin connectors. 8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said each command block comprises a different hardware to give different commands to the said appliance. 9. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said commands include repeat-n- times, repeat-forever, wait-n-seconds. 10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end block incorporates a hardware to convert the signals given by the said stacked blocks into signals readable by the said appliances. 11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end block includes ports to connect cables going to said appliances. 12. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said branching blocks has width equal to the number of branches times the width of single said command block. 13. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said branching blocks includes input ports. 14. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said input ports connect with deciding means to decide a branch. 15. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said deciding means include switches and sensors. 16. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system includes a system clock. 17. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a system bus runs through all the stacked blocks. 18. A method to control electronic and electrical appliances, said method comprising: - giving a start instruction using the switch in the start block, - the said instruction flowing through the command blocks sequentially, - the end block converting the signals received from the blocks in to signals readable by the appliance 19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the said command blocks are arranged according to the command to be given to the said appliance. 20. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein for the same command and a different appliance, the said end block is changed. 21. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein every block passes a feedback signal to the upper block. 22. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein execution of said instruction stops by itself through circuit configuration. 23. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein execution of said instruction stops by the feedback pulse coming from the lower feedback bus. 24. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said instruction passes to next block after a delay of the time period of a system clock. 25. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein for a wait-n-seconds command block, the time period of the system clock is set to n seconds. 26. The system for controlling specific appliances substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 27. The method for controlling specific appliances substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

503-del-2003-abstract.pdf

503-del-2003-claims.pdf

503-del-2003-correspondence-others.pdf

503-del-2003-correspondence-po.pdf

503-del-2003-description (complete).pdf

503-del-2003-drawings.pdf

503-del-2003-form-1.pdf

503-del-2003-form-19.pdf

503-del-2003-form-2.pdf

503-del-2003-form-3.pdf

503-del-2003-form-4.pdf

503-del-2003-form-5.pdf

503-del-2003-gpa.pdf

503-del-2003-pa.pdf