I*doll

• US 20010021669A1
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Published: 09/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1995
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Creator Limited
• Original Assignee: Creator Limited
• Inventors: Cohen, Moshe, Sandlerman, Nimrod, Gabai, Oz, Gabai, Jacob
• Application Number:
  US09/742,174
• Publication Number:
  US 20010021669A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/39
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2433 Voice-actuated
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2489 by radio transmitters, e.g. using RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1025 details of the interface with the game device, e.g. USB version detection
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 2200/00 Computerized interactive toys, e.g. dolls
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/28 Arrangements of sound-producing means in dolls; Means in dolls for producing sounds
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission

Abstract

Apparatus for a wireless computer controlled toy system is disclosed, the apparatus including a computer system operative to transmit a first transmission via a first wireless transmitter and at least one toy including a first wireless receiver, the toy receiving the first transmission via the first wireless receiver and operative to carry out at least one action based on said first transmission. A method for controlling the toy system is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A wireless computer controlled toy system comprising:

a computer system operative to transmit a first transmission via a first wireless transmitter; and

at least one toy comprising a first wireless receiver, said toy receiving said first transmission via said first wireless receiver and operative to carry out at least one action based on said first transmission.

2. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the computer system comprises a computer game.

3. A system according to

claim 2

wherein the first transmission comprises a control command chosen from a plurality of available control commands based, at least in part, on a result of operation of the computer game.

4. A system according to

claim 1

wherein said at least one toy is operative to transmit a second transmission via a second wireless transmitter and wherein the computer system is operative to receive the second transmission via a second wireless receiver.

5. A system according to

claim 4

wherein operation of the computer system is controlled, at least in part, by the second transmission.

6. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one action comprises movement of the toy.

7. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one action comprises movement of a part of the toy.

8. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one action comprises output of a sound.

9. A system according to

claim 8

wherein the sound comprises music.

10. A system according to

claim 8

wherein the sound comprises a pre-recorded sound.

11. A system according to

claim 8

wherein the sound comprises speech.

12. A system according to

claim 11

wherein the speech comprises recorded speech.

13. A system according to

claim 11

wherein the speech comprises synthesized speech.

14. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one toy comprises a plurality of toys.

15. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one action comprises a plurality of actions.

16. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the first transmission comprises a digital signal.

17. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the first transmission comprises an analog signal.

18. A system according to

claim 17

wherein the analog signal comprises sound.

19. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the at least one toy has a plurality of states comprising at least a sleep state and an awake state, and wherein the first transmission comprises a state transition command, and wherein the at least one action comprises transitioning between the sleep state and the awake state.

20. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the computer system has a plurality of states comprising at least a sleep state and an awake state, and

wherein the second transmission comprises a state transition command, and

wherein the computer is operative, upon receiving the second transmission, to transition between the sleep state and the awake state.

21. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the second transmission comprises toy identification data, and

wherein the computer system is operative to identify the at least one toy based, at least in part, on the toy identification data.

22. A system according to

claim 21

wherein the computer system is operative to adapt a mode of operation thereof based, at least in part, on the toy identification data.

23. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the at least one toy comprises sound input apparatus,

wherein the second transmission comprises a sound signal which represents a sound input via the sound input apparatus.

24. A system according to

claim 23

wherein the sound comprises speech,

wherein the computer system is operative to perform a speech recognition operation on the speech.

44. A system according to

claim 1

wherein the computer system comprises a plurality of computers.

47. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the second transmission comprises a digital signal.

48. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the second transmission comprises an analog signal.

51. A system according to

claim 4

and also comprising at least one input device and wherein said second transmission includes a status of said at least one input device.

52. A system according to

claim 21

wherein the first transmission comprises toy identification data.

53. A method according to

claim 44

wherein the first transmission comprises computer identification data.

55. A method according to

claim 44

wherein the second transmission comprises computer identification data.

57. A system according to

claim 16

wherein the computer system comprises a computer having a MIDI port and wherein the computer is operative to transmit the digital signal by way of the MIDI port.

58. A system according to

claim 8

wherein the sound is transmitted using a MIDI protocol.

59. A system according to

claim 23

wherein the computer system is operative to record the sound signal.

60. A system according to

claim 59

wherein the computer system is also operative to perform at least one of the following actions:

manipulate the sound signal; and

play the sound signal.

61. A system according to

claim 5

wherein the computer system comprises a computer game, and

wherein operation of the computer game is controlled, at least in part, by the second transmission.

62. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the at least one toy comprises at least a first toy and a second toy, and

wherein the first toy is operative to transmit a toy-to-toy transmission to the second toy via said second wireless transmitter, and

wherein the second toy is operative to carry out at least one action based on said toy-to-toy transmission.

