Digitally synchronized animated talking doll
Disclosed herein is animated talking toy figure feasible for digital actuation control and synchronization. Novel methods and apparatus are provided for control of and for coordinating the toy figure's sound and animation. Said toy figure has at least one articulated movable portion for providing animation effect, with the actuation thereof being provided by a two-phase actuation device, such as a solenoid, disposed therein. The toy figure's actuation-control circuitry includes logic switch means, and is adapted to be digitally controlled by a computing device. A computer-implemented method for controlling and synchronizing the toy figure's sound and animation includes, (i) creating actuation-control signal based on detailed textual content of the toy figure's audio speech, and (ii) synchronously transmitting to the toy figure the actuation-control signal, for control of said actuation-control circuitry, and a sound signal for playback through the toy figure's audio output device.
This is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 08/833,342 filed Apr. 04, 1997.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention pertains generally to animated talking toy figure, and in particular, to digitally-controlled animated talking doll of the type that the actuation of the doll's movable body portion, such as its mouth, is digitally synchronized with its own sound and/or with the sound/visual effects of a multimedia entertainment system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIt is well known in the art to employ advanced electronic devices for control of and for coordinating the sound and animation of a physical toy figure. However, the entertainment and educational values of the prior art is largely restricted by the lack of digital actuation control and digital synchronization means. As a result thereof, the sound and animation of the prior art animated talking dolls can not be digitally synchronized with the sound and/or visual effects of a multimedia entertainment system. These drawbacks are caused in part by the employment in the prior art of rotary-type actuation devices, such as DC or servo motors, that are not feasible for digital control and require rather complex gearing means for coupling with the articulated body parts of the doll. Thus, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for digitally synchronizing the sound and animation of an animated talking toy figure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTo remedy the foregoing and other drawbacks of the prior art, there is provided a novel arrangement of animated talking toy figure, which is adapted to be controlled or synchronized by digital actuation-control signals. According to one aspect of the present invention, a digital animated talking toy figure includes a physical doll having at least one articulated movable body part for providing animation effect therefore; Disposed therein is a sounding device, such as a sound speaker, and a two-phase actuation means for actuating the articulated body part of the toy figure. Said actuation means comprises a two-phase or multi-phase electromechanical device, such as a solenoid, and an actuation-control circuitry for controlling said electromechanical device according to a digital actuation-control signal received. Said digital actuation-control signal is separated from and is transmitted to the toy figure in synchronization with the sound signal transmitted to said sounding device. It is preferred that, said sound signal and said digital actuation-control signal be provided by and transmitted from a conventional multimedia computer.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, in order to synchronize the animation of a toy figure with its audio output, the computer system employed therefore and/or connected thereto is provided with synchronization system to create or provide digital actuation control signals for transmitting to the actuation-control circuitry of the toy figure in synchronization with the transmission of the sound signals to the doll's sounding device. The digital actuation-control signal may be created according to the arrangement of vowel letters in the textual content of the toy figure's speech synthesized by said computer.
The foregoing is intended to be merely a summary and not to limit the scope of the specification. The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the annexed claims. The invention, however, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be appreciated by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to
With reference to
As shown in
One synchronization method, according to the present invention, is to divide the streaming TV video signals 270 into a stream of small segments based on the desired Web content or data stream to be received by the client user computer 30 while broadcasting said TV program 270, which could be done at the production stage of said TV program. The TV video segmentation information may be stored in conjunction with and on the same storage media as the TV program itself. The function of the TV station synchronization system 210 is to retrieve said TV video segmentation information and, in accordance therewith, send synchronization signals 214 to the synchronization system 202 of the Web site 300. The function of the Web site synchronization system 202 is to receive said synchronization signals 214, and, in accordance therewith, instruct the Web site 300 to send the desired data or media stream or content to the client computer 30. The Web site may employ the so-called “PUSH” technology or other commonly used technologies to sent the desired content or data to the client 30.
