Smart toys

• US 6,631,351 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2000
• Issued: 10/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aidentity Matrix Entertainment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Aidentity Matrix
• Inventors: Fu, Michael C., Ramachandran, Surya, Kancherlapalli, Anand
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Doris H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nolan, Daniel A.
• Application Number:
  US09/661,537
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/272, 704/251, 704/258, 704/9, 704/10, 434/156, 434/319, 446/175, 446/297-301, 446/395, 340/539
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

Talking toys perform simulated conversations with one another. The toys each include a forest of decision graphs. The forest of decision graphs is the same for each toy. Each of the decision graphs corresponds to a conversation and includes a number of nodes, each of which corresponds to a portion of the conversation. The nodes also include one or more contexts which connect the nodes to children nodes. As a result, the selection of the context directs the progression of conversation. The toys select a decision graph/conversation that includes all or most of the toys as participants. The conversation is then performed as the toys traverse the selected decision graph. The toys transfer messages back and forth via a wireless transmission and reception arrangement as they traverse the decision graph. The toys play the portions of the conversation through a speaker. Each of the toys includes an architecture including a physical layer, which includes the transmission and reception circuitry, and an application layer that contains the forest of decision graphs as well as a participant list and identification information for a conversation manager. The conversation manager toy broadcasts updates to the participant list and the current conversation node. The architecture also includes a messenger layer that verifies and passes messages between the application the physical layers.

Claims

1. A plurality of toys for performing a simulated audible conversation therebetween, each of the toys comprising:

a) an architecture including a physical layer, a messenger layer and an application layer, said physical layer communicating with said application layer through said messenger layer;

b) said physical layer receiving and transmitting messages from and to compatible toys;

c) said messenger layer receiving and verifying messages from the physical layer and passing verified messages to the application layer, said messenger layer also receiving messages from the application layer and passing the messages from the application layer to the physical layer for transmission;

d) said application layer including;

i. a forest of decision graphs, each of which correspond to a conversation, the messages received from the messenger layer being used by the application layer to select a conversation from the forest of decision graphs;

ii. a participants list that lists the plurality of toys; and

iii. an identification number of one of the plurality of toys that is designated as a conversation manager so that transmissions from the conversation manager relating to the participants list and the conversation are received by each toy that is not the conversation manager.

2. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein each of the decision graphs includes a number of nodes with at least some of the nodes corresponding to portions of the conversation.

3. The plurality of toys of claim 2 wherein each of said nodes including one or more contexts with each of the contexts corresponding to an edge leading to a child node so that a selection of a context by each toy directs progression of the simulated conversation between the plurality of toys.

4. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein the messenger layer includes:

a) a receiver component and a transmitter component so that when a message is received by the receiver component of a receiving toy, the transmitter component passes a message acknowledgement (MSG_ACK) containing a copy of at least a portion of the message to the physical layer for transmission to an originating toy that originally sent the message; and

b) said messenger layer passing the message to the application layer upon receipt of an acknowledgement to the message acknowledgement (ACK_ACK) in response to the transmission of the message acknowledgement (MSG_ACK) indicating that the originating toy has verified proper receipt of the message by the receiving toy.

5. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein the physical medium is infrared and the physical layer includes infrared reception and transmission circuitry.

6. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein each of the decision graphs includes a number of nodes, each of which includes a node identification number, with at least some of the nodes corresponding to a portion of the conversation and said transmissions from the conversation manager relating to the conversation including an identification number for a node.

7. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein the messenger and application layers are implemented by micro-controllers.

8. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein the messenger and application layers are implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit chip.

9. The plurality of toys of claim 1 wherein the identification number of one of the plurality of toys that is designated as a conversation manager is a Global Identification Number.

