Claims
- 1. A toy comprising:
a housing; a toy book on the housing, wherein different pages or sets of pages of the book are operably coupled to switches and wherein a marking on the pages indicate at least first and second operational modes for the toy; a processor operatively coupled to the toy book; a speaker operatively coupled to the processor; and a toy item having a moveable element coupled to the housing, wherein the toy item has an associated switch that is in electrical communication with the processor, and the moveable element of the toy item is adapted to generate a first audio output through the speaker when the moveable element moves in the first operational mode, and wherein the movable element of the toy item is adapted to generate a second audio output through the speaker when the moveable element moves in the second operational mode.
- 2. The toy of claim 1wherein the toy item is in the shape of a musical instrument, wherein the moveable element is in the shape of a moveable part of the musical instrument, and wherein the movement of the moveable element produces a sound of a single note from the musical instrument in the first operational mode, and produces a sound of other than a single note from the musical instrument in the second operational mode.
- 3. The toy of claim 2 wherein movement of the moveable element in the second operational mode produces a sound selected from the group consisting of an oral recitation of a number, an oral recitation of a word, and a series of musical notes.
- 4. The toy of claim 1 wherein the toy further comprises lights, and wherein the moving the moveable element activates the lights and generates a visual stimulus.
- 5. The toy of claim 4 wherein the visual stimulus is different depending upon the operational mode.
- 6. The toy of claim 1 wherein:
the toy item is in the shape of a niche covered by a hinged door; the moveable element is the hinged door; and at least one of opening and closing of the door produces an audio stimulus.
- 7. The toy of claim 6 wherein an audio stimulus is different in the first and second modes of operation.
- 8. The toy of claim 1 wherein the toy book further comprises an indicia operably coupled to the switch.
- 9. An interactive activity table toy comprising:
a housing in the form of a table top; a processor in the housing; a speaker operatively coupled to the processor; an electronic book including a switch adapted to indicate to the processor which page is currently being displayed to the user, wherein each page of the book has indicia indicative of a desired operational mode; and one or more toy musical instrument items including having one or more associated switches.
- 10. The toy of claim 9 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are letters, and the audio output generated by movement of the one or more musical instruments comprises audio relating to letters, numbers, or colors.
- 11. The toy of claim 9 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are numbers, and the audio output comprises audio relating to numbers.
- 12. The toy of claim 9 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are notes, and the audio output comprises music.
- 13. The toy of claim 9 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are colors, and wherein the audio output comprises audio relating to colors.
- 14. The toy of claim 9 further comprising a spinner on the housing.
- 15. The toy of claim 9 further comprising a roller on the housing.
- 16. The toy of claim 9 wherein the table has removable legs that are replaceable with an easel support.
- 17. A learning table comprising:
a housing; legs supporting the housing; a first toy item comprising a toy piano on the housing; a second toy item comprising a lever and a spinner on the housing; and a third toy item comprising a slide switch.
- 18. The learning table of claim 17 wherein the learning table further comprises:
a fourth toy item comprising a bead-filled roller; and a fifth toy item comprising depressible buttons with distinctive shapes and colors.
- 19. The learning table of claim 17 wherein further comprising a mode switch to change the operational mode of the learning table.
- 20. The learning table of claim 19 wherein the mode switch is in the form of a slide switch.
- 21. The learning table of claim 19 wherein the mode switch is in the form of an electronic book.
- 22. An interactive activity table toy comprising:
a) a housing in the form of a table top; b) a plurality of switch arrays disposed on the surface of the table top; c) a processor located in the housing and operably coupled to the switch arrays; d) a speaker located in the housing and operably coupled to the processor; e) a first switch array associated with a book switch, and adapted to indicate to the processor which page is currently being displayed to the user, wherein the displayed page has indicia indicative of a desired learning mode; f) a second array of switches associated with switches configured in the form of one or more musical instruments; and g) optionally additional switch arrays associated with additional play elements; wherein the audio signal generated by the processor corresponds to the indicia displayed on the book switches.
- 23. The toy of claim 22 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are letters and the audio signal generated at the interactive stations teaches letters.
- 24. The toy of claim 22 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are numbers and the audio signal generated at the interactive stations teaches numbers.
- 25. The toy of claim 22 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are notes and the audio signal generated at the interactive stations teaches music.
- 26. The toy of claim 22 wherein the indicia on the displayed page are colors and the audio signal generated at the interactive stations teaches colors.
- 27. The toy of claim 22 further comprising a spin switch.
- 28. The toy of claim 22 further comprising a roller switch.
- 29. The toy of claim 22 wherein the table has removable legs that are replaceable with an easel support.
- 30. A method of educational play comprising,
providing a housing; providing a toy book on the housing; providing movable elements associated with the book; providing switches operably coupled to the moveable elements; providing a processor operably coupled to the switches; providing a speaker operably coupled to the processor; providing one or more toy elements each having one or more moveable elements coupled to the housing; and moving one of the moveable elements to generate an audio response.
- 31. A method of operating a toy comprising:
providing a processor in electronic communication with a page of a book; and turning the book page to cause the processor to switch between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation.
- 32. The method of claim 31 wherein the first mode of operation results in production of a first audio stimulus in response to a physical movement of a toy item, and the second mode of operation results in production of a second audio stimulus in response to the physical movement of the toy item.
- 33. The method of claim 31 wherein the physical movement comprises moving the toy item in the shape of a musical instrument to produce a tone of the musical instrument in the first operating mode, and moving the toy item to produce other than a tone of the musical instrument in the second operating mode.
- 34. The method of claim 33 wherein production of other than the tone of a musical instrument in the second mode of operation comprises producing a word, a letter, and a non-musical sound.
- 35. The method of claim 31 wherein the physical movement comprises at least one of opening and closing the toy item in the shape of a door overlying a recess to produce a musical sound in the first operating mode, and to produce other than a musical sound in the second operating mode.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This patent application claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/346,322 filed Jan. 5, 2002. This provisional patent application is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60346322 |
Jan 2002 |
US |