Interactive Hi-Tech doll

• US 20070128979A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: J Shackelford Associates LLC
• Original Assignee: J Shackelford Associates LLC
• Inventors: Anderson, Adam, Shackelford, Judith, Heller, Jason
• Application Number:
  US11/602,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20070128979A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 446/484
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 2200/00 Computerized interactive toys, e.g. dolls
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/001 simulating physiological processes, e.g. heartbeat, breathing or fever with fluid ingestion or emission A63H3/24
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/28 Arrangements of sound-producing means in dolls; Means in dolls for producing sounds
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/365 allowing a choice of facial features, e.g. to change the facial expression change of expression through animation A63H3/48, self-moving A63H13/005; movable eyes A63H3/40

Abstract

A high-tech doll produces human-like expressions, recognizes words, and is able to carry on a conversation with a living person, as example, addresses time based subjects, such as the food to eat at various times of the day, and expresses attitudes, emulating a living child. A child player acquires an emotional bond to the doll whilst the doll appears to bond to the child. The doll exhibits facial expressions produced concurrently with spoken words or separately to provide body language, representing emotions, such as happiness, sadness, grief, surprise, delight, curiosity, and so on, reinforcing the emulation of a living child. Additional features add to the play.

Claims

1. An interactive doll, said doll including a doll face and electronic means for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete on at least one subject with a living person, said verbal tete-a-tete being accompanied with facial expressions on the face of the doll that visually reinforce the tenor of the words spoken by the doll during said verbal tete-a-tete and/or constitute a visually expressed response to words spoken by said living person during said verbal tete-a-tete.

2. The interactive doll as defined in claim 1, wherein said interactive doll further comprises a self-contained battery powered doll.

3. The interactive doll as defined in claim 1 wherein said electronic means for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete includes:

a microphone;

a loudspeaker;

a processor for broadcasting verbal statements through said loudspeaker and for listening to verbal statements of said living person received through said microphone; and

a facial animator for producing an expression on said doll face that is indicative of a human emotion.

4. The interactive doll as defined in claim 1, wherein said at least one subject comprises a food selected for a meal.

5. The interactive self-contained battery powered doll defined in claim 3, wherein said electronic means further comprises:

a clock for keeping track of the time of day; and

wherein said subject of a food selected for a meal is automatically selected by said electronic means based in part on the time-of-day tracked by said clock.

6. An interactive doll, said doll including a doll face and a programmed electronic processor for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete on at least one subject with a living person, said verbal tete-a-tete being accompanied with facial expressions of the doll face that either visually reinforce the tenor of the words spoken by the doll during said verbal tete-a-tete with said living person or constitute a visually expressed reply to words spoken by said living person during said verbal tete-a-tete.

7. The interactive doll as defined in claim 6, further including a microphone;

and a loudspeaker; and

wherein said programmed electronic processor for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete with a living person includes;

a first circuit, coupled to said microphone, for converting received verbal statements of said living person to an electrical signal that is output from said microphone;

a second circuit, coupled to said loudspeaker, for coupling electronic signals output from said electronic processor to said loudspeaker, said electronic signals output from said electronic processor being representative of verbal statements, whereby verbal statements are broadcast through said loudspeaker; and

facial actuators for producing an expression on said doll face that is indicative of a human emotion.

8. The interactive doll defined in claim 6, wherein said at least one subject comprises a food selected for a meal.

9. The interactive doll as defined in claim 8, wherein said interactive doll further comprises a self-contained battery powered doll.

10. The interactive self-contained battery powered doll defined in claim 8, wherein said electronic processor further comprises:

clock means for keeping track of the time of day; and

wherein said subject of a food selected for a meal is selected by said electronic processor located in said doll based in part on the time-of-day tracked by said clock means.

11. An interactive doll that simulates chewing of a food product by a living creature comprising:

a doll, said doll comprising;

at least a torso and a head, said head including at least a mouth, and said mouth including at least a roof and a lower jaw;

said head further including a mouth control actuator for repetitively pivoting said lower jaw between a closed and open position to repetitively vary the size of said mouth opening between small and large to simulate chewing;

a radio frequency identification tag reader located in said roof of said mouth;

a memory for storing as digital data a chewing verbalization or sound produced by a person chewing;

a loudspeaker; and

electronic means coupled to said loudspeaker for reproducing and broadcasting through said loudspeaker said digital data concurrently with repetitive pivoting of said jaw between said open and closed positions by said mouth control actuator to both reproduce and broadcast said verbalization or sounds of a person that is chewing a food product and visually signify the act of chewing;

a controller;

said radio frequency identification tag reader for detecting the presence of a radio frequency identification tag of a simulated food product that is inserted into said mouth and supplying information in said tag to said controller; and

wherein said controller, responsive to receiving information from said tag reader, for supplying a signal to said sound reproducer and to said mouth actuator to concurrently broadcast verbalizations of chewing from said doll and produce pivoting movement of said lower jaw to simulate chewing.

