Patent Application
20140099856
The present invention relates to a toy which is responsive to audible sound signals and more particularly to a figure toy whose body parts move in response to audible sound signals.
Figure toys such as plush animals are prevalent in the toy industry. Such toys are usually passive and unanimated, and do not have any mechanisms to move body parts, unless such body parts are moved by a person, such as a child.
The present invention relates to a toy mechanism having parts which move in response to audio sound signals. The toy mechanism can be provided inside of a plush toy, and move body parts of the plush toy. Movement can be movement of the head relative to the body, opening of the mouth, or any other body part, or one part relative to another body part.
The invention provides an animated toy, comprising: a housing having a body portion and a head portion; an input circuit for receiving data representing inputted audio signals; and a controller for moving the head portion relative to the body portion in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals.
The present invention provides an animated toy, comprising: a housing having a body portion and a head portion; an animated figure in which the housing is located, the animated figure having a head in which the housing head portion is located, and a body in which the housing body portion is located; an input circuit for receiving data representing inputted audio signals; a controller for moving the head portion relative to the body portion in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals; wherein the animated figure has a mouth, and wherein the controller moves the mouth open and closed in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be given, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. The inventive embodiment will be described in relation to a plush toy, but could be used in another toy, such as a doll or action figure. As used herein, the term “toy” refers to plush toys, dolls, action figures, whether representing animals, humans, or non-realistic figures such as action heroes and characters, including omic characters and fantasy characters. It also includes inanimate toys, such as vehicles or objects. It also includes pseudo-animate objects.
The invention provides an animated toy, comprising: a housing having a body portion and a head portion; an input circuit for receiving data representing inputted audio signals; and a controller for moving the head portion relative to the body portion in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals.
The input circuit may comprise an input jack for receiving inputted audio signals from an electronic device. The input circuit may comprise a microphone. The input circuit may comprise a switch for switching between connection to an input jack which receives inputted audio signals from an electronic device and connection to a microphone. The toy may further comprise an animated figure in which the housing is located, the animated figure having a head in which the housing head portion is located, and a body in which the housing body portion is located. The animated figure may have a mouth, and wherein the controller moves the mouth open and closed in dependence on a characteristic of the audio signal. The toy may further include an acoustic output transducer for outputting audio signals in dependence on the inputted audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head side-to-side relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head up-and-down relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head up-and-down, and from side-to-side relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may comprise a voice engine circuit chip.
The present invention provides an animated toy, comprising: a housing having a body portion and a head portion; an animated figure in which the housing is located, the animated figure having a head in which the housing head portion is located, and a body in which the housing body portion is located; an input circuit for receiving data representing inputted audio signals; a controller for moving the head portion relative to the body portion in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals; wherein the animated figure has a mouth, and wherein the controller moves the mouth open and closed in dependence on a characteristic of the inputted audio signals.
The input circuit may comprise an input jack for receiving inputted audio signals from an electronic device. The input circuit may comprise a microphone. The input circuit may comprise a switch for switching between connection to an input jack which receives inputted audio signals from an electronic device and connection to a microphone. The toy may further including an acoustic output transducer for outputting audio signals in dependence on the inputted audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head side-to-side relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head up-and-down relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may be adapted to move the head up-and-down, and from side-to-side relative to the body in response to audio signals. The controller may comprise a voice engine circuit chip.
Mounted on the top of the upward arm 32 is a housing head portion mechanism 40. This mechanism houses a second motor 42, which when energized causes the lower plate 44 to oscillate about pivot point 46. An upper plate 48 remains fixed.
When the mechanism of
Motor 14 when energized will cause the head of the plush toy to oscillate up and down and side to side.
The housing front 10B has an acoustic speaker 50 mounted therein and holes in the housing front 10B allow sound to pass through.
An input to the voice engine 56 is a microphone 60, which may be located in an arm of the plush toy, hidden from view. A second input 62 provides a way to input audio signals to the voice engine. The second input is an input jack 62 can receive audio signals from an MP3 player, cell phone, iPod or other hand held or desktop electronic device. A switch 70, which may be located near the battery receptacle cover, enables the user to select the audio source of the microphone 60 or input jack 62.
The voice engine 54 may be programmed to accept audio input signals from either the microphone 60 or input jack 62 and provide appropriate driving signals to drive the two motors 14 and 42 depending on the characteristics of the input signals, such as amplitude, frequency, duration, etc.
The voice engine 54 will also provide an output to an audio driver 80, which is a TRS 1309B chip, to provide audio signals to the speaker 50.
Another example of a voice engine 54 is a SNC 71101 16-bit voice engine available from Sonix.
Such a voice engine is a recording engine which records high quality audio data for further processing. The recorded data may be compressed, and a built in 2 KW program RAM can execute a program residing in a 44 KW program ROM. Further details on the SNC 71101 voice engine may be found in a Data Sheet readily available at www.dz863.com/pinout-8387258463-SNC71101/. The interface circuits for the SNC 71101 are also disclosed therein.
By appropriate programming, an audio signal can be outputted to drive the motor 14 and 42 to move the toy head up and down, and side to side relative to the body, open and close the mouth to simulate talking, and to output an audio signal through the speaker 50.
Although one embodiment has been shown and described, the invention is not limited to this embodiment.