The synchronization process described above may be used to only synchronize the starting moment of a data stream 260 transmitted from the Web site 300 to the computer 30 with the starting of a TV program signals stream 270 transmitted from the TV station 208. However, it is preferred that the synchronization is conducted throughout the flow of said two data/signal streams. As shown in
The synchronization signals 214I are to be transmitted between the two synchronization systems 202 and 210 of
One skilled in the art would understand that, the above-described synchronization method could be used to synchronize the transmission of any type of video contents or data stream, and that, other type of synchronization methods or systems may also be employed. For examples, (1) the data stream or Web contents 260 of
In
The multimedia computer system 30 may be of any type of market-available conventional multimedia home computer. Alternatively, the computer system 30 may also be of any other type of digital computing devices with Internet or networking capability, such as an Internet-/Web-TV or the like, an electronic video game console or the like, a TV set-top box or the like, or other computing system configurations. The transmitting means for connecting the toy
One skilled in the art would understand that, the “body” of the toy figure 1 may take any of the usual form and construction of a physical entertainment figure, and may include element(s) for representing or simulating any body part(s) of a living being or the like. In the examples of
It is appreciated that the animation effect of the toy figure 1 is provided, preferably, by movement of its mouth portion 12 for simulating sounding or talking behavior or the like of a living being. The toy figure 1 may be configured for digital control of movement of its other body portions, such as the two arms 4, the two eyes 20, or the entire head member 2, etc. In one example, the arm 4 may move relative to the torso portion 3, and/or may bend at a pivotal juncture between its upper arm and forearm 26. More than one body part of the toy figure 1 may be set to move at the same time.
In
Should it be desired that other body part of the toy figure 1 be movable for providing animation effect, more actuation devices shall be provided therefore, and the actuation-control circuitry 36 shall be modified accordingly. In the example of
It is appreciated that the actuation devices 38, 40, and 42 and the actuation-control circuitry 36 of the toy figure 1 are feasible for digital control and multimedia synchronization. It is preferred that the actuation devices 38, 40, and 42 are of two-phase or multi-phase type electromagnetic actuation device such as a solenoid. One skilled in the art would understand that, there exists various type of commonly used solenoid that can be employed in the present invention, such, for examples, as DC (or AC) type solenoid or the like, rotary type solenoid or the like, and push or pull type solenoid or the like, etc.; and that, multi-coil type solenoid may also be used. Different type of solenoid may be used for simplifying the mechanical structure of the toy figure 1's interior. For examples, it is preferred that, (i) a pull-type or a push-type solenoid 40 may be employed for actuating the toy figure 1's arm 4 and mouth 12; and that (ii) it may be more convenient to use a rotary solenoid to control the actuation of the moveable portions of the toy
Reference is now made to
The operation principle of the actuation-control circuitry 36 or the logic switch 82 may also be understood as that, it provides two different types of basic electronic or electrical functions (i.e. “switching”) with respect to transmitting electric power or current from the power source 52 to the coil(s) 66 of the solenoid 56 in response and according to receiving the two different digital binary signals respectively. One skilled in the art would understand that, (i) many methods and electronic circuitries might be used for implementing such two-phase “switching” functionality; For example, the actuation-control circuitry 36 may, alternatively, include means or electronic elements for changing direction of electric current passing through the coil 66 in response to receiving the two different binary digital signals (i.e., “1” and “0”); and that, (ii) the logic switch 82 may be a complex circuitry, or it may be comprised of just a single electronic device; For examples, the logic switch 82 may be a Field-Effect Transistor (FET) or the like or an Analog Transmission Gate or the like, or it may be of other type of digital transmission-control devices known to those in the art.
