阅读说明：本技术 用于声学应用的交互式打击装置 (Interactive percussion device for acoustic applications ) 是由 P·托塔罗 N·韦布 于 2018-12-14 设计创作，主要内容包括：交互式打击装置,其特点在于,它包括可变形材料的多面体形外壳和用于容纳电子设备的内壳,该电子设备检测外部请求并在将它们转换成音频信号之后把所收集的信息传送到远程处理和声音扩散装置。(Interactive percussion device, characterized in that it comprises a polyhedral-shaped outer shell of deformable material and an inner shell for housing electronic equipment which detects external requests and transmits the collected information to a remote processing and sound diffusing device after converting them into audio signals.)

1. Percussive interaction device, characterized in that it comprises a polyhedral shaped outer shell of deformable material and an inner shell for housing electronic equipment apt to detect external forces exerted on the device and, once converted into electronic data for audio applications, to transmit the collected data to an external device for processing and diffusing sound.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inner surface of the housing is provided with ribs that tend to form a stable housing for the electronic device to detect external forces and transmit associated electronic signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the outer and inner housings are each divided into at least two permanently joined symmetrical assemblies.

4. A device according to any preceding claim, wherein the housing is made of a highly elastic elastomer.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the elastomer is made of a material selected from the group consisting of silicone, polyurethane, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polybutadiene.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein a plasticizer is added to the elastomer.

7. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cavity between the outer and inner shells is filled with a resilient or spongy material.

8. The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic device is capable of detecting external forces and transmitting audio signals, the electronic device comprising a printed circuit board equipped with at least one battery located on top of the board and connected by a cable to a data exchange port located on an outer surface of the housing.

9. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the printed circuit board arranged inside the inner housing is equipped with various measurement electronic sensors, of which at least an X-Y-Z triaxial gyroscope, an X-Y-Z triaxial accelerometer and at least one magnetometer, of which there may be more than one accelerometer, and at least one force/pressure sensor, which is attached to a point on the surface of the outer housing or alternatively placed near the centroid of the device.

10. The apparatus of claims 8 and 9, wherein the printed circuit board has a precisely circular housing within the inner housing.

11. The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein the polyhedral shell is spherical.

12. A device as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the housing or cavity is fitted with a light emitting component connected to a printed circuit board.

13. The device of any of the preceding claims, wherein the housing or the interior cavity is designed to accommodate a sound diffusing device connected to a printed circuit board and controlled by the interactive remote device.

14. A method of audio signal processing designed for any interactive remote device, characterized in that said information received by said interactive remote device is processed on the basis of the commands of a specific user and finally sent to any sound diffusing means installed in or connected to said remote device or to said interactive device.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a deformable portable device, and more particularly to an interactive device capable of absorbing external stresses and converting them into acoustic impulses through an audio processing and transmission system.

Background

Among various innovations aimed at solving the actual problems, the development of technologies has contributed to the development of various methods, services, and products that can satisfy individual needs. In particular, research is directed to the development and manufacture of flexible electronic devices that can achieve the most varied goals to meet the needs or desires expressed by users through given instructions.

In this specification, HID (human interface device) devices have been developed which interact directly with the user, designed to be able to detect commands generated by voice or physical actions of the user (for example touch actions on a keyboard or touch screen, or movements of limbs), interpret them immediately and immediately feed back recognizable answers to the same user through a digital interactive interface with minimal or acceptable delay.

Today, the high-tech industry is particularly active in developing interactive devices that are incorporated into vehicles and most commonly used various processing instruments, such that they have now become an integral part of today's social life.

In particular, interactive interconnected devices such as game controllers have been manufactured which aim to convert a specific movement action of a user into a virtualized action, while featuring high precision and simplicity of use, and allowing full participation by the user.

Furthermore, psychological research efforts have been introduced in this area of technology, enabling solutions closer to the customer's specific tastes. The inventors have therefore begun to develop devices for processing data acquired from the movements of a user in order to analyze their behaviour in order to instruct to adapt or improve a particular technique.