63. A system according to any of claims 1-24 wherein said first wireless transmitter comprises at least one multi-channel wireless transmitters each operative to transmit over a different one of a plurality of channels.

64. A system according to

claim 63

wherein said at least one toy comprises a plurality of toys and wherein said at least one multi-channel wireless transmitter comprises a plurality of multi-channel wireless transmitters, thereby to provide simultaneous communication with each of the plurality of toys.

65. A system according to any of claims 1-24 wherein said first wireless receiver comprises at least one multi-channel wireless receiver each operative to receive over a selected one of a plurality of channels.

66. A system according to

claim 4

wherein the first and second transmitters transmit over first and second channels respectively and the first and second receivers receive over said first and second channels respectively, thereby to provide full duplex communication between the computer system and the toy.

67. A system according to

claim 64

wherein said computer system is operative to carry out a plurality of programs simultaneously, wherein said plurality of programs comprises a plurality of computer games respectively manipulating said plurality of toys via said plurality of channels.

68. A system according to

claim 63

wherein said computer system is operative to transmit over at least one individual channel from among the plurality of channels only after previously identifying that the individual channel is available, thereby to allow simultaneous operation of more than one computer system.

69. A system according to

claim 64

wherein said plurality of channels comprises at least one control channel over which the computer system communicates with each of the plurality of toys in order to assign individual toys to individual channels from among said plurality of channels.

70. A system according to any of claims 1-24 wherein said computer system comprises a toy-computer proximity detector operative to detect proximity of the toy and the computer.

71. A system according to

claim 4

wherein said proximity detector includes a radio energy level determining subsystem operative to determine the level of energy at which said second transmission arrives at the computer system.

72. A system according to

claim 4

wherein said proximity detector includes an ultra-sonic receiver associated with one of the toy and the computer system and an ultra-sonic transmitter associated with the other one of the toy and the computer system.

73. A system according to any of claims 1-24 wherein the computer system is in communication with a remote game server operative to serve at least a portion of at least one toy-operating game which operates said at least one toy and wherein said computer system is operative to receive at least a portion of said at least one toy-operating game from said remote game server.

74. A system according to

claim 73

wherein at least a portion of said game is received from said remote game server off-line, before the game is played.

75. A system according to

claim 73

wherein said computer system is operative to receive at least a portion of said at least one toy-operating game from said remote game server on-line as the game is being played.

76. A system according to any of claims 73-75 wherein said portion of said game comprises at least one of the following game portions:

a toy action script; and

a sound file.

77. A system according to

claim 1

wherein said first wireless transmitter resides in an additional toy controllable by the computer system via wire, said wireless transmitter being connected via wire to said computer system.

83. A system according to any of claims 73-75 wherein said portion of said game comprises a text file and wherein said computer system comprises a text-to-speech converter operative to convert said text file to a speech file for transmission to the toy via said first wireless transmitter.

84. A system according to

claim 73

wherein the computer system is in communication with the remote game server via the Internet.

25. A game system comprising:

a computer system operative to control a computer game and having a display operative to display at least one display object; and

at least one toy in wireless communication with said computer system,

wherein the computer game comprises a plurality of game objects, and

wherein the plurality of game objects comprises the at least one display object and the at least one toy.

26. A game system according to

claim 25

wherein the at least one toy is operative to transmit toy identification data to the computer system, and

wherein the computer system is operative to adapt a mode of operation of the computer game based, at least in part, on the toy identification data.

45. A system according to

claim 25

wherein the computer system comprises a plurality of computers.

54. A method according to

claim 45

wherein the first transmission comprises computer identification data.

56. A method according to

claim 45

wherein the second transmission comprises computer identification data.

27. A data transmitter comprising:

first wireless apparatus comprising musical instrument data interface (MIDI) apparatus operative to receive and transmit MIDI data between a first wireless and a first MIDI device; and

second wireless apparatus comprising MIDI apparatus operative to receive and transmit MIDI data between a second wireless and a second MIDI device,

wherein the first wireless apparatus is operative to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the first MIDI device to the second wireless apparatus, and to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the second wireless apparatus to the first MIDI device, and

wherein the second wireless apparatus is operative to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the second MIDI device to the first wireless apparatus, and to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the first wireless apparatus to the second MIDI device.

28. A data transmitter according to

claim 27

and also comprising a plurality of MIDI devices,

wherein the second wireless apparatus comprises a plurality of wirelesses each respectively associated with one of the plurality of MIDI devices, and

wherein each of the second plurality of wirelesses is operative to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the associated MIDI device to the first wireless apparatus, and to transmit MIDI data comprising data received from the first wireless apparatus to the associated MIDI device.

29. Apparatus according to

claim 27

wherein the first MIDI device comprises a computer.

30. Apparatus according to

claim 27

wherein the second MIDI device comprises a toy.

