Smart card enhanced toys and games
First Claim
1. A recreational device comprising:
- a smart card;
a smart-card interface unit adapted to be connected to a network, and to record on said smart card information received over said network; and
a portable device comprising;
an input device operable by a user;
an output device adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
a controller adapted to cause the signaling unit to produce a selected one of a plurality of outputs in response to operation of the control; and
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card and to read information determining said outputs from said smart card.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A toy such as a talking doll or a random outcome generator for board games selects at random one of a repertoire of outputs. The outputs may be read from a smart card, or from an internal memory that was previously loaded from a smart card. Preferably, the toy is under control of a microprocessor embedded in the smart card. A portable educational or game-playing device presents information and prompts to a user using stored data, and receives the user'"'"'s responses. A new repertoire of outputs may be downloaded onto the smart card over the internet. For game-playing, education, or other structured activities, the portable device records the user'"'"'s progress onto the smart card. The network server then downloads only data appropriate for the next stage of education or game-play.
-
Citations
66 Claims
-
1. A recreational device comprising:
-
a smart card;
a smart-card interface unit adapted to be connected to a network, and to record on said smart card information received over said network; and
a portable device comprising;
an input device operable by a user;
an output device adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
a controller adapted to cause the signaling unit to produce a selected one of a plurality of outputs in response to operation of the control; and
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card and to read information determining said outputs from said smart card. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 49)
-
-
16. A method of using a recreational device, comprising the steps of:
-
a) providing a portable device capable of displaying various behaviors using stored data, and equipped with a smart card reader capable of reading such data from a smart card;
b) providing a smart card capable of storing and transmitting electronic data;
c) providing a server carrying such data and accessible over a network;
d) providing a smart card reader/writer capable of writing said data onto said smart card;
e) establishing a communication link over said network between said reader/writer and said smart card;
f) selecting data for transmission from said server to said smart card;
g) reading said selected data from said server;
h) writing said selected data to said smart card using said smart card reader/writer;
i) removing said smart card from said reader/writer and inserting it into said reader of said portable device;
j) reading said selected data from said smart card; and
k) operating said portable device to display said behaviors using said selected data. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 57)
-
-
25. A portable recreational device comprising:
-
a control operable by a user;
a signaling unit adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card and to read information from said smart card; and
a controller responsive to operation of the control to cause the signaling unit to produce a substantially randomly selected one of a plurality of outputs using the said information. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
33. A method of education, comprising the steps of:
-
a) providing a portable device capable of presenting information using stored data and accepting inputs from a user, and equipped with a smart card reader capable of reading such data from a smart card and of writing data to a smart card;
b) presenting information and prompts to a user by means of said portable device using said stored data;
c) accepting inputs from a user responsive to such prompts by means of said portable device, and recording status information related to said responsive inputs;
d) determining from said status information by means of said portable device when new stored data is to be procured for said portable device;
e) providing a smart card capable of storing and transmitting electronic data;
f) providing a server carrying such data and accessible over a network;
g) providing a smart card reader/writer capable of writing said data onto said smart card;
h) establishing a communication link over said network between said reader/writer and said smart card;
i) transmitting from said smart card to said server status data previously written to said smart card by said portable device;
j) selecting data for transmission from said server to said smart card in response to said transmitted status data;
k) transmitting said selected data from said server to said smart card;
l) removing said smart card from said reader/writer and inserting it into said reader of said portable device;
m) reading said selected data from said smart card; and
n) operating said portable device using said selected data. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
-
42. A recreational device comprising:
-
a smart card;
a smart-card writer adapted to be connected to a network, and to record on said smart card information received over said network; and
a portable device comprising;
an output device adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
an input device adapted to receive input from the user;
a controller adapted to cause the signaling unit to display information and prompts to the user using stored data, to receive inputs from the user in responsive to such prompts, and to record status information relating to such responses; and
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card, to read from said smart card, and to write status information to said smart card. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50)
-
-
51. A portable educational device comprising:
-
an output device adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
an input device adapted to receive input from the user;
a controller adapted to cause the output device to display information and prompts to the user using stored data, to receive inputs from the user in responsive to such prompts, and to record status information relating to such responses; and
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card, to read from said smart card, and to write status information to said smart card. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
-
-
58. A portable game-playing device comprising:
-
an output device adapted to produce outputs perceptible by the user;
an input device adapted to receive input from the user;
a controller adapted to cause the output device to display a current state of a game to the user using stored data, to receive inputs from the user in responsive to the displayed state of the game, to update the state of the game in response to such inputs, and to record status information relating to such responses; and
a smart-card reader adapted to receive a smart card, to read from said smart card, and to write status information to said smart card. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
-
Specification