12. An interactive doll that simulates the body function of excreting body waste, comprising in combination:

a doll;

a potty;

said doll including at least a torso and a head;

said head including a face and facial control actuators for changing the demeanor of said face;

said torso including a butt, and said butt including at least a radio frequency identification tag reader;

said potty including a radio frequency identification tag for identifying said potty to a radio frequency identification tag reader;

a programmed controller;

a loudspeaker coupled to said programmed controller;

said radio frequency identification tag reader for reading said radio frequency identification tag located in said potty when said doll is seated on said potty and communicating information read from said tag to said programmed controller;

said programmed controller for broadcasting through said loudspeaker a verbal notice to a player of a need to eliminate body waste;

said programmed controller for also broadcasting through said loudspeaker a sound effect of body waste being excreted, said sound effect being broadcast within a predetermined period of time following broadcast of said notice to the player, irrespective of whether or not said doll is seated on said potty;

said programmed controller further for also broadcasting through said loudspeaker a verbal message when said torso was seated on said potty at the time of occurrence of said sound effect of body waste being excreted; and

said programmed controller still further for energizing said facial control actuators to change the demeanor of said face to a demeanor that represents a person that is upset when said torso was not seated on said potty at the time of broadcast of said sound effect of body waste being excreted.

13. The interactive doll system as defined in claim 12, wherein said programmed microcontroller is also for energizing said facial control actuators to change the demeanor of said face to present a satisfied demeanor when said torso is seated on said potty at the time of broadcast of said sound effect of waste being excreted

14. An interactive electronic doll for producing and broadcasting voiced statements to a player, said doll including eyelids that blink repetitively during the broadcast of said voiced statements to simulate the naturally occurring eyelid movement of a living person during the course of speaking.

15. The interactive electronic doll as defined in claim 14, wherein said doll includes a doll head having a face, and further comprising:

a pair of eye sockets in said face;

a pair of eyeball and eyelid combinations, each said combination in said pair including a spherical member, and an axis of rotation;

a shaft in each of said eye sockets for supporting said spherical member in respective ones of said eye sockets;

each of said spherical members being mounted to a respective shaft for rotation in respective ones of said pair of eye sockets;

said face of said doll head including a mouth, said mouth including at least a lower jaw and said lower jaw being mounted to a pivot for pivoting movement;

a programmed microcontroller;

a mouth actuator for producing pivotal movement of said lower jaw responsive to energization by said microcontroller;

eyeball actuators for respectively rotating a respective one of said spherical members about a respective axis as directed by said programmed controller, either in one rotational direction to close said eyes or in an opposite rotational direction to open said eyes;

a loudspeaker coupled to said programmed microcontroller;

a sound reproducer, coupled to said loudspeaker, for reproducing and broadcasting through said loudspeaker selected verbalizations and/or sounds stored in ROM when energized by said microcontroller;

said programmed microcontroller energizing said eyeball and eyelid combination actuators to repetitively rotate said eyeball and eyelid combination to an angular position in which said eyelid lowers to cover said eye socket to simulate a closed eye, and immediately thereafter rotates that sphere in the opposite direction to lift said eyelid to a separate angular position and expose the eye to thereby produce a blink of said eye, and for concurrently energizing said sound reproducer, whereby verbalizations are broadcast through said loudspeaker, and for concurrently energizing said mouth actuator to repetitively pivot said lower jaw up and down and forward and backward to simulate speaking.

16. The interactive electronic doll as defined in claim 15, wherein

said programmed microcontroller commands said eyeball and eyelid combination actuators to produce multiple blinks of said eyes and concurrently reproduce and broadcast said voiced statements.