31. Apparatus according to

claim 27

wherein the first wireless apparatus also comprises analog interface apparatus operative to receive and transmit analog signals between the first wireless and a first analog device, and wherein

the second wireless apparatus also comprises analog interface apparatus operative to receive and transmit analog signals between the second wireless and a second analog device, and

wherein the first wireless apparatus is also operative to transmit analog signals comprising signals received from the first analog device to the second wireless apparatus, and to transmit analog signal comprising signals received from the second wireless apparatus to the first analog device, and

wherein the second wireless apparatus is also operative to transmit analog signals comprising signals received from the second analog device to the first wireless apparatus, and to transmit analog signals comprising data received from the first wireless apparatus to the second analog device.

32. A method for generating control instructions for a wireless computer controlled toy system, the method comprising:

selecting a toy;

selecting at least one command from among a plurality of commands associated with the toy; and

generating control instructions for the toy comprising said at least one command.

33. A method according to

claim 32

wherein the step of selecting at least one command comprises:

choosing a command; and

specifying at least one control parameter associated with said chosen command.

34. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said at least one control parameter comprises at least one condition depending on a result of a previous command.

35. A method according to

claim 32

wherein at least one of the step of selecting a toy and the step of selecting at least one command comprises utilizing a graphical user interface.

36. A method according to

claim 34

wherein said previous command comprises a previous command associated with a second toy.

37. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said at least one control parameter comprises an execution condition controlling execution of said command.

38. A method according to

claim 37

wherein said execution condition comprises a time at which to perform said command.

39. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said execution condition comprises a time at which to cease performing said command.

40. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said execution condition comprises a status of said toy.

41. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said at least one control parameter comprises a command modifier modifying execution of the command.

42. A method according to

claim 33

wherein said at least one control parameter comprises a condition dependent on a future event.

43. A method according to

claim 32

wherein said at least one command comprises a command to cancel a previous command.

79. A method according to

claim 32

and also comprising transmitting said control instructions to said toy.

46. A signal transmitter for use in conjunction with a computer, the transmitter comprising:

a wireless transmitter; and

a signal processor comprising at least one of the following;

an analog/digital sound converter operative to convert analog sound signals to digital sound signals, to convert digital sound signals to analog sound signals, and to transmit said signals between the computer and a sound device using said wireless transmitter;

a peripheral control interface operative to transmit control signals between the computer and a peripheral device using said wireless transmitter, and

a MIDI interface operative to transmit MIDI signals between the computer and a MIDI device using said wireless transmitter.

49. A computer system comprising:

a computer;

a sound card operatively attached to the computer and having a MIDI connector and at least one analog connecter; and

a wireless transceiver operatively connected to the sound card,

wherein the computer is operative to transmit digital signals by means of the MIDI connector and to transmit analog signals by means of the at least one analog connector.

50. A system according to

claim 49

and wherein the computer is also operative to receive digital signals by means of the MIDI connector and to receive analog signals by means of the at least one analog connector.

78. A wireless toy system comprising:

at least one toy comprising a first wireless receiver;

a network computer in communication with a remote game serving computer network;

wherein the game serving computer network is operative to serve onto the network computer at least a portion of at least one toy-operating game which operates said at least one toy and wherein said network computer comprises a first wireless transmitter operative to transmit a first transmission to said first wireless receiver, and wherein said toy is operative to carry out at least one action based on said first transmission.

80. A MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) method for operating a radio controlled device, the method comprising:

providing a computer system and a radio interface interfacing between the computer system and the radio controlled device; and

transmitting MIDI control commands and sound between the computer system and the radio interface via a connector of the computer system which is governed by the MIDI protocol.

81. A method for operating a radio controlled device, the method comprising:

providing a computer system and a radio interface interfacing between the computer and the radio controlled device; and

transmitting control commands and sound between the computer system and the radio interface via a serial port of the computer system.

82. A method for operating a radio controlled device, the method comprising:

providing a computer system and a radio interface interfacing between the computer and the radio controlled device; and

transmitting control commands and sound between the computer system and the radio interface via a parallel port of the computer system.

85. An advertising system comprising:

a computer-controlled toy located at a user location and operative to present advertisement bulletins responsive to a control command;

a computer controlling the toy and associated with a network and operative to generate the control command; and

advertisement server apparatus associated with the network and downloading advertisement bulletins to the computer.

86. A system according to

claim 85

and also comprising said network and wherein said network comprises Internet.

87. A system according to

claim 85

wherein the toy comprises a physical toy.

88. A computerized toy updating subscription system operative in association with a network, the system comprising:

a multiplicity of computerized toys associated with a network; and

a toy updater associated with the network and operative to periodically send toy updates out to the multiplicity of computerized toys.

89. A system according to

claim 88

wherein the toy updater is operative substantially without periodic intervention of the human users of the multiplicity of toys.