Interactive book with detection of lifted flaps

• US 8,041,289 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2008
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Michael E. Kerwick
• Original Assignee: Michael E. Kerwick
• Inventors: Kerwick, Michael E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thai; Xuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hu; Kang
• Application Number:
  US12/117,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20090280461A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 434/317, 434/335, 434/311, 434/309, 434/118, 434/169, 434/308, 345/173, 345/169, 235/337, 235/181, 235/375, 281/50
• US Class Current: 434/317
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/062 Combinations of audio and printed presentations, e.g. magnetically striped cards, talking books, magnetic tapes with printed texts thereon

Abstract

An interactive system for providing multimedia data in response to interaction with lift-the-flap elements. The system may include a housing which forms a substantially planar surface configured to support at least one printed media sheet. The printed sheet may include at least one lift-the-flap element. The system may further include a playback device configured to provide multimedia data relating to the lift-the-flap element. The system may include a detector which is configured to detect a position of the lift-the-flap element and provide position information. The system may further include a processing unit configured to cause playback of the multimedia data via the playback device based on the position information provided by the detector.

Claims

1. An interactive system, comprising:

a housing which forms a substantially planar surface configured to support at least one printed media sheet, wherein the at least one printed media sheet comprises at least one lift-the-flap element;

a playback device configured to provide multimedia data relating to the at least one lift-the-flap element of the at least one printed media sheet;

a detector which is configured to detect a position of the at least one lift-the-flap element and provide position information;

a processing unit coupled to the playback device and the detector, wherein the processing unit is configured to cause playback of the multimedia data via the playback device based on the position information provided by the detector,

wherein the detector is configured to provide a first indication of when the at least one lift-the-flap element is lifted, and wherein the processing unit is configured to cause playback of the multimedia data via the playback device in response to the first indication; and

wherein the detector is further configured to provide a second indication of when the at least one lift-the-flap element is returned to a substantially planar orientation with respect to the at least one printed media sheet, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to alter playback of the multimedia data in response to the second indication.

2. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the at least one lift-the-flap element comprises a plurality of lift-the-flap elements, wherein the detector is configured to provide position information for each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements, wherein the multimedia data comprises multimedia data for each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements, and wherein the processing unit is configured to cause playback of the respective multimedia data based on position information of the respective lift-the-flap element.

3. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements comprise a different aperture for identification, wherein the detector is configured to detect the different aperture to identify the respective lift-the-flap element.

4. The interactive system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of additional detectors, each configured to detect position of additional lift-the-flap elements;

wherein the processing unit is configured to provide playback of different multimedia data for each respective lift-the-flap element via the playback device.

5. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the detector comprises an electromagnetic wave emitter and an electromagnetic wave sensor mounted in the housing such that a beam of electromagnetic energy exists in a line from the emitter to the sensor and such that the beam is interrupted when the at least one lift-the-flap elements is moved to a lifted position, and wherein the detector is configured to provide the position information based on beam interruption.

6. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the at least one media sheet comprises a plurality of different media sheets, wherein each media sheet comprises a different identifier, and wherein the processing unit is configured to receive an indication of the identifier of the respective media sheet and provide corresponding playback for the respective lift-the-flap elements of the respective media sheet.

7. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia data comprises audio data, and wherein the system comprises a speaker coupled to the playback device.

8. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein the multimedia data comprises video data, and wherein the system comprises a display coupled to the playback device.

9. The interactive system of claim 1, wherein a surface under the at least one lift-the-flap element comprises an image and/or text, wherein the multimedia data corresponds to the image and/or text.

10. A method for operating an interactive system, comprising:

a device receiving first input indicating a current page of a plurality of pages;

the device receiving second input indicating that a lift-the-flap element of the current page has been lifted;

the device providing playback of multimedia data based on said receiving the first and second input;

the device receiving third input indicating that the lift-the-flap element of the current page has been returned to a substantially planar orientation with respect to the current page; and

the device ceasing playback of the multimedia data in response to the third input.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the current page comprises a plurality of lift-the-flap elements.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving fourth input indicating that a second lift-the-flap element of the current page has been lifted;

identifying the second lift-the-flap element; and

providing playback of second multimedia data based on said receiving the fourth input, wherein the playback of the second multimedia data corresponds to the identified second lift-the-flap element.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving fourth input indicating a second page of the plurality of pages;

receiving fifth input indicating that a second lift-the-flap element of the second page has been lifted;

identifying the second lift-the-flap element; and

providing playback of second multimedia data based on said receiving the fifth input, wherein the playback of the second multimedia data corresponds to the identified second lift-the-flap element.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said identifying the lift-the-flap element comprises identifying the lift-the-flap element based on an aperture of the lift-the-flap element.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

detecting that the lift-the-flap element of the current page has been lifted, wherein said detecting comprises detecting that a beam of electromagnetic energy has been interrupted.

16. An interactive book, comprising:

a housing which forms a substantially planar surface configured to support a plurality of printed media sheets, wherein each printed media sheet comprises at least one lift-the-flap element;

a playback device configured to provide audio data relating to the at least one lift-the-flap element of the at least one printed media sheet;

a memory medium which stores audio data relating to the at least one lift-the-flap element of the at least one printed media sheet;

an audio output configured to output the audio data stored on the memory medium;

a printed media sheet detector, wherein the printed media sheet detector is configured to detect a current media sheet and provide an indication of the current media sheet;

a lift-the-flap element detector which is configured to;

detect a position of the at least one lift-the-flap element of the current media sheet;

provide a first indication of when the at least one lift-the-flap element is lifted;

provide a second indication of when the at least one lift-the-flap element is lowered;

a processing unit coupled to the memory medium, the output, and the detector, wherein the processing unit is configured to;

cause playback of the audio data corresponding to the at least one lift-the-flap element of the current media sheet via the audio output based on the indication of the current media sheet and the first indication of when the at least one lift-the-flap element is lifted; and

cease playback of the audio data corresponding to the at least one lift-the-flap element of the current media sheet based on the second indication of when the at least on lift-the-flap element is returned to a substantially planar orientation with respect to the current media sheet.

17. The interactive book of claim 16, wherein the at least one lift-the-flap element comprises a plurality of lift-the-flap elements, wherein the detector is configured to provide indications of when each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements is lifted, wherein the audio data comprises audio data for each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements, and wherein the processing unit is configured to cause playback of the respective audio data based on the first indication of the respective lift-the-flap element.

18. The interactive book of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of lift-the-flap elements comprise a different aperture for identification, wherein the detector is configured to detect the different aperture to identify the respective lift-the-flap element.

19. The interactive book of claim 16, further comprising:

a plurality of additional detectors, each configured to detect position of additional lift-the-flap elements;

wherein the processing unit is configured to provide playback of different audio data from the memory medium for each respective lift-the-flap element via the audio output.

20. The interactive book of claim 16, wherein the detector comprises an electromagnetic wave emitter and an electromagnetic wave detector mounted in the housing such that a beam of electromagnetic energy exists in a line from the emitter to the detector and such that the beam is interrupted when the at least one lift-the-flap elements is moved to a lifted position, and wherein the detector is configured to provide the first indication based on beam interruption.

21. The interactive book of claim 16, wherein a surface under the at least one lift-the-flap element comprises an image and/or text, wherein the audio data corresponds to the image and/or text.