To properly implement these devices, electronic components have been applied to various sporting goods and tools, such as custom shoes for various sporting events, skis, tennis rackets, baseball bats, golf balls, and various balls for soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, american football, water polo balls, and the like.

In particular, there are several balls equipped with electronic devices, which are housed in their cavities, which are usually filled with air, or more preferably in their housings constituted by leather or plastic plates or panels. Such electronic devices typically include sensors, various hardware, and software that allow connection to a remote interactive device, and the data measured by the sensors can be processed and provide a complete analysis of the user's effective performance, thereby helping the athlete to improve their performance. The digital information sent by the sensor can accumulate experience from the specific movement posture of the athlete and improve the physical limit, technology and talent of the athlete, so that the athlete can perform better.

On the other hand, such interactive devices in the known art have functions that are specifically focused on analyzing the collected data, which requires at least one further reference measurement tool in order to be able to determine the position of the trajectory of the ball.

Indeed, once a stress has been generated, such as by a shot or stroke to establish a score, the currently impacted interactive instruments are designed to process the results obtained from the stress generation, rather than the same requests with other objectives that are capable of providing any form of creative activity beyond the concept of analysis derived from the effects obtained from those requests alone.

The inventors have found that such interactive devices, created with the aim of improving the creative use of the user in the music field, are of particular interest.

In particular, as a concerted action and an action with strong rhythmicity, from the natural prototype stance of repeatedly throwing the ball to the ground, we can see that if a musical note is associated with each bounce, there is an opportunity to utilize the particular rhythm derived therefrom for creative activities. In this way, a skilled and creative user may create an individual musical composition from a simple series of bounces.

However, there is no percussion instrument or electronic musical instrument available at present, which is capable of composing a musical piece created by a user by reproducing a series of stress and deformation transformations caused by the impact, squashing and rebounding of a ball into a musical sound distinguished by volume, pitch and various effects, and thereby a specific rhythm achieved by mechanical force applied to the ball.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to propose a system capable of obtaining a well-defined transition by transforming the electronic data obtained from any external stress (for example, any impact force exerted on the portable elastic body) transition into acoustic pulses and sending said electronic data to a remote interactive processing system in real time or with acceptable delay, so as to obtain signals obtained according to the different sounds, tone channels and dynamic modulations produced by the user at different speeds, angles, impact intensities d' etc. applied to the elastic body.

This object is achieved by the features mentioned in claim 1. The dependent claims describe preferred features of the invention.

Drawings

The invention will be better described with further features and advantages in the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, given as a mere example and not as a limitation, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an open enclosure and its contents in accordance with a preferred physical configuration of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an open inner shell and its contents in accordance with a preferred physical configuration of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of an open inner shell and its contents in accordance with a preferred physical configuration of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a housing of a preferred physical structure according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along plane A-A of a preferred physical structure according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart describing operations according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

As will be clearly understood from the following description, a percussion interactive device 1 is shown in fig. 1, which is made up of a deformable material and a spherical-shaped casing 2, the casing 2 internally housing an electronic device programmed by suitable software. An inner shell 3 is arranged inside and is used as a support and a holding piece of the electronic equipment; both shells 2, 3 can be divided into two symmetrical halves.

The casing 2 is composed of an elastomer having high elasticity, particularly a rubber substance having suitable rebound characteristics, such as silicone, polyurethane, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and polybutadiene.

If desired, specific substances, such as plasticizers, can be added to the rubber substance to give it a suitable coefficient of recovery, to be more elastic and to adapt to spring-back for the proper functioning of the invention. The thickness 4 between the outer and inner surfaces formed by the solid material is approximately one third of the diameter of the device 1, for example 30 mm. The inner wall of the housing 2 encloses a spherical cavity 5. The two components 2A, 2B constituting the casing 2 are clamped by a system with stable engagement, typically a screw-tightening system or an interlocking system or by means of gluing, so as to obtain a hermetically sealed casing 2. The inner shell 3 is permanently connected to a rib system 6 of a frame arranged in the cavity 5 using an adhesive.