10. A toy for performing a simulated conversation with at least one other compatible toy comprising:

a) a speaker;

b) a transmission and reception means;

c) a controller in communication with the speaker and the transmission and reception means; and

d) said controller including;

i. at least one decision graph corresponding to a conversation between the toy and the compatible toy, said decision graph including a number of nodes with at least some of said nodes corresponding to portions of the conversation;

ii. a participants list that lists toys participating in the simulated conversation; and

iii. an identification number of a toy that is designated as a conversation manager so that transmissions from the conversation manager relating to the participants list and the simulated conversation are received by the toy whereby said toy

receives an information message from the compatible toy through the transmission and reception means, and

uses said message to select a node of the decision graph so that

a portion is played through the speaker and

a message is transmitted to the compatible toy through the transmission and reception means.

11. The toy of claim 10 wherein each of the nodes includes one or more contexts with each of the contexts corresponding to an edge leading to a child node so that a selection of a context by the toy directs progression of the simulated conversation.

12. The toy of claim 10 wherein

each of the nodes includes a node identification number, and

the transmissions from the conversation manager relating to the simulated conversation include an identification number of a node of the decision graph.

13. The toy of claim 10 where the transmission and reception means includes infrared transmission and reception circuitry.

14. The toy of claim 10 wherein the controller is a micro-controller.

15. The toy of claim 10 wherein the controller is an application-specific integrated circuit chip.

16. The toy of claim 10 wherein the identification number of a toy that is designated as a conversation manager is a Global Identification Number.

17. A method for managing a simulated conversation between multiple toys, where the multiple toys include transmission and reception means, unique identification numbers and identical decision graphs with multiple nodes where the decision graphs correspond to conversations between the multiple toys and the multiple nodes correspond to portions of the conversations, said method comprising the steps of:

a) designating one of said toys, based on an identification number, as the conversation manager;

b) causing the conversation manager to select and broadcast a node of a decision graph to the multiple toys; and

c) causing the conversation manager to broadcast a participants list including toys involved in the conversation to the multiple toys;

whereby all of the multiple toys are synchronized with regard to the selected node and participants list.

18. A plurality of toys for performing a simulated conversation there between comprising:

a) a first toy and a second toy, each including;

i. a transmission means;

ii. a reception means;

iii. a controller in communication with the speaker, transmission means and reception means and including at least one decision graph corresponding to the simulated conversation, said decision graph including a plurality of nodes with said plurality of nodes corresponding to portions of the simulated conversation; and

b) said first toy selecting one of said plurality of nodes via its controller without manual intervention by a user and transmitting the selected node via its transmission means without manual intervention by a user to the reception means of the second toy, whereupon receipt, said second toy playing a portion of the simulated conversation corresponding to the selected node.

19. The plurality of toys of claim 18 wherein said first toy receives a message containing an earlier-selected node with its reception means prior to selecting the node for transmission to the second toy.

20. The plurality of toys of claim 18 wherein plurality is defined as including intra-series toys.

21. The plurality of toys of claim 20 wherein the first and second toys are duplicates of one another.

22. The plurality of toys of claim 21 wherein the first and second toys each have a unique Global Identification Number assigned thereto.

23. The plurality of toys of claim 20 further comprising a third toy where the third toy is a duplicate of the first toy.

24. The plurality of toys of claim 23 further comprising additional toys and wherein neither the first toy, the second toy nor any of the additional toys are duplicates of one another.

25. The plurality of toys of claim 18 wherein plurality is defined as including inter-series toys.

26. The plurality of toys of claim 23 wherein the first and second toys are of a different series and further comprising a third toy where the third toy is of the same series as the first toy.

27. The plurality of toys of claim 26 wherein the first and third toy are duplicates.

28. The plurality of toys of claim 27 further comprising a fourth toy that is the same series as the second toy.

29. The plurality of toys of claim 28 wherein the second toy and the fourth toy are duplicates.

30. The plurality of toys of claim 18 wherein each of said nodes includes one or more contexts with each of the contexts corresponding to an edge leading to a child node so that a selection of a context directs progression of the simulated conversation between the plurality of toys and wherein said first toy selects a context in addition to selecting a node and where the selected context is transmitted to the second toy along with the selected node.