It is appreciated that, since all solenoid has two states, i.e., energized and de-energized states, the actuation of the solenoid 56 can be directly associated with and controlled by the two binary codes (or signals) “1” and “0” of the digital “logic-switch-control signal” 83. Referring now to
One skilled in the art would also understand that other well-known electronic elements or devices or system can be added to the actuation-control circuitry 36 to provide the actuation system with more sophisticated and elaborate features. For examples, devices such as capacitor, Zener, and diode may be included in the circuitry 36 to improve the response speed of the solenoid 56 and/or to suppress arcing from the coil 66; if necessary, appropriate digital devices may be included in the circuitry 36 to transfer the external digital signal 83X received by the toy
It is appreciated that, because of the two-phase or two-state nature of a solenoid (i.e., “energized” and “de-energized”) and the two-phase or two-state nature of the toy figure 1's movable body part 1X (e.g., “open” and “close”; OR, “up” and “down”; OR “left” and “right”, etc.), there is a direct correspondence among the binary codes “1”/“0”, the two states of the plunger member 68 of the solenoid 56, and the two states of the toy figure 1's movable body part 1X. Thus, the coupling means 69 does not require any type of complex rotary gearing system, and each independent movable part of the toy figure 1 may be provided with one solenoid. In regarding the body-part attachment means 1Z, it is preferred that the movable body part 1X of toy figure 1 be pivotally attached to or engaged with its nearby stationary portion 1Y, having a return spring attached thereto for urging said movable body part 1X to its default or neutral position while the respective actuation device 56 being de-energized.
It is appreciated that, the present invention provides various ways of using the computer 30 to synchronize the animation of the toy figure 1 with its audio output. Such synchronization is realized by transmitting to the toy
The “logic-switch-control” signal sequence 83 is comprised of a sequence of “binary elements”, which may be created according to the detailed text content and the timing control of the toy figure 1's audio playback, and it may be converted to a pre-defined data/signal format for transmission (e.g., the signal 83X described above). For examples, (i) the signal sequence 83 may be created in such a way that each of its element and the timing thereof is directly associated with the arrangement of vowel letters in the text of the toy's speech or the like; the computer 30 may create or provide logic-switch-control signals 83 for use to direct the toy figure 1 to open its mouth once on every or every other utterance of a vowel letter in the text of the toy figure 1's current speech; (ii) the animation of the toy's other body part may be controlled based on the appearance of certain predefined words or phrases in said speech; etc.
The general rules for creating the logic-switch-control signal 83, according to the present invention, may be summarized as follows: (i) the number of parallel data/signal sequences (or number of rows) of the “logic-switch-control” signal 83 for direct control of the respective actuation devices or solenoids of the toy figure 1 shall be made equal to the number of solenoids within the toy
It is appreciated that, the binary elements “1” and “0” in the logic-switch-control signal 83 are directly associated, respectively, with the “energized” and “de-energized” states of the solenoid 56, and with the “open” and “closed” conditions or the like of the toy figure 1's mouth 12 or its other movable body part 1X. For examples, the code “1” represents the action of energizing the respective solenoid 56 for moving the respective movable body part 1X of the toy figure 1 by sending the signal or data “1” to the logic input 82X of the logic switch 82; and the code “0” represents de-energizing the respective solenoid 56 for returning the respective movable body part 1X of the toy figure 1 to its default or neutral position by sending the signal or data “0” to the logic input 82X of the logic switch 82. Because the solenoid 56 has a finite response time, the rules for creating the logic-switch-control signals 83 may also be dependent on the speed of playback of the toy figure 1's audio speech. According to another aspect of the present invention, certain of the toy's body parts, such as the arm 4, the entire head member 2, etc., may be set to move randomly or based on whether the current word or phrase of the toy figure 1's audio speech belongs to a predefined vocabulary groups. The principle of creating or sequencing the “binary elements” of the logic-switch-control signal 83 is exemplified by, but not limited to, the three examples shown in
In the example of
In the example of
In the example of
Those skilled in the art will understand that, (i) the “actuation-control signal” 83X transmitted to the toy figure 1 from the computer 30 may be the same as or different from the above-described “logic-switch-control signal” 83 desired to be transmitted to the logic input 82X of the logic switch 82; (ii) the actual data file for sound and actuation control of the toy figure 1 may be in a compressed or other standard or conventional data format; (iii) the binary data sequences 83I-K of the
It is further understood that, additional hardware devices and/or software system may be included in toy figure 1 for providing more optional features. For examples, devices such as sound-activating sensors, thermal sensors, Light-emitting devices, and/or touch detectors, or the like, may be added to the embodiment to provided the toy figure 1 with more interactive features such as responding to the touching/talking of a user, etc. In addition, the actuation control interface and the sound interface of the computer 30 may be adapted to have multiple channels for connecting to and controlling more than one toy figure 1 of the type described above.