17. The interactive electronic doll as defined in claim 14, wherein said doll includes a doll head having a face, and further comprising:

a pair of eye sockets in said face;

a pair of eyeball and eyelid combinations, each said combination in said pair including a spherical member, an axis of rotation, an eyelid, said eyelid applied to a circumferential portion of said spherical member, and an eyeball applied to another circumferential portion of said spherical member;

a shaft in each of said eye sockets for supporting said spheres in respective eye sockets;

each of said eyeball and eyelid combinations being mounted to a respective shaft for rotation in respective ones of said pair of eye sockets;

a programmed controller;

eyeball and eyelid combination actuators for respectively rotating a respective one of said eyeball and eyelid combinations about a respective axis as directed by said controller, said rotating being in either a clockwise direction to close said eyes or in a counterclockwise direction to open said eyes;

said programmed controller energizing said eyeball and eyelid combination actuators to repetitively rotate said sphere to a angular position in which said eyelid covers said eye socket, simulating a closed eye, and immediately rotates that sphere in the opposite direction to retract said eyelid to a separate angular position for exposing the eye, to produce a simulated blink of said eye.

18. An interactive electronic doll, said doll including a electronic controller for controlling the functions performed by said doll, a loudspeaker and a microphone;

said electronic controller including;

a speaker dependent voice recognition program for enabling recognition of a player through the voice of the player, said voice recognition program for capturing a player'"'"'s voice and assigning that voice with a title or name;

said voice recognition program for

broadcasting a verbal query from said doll requesting a person in the vicinity of the doll to speak a specified word,

receiving said specified word spoken in response to said query,

producing a first voice print from said received word,

storing said first voice print in a memory, and

assigning said stored first voice print with the title or name of an individual;

said voice recognition program additionally for

generating a follow-up verbal query requesting a person to again speak said specified word;

receiving a word spoken by said person in reply to said follow-up verbal query; and

producing a second voice print of said received word; and

comparing said second voice print to said voice print stored in memory under the name or title assigned to said individual, and, if the characteristics of said second voice print are essentially the same as said voice print stored in memory, broadcasting a verbal message that includes identifying said individual by name and/or title.

19. The interactive electronic doll as defined in claim 18, wherein if the characteristics of said second voice print are not essentially the same as said voice print in memory, broadcasting a verbal message announcing that the person that produced the second voice print is not entitled to be addressed by said name and/or title of said individual assigned to said first voice print;

and wherein said assigned name or title comprises a word that is or has the same meaning of the English word “

mommy,”

whereby to define a relationship between the doll and the apparent mother of the doll.

20. An interactive electronic doll, said doll including a programmed electronic controller for controlling the functions performed by said doll, a loudspeaker and a microphone;

said programmed electronic controller including;

a speaker dependent voice recognition program for enabling recognition of a player through the voice of the player, said voice recognition program for capturing a player'"'"'s voice when voicing a specified word, assigning that voice with the title or name of an individual and recognizing the individual who again speaks the specified word when requested to do so;

a speech recognition program for enabling recognition of a set of spoken words;

a control program for initiating said speaker dependent voice recognition program to determine if the voice of the player is recognized by said speaker dependent voice recognition program, but, if not, initiating said speech recognition program and terminating said speaker dependent voice recognition program.

21. An interactive electronic doll, comprising:

a torso, a head supported on said torso, and at least one pair of appendages;

at least one of said appendages including a hand;

a loudspeaker;

a microphone;

a memory;

a programmed electronic controller for running programs stored in said memory, broadcasting verbal statements through said loudspeaker, and for listening to verbal statements of a player that are received through said microphone;

said programs defining functions carried out by said doll, including a clock program and a calendar program and a speech recognition program;

said memory further storing words and phrases in digital form;

a pressure operated switch located in said hand, wherein squeezing of said hand operates said pressure operated switch;

said programmed electronic controller monitoring the operation of said pressure operated switch to detect whether said switch is operated or not;

an interactive program for setting the initial year, month and date of said calendar program and the initial time of said clock program;

said program including the steps of;

broadcasting an instruction to the player to squeeze said hand, wherein pressure is applied to said pressure operated switch, and to release that squeeze when the correct year is broadcast from said speaker, and, thereafter,

terminating the recital of the years when said squeeze is released from said hand and placing the name of the year last recited into a memory;

broadcasting the year last recited, and requesting the player to confirm that the stage so broadcast is correct or not by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is no, repeating the immediately preceding three steps until the foregoing answer is YES;

and, when the answer to the foregoing query is yes, broadcasting an instruction to the player to squeeze said hand, wherein pressure is applied to said pressure operated switch, and to release that squeeze when the correct month of the year is broadcast from said speaker;