31. The plurality of toys of claim 30 wherein the contexts are used by each toy in the selection of a node.

32. The plurality of toys of claim 30 wherein each of said first and second toys also includes a participants list that lists the plurality of toys, said participants list used by each toy in the selection of a node corresponding to a toy present in the participants list.

33. The plurality of toys of claim 32 wherein the participants list includes a doubtfuls list that lists toys that have been removed from the simulated conversation.

34. The plurality of toys of claim 30 wherein each of said contexts includes a probability assigned thereto and the probabilities are used by each toy in the selection of a node.

35. The plurality of toys of claim 30 wherein a default context is selected by the first toy at the beginning of the simulated conversation.

36. The plurality of toys of claim 18 wherein said decision graphs may be interchanged with alternative decision graphs.

37. A toy for performing a simulated conversation with at least one other toy comprising:

a) a transmission means;

b) a controller in communication with the transmission means and including at least one decision graph corresponding to the simulated conversation between the toy and the other toy, said decision graph including a plurality of nodes corresponding to portions of the simulated conversation where each of the nodes has a probability assigned thereto and each of the nodes includes one or more contexts with a probability assigned to each context and said controller also including a participants list; and

c) said controller selecting one of said plurality of nodes based upon the context, the participants list, the probabilities of the contexts and the probabilities of the nodes and transmitting it to the other toy via the transmission means.

38. The toy of claim 37 wherein the participants list includes a doubtfuls list that lists toys that have been removed from the simulated conversation.

39. The toy of claim 37 further comprising a reception means and wherein the toy receives a message containing an earlier-selected node with the reception means prior to selecting the node for transmission to the other toy.

45. The toy of claim 37 wherein said decision graphs may be interchanged with alternative decision graphs.

40. A toy for performing a simulated conversation with at least one other toy comprising:

a) a transmission means;

b) a controller in communication with the transmission means and including a participants list and at least one decision graph corresponding to the simulated conversation between the toy and the other toy, said decision graph including a plurality of nodes corresponding to portions of the simulated conversation where each of said nodes includes one or more contexts with each of the contexts corresponding to an edge leading to a child node so that a selection of a context directs progression of the simulated conversation; and

c) said controller selecting one of said plurality of nodes using the participants list so that a node corresponding to a toy present in the participants list is selected and said controller also selecting a context of the selected node and transmitting the selected node and selected context to the other toy via the transmission means.

41. The toy of claim 40 wherein the contexts are used by the controller in the selection of a node.

42. The toy of claim 40 wherein the participants list includes a doubtfuls list that lists toys that have been removed from the simulated conversation.

43. The toy of claim 40 wherein each of said contexts includes a probability assigned thereto and the probabilities are used by the controller in the selection of a node.

44. The toy of claim 40 wherein a default context is selected by the toy at the beginning of the simulated conversation.

46. A method for simulating a conversation between a first toy and a second toy comprising the steps of:

a) providing first and second toys, each including at least one decision graph corresponding to the simulated conversation between the first toy and the second toy, the decision graph including a plurality of nodes corresponding to portions of the simulated conversation;

b) the first toy selecting a node from the decision graph of the first toy without manual intervention by a user;

c) the first toy transmitting the selected node from the first toy to the second toy without manual intervention by a user;

d) the second toy receiving the selected node; and

e) the second toy playing a portion of the simulated conversation corresponding to the selected node.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising the steps of:

f) providing each node of the decision graph with at least one context;

g) providing each of the toys with a participants list;

h) providing each of the contexts with a probability;

i) providing each of the nodes with a probability;

and wherein step b) is based upon the participants list, the contexts and their associated probabilities and the nodes and their associated probabilities.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising the step of selecting a default context at the beginning of the simulated conversation.

49. A method of managing a simulated conversation between a plurality of toys comprising the steps of:

a) providing each of the plurality of toys with a participants list, said participants list including a currently active toys list and a doubtfuls list;

b) including toys that are present in the simulated conversation in the currently active toys list;

c) placing toys that are removed from the simulated conversation on the doubtfuls list; and

d) placing toys that are added to the simulated conversation on the currently active toys list.