Thus, inside the cavity 5 a series of said internal appendages 6 of the outer shell 2 are arranged to form a frame system supporting the inner shell 3, and said internal appendages 6 are dimensioned so as to leave gaps between them, whereas when the two parts 2A, 2B of the outer shell 2 are joined together, the lower ribs 6 are not notched from the corresponding upper ribs 6, precisely forming the space required to accommodate the inner shell 3.

The inner shell 3 is made of a plastic material, typically harder than the material of the outer shell 2. The inner shell 3 is spherical with an inner cavity and the thickness of the solid material is much lower than the thickness 4 of the outer shell 2. The inner case 3 serves as a protective case for accommodating and protecting the electronic core 7 of the present invention. The device 1 is provided with lighting elements, such as LEDs (light emitting diodes), electrically connected to the internal circuitry 7, preferably in the cavity 5 in which the inner housing 3 is mounted. In this case, the housing 2 is made of a transparent or translucent material to ensure that the light emitting element can emit light through the surface of the housing 2.

Possibly, it is not excluded that the material of the housing 2 is provided with an opaque surface. In this case, suitable apertures are provided on the outer wall to allow light generated by the at least one LED to be emitted.

The electronic component comprises a printed circuit board assembly (PCB 7), and batteries 8, 9 near the top and bottom surfaces of the electronic board PCBA 7, respectively, wherein both batteries 8, 9 are electrically connected to said electronic board 7. Said electronic card 7 has a circular plan shape so as to be housed in a corresponding undercut 13, which undercut 13 is formed at the circular base of the two hemispheres 3A, 3B constituting the inner casing 3. The two elements 3A and 3B are connected by mechanical joints and/or are connected in a glued manner.

The batteries 8, 9 are of conventional type, with a suitable voltage for powering the electronic board 7. An electrical connection cable 10 of suitable length comes out of a slot 11 located on the lower surface of the inner casing 3 to be connected to the printed circuit 7, the end of the cable 10 having a connector 12. Thus, the circuit board 7 has a circuit portion for charging the battery 8 and the battery 9 connected to the cable 10. A connector 12 is mounted at a slot 14 of the housing 2 for connection to a remote interaction device. The connector 12 is equipped with a USB (universal serial bus) interface, such as Micro-USB with universal compatible connection characteristics, and is connected to various interactive devices, such as a camera, a video camera, a smart phone, a tablet computer, an external hard disk, a television, a PC, a notebook computer, MP3/MP4, an iPod, and an iPad, through a special external cable. The USB interface is used to charge the batteries 8 and 9 and to transfer data between the software installed on the electronic board 7 and the related application software present in the remote interaction device. In the PCBA 7, various electronic measurement sensors are integrated, including an X, Y, Z triaxial gyroscope, an X, Y, Z triaxial accelerometer, possibly also other accelerometers and a magnetometer mounted inside the housing 3 and at least one force/pressure sensor, such as a deflection sensor or a strain gauge (strain gauge), applied to a point of the cavity 5 of the casing 2.

Preferably, six extensometers are applied to the X, Y, Z axes, in particular two extensometers are provided respectively for each axis and in a symmetrical arrangement, without however excluding the possibility of using more deformation sensors applied inside the chamber 5.

In the vicinity of the slot 14 of the element 2B of the casing 2, an LED is mounted, connected to the electronic card 7, which plays a role in prompting the current charging of the batteries 8, 9. Finally, the LED is mounted within the connector 12 or in an aperture other than the slot 14. Furthermore, a CPU LED is provided, connected to the electronic board 7, mounted in the slot 14 or directly in the connector 12 or in a suitable aperture.

All measurement sensors are built using MEMS (micro electro-mechanical systems) or NEMS (nano electro-mechanical systems) technology or other technologies applied to measurement sensors and small electronic transducers. The measured values are then converted into analog signals. The signal is then passed through an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), amplified by suitable amplification circuitry, possibly filtered by a noise signal, processed by a microcontroller, converted into electronic data and sent to the transmitting antenna once processed by a well-defined digital data modulation and packaging system.

