Methods and systems for providing programmable computerized interactors

• US 6,356,255 B1
• Filed: 04/07/1998
• Issued: 03/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vulcan Patents LLC
• Original Assignee: Interval Research Corporation
• Inventors: Weil, Emily, Thomas, Greg, Mountford, S. Joy, Dougherty, Thomas J., Cummings, Daniel E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Application Number:
  US09/056,223
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/170, 345/177, 434/156, 434/159
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/002 Specific input/output arrangements not covered by G06F3/01 - G06F3/16 other optical apparatus G02B27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/26 for automatically producing a series of tones
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2230/055 Spint toy, i.e. specifically designed for children, e.g. adapted for smaller fingers or simplified in some way; Musical instrument-shaped game input interfaces with simplified control features

Abstract

A computerized interactor system uses physical, three-dimensional objects as metaphors for input of user intent to a computer system. When one or more interactors are engaged with a detection field, the detection field reads an identifier associated with the object and communicates the identifier to a computer system. The computer system determines the meaning of the interactor based upon its identifier and upon a semantic context in which the computer system is operating. One specific embodiment of the present invention is a bead interactor system that is a user playable sound and light show system. When an interactor bead is positioned within the detection space of the bead interactor system, a sound sequence begins and continues to play unaltered until the bead interactor is removed or other bead interactors are positioned within or removed from the detection space. Each bead represents a different sound and the row and column location of the bead within the detection space controls how the sound is modified, e.g., louder or softer, higher pitched or lower pitched, the period of play, etc. In some embodiments, the beads are translucent in order to conduct light from light sources located under each bead receptacle. The available sounds are determined not only by the identity of the beads and their positioning within the detection space and their associated states or orientations, but also by sound data stored in an accompanying computer readable medium. Hence a user can access a variety of sound collections by simply installing a different computer readable medium.

Claims

1. A computerized interactor system comprising:

a detection space;

at least one physical interactor which can be manually placed within the detection space and removed from the detection space, the at least one physical interactor having an identity and a user programmable state variable; and

an interface responsive to the at least one physical interactor in the detection space, the interface operable to provide an interactor signal indicating the identity and the programmable state variable of the at least one physical interactor;

wherein the computerized interactor system is operable to sound out the fill-in-the-blank text, and/or play a sound or other media, the sound or other media represented by inserting the interactor into the detection space.

2. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a computer system coupled to the interface and operable to process the interactor signal to create a control input that is indicative of the identity and the programmable state variable.

3. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 2 further comprising a plurality of interactors that may be manually put into and removed from said detection space, the plurality of interactors each having a corresponding identity and a corresponding programmable state variable, and wherein the detection space comprises a plurality of positions at which the plurality of interactors may be selectively manually placed and removed thereby providing a plurality of selectable and changeable arrangements of the plurality of interactors at the plurality of positions of the detection space.

4. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 3 further comprising a computer readable medium coupled to the computer system, the computer readable medium storing application data defining an identity mapping between each interactor identity and a corresponding interactor identity computer instruction, the application data further defining a position mapping between each of the plurality of positions and a corresponding position computer instruction.

5. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 4 wherein the computer readable medium is removably connected to the computerized interactor system, the computer readable medium being one of a plurality of computer readable mediums each storing application data defining identity and position mappings.

6. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 4 wherein the identity computer instructions are sound instructions such that the plurality of interactors each represent a playable sound sequence, and the position computer instructions are sound modification instructions such that the positions each represent a particular sound modification characteristic, the computer system further comprising an amplifier and a speaker, the computer system further operable to play sound in accordance with the identity and position mappings and the control input generated due to the arrangement of the plurality of interactors at the plurality of positions of the detection space.

7. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 4 further comprising an overlay template attachable to cover one or more of the plurality of positions, the overlay template providing content to a user of the computerized interactor system.

8. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 7 wherein the overlay template includes a fill-in-the-blank text having at least one blank overlapping a one of the plurality of positions, the one of the plurality of positions being exposed through the overlay template such that an interactor may be inserted into the exposed one of the plurality of positions, the interactor identity computer instructions each representing a word, the sound or other media, wherein when the interactor is inserted into the one of the plurality of positions.

9. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 7 wherein the overlay template is an active overlay capable of providing feedback to the user of the computerized interactor system.

10. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 7 wherein the overlay template has an identity interactor arranged such that when the overlay template is attached to the detection space, the identity interactor is engaged with a certain one of the plurality of positions, the identity interactor suitable for indicating to the computerized interactor system a specific identity of the overlay template.

11. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 1 wherein the detection space comprises a plurality of positions at which the at least one physical interactor may be selectively manually placed and removed.

12. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 1 wherein the interactor comprises identification circuitry and wherein the detection space comprises internal circuitry adapted for connection with the identification circuitry of the interactor, the internal circuitry of the detection space being coupled to the interface.

13. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 12 wherein the detection space comprises a plurality of positions at which the interactor may be selectively manually removably placed in order to at least temporarily connect the identification circuitry of the interactor with the internal circuitry of the detection space.

14. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 1 wherein the user programmable state variable is one of a plurality of user programmable state variables found in the at least one physical interactor.

15. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 1 wherein the interactor signal is also indicative of a position of the at least one physical interactor within the detection space.

16. A computerized interactor system as recited in claim 15 wherein the interactor signal is further indicative of an orientation of the at least one physical interactor within the detection space.

17. An interactor system for providing a user playable sound system, the interactor system comprising:

a plurality of interactors each having an identity specified by identification circuitry;

a detection array including a plurality of positions at which an interactor may be selectively, manually, removably placed in order to at least temporarily connect the identification circuitry of the interactor with internal circuitry of the detection space;

an interface responsive to the disposition of interactors within the detection array, the interface operable to provide an interactor signal indicative of the identity and position of each interactor disposed within the detection array;

a computer readable medium storing application data defining an identity mapping between each interactor identity and a corresponding interactor identity instruction, the application data further defining a position mapping between each of the plurality of positions and a corresponding instruction; and

a digital processor coupled to the interface, and the computer readable medium, the digital processor operable to play a sound sequence dependent upon the interactor signal and the application data;

wherein the interactor system is operable to sound out a fill-in-the-blank text, and/or play a sound or other media, the sound or other media represented by inserting one or more of the plurality of interactors into the detection array.

18. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 further including a speaker and an amplifier coupled to the speaker and the digital processor, the amplifier arranged to drive the speaker in response to the sound sequence.

19. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 wherein the computer readable medium is a compact disk read only memory device (CD-ROM), the interactor system further comprising a CD-ROM player.

20. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 wherein the computer readable memory is a read only memory (ROM) integrated circuit.

21. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 wherein the detection array further includes a plurality of light sources located one at each of the plurality of positions, the interface arranged to control power to the plurality of light sources, digital processor further operable to play a light sequence dependent upon the interactor signal and the application data, the interface controlling power to the plurality of light sources in accordance with the light sequence.

22. An interactor system as recited in claim 21 wherein at least one of the plurality of interactors further includes a light conductor such that when the at least one interactor is disposed at a position within the detection array and the light source at the position is powered, the at least one interactor emits light.

23. An interactor system as recited in claim 22 wherein the at least one interactor is a translucent bead.

24. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 wherein the interactor identity instructions are sound instructions such that the plurality of interactors each represent a playable sound sequence, and the position instructions are sound modification instructions such that the positions each represent a particular sound modification characteristic, the sound sequence played by the digital processor dependent upon the identity and position mappings and the interactor signal generated due to the arrangement of interactors within the detection array.

25. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 further comprising an overlay template attachable to cover one or more of the plurality of positions, the overlay template providing content to a user of the interactor system.

26. An interactor system as recited in claim 25 wherein the overlay template includes a fill-in-the-blank text having at least one blank overlapping at least one of the plurality of positions, the at least one of the plurality of positions being exposed through the overlay template such that an interactor may be inserted into the exposed one of the plurality of positions, the interactor identity instructions each representing a word, sound or other media, wherein when the interactor is inserted into the at least one of the plurality of positions, the sound sequence generated by the digital processor represents the fill-in-the-blank text with the word, sound or other media, represented by the inserted interactor inserted at the at least one blank.

27. An interactor system as recited in claim 25 wherein an identity of the overlay template is defined by the positions that are exposed by the overlay template.

28. An interactor system as recited in claim 17 wherein the interface is responsive to the orientation of interactors within the detection array and the interactor signal is further indicative of such orientation.

29. An interactor system for programming a music synthesizer, the music synthesizer controlled via a mapping of a first number of continuous range sensor signals into a second number of control signals that are used to control the music synthesis operations of the music synthesizer, the interactor system enabling a user to program the signal mapping functions through the manipulation of physical objects, the interactor system comprising:

a plurality of interactors each having an identity specified by identification circuitry;

a detection array including a plurality of positions at which an interactor may be selectively, manually, removably placed in order to at least temporarily connect the identification circuitry of the interactor with internal circuitry of the detection space;

an interface responsive to the disposition of interactors within the detection array, the interface operable to provide an interactor signal indicative of the identity and position of each interactor disposed within the detection array; and

a computer readable medium storing application data defining an identity mapping between each interactor identity and a corresponding interactor identity instruction, the application data further defining a position mapping between each of the plurality of positions and a corresponding position instruction;

wherein the signal mapping functions may be programmed according to the interactor signal and the application data;

wherein the interactor system is operable sound out a fill-in-the-blank text, and/or to play a sound or other media, the sound or other media represented by inserting one or more of the plurality of interactors into the detection array.