Interacting toys

• US 8,795,022 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Steven Lipman
• Original Assignee: Hydrae Limited
• Inventors: Lipman, Steven, Green, Ian, Shmuel, Alon, Kilbrde-Newman, Robert Frederick, Heine, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Coburn, Corbett B
• Application Number:
  US12/528,782
• Publication Number:
  US 20120015734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,209 Days
• Field of Search: 446/175
• US Class Current: 446/175
• 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: 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: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing

Abstract

There is provided a toy comprising: a processor (200); a memory coupled to said processor (202); an output (210) coupled to said processor; and means (212) for establishing a network connection with at least one further such toy; wherein the processor includes means for controlling the output of each toy with which a network connection has been established. Furthermore, the controlling means is adapted to transmit, over said network connection, instructions to control a plurality of the outputs (preferably all of the outputs) of each toy with which a network connection has been established.

Claims

1. An authoring tool for creating themed data for toys, comprising:

an interface for receiving content relating to a particular theme, said interface being adapted to receive separately content that comprises separately both scripting data relating to the particular theme, and expression data defining the personality of said toy;

a processor for processing said content, comprising both said scripting data and said expression data, to generate a set of instructions for operating said toy within said particular theme, wherein the processor is coupled to the interface; and

an ouput for outputting said set of instructions, wherein the processor is coupled to the output.

2. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said interface is adapted to receive content in discrete portions.

3. The authoring tool according to claim 2, further comprising a processing unit for allocating a unique ID number to each expression data portion.

4. The authoring tool according to claim 3, wherein said processor is adapted to utilise said unique ID numbers as references to said expression data portions in said set of instructions.

5. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said expression data comprises at least one of:

a theme name, the toys'"'"' names, and statements used by the toys to interact.

6. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said scripting data comprises at least one of:

the number of toys that can interact within the theme, a method of interaction, theme related parameters, and toy related parameters, and preferably said method of interaction is at least one of a method of transitioning between toys, a method of outputting the expression data, and a method of branching to different portions of said themed data.

7. The An authoring tool according to claim 1, further comprising a storage for storing together, in an array, said scripting data and expression data relating to a particular theme.

8. The authoring tool according to claim 7, wherein said processor is adapted to generate said set of instructions from said array.

9. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said processor includes a list compiler for compiling at least one list comprising at least some of the expression data.

10. The authoring tool according to claim 9, wherein said list compiler is adapted to compile a respective list for each toy in said particular theme.

11. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein the expression data is symbolic data.

12. The authoring tool according to claim 11, further comprising a recorder for recording enacted data versions of the symbolic data.

13. The authoring tool according to claim 12, further comprising a prompt for prompting an actor to generate the requisite portion of enacted data.

14. The authoring tool according to claim 12, wherein said processor is adapted to generate a look-up table between the symbolic data and enacted data.

15. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said processor is adapted to output the expression data.

16. The authoring tool according to claim 15, wherein said processor is further adapted to output the expression data and set of instructions separately.

17. The authoring tool according to claim 1 wherein said processor is adapted to generate a set of instructions that includes:

a base set of instructions for controlling the basic functions of the toy; and

a themed set of instructions for the base set of instructions to control the toy within the theme.

18. The authoring tool according to claim 17, wherein said processor is adapted to combine said base set and said themed set of instructions together.

19. The authoring tool according to claim 17, further comprising a compiler.

20. The authoring tool according to claim 19, wherein said compiler is adapted to compile said base set and said themed set of instructions.

21. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein said processor includes a coding engine adapted to transform said set of instructions into computer readable code.

22. The authoring tool according to claim 1, wherein the interface is a user interface, wherein the user interface is adapted to provide a user with a set of input windows, wherein each window corresponds to the input of a particular sub-set of content relating to the theme of the authoring tool, and wherein the output of the authoring tool is adapted to initiate output of the themed data.

23. The authoring tool according to claim 22, wherein said sub-sets of content include at least one of:

theme related data, toy related data, and context related data.

24. The authoring tool according to claim 23, wherein said context related data includes at least one of:

statements used by the toys to interact, a method of interaction, theme related parameters, and toy related parameters.

25. A system for generating themed data for a toy, comprising:

an authoring tool for accessing, creating and editing said themed data, wherein said authoring tool comprises;

an interface for receiving content relating to a particular theme, said interface being adapted to receive separately content that comprises separately both scripting data relating to the particular theme, and expression data defining the personality of said toy;

a processor for processing said content, comprising both said scripting data and said expression data, to generate a set of instructions for operating said toy within said particular theme, wherein the processor is coupled to the interface; and

an output for outputting said set of instructions, wherein the processor is coupled to the output;

a server, comprising a database for storing said themed data;

wherein the authoring tool is adapted to access the themed data via the internet, wherein the authoring tool is adapted to process the themed data into an array, and wherein said database is adapted to store said themed data in said array.