The printed circuit 7 has all the electronic components necessary to contain and execute an algorithm for processing the data received from the sensors and transmitting them through a wireless connection technology using a transmitter-receiver integrated module, in particular a BLE (bluetooth low energy) module, using bluetooth technology for wireless connection to electronic remote processing and interaction devices, such as smart phones, tablets, televisions, PCs, laptops, ipods, ipads, cars, interactive home audio systems. Generally, the remote interaction device must be able to install and process information coming from the apparatus of the invention and must be equipped with at least one memory, a display, a data transmission system using bluetooth technology, an output, wherein the output is connected by wire or wirelessly to sound diffusion means, such as headphones, loudspeakers, stereo systems, and possibly to the internet, so that members of the virtual community can use interaction and sharing tools.

Dimensionally, the diameter of the housing 2 is between 70mm and 125mm, preferably 75 mm. Furthermore, the thickness 4 between the outer surface 2 and the inner surface 3 of the solid material is about 1/3 of the diameter of the device 1.

While the dimensions of the electronic board 7 and the batteries 8, 9 determine the volume of the inner casing 3. Typically, the diameter of the electronic board 7 is tens of millimeters, for example 20 millimeters. The use of electronic cards 7 of smaller size is not excluded. The diameter of the inner shell 3 is slightly larger than the diameter of the plate 7, for example 24 mm.

The device according to the invention is suitably provided with a software component consisting of two parts:

1. firmware programs, comprising sequences of instructions integrated into the electronic board hardware 7, for receiving the signals sent by the transducers of the various measurement sensors, amplifying them by means of dedicated integrated amplifiers, then interpreting them and sending them to the transmission system by bluetooth, to carry out the control signals received from the remote interaction device by bluetooth communication or by means of the transmission/charging cable 10, and to manage the recharging of the batteries 8, 9. Generally, the purpose of the firmware is to activate the electronic board 7 and the various measurement sensors and to allow the electronic board 7 to interact with other hardware components through implementation means of a communication protocol (for example bluetooth) and through the interface programming methods described below. Finally, the firmware update of the electronic board 7 is performed through a bluetooth connection or through the transmission/charging cable 10.

2. Software applications, which must be installed in any remote interaction device compatible with the logic of the present invention, for communicating with the apparatus 1 and processing the signals transmitted by said apparatus 1. The software application must be able to receive data from the bluetooth module to process the data and send it to the audio output system. In particular, said application comprises an algorithm which performs mathematical operations on the various digital data packets transmitted from the device 1, which contain information obtained from the different measurements detected by the various measurement sensors, so that the end result constitutes a train of sound impulses having a well-defined character, characterized by a specific pitch and/or by a desired sound effect, thus producing, for the user's ear, a combination of notes. For this purpose, a data collection file is provided which includes a wide range of tones and digital audio effects which are applicable to the particular audio pulse selected by the algorithm. In general, the algorithm produces a combination between the velocity and acceleration detected by the accelerometer, the angular velocity detected by the gyroscope, the inclination and orientation of the device 1 detected by the magnetometer, the pressure and impact deformation force detected by the strain gauge, etc. and data related to the detection of an impact for matching a particular tone or sound effect to a given combination to a selected audio pulse. The software program includes a user interface that allows a user to control the audio by adjusting the pitch, audio, and duration of the musical note corresponding to a particular audio pulse and selecting a particular audio effect to apply to the musical note. Furthermore, a user interface is provided, suitably programmed to display, modify and update instructions of the firmware of the electronic board 7 constituting the device 1 via the bluetooth connection or the cable 10.

In general, the entire software program is configured such that, once the system of the invention is started, any externally requested instants applied to the device 1, including deformations, blows, crushing, slings, rebounds, agitation, rotation, changes in position, changes in speed and acceleration, translations and rotations, obtained from the various measurements taken by the sensors provided in said device 1, determine the triggering (electronic triggering) of the sequence of electric pulses corresponding to the various external stress events following the first triggering event. Each pulse corresponding to a particular instant of a particular external stress. The interval between one pulse and the next is determined by the interval between the instant and the subsequent instant of the external stress. These transformed pulses, which are present in the form of digital bits via the transducer, are transmitted in the form of digital bit packets to the remote interaction device and converted into a specific audio pulse sequence via a suitable audio interface. These audio signals will be picked up and sent to a mixer-they will be processed with certain audio effects added-converted and sent to a sound diffusing means, e.g. a loudspeaker-as sound signals.