terminating the recital of the months of the year when said squeeze is released from said hand and placing the name of the month last recited into said memory;

broadcasting said month of the year last recited in confirmation as the month selected and requesting the player to confirm that the month so broadcast is correct or not by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is no, repeating the immediately preceding three steps until the foregoing answer is YES;

and, when the answer to the foregoing query is yes, broadcasting an instruction to the player to squeeze said hand, wherein pressure is applied to said pressure operated switch, and to release that squeeze when the correct day of the month is broadcast from said speaker, followed by broadcasting the days of the month through said loudspeaker in serial order;

terminating the recital of the days of the month when said squeeze is released from said hand and placing the day of the month last recited into a memory;

broadcasting said day of the month last recited in confirmation as the day selected and requesting the player to confirm that the day so broadcast is correct or not by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is no, repeating the immediately preceding three steps until the foregoing answer is YES;

and, if the answer is yes, broadcasting the month, day, and year stored in said memory and requesting the player to confirm that the information broadcast is correct or not by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is no, repeating the preceding steps of setting the year, month and date from the beginning until the final answer is YES;

broadcasting a statement to the player as to the positions of the small and large hands of a clock and requesting the player to confirm the correctness or not of that statement by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is no, broadcasting an instruction to the player to squeeze said hand, wherein pressure is applied to said pressure operated switch, and to release that squeeze when the correct hour of day is broadcast from said speaker, followed by broadcasting the hours of the day in serial order through said loudspeaker;

terminating the recital of the hours of the day when said squeeze is released from said hand on attainment of the current hour, removing pressure from said pressure operated switch, and placing the hour of the day that was last recited into a memory;

broadcasting an instruction to the player to squeeze said hand, wherein pressure is applied to said pressure operated switch, and to release that squeeze when the correct minutes of the day is broadcast from said speaker, and, thereafter,

broadcasting the minutes of the day in five minute increments in serial order through said loudspeaker;

terminating the recital of the minutes of the hour when said squeeze is released from said hand on attainment of the current minute closest to the five minute increment of one through twelve on the clock, removing pressure from said pressure operated switch, and placing the minute increment of the hour that was last recited into a memory;

and, either as the next step or when the answer to the foregoing query is yes, broadcasting information to the player on the meaning of AM and PM and querying the player if it is necessary to reset to the present state of the clock from one of AM or PM to the other by answering yes or no;

and, when the answer to the foregoing query is yes, broadcasting a query to the player to answer if the time of day is AM by answering yes or no;

and, if the answer is yes, placing AM in said memory, but if no, then placing PM in said memory;

then, querying the player if they wish to observe daylight savings time and requesting the player to answer yes or no.

22. The interactive electronic doll as defined in claim 21, further comprising:

storing the answer to the last named query in memory and, when the answer is yes, automatically resetting the internal clock to move forward one hour in the spring on the day that daylight savings begins, and to move the clock backwards one hour in the fall when daylight savings time ends, whereby the doll is aware of whether or not the clock is in daylight savings time, and, thereafter, automatically change the time either forward 1 hour or backwards 1 hour as is appropriate at each daylight savings time event that occurs.

23. An electronic doll comprising:

a programmed electronic microcontroller;

said programmed electronic microcontroller including programs that are run by said programmed electronic microcontroller;

a memory;

speech phrases and sound effects stored in said memory;

a loudspeaker for enabling broadcast of sounds in the immediate environment of said electronic doll;

a microphone for receiving sounds from the immediate environment for processing by said programmed electronic microcontroller;

sensors to detect the presence of a force impressed on the electronic doll and/or an object placed in contact with the electronic doll and enable said electronic microcontroller to identify the respective force or object; and

wherein said programs run by said electronic controller include at least a speech recognition program to recognize speech received via said microphone and a program for broadcasting words, phrases and sound effects through said loudspeaker;

said electronic doll further including a torso and doll head, and said doll head including a doll face; and

doll face manipulators for manipulating said doll face to produce a variety of facial expressions that portray a variety of human-like feelings, said doll face manipulators being controlled by said electronic controller to produce facial expressions, concurrently with the broadcast of words or sounds of a tenor that are not inconsistent with the emotional feelings of a living person portrayed by the respective facial expressions.

