Context-based interactive plush toy

• US 8,911,277 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2011
• Issued: 12/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hallmark Cards Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hallmark Cards Incorporated
• Inventors: Garbos, Jennifer R., Bodendistel, Timothy G., Friedmann, Peter B.
• Primary Examiner(s): HARPER, TRAMAR YONG
• Application Number:
  US13/116,927
• Publication Number:
  US 20110223827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 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 33/38 Picture books with additional toy effects, e.g. pop-up or slide displays picture books B42D1/00

Abstract

An interactive toy for interacting with a user while a story is being read aloud from a book or played from a movie/video. The toy includes a speech recognition unit that receives and detects certain triggering phrases as they are read aloud or played from a companion literary work. The triggering phrase read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video may have independent significance or may only have significance when combined with other phrases read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video.

Claims

1. An interactive toy comprising:

a body having an interior cavity;

a speech recognition unit at least partially positioned within the interior cavity, the speech recognition unit configured to receive audible sounds corresponding to a literary work and, to identify a combination of at least one triggering phrase and at least one non-triggering phrase in the audible sounds corresponding to the literary work, wherein the literary work comprises;

(1) a plurality of non-triggering phrases that form part of a story told in the literary work;

(2) a plurality of other words that are neither non-triggering phrases nor triggering phrases; and

(3) the at least one triggering phrase that also forms part of the story told in the literary work, wherein the at least one triggering phrase is selectively placed among the plurality of other words that are neither non-triggering phrases nor triggering phrases and the plurality of non-triggering phrase to assist the speech recognition unit in differentiating the at least one triggering phrase from the other words a sound module at least partially positioned within the interior cavity, the sound module having a controller with a plurality of audio messages stored therein for selective playback via a speaker, wherein the sound module activates one or more messages if once the combination of the at least one triggering phrase and the at least one non-triggering phrase is received and identified by the speech recognition unit; and

a user engagable switch for powering on the interactive toy.

2. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the literary work is a movie or a live broadcast.

3. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the literary work is a book.

4. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one triggering phrase is selectively placed at an end of a sentence within the story told in the book.

5. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one triggering phrase is selectively placed at the beginning of a sentence within the story told in the book.

6. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one triggering phrase is selectively placed at an end of a sentence at an end of a page of the book.

7. The interactive toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one triggering phrase is selectively placed in a clause within a sentence within the story told in the book.

8. An interactive toy for responding to audible sounds corresponding to a literary work having a plurality of non-triggering phrases, at least one triggering phrase, and a plurality of other words that are neither non-triggering phrases nor triggering phrases, the at least one triggering phrase being selectively placed among the plurality of non-triggering phrases to assist the toy in differentiating a triggering phrase from one or more non-triggering phrases, the toy comprising:

a body having an interior cavity;

a speech recognition unit at least partially positioned within the interior cavity of the body, the speech recognition unit configured to receive audible sounds corresponding to the literary work and, to identify a combination of at least one non-triggering phrase and at least one triggering phrase in the audible sounds corresponding to the literary work;

a sound module at least partially positioned within the interior cavity of the body, the sound module having a controller with a plurality of audio messages stored therein for selective playback via a speaker, wherein the sound module plays back one or more messages if once the combination of the at least one non-triggering phrase and the at least one triggering phrase is received and identified by the speech recognition unit; and

a user engagable switch for powering on the interactive toy.

9. The interactive toy of claim 8, wherein the literary work is a movie or a live broadcast, and wherein the at least one non-triggering phrase and at least one triggering phrase are stored in a memory in the toy.

10. The interactive toy of claim 8, wherein the literary work is a book and the at least one non-triggering phrase and at least one triggering phrase correspond to text in the book, and wherein the at least one non-triggering phrase and at least one triggering phrase are stored in a memory in the toy.

11. An interactive toy for responding to audible sounds corresponding to words read aloud from a book that form part of a story told in the book, the words including at least one non-triggering phrase, at least one triggering phrase, and a plurality of other words that are neither non-triggering phrases nor triggering phrases, the at least one triggering phrase being selectively placed among the plurality of other words that are neither non-triggering phrases nor triggering phrases and the at least one non-triggering phrase to assist the toy in differentiating the at least one triggering phrase from the other words, the toy comprising:

a body having an interior cavity;

a speech recognition unit at least partially positioned within the interior cavity of the body, the speech recognition unit configured to receive the audible sounds corresponding to the words read aloud from the book and to identify a combination of the at least one non-triggering phrase and the at least one triggering phrase in the audible sounds corresponding to the literary work;

a memory coupled with the speech recognition unit and having stored therein the at least one non-triggering phrase and the at least one triggering phrase;

a sound module at least partially positioned within the interior cavity of the body, the sound module having a controller with at least one audio message stored therein for selective playback via a speaker, wherein the sound module plays back the at least one message once the combination of the at least one non-triggering phrase and the at least one triggering phrase are received and identified by the speech recognition unit; and

a user engagable switch for powering on the interactive toy.

12. The interactive toy of claim 11, wherein the sound module only plays back the at least one message upon receipt and identification of the at least on triggering phrase after previous receipt and identification of the at least one non-triggering phrase.