Education and demonstration – Anatomy – physiology – therapeutic treatment – or surgery...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-06
2003-12-16
Harrison, Jessica (Department: 3714)
Education and demonstration
Anatomy, physiology, therapeutic treatment, or surgery...
C434S267000, C446S297000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06663393
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Play and toy devices come in many forms and shapes and are normally a miniaturization of real life settings portraying people, animals or objects. Toys are, also, classified into many categories such as dolls, action figures, motorized devices, remote controlled cars, construction sets, etc. One mutual element in all of these play and toy devices, and especially in active and interactive toys, such as motorized, electrically operated or voice activated toys, is the common characteristic that the action or functionality of a specific toy device is predetermined, fixed and/or anticipated for each and every play session of any unit of the device. A toy device usually functions in a predefined manner every time the toy is activated and, although some toy devices retain or memorize the status or stage of a game at the time when they are turned “off”, and other devices may incorporate random elements to change the functionality of the toy, these devices do not retain any information on how players had interacted with them during prior playing sessions. In addition, all units of a mass produced toy device usually respond in an identical and predictable manner to a specific control or a plurality of controls independent of how players had interacted with them.
One example of interactive toys is action or talkative dolls. Dolls represent a major sector of the toy market and, as such, they have been around longer than any other toy class. As the micro-electronic technology becomes more cost effective relative to the consumer market, the development and manufacturing of action dolls that incorporate speech as well as mechanical and electronic components becomes feasible for mass production. There are a wide variety of dolls which provide a life-like response some of them appear to respond to external stimuli. U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,143 which was issued on Jan. 25, 1994, to Arad et al. describes a learning doll. The patent specifications disclose a doll which is apparently capable of learning speech in response to human voice and touch interaction. Such learning, however, is a simulated learning and is limited to speech generation. In addition, the arrangement for apparent learning is such that the doll requires a combination of human speech and touch interaction for its operation.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to play devices and toys and in particular to a new class of interactive toys which is founded on personalizing a play device so that its current functionality is based on past interactions with a player rather than providing an identical operation or a randomly activated function each time the device is turned “on.” Since different players may interact in various ways with the same toy device, over a period of time, the operation of a specific toy device can be made to vary from that of an identical device depending on said past interactions. In effect, such play devices can be personalized to each player and can gradually and systematically adapt their operations to the way players are interacting with them. Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide new play devices which performance is affected by previous interactions or operations.
It is another object of this invention to provide new toy devices that can operate in a plurality of modes, including a “learning” mode in which a device can gain “knowledge” in connection with how a player is interacting with the device and how the player had responded to a particular subject matter or situation, in previous playing sessions.
A further object of the invention is to provide new toy devices capable of actual learning in response to repeated and/or sequential interactions with a player through entry control means.
It is yet another object of the current invention to provide a plurality of toy devices that incorporate a confidence level for each knowledge gained in connection with a particular subject matter or in response to specific situations.
It is, also, an object of this invention to provide toy devices which operate in a plurality of states that mimic human behavior.
It is another object of this invention to provide play devices with a plurality of games including a game that would challenge the player to transition the play device from an initial state to a desired state.
It is a further object of this invention to provide play devices that function in a sequence of acts or scenes which include two-way interactions with a player.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide toy devices that recognize patterns of antonym responses to specific topics or situations based on previous interactions. These responses could be classified into two, three or more categories. Said antonym responses could be classified as familiar/odd, good/bad, right/wrong, true/false, smart/stupid, clever/flimsy or the like.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a plurality of sound effects in the form of verbalization of comments or thoughts associated with a specific act or scene and/or melodies to heighten the enjoyment of play.
It is, also, an object of this invention to provide toy devices which initiate random events or acts that depict real life situations with anticipated antonym responses that can be either familiar/odd, good/bad, true/false, right/wrong, smart/stupid, clever/flimsy or the like.
It is another object of this invention to provide examples of such new play devices as preferred and alternate embodiments.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a new talkative action doll that initiates a sequence of interactions which include prompting requests in vocalized and/or visual formats.
It is, also, an object of the current invention to provide a new doll that comprises entry control means for a player to interact with it.
It is still an object of the current invention to provide a new doll that interacts with a similar doll using infra red technology.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a new doll that allows a player to interact with it by activating, plugging in and/or connecting a plurality of accessories to the doll device.
It is further an object of this invention to provide new doll that interacts with the player in human like moods.
It is yet an other object of this invention to provide a new doll device that challenges the player to transform its mood from a first mood to a second mood.
Yet another object of the current invention is to provide a new toy car with or without a remote control, and that incorporates speech and initiates a sequence of interactions that include requests in vocalized, visual, and/or movement formats.
It is, also, an object of this invention to provide a new toy car which comprises additional entry control means for the player to interact with the car.
It is further an object of this invention to provide a new toy car device that operates in human like moods.
It is still an object of this invention to provide a new toy car device that defies movement commands by the player.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a new toy car device that interacts with a similar device using infra red technology.
It is yet an other object of this invention to provide a new toy car device that challenges the player to transform its mood from a first mood to a second mood.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve the above objectives in an economical and easy to implement fashion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are achieved in accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention by providing a doll that comprises a micro-processor, a plurality of magnetic sensors that can be activated by a permanent magnet when said magnet is moved to a close proximity to a sensor, means for generating verbalized sentences and other sound effects and a plurality of electro-mechanical devices which provide human like effects such as eye and lip movements and means to provide a plurality of visual effects such as changes to skin color. The magnetic sensors will serve as e
Harrison Jessica
Sotomayor John
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