24. The electronic doll as defined in claim 23, wherein said programs run by said electronic microcontroller include a range of human emotional facial expressions and verbal responses, each of which matches the tenor of at least one of the human emotion facial expressions, which facial expressions are activated by the electronic microcontroller upon particular words or phrases spoken, or not spoken, by the player are “

heard”

, or “

not heard”

, by the electronic microcontroller by means of the microphone coupled to an analog to digital converter which sends the now digital information heard to the electronic microcontroller and which data is understood by means of the speech recognition program, and thereby causing by means of the logic programmed into the memory of the doll a particular emotional response to the reply or lack thereof of the player to a request or query that the doll made of the player;

and which particular emotional response is communicated by the doll visually, by the electronic microcontroller activating the actuators of the facial expression as set forth in the programmed logic controlling the signals of electronic microcontroller to the actuators, and audibly, by causing the electronic microcontroller to broadcasting a single or one of several verbal responses matching the tenor of the actuated human emotion facial expression, which verbal responses are stored in memory and are selected by the logic and programming of the electronic microcontroller;

wherein said reply or lack thereof of the player to a request or query that the doll made of the player is dependent on electronic microcontroller “

hearing or not hearing”

a particular verbal response anticipated by the programming logic and speech recognition program, but also detecting or not detecting other non-verbal such things as

the pressing or not pressing of a requested switch, such as asking for a hug,

the presence or lack thereof of a requested food being fed to the doll by the presence or lack of a RFID tag in the doll'"'"'s mouth which is read or not read by the RFID reader in the roof of the doll'"'"'s mouth;

being placed or not placed on the potty when the doll has expressed a need to go potty, by means of the RFID reader in the butt detecting or not detecting the RFID tag in the potty,

the requested dress or nightie by means of the RFID reader in the shoulder of the doll detecting or not detecting the correct RFID tag in the clothing or not detecting any RFID tag in any clothing in which case the doll thinks she is not dressed and becomes cold;

not being allowed to have her own way or be given what she wants, all of which and/or such things in the programming and logic within the programs in the doll, create recognizable and understandable human emotional reactions of a human child the age of the embodiment of this doll, to how the player responds verbally or physically to a verbal query or request by the doll during a tete-a-tete between the doll and the player;

or by the player not physically manipulating, putting, dressing, or in any other way handling the doll; and

wherein the said programs and associated logic run by said electronic microcontroller thus enable the player to affect the emotional state expressed visually by the doll by means of the doll changing the facial expressions and expressed verbally by the doll by means of the doll broadcasting words or sound effects that by their tenor and tone further emphasize and embellish the changing emotional state of the doll through verbal or physical interaction of the player with the doll.

25. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include an electrical switch that operates in response to a squeezing force exerted by the player.

26. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include an electrical switch located in the doll that operates in response to the doll being hugged by the player.

27. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include an electrical switch that operates when the doll is moved in position and/or turned.

28. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include a magnetic switch that operates in response to placement of a magnet in proximity to the magnetic switch.

29. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include a brush sensor located in said doll head that recognizes the sweeping of a hairbrush over said doll head.

30. The electronic doll described in claim 28, wherein said sensors include a magnetic switch located in said doll head that operates in response to the sweeping of a hairbrush over said doll head, said hairbrush including a permanent magnet.

31. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include a resistance measuring circuit for connection to an electrical resistor carried by a simulated food product in which the value of the electrical resistor identifies the particular food product.

32. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include an RFID reader for reading RFID tags that are placed in proximity to said RFID reader.

33. The electronic doll described in claim 32, wherein said doll face includes a mouth, and wherein said RFID reader is embedded in the roof of said mouth for reading RFID tags carried on simulated food objects that are placed inside said mouth.

34. The electronic doll described in claim 32, wherein said RFID reader is embedded in the butt of said doll torso for reading an RFID tag carried on a simulated toilet accessory.

35. The electronic doll described in claim 32, wherein said RFID reader is embedded in the upper back of the doll torso for reading an RFID tag carried in an article of clothing worn on the doll.

36. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said sensors include:

a first electrical switch that operates in response to a squeezing force exerted by the player;

a second electrical switch located in the doll that operates in response to the doll being hugged by the player;

a third electrical switch that operates when the doll is moved in position and/or turned;

a first magnetic switch that operates in response to placement of a magnet in proximity to the magnetic switch;

a second magnetic switch located in said doll head that operates in response to the sweeping of a hairbrush over said doll head, said hairbrush including a permanent magnet;

a first RFID reader for reading RFID tags carried by simulated food objects that are placed inside the mouth of said doll face;

a second RFID reader for reading an RFID tag carried on a simulated toilet accessory; and

a third RFID reader for reading an RFID tag carried in an article of clothing worn on the doll.

