Learning doll

• US 5,281,143 A
• Filed: 05/08/1992
• Issued: 01/25/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toy Biz Acquisition, Inc. (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Toy Biz Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Jeffway, Robert W. Jr., Arad, Avi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, John J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHERICHETTI, CINDY
• Application Number:
  US07/880,565
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 434/185, 446/268, 446/297, 446/397
• US Class Current: 434/185
• 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: G09B 19/04 Speaking with audible presentation of the material to be studied G09B5/04

Abstract

A doll, apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction, includes a speech generator for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds. The sequence of sounds evidences a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn of a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by correct sounds. A speech detector detects human speech when energized and, in response thereto, indexes the subsequence of sounds to the next sound within the current step and actuates the speech generator and, at the end of each step, indexes the sequence of sounds to the first sound of the next step and causes the speech generator to request the selected touch. A touch detector detects a selected touch when energized and, in response thereto, actuates the speech generator. The speech generator is responsive to each appropriate actuation of the speech and touch detectors for promptly generating the currently indexed sound after deactuation of the speech and touch detectors.

Claims

1. A doll apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction, comprising:

(A) speech generation means for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds, said sequence of sounds evidencing a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn of a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by correct sounds;

(B) speech detection means for detecting human speech when energized and, in response thereto, indexing said subsequence of sounds to the next sound within the current step and actuating said speech generations means, and, at the end of each step, indexing said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the next step and causing said speech generation means to request the selected touch; and

(C) touch detection means for detecting a selected touch when energized and, in response thereto, for actuating said speech generation means;

said speech generation means being responsive to each appropriate actuation of said speech and touch detection means for promptly generating the currently indexed sound after deactuation of said speech and touch detection means.

2. The doll of claim 1 additionally including termination means, responsive to non-actuation of said speech detection means for a predetermined period of time, for causing said speech generation means to generate a termination sound, deenergize said speech detection means, and energize said touch detection means.

3. The doll of claim 1 wherein said speech detection means includes means for at least partially discriminating between human speech and other ambient sounds.

4. The doll of claim 1 wherein the last sound of said subsequence of sounds of each step is an improvement over the other sounds of the step.

5. The doll of claim 1 wherein successive steps of said predetermined sequence of sounds evidence an improvement in word vocabulary, correctness of grammar or implied intellect.

6. The doll of claim 1 wherein said speech generation means at the end of each step evidences completion of the step, energizing said touch detection means, deenergizing said speech detection means, and requesting the selected touch.

7. The doll of claim 1 additionally including manually operable forget means for resetting the currently indexed sound of said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the first step.

8. The doll of claim 1 wherein said touch detection means, upon its initial actuation by an initial selected touch, causes said speech generation means to request the selected touch again.

9. The doll of claim 1 wherein, in the absence of the selected touch after a request therefor, said touch detection means after a predetermined time interval after energization thereof causes said speech generation means to generate at least one prompting sound again requesting the selected touch and then, in the absence of the selected touch for a predetermined time, to generate a termination sound.

10. The doll of claim 1 wherein said speech detection means is energized when said touch detection means detects the selected touch and deenergized at the end of each step.

11. The doll of claim 1 wherein said touch detection means is energized at the end of each step and deenergized after it detects the selected touch.

12. A doll apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction, comprising:

(A) speech generation means for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds, said sequence of sounds evidencing a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn of a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by correct sounds;

(B) speech detection means for detecting human speech when energized and, in response thereto, indexing said subsequence of sounds to the next sound within the current step and actuating said speech generation means, and, at the end of each step, indexing said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the next step and causing said speech generation means to request the selected touch;

(C) touch detection means for detecting a selected touch when energized and, in response thereto, for actuating said speech generation means; and

(D) speech prompting means, responsive to non-actuation of said speech detecting means for a predetermined period of time after energization thereof, for causing said speech generation means to generate at least one speech prompting sound;

said speech generation means being responsive to each appropriate actuation of said speech and touch detection means for promptly generating the currently indexed sound after deactuation of said speech and touch detection means.

