Doll simulating adaptive infant behavior

• US 6,048,209 A
• Filed: 05/26/1998
• Issued: 04/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: William V. Bailey
• Original Assignee: William V. Bailey
• Inventors: Bailey, William V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Martin-Wallace, Valencia
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEMING, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US09/084,664
• Time in Patent Office: 686 Days
• Field of Search: 446/297, 446/302, 446/175, 434/238, 434/267
• US Class Current: 434/267
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 2200/00 Computerized interactive toys, e.g. dolls
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 23/281 for pregnancy, birth or obstetrics G09B23/286 takes precedence

Abstract

A doll simulating infant behavior includes sensors that detect care given to the doll, such as feeding, rocking, and neglect or abuse, and provide inputs to a microcontroller which operates on a behavioral state machine to produce infant behaviors that are expected of a human infant in response to similar care. The doll includes a head portion having an opening for a mouth having sensors in communication with a programmable microcontroller. The sensors include a feed-switch, motion sensors, and an impact sensor. LED eyes, a speaker, and a bi-colored blinking LED provide the doll'"'"'s heartbeat and overall health. The microcontroller is programmed to receive inputs from the plurality of sensors and the feed-switch, and causes the doll to undergo a plurality of behavioral cycles such as sleeping, hunger, feeding, crying, wailing, colic and burping. During each behavioral cycle, the microcontroller transitions through a plurality of states and updates a plurality of timers to count preset time limits as well as adaptive time limits that are responsive to care given to the doll during previous cycles. The timers control the length of time in each state, the transition between cycles, and provide inputs to the indicators such as the speaker and the LEDs, thereby simulating the behavior of an infant during each cycle and providing the caretaker with behavior that corresponds, in part, to care administered to the doll.

Claims

1. A doll simulating infant behavior comprising:

a doll housing comprising a head portion defining a mouth opening and a pair of eye openings;

a microcontroller disposed in the housing, the microcontroller in communication with at least one memory, the memory storing data representative of prior treatment provided to the doll;

a plurality of motion sensors in electrical communication with the microcontroller and disposed in a plurality of different axes within the head portion;

a switch in electrical communication with the microcontroller and disposed in alignment with the mouth opening;

a speaker in electrical communication with the microcontroller and disposed in alignment with the mouth opening; and

an indicator which displays a vital sign of the doll, the indicator in electrical communication with the microcontroller and disposed in the head portion;

wherein the microcontroller is programmed to receive inputs from the plurality of sensors and the switch and access the data stored in the memory, and the microcontroller causes the doll to simulate a plurality of infant behaviors with the speaker and the indicator, wherein a timing and a duration of each behavior relates to the data stored in the memory.

2. The doll of claim 1, wherein the motion sensors sense rocking of the doll and the switch senses the insertion of a bottle into the mouth opening.

3. The doll of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises a bi-colored LED, the LED having a blink color, pattern, and frequency that varies in response to inputs received by the microcontroller.

4. The doll of claim 1, further comprising a pair of LEDs, each of which is disposed in an eye opening.

5. The doll of claim 1, further comprising an impact switch in electrical communication with the microcontroller and disposed in the head portion.

6. The doll of claim 1 wherein the microcontroller causes the doll to undergo a plurality of behavioral cycles, each cycle comprising a plurality of states and a plurality of timers for controlling a duration of each state.

7. The doll of claim 1 further comprising a circadian clock, wherein the microcontroller and the circadian clock simulate human circadian rhythms.

8. A method of simulating infant behavior comprising:

providing a doll having a programmable microcontroller and a plurality of sensors sensing treatment of the doll by a caretaker;

entering a first behavioral cycle and setting a first timer representing the length of time of the behavioral cycle;

decrementing the first timer;

determining whether an input has been received from a sensor;

transitioning to a second behavioral cycle in response to an input or the first timer;

setting a second timer representing the length of time of the second behavioral cycle; and

setting a third timer representing the metabolism of the doll in response to the first and second behavioral cycles.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first behavioral cycle represents sleep and the second behavioral cycle represents hunger.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first behavioral cycle represents hunger and the second behavioral cycle represents crying.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

decrementing the third timer by a first preselected unit in response to the first behavioral cycle; and

decrementing the third timer by a second preselected unit in response to the second behavioral cycle,

wherein the first behavioral cycle represents hunger and the second behavioral cycle represents crying.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first behavioral cycle represents colic and the second behavioral cycle represents sleep.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sensors further comprises at least one motion sensor, and at least one feeding sensor.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of sensors further comprises at least one impact switch.

15. The method of claim 8 further comprising simulating human circadian rhythms.

16. A system for simulating the behavior of an infant comprising:

a doll having a programmable microcontroller receiving a plurality of inputs;

a plurality of sensors in communication with the microcontroller, for sensing treatment of the doll by a caregiver and providing the inputs to the microcontroller in response to such treatment; and

a timing module in communication with the microcontroller, comprising;

a first timer representing the length of time that the doll experiences hunger;

a second timer representing motion applied to the doll; and

a third timer representing the general health of the doll;

wherein the microcontroller adjusts at least one of the first, second, or third timer in response to the inputs.

17. The system of claim 16, the timing module further comprising a fourth timer representing the length of time that the doll should cry.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the microcontroller adjusts the fourth timer when a sensor input indicates that the doll is not being fed or rocked.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the microcontroller decrements the first timer when a sensor input indicates that the doll is being fed.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the microcontroller decrements the first timer and the second timer when a sensor input indicates that the doll is being rocked.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the microcontroller resets the third timer in response to at the least one of the first and second timers.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the timing module further comprises a circadian clock representing the time of day.

23. A system for simulating the behavior of an infant comprising:

a first sensor for sensing an input representative of feeding;

a second sensor for sensing an input representative of movement; and

a microcontroller programmed to cycle through at least three of states, each of said states representing infant behavior, said microcontroller being in communication with said first and second sensors for receiving signals from said first and second sensors and changing the time spent in each state in response thereto,

wherein said states comprise at least three of the following behaviors;

sleep, hunger, crying, colic, burping, cooing, illness and death.

25. The system of claim 23 further comprising a circadian clock, wherein the microcontroller and the circadian clock simulate human circadian rhythms.

24. The system for simulating infant behavior of claim, the microcontroller further comprising:

a plurality of timers for timing the length of each state, said timers changing the length of each state in response to inputs from said first and second sensors.