37. The electronic doll described in claim 23, wherein said programs includes means for enabling the doll to conduct a conversational tete-a-tete with a player on the subject of a simulated food object placed in the mouth of the doll.

38. A self-contained battery-powered interactive electronic doll in the form of a female child, said doll including:

a head;

a torso;

a pair of arms carried by said torso, each of said arms having a hand at the distal end of the arm;

a programmed electronic microcontroller;

stored speech phrases of the kind typically spoken by a female child; and

sound effects;

a speaker coupled to the microcontroller to enable the doll to broadcast appropriate verbalizations in the immediate environment by means of which the doll asks questions of and/or prompts the player to speak aloud one of several particular answers, word(s) or phrases that the doll anticipates the player will speak;

a microphone for picking up audible sounds and words propagating in the immediate environment of the doll and supplying those sounds and words to said electronic microcontroller;

speech recognition technology controlled by said controller that enables the doll so recognize certain spoken words received through said microphone;

a plurality of sensors carried by the doll, said sensors including;

an RFID reader embedded in the mouth of the doll for reading RFID tags that contained in simulated food objects that are placed inside the mouth of the doll to identify the respective simulated food object;

an RFID reader embedded in the back side of the doll for reading RFID tags carried on clothing worn by the doll to identify the respective article of clothing worn by the doll; and

an RFID reader embedded in the butt of the doll for reading RFID tags carried on utilitarian objects on which the doll may be seated to identify the respective object on which the doll is seated;

a first pressure operated electrical switch carried in a hand of the doll that operates in response to a squeezing force exerted on the hand by the player;

a second pressure operated electrical switch located in the doll that operates in response to the player hugging the doll;

a third electrical switch that operates in response to movement of the doll in position and/or rotation;

a magnetic switch located in said doll head that operates in response to the sweeping of a hairbrush over said doll head, said hairbrush including a permanent magnet;

said head including a doll face;

said programmed electronic processor further for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete with a living person on at least on the subject of a simulated food object placed in the mouth of the doll, said verbal tete-a-tete being accompanied with facial expressions of the doll face that either visually reinforce the tenor of the words spoken by the doll during said verbal tete-a-tete with said living person or constitute a visually expressed reply to words spoken by said living person during said verbal tete-a-tete;

a doll face manipulator operated by said programmed electronic controller for manipulating the face of the doll to produce a variety of facial expressions that portray human-like feelings and to produce those expressions concurrently with the utterance by the doll of words or sounds of a tenor not inconsistent with the feelings portrayed by the respective facial expression; and

wherein said program for said doll includes program means for enabling the doll to conduct a conversational tete-a-tete with a player at least on the subject of a simulated food object placed in the mouth of the doll.

a clock-calendar for keeping track of the time of day and date; and

wherein said subject of a food selected for a meal is selected by said electronic processor located in said doll based in part on the time-of-day tracked by said clock means;

a pair of eye sockets in said face;

a pair of eyeball and eyelid combinations, each said combination in said pair including a spherical member, an axis of rotation, an eyelid, said eyelid applied to a circumferential portion of said spherical member, and an eyeball applied to another circumferential portion of said spherical member;

a shaft in each of said eye sockets for supporting said spherical member in respective ones of said eye sockets;

each of said eyeball and eyelid combinations being mounted to a respective shaft for rotation in respective ones of said pair of eye sockets;

said face of said doll head including a mouth, said mouth including at least a lower jaw and said lower jaw being mounted to a pivot for pivoting movement;

a mouth actuator for producing pivotal movement of said lower jaw responsive to energization by said controller; and

eyeball and eyelid combination actuators for respectively rotating a respective one of said eyeball and eyelid combinations about a respective axis as directed by said programmed controller, either in one rotational direction to close said eyes or in an opposite rotational direction to open said eyes;

said programmed controller energizing said eyeball and eyelid combination actuators to repetitively rotate said eyeball and eyelid combination to a angular position in which said eyelid covers said eye socket to simulate a closed eye, and immediately thereafter rotates that sphere in the opposite direction to retract said eyelid to a separate angular position and expose the eye to produce a blink of said eye, and for concurrently energizing said sound reproducer, whereby verbalizations are broadcast through said loudspeaker, and for concurrently energizing said mouth actuator to repetitively pivot said lower jaw up and down while said lower jaw is pivoting back and forth to simulate speaking.

