Incoming call reporting toy

Details Incoming call reporting toy Incoming call reporting toy

1999-08-13

2001-02-20

Muir, D. Neal (Department: 3712)

Amusement devices: toys

Convertible from, or serving as diverse article

Including sounding toy

C446S485000, C379S434000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06190227

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an incoming call reporting toy for indicating a call arrival state of a portable terminal represented by a cellular telephone so that the call is visually and aurally reported in an amusing fashion to a person around the toy.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Generally speaking, upon receiving an incoming call, a portable terminal, such as a cellular telephone, outputs a ring tone or vibrates to inform the user of the incoming call. This ring tone, however, is feeble, so the terminal in effect fails to notify the user of the call arrival state if, for example, the user is indoors away from the portable terminal. In addition, in the case of a mechanism for causing vibration to inform the user of the incoming call, the user fails to notice the call unless the mechanism remains in contact with the user.
In addition, a reporting device has been developed that includes an LED to be mounted at the top of an antenna provided on a portable terminal so that a response signal (an electromagnetic wave) emitted by the terminal upon receiving an incoming call is used to light the LED in order to optically inform the user of the incoming call. A problem with this reporting device is that the incoming call notifying signal displayed by the LED is so unstable that it lights for only a short period of time during which the portable terminal is emitting the response signal.
As described above, a problem of the conventional portable terminal is that the user fails to notice an incoming call in a timely manner if the user is indoors away from the portable terminal or if the user separates the terminal from his or her body. The conventional reporting means also lacks an element of fun, so an interesting incoming call reporting means is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, an object of this invention is to solve the problems of the above conventional incoming call reporting means and to provide an interesting incoming call reporting toy adapted so that when a portable terminal enters a call arrival state, a toy body such as a stuffed doll, performs a predetermined operation while emitting a sound such as a melody, music, etc. or lights an LED in order to visually and aurally notify a person around the toy of the incoming call in an amusing fashion.
A configuration of this invention provided to attain this object will be described in detail. An aspect of this invention is an incoming call reporting toy, which is configured to use an electromagnetic wave emitted by a portable terminal upon receiving an incoming call in order to drive an incoming call reporting circuit incorporated in a toy body, such as a stuffed doll, so that the toy body performs a predetermined operation while emitting a sound and/or light to visually and aurally report to a person around the toy that the portable terminal has received the incoming call.
Another aspect of this invention is an incoming call reporting toy including a holder for the portable terminal attached to the toy body.
Furthermore, still another aspect of this invention is an incoming call reporting toy which is configured so that after the portable terminal has received an incoming call, the toy body continues the incoming call reporting operation when the portable terminal is removed from the holder mounted on the toy body and is separated therefrom over a specified distance and the incoming call reporting circuit incorporated in the toy body is automatically opened to stop the operation.
According to this invention, by installing the portable terminal in the holder mounted on the toy body, such as a stuffed doll, an electromagnetic wave excited by the antenna when the terminal receives an incoming call is induced by a matching circuit comprising a coil and capacitors and is detected by a detecting circuit and amplified by an amplifier.
Subsequently, the signal is inputted to a control circuit via a chattering preventing circuit in the incoming call reporting circuit to control a sound synthesizing ROM and a motor for driving the toy body. In some cases, a control signal outputted from a signal controller controls the light emitting diode (LED). Then, the toy body, such as a stuffed doll, performs an operation such as a specified dance while emitting a sound such as a melody and/or a light in order to report the arrival of the call at the terminal to a person around the toy in an amusing fashion.
As regards this, the electromagnetic wave from the portable terminal is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Thus, by mounting the terminal in the holder mounted on the toy body, the toy is ensured to start the operation upon the reception of an incoming call, and when the portable terminal is removed from the holder, the electric field is rapidly weakened to automatically stop the operation. As a result, a battery power supply is effectively prevented from exhaustion.


REFERENCES:
patent: D. 250023 (1978-10-01), Perkins et al.
patent: D. 281496 (1985-11-01), Chen
patent: D. 319231 (1991-08-01), Plunkett et al.
patent: 2273836 (1942-02-01), Dale
patent: 4087650 (1978-05-01), Tucker
patent: 5609508 (1997-03-01), Wingate

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