INTERACTIVE TOY AND ENTERTAINMENT DEVICE

• US 20100167623A1
• Filed: 04/30/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Eyzaguirre, Adrianna Maria, Hodges, Peter John
• Granted Patent: US 8,636,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 446/330
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/00 Other toys
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied

Abstract

An entertainment system comprises an entertainment device and an interactive toy. The entertainment device comprises a wireless receiver arranged in operation to receive data descriptive of the physical capabilities of an interactive toy from an interactive toy, processing means to generate interaction signals, and a wireless transmitter arranged in operation to transmit interaction signals to the interactive toy, and in which the generated interaction signals are responsive to the data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy. The interactive toy comprises a wireless receiver arranged in operation to receive a query signal requesting information about physical capabilities of the interactive toy, data provision means for providing data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy, and a wireless transmitter arranged in operation to transmit the data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy in response to the query signal. The entertainment device is arranged in operation to transmit interactive control data to the interactive toy responsive to media content being played by the entertainment device, the interactive control data being further responsive to physical capabilities of the recipient interactive toy previously transmitted from the interactive toy to the entertainment system.

Claims

1. An entertainment device comprising:

a wireless receiver arranged in operation to receive data descriptive of the physical capabilities of an interactive toy from the interactive toy;

a processor to generate interaction signals; and

a wireless transmitter arranged in operation to transmit interaction signals to the interactive toy;

in which

the generated interaction signals are responsive to the data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy.

2. An entertainment device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage medium reader for reading media content and supplementary data from a storage medium; and

a media content player for generating a video signal for display by a display;

wherein

the generated interaction signals are based upon some or all of the supplementary data.

3. An entertainment device according to claim 1, in which the generated interaction signals are further responsive to one or more selected from the list consisting of:

i. the target age-range of a user of the interactive toy;

ii. a licensing type of the interactive toy;

iii. a personality type of the interactive toy;

iv. the apparent gender of the toy;

v. the apparent age of the toy;

vi. the name of the toy; and

vii. the physical appearance of the toy.

12. An entertainment device according to claim 1, and comprising:

a storage medium reader for reading media content and associated supplementary data from a storage medium;

a media content player for generating a video signal for display by a display; and

a processor to generate data signals from the supplementary data; and

in which;

the entertainment device is arranged in operation to transmit the generated data signals to an interactive toy when in a communication mode with the interactive toy, and in which the data is responsive to the data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy received from the interactive toy and is for use by the interactive toy when it is no longer in communication with the entertainment device.

14. An entertainment device according to claim 1, comprising:

a storage medium reader for reading media content data from a storage medium;

a media content player for generating a video signal for display by a display; and

a processor arranged in operation to interpret data signals from the interactive toy to control one or more aspects of operation of the media content player; and

in which

the processor is operable to establish a mapping of control commands to some or all of the available sensors of the interactive toy responsive to the data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy as previously transmitted to the entertainment device by the interactive toy.

17. An entertainment system comprising an entertainment device in accordance with claim 1 and an interactive toy in accordance with claim 4, in which the entertainment device is arranged in operation to transmit interactive control data to the interactive toy responsive to media content being played by the entertainment device, the interactive control data being further responsive to physical capabilities of the recipient interactive toy previously transmitted from the interactive toy to the entertainment system.

18. An entertainment system according to claim 17 in which the media content is stored on a media disk further comprising supplementary data providing interactive control instructions.

19. An entertainment system according to claim 17 in which the media content is stored on a media disk, and the supplementary data is stored on a storage device of the entertainment device, the control data being associated with the media content of the media disk by a disk identification value determined from the media disk.

20. An entertainment system according to claim 17 in which the control data is further associated with the media content of the media disk by a time stamp associated with the media content.

21. An entertainment system according to claim 17, in which the media content comprises one or more selected from the list consisting of:

i. a one or more segments of video media; and

ii. a computer program executable by the entertainment device.

28. A data carrier comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer cause the computer to operate as an entertainment device according to claim 1.

4. An interactive toy comprising:

a wireless receiver arranged in operation to receive a query signal requesting information about physical capabilities of the interactive toy;

a data provider for providing data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy;

a wireless transmitter arranged in operation to transmit the data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy in response to the query signal;

a memory for storing data received from the entertainment device; and

a processor for generating behaviors of the interactive toy according to stored data;

in which;

the data received when the interactive toy is in a communication mode with the entertainment device relates to media content currently accessed by the entertainment device and is responsive to the data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy previously transmitted to the entertainment device by the interactive toy.