In particular, the resulting sequence of audio signals will likely be sent wirelessly to an audio output port of a remote interaction device for connection to an acoustic diffuser, such as headphones or a speaker.

In addition, depending on the personal taste, the user may view, edit and record audio tracks through a user interface, which may have audio effects in combination with simulations of various musical instruments, to obtain the original musical composition. The program behaves like a digital audio workstation, using an analyzer, equalizer, synthesizer and digital mixer, and a graphical interface suitable for executing musical compositions. Further, the application allows users to export corresponding musical composition files in different formats, such as WAV, MP3, FLAC, WMA, AAC. In order to save the created work, it is necessary to set a folder in a memory located at the remote interactive apparatus. Saving on a cloud platform over an internet connection, even in real-time to provide audition, is not excluded and works created by multiple users may be shared on a suitable interactive platform for a virtual community.

In addition, the application provides multimedia management tools including displaying presentation effects on a graphical interface during execution, recording work tracks, accessing cameras when integrated into a remote interactive device (e.g., a smartphone), execution, management, and playback of audio and video files, and collecting video recordings of visual and sound effects contained in an album, internet access for sharing on a platform of an interactive community, even sharing audio and/or video files in real-time.

It will be appreciated that the communication between the apparatus 1 and the remote interaction device may use applications developed for implementing the invention, but that it is not excluded that conventional DAW (digital audio workstation) processing programs may be used, such as AbletonLive, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ardor, MusE, etc.

Furthermore, the identification code is entered into the apparatus 1 to be detected via bluetooth by the application used in the remote interaction device.

The application developed for the present invention enables the adjustment of the measurement settings of the various sensors and the driving of any lighting elements (e.g. LEDs) contained in the apparatus 1 by using any remote interaction device connected to the apparatus 1 via a cable 10 or a bluetooth connection.

Furthermore, the application program operates in such a manner that: the activation signal transmitted via bluetooth, corresponding to a particular color of the LED installed in the apparatus 1, produces a given tone or a given audio effect, all synchronized with the visual effect that can be displayed on the display interface of the remote interaction device during the execution of an embodiment of the present invention.

Thus, during the execution of the program, there is a continuous exchange of information between the apparatus 1 and the remote interaction device, which allows to simultaneously perform the audio reproduction of the digital tracks transmitted by the apparatus 1; using the display of the remote interactive device, allows the reproduction of images related to the music tempo and the visualization of various API interfaces (application programming interfaces); LEDs for illumination-for displaying visual effects-which are mounted in the device 1; recording audio tracks and recording video clips by accessing a camera integrated in a remote interactive device, wherein these audio and video files loaded in the memory of the remote interactive device or in the cloud platform are accessed over the internet and finally to the online community platform.

The management of the data streams exchanged between the apparatus 1 and the remote interaction device is performed by means of the MIDI interface (musical instrument digital interface) protocol. In particular, the MIDI protocol enables to encode the signals collected during the implementation of the apparatus 1 and to transmit them in real time to the relevant remote interaction devices.

The user interface and sound generation functions are separately provided in a MIDI controller (input device) and a synthesizer, respectively, wherein the two devices communicate through a description language of a music execution protocol such as a MIDI protocol or an open sound control protocol.

The MIDI interface on the remote interaction device assumes the function of a MIDI controller, wherein commands (i.e. the modes in which the user performs the invention) are translated into MIDI digital messages, which are propagated in real time from the master device (remote interaction device) to the slave device (apparatus 1) as well as to the various external acoustic devices. The messages are interpreted and associated with specific timbres by means of a software support included in the application of the invention, which acts as a MIDI sequencer to allow the execution, modification and recording of personal musical performances. Operating logic for MIDI messages for determining sound results, characterised by sending a digital message containing the note number, represented by values from 0 to 127, and adjusting the pressure velocity of the execution dynamics, likewise represented by values from 0 to 127. Further, among other functions, bending, modulation, etc., the MIDI protocols are used to transmit CC (control transform) type messages, sliding of pitches, modulation, etc.

