Vocalizing apparatus

• US 4,318,245 A
• Filed: 01/22/1980
• Issued: 03/09/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fisher-Price (Mattel Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: The Quaker Oats Company (PepsiCo Incorporated)
• Inventors: Brown, Russell W., Hirtle, Michael O., Moore, Arthur D., Stowell, Roger H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shay, F. Barry
• Application Number:
  US06/114,219
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• Field of Search: 46/232, 46/117, 46/175 AR, 35/8 A, 35/35 C, 179/1 SA, 179/1 SM, 179/1 SG, 200/61.45 R, 200/61.52, 200/DIG. 29, 364/513
• US Class Current: 446/303
• CPC Class Codes: A63H 3/28 Arrangements of sound-producing means in dolls; Means in dolls for producing sounds
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/04 with audible presentation of the material to be studied sound recording or reproducing G11B

Abstract

Vocalizing apparatus for use in a doll which has a synthesizer for producing speech sounds. The synthesizer is controlled by a digital controller having a memory which stores information representing a vocabulary of infant-like sounds. A motion detector, which may be in the form of a gravity-actuated switch, activates the controller so as to cause the synthesizer to produce a pattern of sound simulating happy infant sounds when the doll is moved and when it is cuddled, and fussing or crying sounds when it is thereafter not moved for a time. The electronic apparatus is shut down if the doll is left unmoved for a time after it no longer emits the fussing sounds but is automatically activated when again it is moved. The vocalizing apparatus is provided in a self-contained package, removable for laundering.

Claims

1. Vocalizing apparatus comprising means for synthesizing a plurality of different sounds, means for controlling and operating said synthesizing means to produce a sequence of said sounds in a predetermined pattern, position responsive means for activating said controlling means, and means controlled by said controlling and operating means for operating said synthesizing means to produce the same sound in different locations in said pattern at different durations.

2. Vocalizing apparatus comprising means for synthesizing a plurality of different sounds, means for controlling said synthesizing means to produce a sequence of said sounds, said controlling means including means for operating said synthesizing means to produce said sounds in a predetermined pattern, position responsive means for activating said controlling means, and said operating means including means operating said synthesizing means to blank the production of sounds during selected intervals in said pattern.

3. Vocalizing apparatus comprising means for synthesizing a plurality of different sounds, means for controlling said synthesizing means to produce a sequence of said sounds, said controlling means including means for operating said synthesizing means to produce said sounds in a predetermined pattern, position responsive means for activating said controlling means, and said operating means further comprising means for operating said synthesizing means for blanking, with a predetermined probability of occurrence at predetermined times, the production of each sound in said pattern.

4. The apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said blanking means comprises oscillator means which generates an output having a duty cycle equal to said probability, a source of repetitive pulses occurring at the onset of each of said sounds in said pattern, a flip flop which provides a control signal for blanking said synthesizing means when said flip flop is in one of its states, and means for switching the state of said flip flop upon occurrence of said pulses from said source when said oscillator output is in a certain part of said duty cycle.

5. Vocalizing apparatus comprising means for synthesizing a plurality of different sounds, means for controlling said synthesizing means to produce a sequence of said sounds, position responsive means for activating said controlling means, and means in said controlling means for operating said synthesizing means to provide a selected pattern of said sounds when said position responsive means remains in the same position for a certain length of time.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said controlling means further includes means for operating said synthesizing means to discontinue the production of said sounds when said position responsive means remains in the same position at least a predetermined length of time which is longer than said certain length of time.

7. A speaking doll having a vocabulary of a plurality of sounds comprising means for synthesizing and voicing said sounds, means for operating said synthesizing means to produce a pattern of said sounds, means for controlling said operating means to activate said operating means depending upon the state of motion of said doll, said operating means comprising digital controller means for storing information representing said sounds, and means for generating control signals corresponding to said information in predetermined sequences to cause said pattern of sounds to be synthesized by said synthesizing means, said controlling means comprising means for providing signals indicating movement of said doll, said digital controller means further comprising means responsive to said indicating signals for operating said control signals generating means to produce said sounds in a first pattern when said doll is moved and in a second pattern when said doll is not in motion for at least a first predetermined period of time after having been moved.

8. The invention as defined in claim 7 wherein said first pattern has happy sounds so as to simulate the utterances of an infant when it is moved during cuddling and said second pattern simulates the crying of the infant when it is not moved.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 7 wherein said means responsive to said indicating signals further comprises means for inhibiting operation of said synthesizing means when said doll is not in motion for at least a second predetermined period of time longer than said first predetermined period of time.

10. The invention as defined in claim 9 further comprising a source of operating power for said synthesizing, operating, and controlling means, said inhibiting means comprising means for disconnecting said source from said synthesizing and operating means, said source being connected continuously to said controlling means for operating said inhibiting means to reconnect said synthesizing and operating means to said source when said doll is again moved.

11. The invention as defined in claim 7 wherein said indicating signal providing means comprises a motion responsive switch.