39. A doll, said doll including a head and a face on said head and a microcontroller for manipulating the appearance of said face to present at least the appearance of a happy child and, alternatively the appearance of a person who is emotionally saddened, for initiating verbal requests and for recognizing if a player verbally responds to a request with a positive or negative response, wherein said microcontroller in response to recognizing a negative response from a player following the issuance of a verbal request to the player produces said emotionally saddened appearance, whereby the player feels that the player has emotionally hurt the doll.

40. An interactive doll, said doll including a doll face and electronic means for initiating and conducting a verbal tete-a-tete on at least one subject with a living person, with said living person'"'"'s verbal responses to a query by said doll in the verbal tete-a-tete causing said doll to express facial expressions that are visually recognizable as human emotions and feelings communicated by particular configurations of the brows, eyes, eyelids, cheeks, mouth, and lips.

41. The interactive doll as defined in claim 40, wherein the facial expression in response to words spoken by said living person to a query by said doll create particular feelings in said human towards said doll because of said doll'"'"'s visual expression of doll'"'"'s feelings to said human regarding said human'"'"'s responses during said verbal tete-a-tete.

42. The interactive doll as defined in claim 41, wherein the feelings in said human towards said doll as verbal tete-a-tete continues become one of bonding with said doll with mothering and nurturing feelings, which feelings increase exponentially and said human is able to create the appearance of feelings in said doll towards said human, i.e., the human'"'"'s ability to see increasing feelings of love and happiness or surprise or sadness in said doll caused by said humans response to and interaction with said doll;

and in turn the human'"'"'s ability to feel increasing feelings of love and happiness and concern for said doll'"'"'s well being and happiness and contentment.

43. A doll and simulated food product combination that recognizes the simulated food product being fed to the doll selected from amongst multiple simulated food products, comprising in combination:

a plurality of different simulated food products, each of said food products including a respective RFID tag identifying the respective food product;

a doll torso and a doll head;

said doll head including a mouth for receiving a simulated food product selected from amongst said plurality of different simulated food products and inserted in said mouth by a player;

a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) tag reader located in said doll;

a loudspeaker; and

a controller;

said RFID tag reader for wirelessly detecting the presence of an RFID tag of a simulated food product inserted into said doll mouth and receiving information from said RFID tag and supplying that information in said RFID tag to said controller;

said controller, responsive to receiving information from said RFID tag reader, for supplying output to said loudspeaker to broadcast information to the player relating to at least one food product.

44. The electronic doll described in claim 43, wherein said doll mouth includes a mouth roof, and wherein said RFID reader is embedded in said mouth roof for reading an RFID tag carried on a simulated food object that is placed inside said mouth.

45. An electronic doll comprising:

a torso and doll head;

a programmed electronic microcontroller, said programmed electronic microcontroller including programs that are run by said programmed electronic microcontroller and a memory;

at least one RFID tag sensor carried by said torso for wirelessly detecting the presence of an RFID tagged object placed in proximity to said tag sensor and receiving information therefrom and identifying that object to said electronic microcontroller; and

a plurality of articles, each respective article including a respective RFID tag identifying the respective article;

said RFID tag sensor wirelessly receiving information from any of said RFID tags placed in proximity to said tag sensor by a player.

46. The electronic doll as defined in claim 45, wherein said plurality of articles comprise a plurality of articles of clothing adapted to fit on said torso, each respective article including a respective RFID tag identifying the respective article, said RFID tag being placed in proximity to said RFID tag sensor when the article is placed on said torso by said player, whereby said electronic microcontroller receives information identifying that article.

47. The electronic doll as defined in claim 46, wherein said RFID tag sensor is embedded in the upper back of said torso of said doll.

48. The electronic doll as defined in claim 45, wherein said RFID tag sensor is embedded in said head of said doll, and wherein said articles comprise head-mounted articles, including head coverings and hair accessories.

49. The electronic doll as defined in claim 45, wherein said doll further comprises a pair of doll legs attached to said torso, and respective doll feet attached to respective ones of said doll legs;

wherein said RFID tag reader is carried in at least one of said doll feet; and

wherein said articles comprise shoes to fit on said respective doll feet.