As shown in the
The exemplary computer 30 of
The computer 30 further includes interface (hardware/software) subsystem(s) for facilitating connection and data communication with the toy figure 1's actuation-control circuitry 36 and speaker 44. As shown in
The following disclosure regarding the method of using a handheld remote-control device to control an electronic appliance is also disclosed in the U.S. application Ser. No. 10/340,429 filed Jan. 10, 2003 by the applicant of the present application.
Reference is now made to
As shown in
Apparently, the signal transmitter/receiver subsystem 30T is to be provided with a digital interface system 30Z (
The computer 30 may be connected to a network, such as the Internet, such that a user can control the electronic appliance 726 from a remote location by accessing the computer 30 from another computer at said remote location through said network. Furthermore, as shown in
Since the transmitter/receiver 30T is provided with wide-range signal spectrum capability, the computer 30 may be provided with “button identification/assignment” software-application program for identifying a button on another remote control and assign the function of such button to a selected button on the general purpose remote control device 710. For example, if the electronic appliance 726 is provided with an original handheld remote control device 710X (not shown) from the manufacture that has a button 710X-A, and a user wants to designate a button 710-A on the general-purpose remote control device 710 to replace the functioning of the button 710X-A of the remote control device 710X; The processes of identifying the buttons 710X-A and 710-A are by simply clicking on these buttons on the remote control devices 710X and 710 respectively, and the resultant wireless signals will then be received by the computer 30 and by the “button identification/assignment” application program. The button identification/assignment application program may then be used to link or associate the button 710-A to the button 710X-A such that, when the user depress or click on the button 710-A of the remote control 710, the wireless signals transmitted from the subsystem 30T of the computer 30 to the appliance 726 will be the same as the wireless signals transmitted thereto when the user depress the button 710X-A of the remote control device 710X; Similarly, the button 710X-A of the remote control device 710X may also be assigned to a display button on a toolbar or to an image icon or the like shown on the computer monitor such that when a user click on said toolbar or said display button using a computer mouse, the wireless signals transmitted from the subsystem 30T of the computer 30 to the appliance 726 will be the same as the wireless signals transmitted thereto when the user depress the button 710X-A of the remote control device 710X.
Naturally, the embodiment of the digitally synchronized animated talking toy figure and the synchronization methods/systems of the present invention are not limited to the above-described examples. While certain novel features of the inventions have been shown and described and are set out in the Claims, it will be understood that various substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the devices and software systems described throughout this disclosure and in their operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Claims
1. A physical toy figure adapted to be controlled by a digital actuation-control signal and a sound signal representing a selected audio sound, said actuation-control signal being separate from said sound signal, said toy figure comprising:
- a body including at least one movable portion, said movable portion having an open and a default closed states;
- audio output means for reproducing said selected audio sound in response to the toy figure receiving said sound signal;
- an electromagnetic actuation device situated within said body for actuating said movable portion, said actuation device having a first and a second phases; and
- an actuation-control circuitry for controlling said actuation device in response to receiving said actuation-control signal;
- said sound signal being transmitted to said audio output means in synchronization with transmission of said actuation-control signal to said actuation-control circuitry.
2. The toy figure as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first and second phases of said actuation device are associated with said open and closed states of said movable portion respectively, and wherein said actuation-control signal contains a signal sequence comprising a sequence of a first and a second logic signals for representing a first and a second predefined binary values respectively, said first and second logic signals being associated with said open and closed states of said movable portion respectively.
3. The toy figure as set forth in claim 2, wherein said actuation-control circuitry includes logic switch means having a logic input, whereby said actuation-control circuitry causes said actuation device to be in said first phase for actuating said movable portion in response to said logic input receiving said first logic signal and causes said actuation device to be in said second phase for returning said movable portion to said default closed state in response to said logic input of the logic switch means receiving said second logic signal.
4. The toy figure of claim 1, further comprising a second movable portion and a second electromagnetic actuation device situated within said body for actuating said second movable portion, the two actuation devices being independently controlled by said actuation-control circuitry in response to receiving said actuation-control signal so as to cause independent movements of the two movable portions of the toy figure.