Generally, as can be understood from fig. 6, once installed and activated, the software program and the measurement sensor system, which comprise accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and force/pressure sensors, will detect a series of measurements at different time periods, including acceleration, speed, rotation, inclination, intensity, direction, vibration, deformation, corresponding to a given impact applied to the apparatus 1, wherein the software program is developed specifically for the present invention on any compatible remote interaction device and is run by the electronic components of the apparatus 1. These analog measurements are converted to digital signals, which are filtered, amplified, and processed into packet formats according to the protocol of the BLE module, and then transmitted by the TX/RX transceiver circuitry to the interactive remote device. The TX/RX circuit then receives, through an interactive application integrated in the remote interactive device, a command directed by the user for setting parameters on how to acquire the measurements detected by the sensor system and for controlling the lighting elements, in particular the LEDs, in the apparatus 1.

In fact, the device 1 assumes the role of a musical trigger, in particular as an electronic sensor, transmitting the effects of vibrations, deformations, rotations, inclinations, directions, speeds and intensities due to impacts and rebounds of said device 1, facing any object handled by the user. These effects are converted by means of a software program into a well-defined sound signal that can be assimilated to certain notes to which a specific sound effect has been applied.

For example, the direction of the rebound determines the choice of the type of sound produced, the force measured at the impact determines the duration of the corresponding sound pulse, the compression at a particular point of the deformable surface of the casing 2 determines the variation in pitch, and the speed of rotation determines the pitch of the sound produced-corresponding to the fundamental frequency-thus determining the particular note perceived.

In general, the interactive apparatus 1 can be considered as a HID device (human interactive device) developed to interact directly with the user through an interface integrated into a remote interactive device-as an efficient instrumental tool-in an electronic interactive form-for composing a musical composition.

Therefore, a series of shocks applied to the apparatus 1 will cause the triggering of a series of sounds, so that a pleasant musical composition can be obtained according to the user's agility and experience in operating the apparatus 1.

From a more simplified point of view, during operation, the user activates the apparatus 1 and its connection to the selected remote interaction device. From this moment on, every interaction with the device 1 can generate a melody. A series of notes are produced statically or dynamically from manual compression, from shooting, from impact of any object of any size, from rebound, from manual, or from the same touch. Continued use will result in a realistic musical composition, characterized by a particular tempo associated with the frequency of rebounds of the device 1 and associated with the user's proficiency, skill and creative expression. The faster the execution speed, the faster the tempo of the reproduction. The larger the rebound action, the louder the audio of the various specified sound effects that is reproduced. Thus, it is possible to arrange the LEDs in the apparatus 1, the more pronounced the multi-colored representation thereof, and to display the graphic and visual effects on the interface display of the remote interaction device. For any instrument, the user will need to experience how to use the invention to obtain a positive performance.

Thus, in the practice of the present invention, depending on the manner of use associated with the individual style, the user will be the author of an audio work, which work may be simple or elaborate, or coarse or refined, or enjoyable or retrusive, which represents the creative effort of the user.

Furthermore, several embodiments connected to the same interaction platform can be performed simultaneously in order to listen to more works and allow for the comingling of the works.

Furthermore, if the MIDI controller of the application for generating and transmitting MIDI data is activated, various controls and modulations of the produced music can be obtained through it, due to the stresses to which the device 1 is subjected, such as elastic forces, for example changes in time, thus-music-execution and combined speed, variation of pitch-bend-and other sound effects applied to specific notes, generally known from the prior art, are adjusted and controlled by the electronic system in correspondence to the notes of the audio signal received from the device 1, to obtain an audio piece.

As can be well understood from the above description, a system designed according to the present invention is perfectly capable of achieving the intended purposes.

