SELECTING INFRARED TRANSMISSION MODES BASED ON USER ACTIONS

• US 20170128851A1
• Filed: 11/06/2015
• Published: 05/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: NANEY, David Tillman, PUTZEYS, Philippe
• Granted Patent: US 10,384,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/36 Details; Accessories
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/00 Remote-control arrangements specially adapted for toys, e.g. for toy vehicles steering mechanisms for toy vehicles A63H17/36; for model railways A63H19/24, A63H19/28
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 30/04 using wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/00 Other toys
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 33/26 Magnetic or electric toys electric drives A63H29/22 ; indoor games played with small balls using magnetic power A63F7/0088, A63F7/068

Abstract

Embodiments herein use multiple different transmission modes of a line-of-sight (LOS) communication system (e.g., an infrared (IR) or visible light communicate system) to simulate user actions that correspond to different distances—e.g., a melee attack versus a ranged attack. A toy device may include various sensors that detect user motion which is then used to identify a user action. If the user action is a melee attack, then the attack should affect only targets that are close to the toy device. To simulate this difference between user actions, the toy device uses a first LOS transmission mode which may have a limited range to send an instruction to a target device. Conversely, if the user action is a ranged attack, then the toy device uses a second LOS transmission mode which has a greater range than the first LOS transmission mode to send the instruction.

Claims

1. A method of operating a toy device, comprising:

detecting user motion using the toy device;

selecting a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based on the user motion;

selecting a line-of-sight (LOS) transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmission modes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and

transmitting a signal corresponding to the selected action using a LOS communication system operating in the selected LOS transmission mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the signal using the LOS communication system comprises:

transmitting data encoded in the signal to a target device, wherein the data is configured to instruct the target device to simulate an effect cause by the selected user action.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected user action is a simulated attack, wherein the data instructs the target device to activate an actuator to simulate a visual effect of the simulated attack on the target device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the LOS communication system is an infrared (IR) communication system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a reply from a target device in response to transmitting the signal, wherein the reply is encoded in an LOS signal.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

in response to receiving the reply, updating state information corresponding to the target device indicating the target device was affected by the selected user action.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon determining a reply is not received from any target device after transmitting the signal, determining that no target device was affected by the selected user action.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the user motion using the toy device comprises:

measuring the user motion using one or more sensors disposed on the toy device; and

comparing the user motion to predefined motions corresponding to the plurality of predefined user actions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of user actions is assigned to one of the plurality of LOS transmission modes, wherein a first LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode corresponds to a first transmission pattern with a smaller effective range than a second transmission pattern corresponding to a second LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

switching from the first LOS transmission mode to the second transmission LOS mode, wherein an output power of an IR transmitter is increased when switching from the first LOS transmission mode to the second LOS transmission mode.

11. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code is executable by one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

detecting user motion using a toy device;

selecting a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based on the user motion;

selecting a line-of-sight (LOS) transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmission modes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and

transmitting a signal corresponding to the selected action using a LOS communication system operating in the selected LOS transmission mode.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein transmitting the signal using the LOS communication system comprises:

transmitting data encoded in the signal to a target device, wherein the data is configured to instruct the target device to simulate an effect cause by the selected user action, wherein the selected user action is a simulated attack, wherein the data instructs the target device to activate an actuator to simulate a visual effect of the simulated attack on the target device.

13. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a reply from a target device in response to transmitting the signal, wherein the reply is LOS signal; and

in response to receiving the reply, updating state information corresponding to the target device indicating the target device was affected by the selected user action.

14. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein detecting the user motion using the toy device comprises:

measuring the user motion using one or more sensors disposed on the toy device; and

comparing the user motion to predefined motions corresponding to the plurality of predefined user actions.

15. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of user actions is assigned to one of the plurality of LOS transmission modes, wherein a first LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode corresponds to a first transmission pattern with a smaller effective range than a second transmission pattern corresponding to a second LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode.

16. A toy device, comprising:

a line-of-sight (LOS) communication system;

at least one sensor; and

control logic configured to;

detect user motion using the at least one sensor;

select a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based on the user motion;

select a LOS transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmission modes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and

instruct the LOS communication system to transmit a signal corresponding to the selected action while operating in the selected LOS transmission mode.

17. The toy device of claim 16, wherein the LOS communication system is configured to:

transmitting data encoded in the signal to a target device, wherein the data is configured to instruct the target device to simulate an effect cause by the selected user action, wherein the selected user action is a simulated attack, wherein the data instructs the target device to activate an actuator to simulate a visual effect of the simulated attack on the target device.

18. The toy device of claim 16, wherein the LOS communication system comprises:

an IR transmitter configured to transmit the signal; and

an IR receiver configured to receive a reply from a target device,

wherein, in response to receiving the reply, the control logic is configured to update state information corresponding to the target device indicating the target device was affected by the selected user action.

19. The toy device of claim 16, wherein detecting the user motion using the toy device comprises:

comparing the user motion to predefined motions corresponding to the plurality of predefined user actions.

20. The toy device of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of user actions is assigned to one of the plurality of LOS transmission modes, wherein a first LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode corresponds to a first transmission pattern with a smaller effective range than a second transmission pattern corresponding to a second LOS transmission mode of the plurality of LOS transmission mode.