12. The invention as defined in claim 11 wherein said motion responsive switch comprises a housing defining a closed interior, at least two contact elements in said housing, and a contactor having a predetermined mass movable in the interior of said housing to make contact between said contact elements.

13. The invention as defined in claim 12 wherein said contactor is a ball of conductive material of a diameter smaller than said housing interior.

14. The invention as set forth in claim 13 wherein said contact elements comprise a contact member presenting a contact surface at one end of the interior of said housing, a generally circular contact ring having an inner diameter larger than the diameter of said ball, said ring being spaced from said contact member a distance less than the diameter of said ball such that said ball makes intermittent contact between said contact plate and ring when said doll is moved.

15. The invention as defined in claim 14 wherein the interior of said housing has a cylindrical wall, and means for mounting said housing with said axis of said cylindrical wall at such an inclination that said ball rolls into a position to make contact between said contact ring and plate when said doll is upright or is lying on its back.

16. A speaking doll having a vocabulary of a plurality of sounds comprising means for synthesizing and voicing said sounds, means for operating said synthesizing means to produce a pattern of said sounds, means for controlling said operating means to activate said operating means depending upon the state of motion of said doll, said operating means comprising digital controller means for storing information representing said sounds, means for generating control signals corresponding to said information in predetermined sequences to cause said pattern of sounds to be synthesized by said synthesizing means, said synthesizing means comprising means for generating signals representing a plurality of formants of speech, means for combining said formant representing signals, means for producing said sounds in response to said combined formant signals, means responsive to said control signals for varying the pitch, amplitude and band pass characteristics of said formant signals, said formant signals producing means comprising pitch oscillator means, amplifier means, and a plurality of band pass filter means, each having a different pass band range, said pitch oscillator means being connected to said amplifier means and said amplifier means being connected to said band pass filter means, said digital controller comprising a memory for storing a plurality of groups of multi-bit digital words, each group representing at least one of said sounds, a plurality of digital to analog converter means each responsive to different bits of said words for producing different ones of said control signals which control the pitch frequency of said oscillator, the gain of said amplifier, and the pass band of said filters, respectively.

17. The invention as defined in claim 16 wherein the digital controller further comprises means for enabling said words in each of said groups of words to be read out of said memory into said converter means such that sounds are produced in selected order.

18. The invention as defined in claim 17 wherein said enabling means comprises a clock oscillator and first and second counters, said first counter being connected to said clock oscillator for counting the clock pulses therefrom and said second counter being connected to said first counter, said first counter being connected to said memory to address successive words in each of said groups in said memory to enable read out thereof, and means for connecting said second counter to said memory to address said groups therein in sequence to enable read out of the words in said groups, said second counter having a capacity to count to a higher number than the number of said groups so as to enable read out of words representing silent intervals between said sounds.

19. The invention as defined in claim 17 further comprising means for enabling selected groups of said words to be read out of said memory at at least two durations such that the number of said sounds is increased.

20. The invention as set forth in claim 19 wherein said enabling means comprises a clock oscillator, means for counting clock pulses from said clock oscillator, and means responsive to said counter means for shifting said frequency of said clock oscillator between a lower and a higher frequency when the counter reaches predetermined counts.

21. The invention as defined in claim 17 wherein one of said groups of words represents a crying sound, said controlling means comprising means for addressing said memory to cause one of said groups to be read out when the state of motion of said doll has changed from a first state where it is moved to a second state where it is not moved and said doll remains in said second state at least a certain length of time, such that a crying sound is then produced.

22. The invention as defined in claim 21 further comprising means for shifting the duration at which said one group of words are read out from a slower to a higher speed to change the manner in which the crying sound is voiced.

23. The invention as set forth in claim 17 wherein said controlling means further comprises means for conditioning at least one of said control signals to cause said synthesizing means to provide blank periods with no sound which occur with a predetermined probability at successive intervals of time.

24. A system for synthesizing a plurality of speech sounds in sequence comprising means for producing a complex pitch signal, means responsive to a plurality of control signals for varying the spectral and amplitude characteristics of said pitch signal to simulate a formant of said speech sounds, control means for sequentially generating selective ones of a plurality of sequences of said control signal, each said sequence representing a different one of said plurality of sounds, means for applying said control signals from said generating means to said producing means and to said spectral and amplitude characteristics varying means to synthesize said speech sounds, said pitch signal producing means being a variable frequency pitch oscillator, said means for varying the spectral and amplitude characteristics of said pitch signal comprising a variable gain amplifier and a plurality of variable band pass filters, said filters being connected in parallel to said amplifier, said amplifier being connected to said oscillator, and means for varying the pitch frequency of said oscillator, the gain of said amplifier and the band pass location in frequency of said plurality of said filters, each with a different one of said control signals.

25. The invention as defined in claim 24 further comprising a loud speaker and means for driving said loud speaker in response to the sum of the signals from said filters.