5. The toy figure as set forth in claim 1, wherein said actuation device is a solenoid.
6. The toy figure as set forth in claim 1, wherein said first and second phases of said actuation device are associated with said open and closed states of said movable portion respectively, and wherein said actuation-control signal contains a logic-switch-control signal comprising a sequence of a first and a second logic signals for representing a first and a second predefined binary values respectively, said first and second logic signals being associated with said open and closed states of said movable portion respectively.
7. A toy figure comprising:
- a body for simulating an appearance of a living being;
- at least one movable body part for simulating an animation effect of the living being; and
- a two-phase actuation device situated within said body for actuating said movable body part; said actuation device including a coil and a magnetic plunger.
8. The toy figure of claim 7, further comprising an actuation-control circuitry for selectively connecting electric power to said coil in response to receiving an digital actuation-control signal so as to control the actuation of said two-phase actuation device and hence said toy figure's movable body part.
9. The toy figure of claim 8, further comprising audio output means for playing back a selected audio sound in response to the toy figure receiving a sound signal, said sound signal being separate from said actuation-control signal.
10. The toy figure as set forth in claim 8, wherein said two-phase actuation device has an energized and a de-energized states, wherein said actuation-control signal contains a signal sequence comprising a sequence of a first and a second logic signals for representing a first and a second predefined binary values respectively, said first and second logic signals being directly associated with said energized and de-energized states respectively.
11. The toy figure as set forth in claim 8, wherein said actuation-control circuitry is situated within said toy figure's body.
12. The toy figure as set forth in claim 8, wherein said actuation-control circuitry is situated outside said toy figure's body.
13. The toy figure as set forth in claim 8, wherein said actuation-control circuitry includes logic switch means, and whereby control of actuation of said two-phase actuation device and hence said toy figure's movable body part is provided by said logic switch means selectively switching electric power to said coil of the two-phase actuation device in response to said actuation-control circuitry receiving said actuation-control signal.
14. The toy figure as set forth in claim 8, wherein said two-phase actuation device includes an energized and a de-energized states, wherein said actuation-control signal contains a logic-switch-control signal comprising a sequence of a first and a second logic signals for representing a first and a second predefined binary values respectively, said first and second logic signals being associated with, respectively, said energized and de-energized states of said two-phase actuation device, and wherein said actuation-control circuitry includes logic switch means having a logic input, whereby said logic switch means controls the actuation of said two-phase actuation device according to said logic-switch-control signal received at said logic input.
15. The toy figure as set forth in claim 14, wherein said actuation-control circuitry causes said two-phase actuation device to be in said energized state, so as to actuate said movable body part of the toy figure, in response to said logic input receiving said first logic signal, and causes said two-phase actuation device to be in said de-energized state, so as to return said movable body part of the toy figure to a default position, in response to said logic input receiving said second logic signal.
16. The toy figure as set forth in claim 9, wherein said audio output means is situated inside said body.
17. The toy figure as set forth in claim 9, wherein said audio output means is situated outside said body.
18. The toy figure as set forth in claim 7, wherein said two-phase actuation device is a solenoid.
19. A device adapted to control and synchronize the sound and animation of an animated talking toy figure, said toy figure comprising a body having at least one movable body part, audio output means, and an actuation system, said device comprising:
- an actuation-control component for transmitting an actuation-control signal to said toy figure; and
- a audio component for transmitting a sound signal representing a selected audio sound to said audio output means for playback;
- said actuation-control signal being separate from said sound signal and associated with said selected audio sound, and being transmitted to said actuation system of the toy figure for control of said toy figure's movable body part in synchronization with the transmission of said sound signal to said audio output means of the toy figure.
20. The device as set forth in claim 19, wherein text content of said toy figure's selected audio sound is predetermined, and wherein said actuation-control signal contains a sequence of logic-switch-control signal that are related to the arrangement of vowel letters in said text content of the toy figure's selected audio sound.
Type: Application
Filed: May 20, 2003
Publication Date: Jul 7, 2005
Inventor: Shalong Maa (Dallas, TX)
Application Number: 10/441,890