5. An interactive toy according to claim 4, in which the physical capabilities of the interactive toy comprise one or more selected from the list consisting of:

i. motion of specified limbs or appendages;

ii. motion of torso;

iii. motion of head;

iv. motion of mouth;

v. motion of eyes;

vi. motion of ears;

vii. vibration motion;

viii. motion of wheels;

ix. release of liquid;

x. sense of pressure;

xi. sense of hearing;

xii. motion detection;

xiii. voice recognition;

xiv. speech recognition;

xv. sense of light;

xvi. image acquisition;

xvii. user recognition;

xviii. reproduction of audio samples;

xix. reproduction of midi data;

xx. speech synthesis;

xxi. activation of lights integral to the toy;

xxii. physical memory size; and

xxiii. processing power.

6. An interactive toy according to claim 4, further operable to provide to the entertainment device a licensing type of the interactive toy, comprising one or more selected from the list consisting of:

i. being able to interact with any suitably enabled media content;

ii. being able to interact only with suitably enabled media content from a specified region;

iii. being able to interact only with suitably enabled media content of a specified producer; and

iv. being able to interact only with suitably enabled media content featuring a specified character.

7. An interactive toy according to claim 4, in which the data provider comprises a memory on which the data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy are stored.

8. An interactive toy according to claim 4, comprising a memory for storage of one or more selected from the list consisting of:

i. audio data;

ii. motion control data; and

iii. executable data

received by the wireless receiver from an entertainment device.

9. An interactive toy according to claim 4, comprising:

a memory for storing one or more graphical representations of the toy itself;

the toy being operable to transmit one or more graphical representations of the toy itself to the entertainment device.

10. An interactive toy according to claim 9, in which the memory further comprises image map information associating sensor inputs, motor functions, and/or other available output functions with regions of one or more graphical representations of the interactive toy, and the interactive toy is arranged in operation to transmit the image map information to the entertainment device.

13. An interactive toy according to claim 4, in which:

the data received affects the subsequent behavior of the interactive toy after the interactive toy is no longer in the communication mode with the entertainment device.

15. An interactive toy according to claim 4, comprising:

one or more sensors for detecting user interactions with the interactive toy; and

in which

the wireless transmitter transmits a signal identifying a detection event detected by a sensor to an entertainment device so as to provide a control input to the entertainment device.

16. An interactive toy according to claim 15, and comprising:

a processor for interpreting detected actions as control commands; and

in which

the wireless receiver is operable to receive configuration data from an entertainment device, the configuration data providing a mapping of control commands to sensors on the interactive toy for use during interpretation by the processor.

29. A data carrier comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer cause the computer to operate as an interactive toy according to claim 4.

11. An interactive toy comprising:

a wireless receiver for receiving data from an entertainment device,

a data provider for providing data descriptive of the physical capabilities of the interactive toy; and

a processor for comparing sections of data received from the entertainment device with capabilities of the interactive toy, and in which;

the received data comprises data sections tagged as being compatible with one or more physical capabilities of the interactive toy, the toy not responding to those data sections whose tags do not correspond with physical capabilities of the interactive toy.

22. A method of interaction between an entertainment device and an interactive toy, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a wireless communication link between the entertainment device and the interactive toy;

sending a data request from the entertainment device to the interactive toy via the communication link;

providing data descriptive of capabilities of the interactive toy for transmission;

sending data descriptive of capabilities of the interactive toy from the interactive toy to the entertainment device via the communications link; and

generating one or more interaction control signals for transmission to the interactive toy via the communication link; and

in which;

the one or more interaction control signals are responsive to the capabilities of the interactive toy.

23. A method according to claim 22, in which the step of establishing a wireless communication link between the entertainment device and the interactive toy comprises in turn the step of determining a valid identity of the interactive toy.

24. A method in accordance with claim 22, and comprising the steps of:

obtaining supplementary data associated with media content mounted on the entertainment device;

sending supplementary data from the entertainment device to the interactive toy via the communication link, the supplementary data transmitted by the entertainment device being responsive to the data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy transmitted to the entertainment device;

storing the supplementary data in a memory of the interactive toy;

closing the communication link; and

processing stored data to generate behaviors of the interactive toy;

in which the supplementary data received by the interactive toy affects subsequent behavior of the interactive toy.

25. A method in accordance with claim 22, comprising the steps of:

detecting one or more interactions of a user with the interactive toy through one or more sensors of the interactive toy;

mapping sensor activations to control commands in a manner responsive to the data descriptive of the capabilities of the interactive toy in order to interpret the detected interactions as one or more commands corresponding to functions of the entertainment device; and

controlling the entertainment device in accordance with the one or more commands.

26. A method according to claim 25, in which the mapping is established by the entertainment device.

27. A method according to claim 25, in which the mapping is established by the interactive toy.

30. A data carrier comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computer cause the computer to carry out the method of claim 22.