13. The doll of claim 12 wherein said speech prompting means causes said speech generation means to generate a plurality of prompting sounds unless interrupted by actuation of said speech detection means.

14. The doll of claim 12 wherein said speech generation means, after each of said at least one speech prompting sounds, repeats the currently indexed sound.

15. A doll apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction, comprising:

(A) speech generation means for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds, said sequence of sounds evidencing a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn of a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by correct sounds;

(B) speech detection means for detecting human speech when energized and, in response thereto, indexing said subsequence of sounds to the next sound within the current step and actuating said speech generations means, and, at the end of each step, indexing said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the next step and causing said speech generation means to request the selected touch;

(C) touch detection means for detecting a selected touch when energized and, in response thereto, for actuating said speech generations means; and

(D) touch prompting means, responsive to non-actuation of said touch detection means for a predetermined period of time after energization thereof, for causing said speech generation means to generate at least one touch prompting sound;

said speech generation means being responsive to each appropriate actuation of said speech and detection means for promptly generating the currently indexed sound after deactuation of said speech and touch detection means.

16. The doll of claim 15 wherein said touch prompting means causes said speech generation means to generate a plurality of touch prompting sounds unless interrupted by actuation of said touch detection means.

17. A doll apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction and including speech generation means, speech detection means, and touch detection means, comprising:

(A) speech generation means for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds, said sequence of sounds evidencing a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn of a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by correct sounds, and successive steps of said predetermined sequence of sounds evidencing an improvement in word vocabulary, correctness of grammar or implied intellect, said speech generation means at the end of each step evidencing completion of the step, energizing said touch detection means, deenergizing said speech detection means, and requesting the selected touch;

(B) speech detection means for detecting human speech when energized and, in response thereto, indexing said subsequence of sounds to the next sound within the current step and actuating said speech generations means, and, at the end of each step, indexing said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the next step and causing said speech generation means to request the selected touch;

said speech detection means being energized when said touch detection means detects the selected touch and deenergized at the end of each step; and

(C) touch detection means for detecting a selected touch when energized and, in response thereto, for actuating said speech generation means;

said touch detection means being energized at the end of each step and deenergized after it detects the selected touch;

said speech generation means being responsive to each appropriate actuation of said speech and touch detection means for promptly generating the currently indexed sound after deactuation of said speech and touch detection means;

(D) speech prompting means, responsive to non-actuation of said speech detection means for a predetermined period of time after energization thereof, for causing said speech generation means to generate a plurality of speech prompting sounds unless interrupted by actuation of said speech detection means, said speech generation means, after each of said at least one speech prompting sounds, repeating the currently indexed sound;

(E) touch prompting means, responsive to non-actuation of said touch detection means for a predetermined period of time after energization thereof, for causing said speech generation means to generate a plurality of touch prompting sounds unless interrupted by actuation of said touch detection means;

(F) termination means, responsive to non-actuation of said speech detection means for a predetermined period of time after energization thereof, for causing said speech generation means to generate a termination sound, deenergize said speech detection means, and energize said touch detection means; and

(G) manually operable forget means for resetting the currently indexed sound of said sequence of sounds to the first sound of the first step.

18. A doll apparently capable of learning through a combination of human speech and touch interaction, comprising speech detection means for detecting human speech, touch detection means for detecting a selected touch, and speech generation means for generating upon actuation the currently indexed sound in a predetermined sequence of sounds, said sequence of sounds evidencing a stepwise learning process defined by a plurality of learning steps, each step being composed in turn by a predetermined subsequence of wrong sounds followed by right sounds, and successive steps of said predetermined sequence of sounds evidencing an improvement in word vocabulary, correctness of grammar, or implied intellect, said speech generation means at the end of each step evidencing completion of the step.

19. A doll comprising touch detection means, speech detection means, short-term learning means responsive to said speech detection means alone and long-term learning means responsive to said touch detection means alone.