It will be understood that the device is described herein by way of example only and that many modifications may be made to the device which fall within the scope of the patent. In particular, the outer shell 2 and the inner shell 3 may be constituted by components that are not necessarily symmetrical to each other. In addition, the number of components constituting each of the outer and inner cases 2 and 3 may be more than two. Alternatively, the housing 2 may be formed from a single element produced by forging (e.g. by a hot die) or by 3D printing. It is not excluded to develop alternative embodiments having different shapes than the embodiments described above. The device 1 may have a spherical outer surface with a continuous profile or a multi-sided profile with a polygonal profile-or a multi-sided profile with a grid-or a multi-sided profile with polyhedrons or grooves or any external protrusions. There are embodiments in which the casing 2 presents a shape different from a sphere and presents one of many spherical shapes, without excluding that it may present an elliptical, oval or archimedean polyhedron shape or a gantraya polyhedron or a rounded johnson polyhedron or berrah polyhedron shape.

Furthermore, embodiments of the invention that are different or have a smaller relative diameter than the embodiments described herein are not excluded, even embodiments that have substantially the same diameter. Accordingly, the thickness 4 of the housing 2 may be quite different from the measurements considered for the described embodiment. In addition, embodiments with an inner shell 3 having a shape different from a spherical shape, for example a polyhedral shape, are contemplated. The same applies to the shape of the cavity 5.

In this case, it is not excluded that the electronic card 7 has another shape, for example square, to be better compatible with the shape of the inner casing 3.

In addition, the cavity 5 may be filled with a soft sponge material, so that a protection and shock absorption function is provided to secure the safety of the inner case 2.

Alternatively, an embodiment is provided in which the entire cavity 5 is filled with the same material as the outer shell 2, leaving only the space required for the housing of the inner shell 3; whereas if the latter is made of a material different from that of the casing 2, the necessary space is left for possible lighting elements, recharging systems 10 and 12, supporting accessories 6. Furthermore, the internal frame may take another configuration than the reference panel system 6, but still remain within the support and protection area of the inner shell 3.

Furthermore, embodiments without an internal frame consisting of the accessory 6 are not excluded.

The volume of the chamber 5 may comprise an internal airtight chamber. In this case, at least one static pressure sensor is provided, distributed directly on the PCBA 7 of the device 1, capable of measuring the pressure variations of the air chamber due to impact deformations exerted on various points of the deformable surface of the casing 2 outside the device 1.

Conversely, by leaving only the space required to accommodate the inner housing 3 and the charging systems 10, 12, the volume of the cavity 5 is reduced.

Further, the LEDs for visual effects are housed in the cavity 5 or on the outer surface of the housing 2 and connected to the PCBA 7.

Furthermore, the LED is activated for each external stress applied to the deformable surface of the housing 2.

Optionally, the LED is driven by a software application installed on the remote interaction device.

Furthermore, the number and arrangement of the batteries may be different from those of the batteries 8, 9 used in the preferred embodiment.

Alternatively, the method of recharging the batteries 8, 9 may be performed by alternative solutions, for example using magnetic induction wireless power supply means.

Furthermore, it is not excluded to use a protocol different from the MIDI protocol, which allows to encode the data stream processed by the hardware interface of the invention and transmitted to the hardware interface of the remote interaction device.

Possibly, any alternative bluetooth technology may be used, for example using wireless RF (radio frequency data transmission) technology, in particular WiFi technology, but without excluding WiMax, HSPA, UMTS, GSM and other data transmission technologies. And finally, an alternative serial communication interface of the USB communication system is also arranged.

Application software programs, which replace the specific software programs designed by the present invention, can be installed in the remote interaction device. In particular, it is envisaged that other applications, including programs for audio editing, programs for visual effects, programs for interacting with interactive games, may also interact with the apparatus 1 of the present invention.

In general, any start/stop system of the application on the apparatus 1 and the remote interaction device applied to any embodiment of the invention is not excluded.

Finally, the casing 2 and/or the cavity 5 have a housing for a speaker, electrically connected to the electronic card 7 and driven by the software application of the remote interaction device.

It is understood, however, that the invention is limited to the specific arrangements shown above, which constitute only exemplary embodiments, and that various modifications are possible, all within the ability of a person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention, as defined by the following claims.