Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6565407
-
Patent Number
6,565,407
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, February 2, 200024 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, May 20, 200321 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Banks; Derris H.
- Fernstrom; Kurt
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 446 175
- 446 300
- 446 301
- 446 338
- 446 384
- 446 391
- 446 369
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A doll includes a plush doll body having a movable head. A body housing within the doll body supports a control and sound circuit which is operatively coupled to a bidirectional motor drive system operative to move the head from side-to-side. A mouth moving mechanism is independently provided within the doll head. The body housing supports a pair of outwardly facing microphones on the right and left side of the housing to detect sound from either side. The control and sound circuit compares the sound energy received by the right side and left side microphones and determines the appropriate direction to pivot or rotate the head to simulate a “listening” attention by the doll.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to talking dolls and particularly to those having additional features to enhance realism in interactive play patterns with children.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
With the development of relatively low cost commercially available digital sound circuits, practitioners in the toy arts have endeavored to provide various toys with sound or speech capability. One of the most pervasive uses of digital sound producing circuits is found in dolls which exhibit a capability for speaking. Such speaking dolls often include additional features which further enhance the realism of the speaking activity. Thus, dolls have been provided which include movement mechanisms in addition to the speech apparatus to provide realistic features such as mouth movement or the like. While the fabrication of electronic sound producing circuits of the type used in dolls or other toys is subject to substantial variation, all generally include a sound processor or controller together with a memory suitable for storing the digital signals corresponding to various predetermined words phrases or sounds. Such circuits typically utilize a power amplifier to provide sufficient audio power to the audio signals developed by the processor to enable the circuit to drive an acoustic transducer such as a speaker or the like. Throughout the development of speaking and sound producing toys, the direction of development and the challenge to the practitioner of the toy arts has been to provide evermore interesting and amusing talking and sound producing toys.
Not surprisingly, the continued popularity of sound producing toys has prompted practitioners in the toy arts to endeavor to provide ever increasing sophistication and capability in such toys. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,430 issued to Hoyt sets forth a VOICE RESPONSIVE TOY which seeks an emitted sound such as a child's voice. The toy include control circuitry for activating an associated drive mechanism to turn and/or guide the toy toward the child's voice. A battery-powered motor drive system responds to the control circuitry to move the toy physically in the direction of the detected sound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,653 issued to McKeefery sets forth a SPEAKING TOY DOLL which responds with spoken words and/or sentences to the touching of selected portions of the doll by a user. The toy further includes voice actuation in response to the user's speech which is sensed by a microphone within the toy. In response to the user's speech, the toy randomly selects a sentence which is audibilized by the speech circuitry within the doll.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,225 issued to Satoh, et al. sets forth an INTERACTIVE TOY FIGURE WITH SOUND-ACTIVATED AND PRESSURE-ACTIVATED SWITCHES having a toy body resembling a kitten including an extending tail. An operative mechanism within the toy body utilizes a battery-powered motor drive to articulate the toy kitten's tail.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,428 issued to Curran sets forth a INTERACTIVE TALKING TOY which speaks and moves certain body parts such as eyes, mouth, head and arms under the control of a microprocessor. Program material selected from a tape storage device incorporated within the body of the toy is used by the processor to respond to human speech.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,927 issued to Dankman, et al. sets forth a VOICE-RESPONSIVE TALKING TOY which in response to a complex sound such as human speech generates a train of audio pulses. The pulses are pseudo-random with respect to frequency composition and duration. The resulting sounds simulate syllabic speech.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,676 issued to Koguchi, et al. sets forth a MOVING ANIMAL TOY having a motor operatively coupled to the upper and lower pivotally supported beaks of a bird-like body. Additional apparatus also driven by the motor slowly twists the head of the toy sideways. When a voice is uttered against the toy, it is received through a microphone by a voice recording and reproducing device. After a specified time elapses, the voice is reproduced by the toy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,200 issued to Currin sets forth a WHISPERING DOLL having a tape deck processing an endless loop tape upon which multiple tracks of speech are stored. The tape playing device is responsive to a plurality of switches placed about the toy body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,516 issued to Saitoh sets forth an ANIMATED SINGING TOY BIRD WITH EXTERNAL STIMULUS SENSOR capable of carrying out movement simulating a real bird. The body is arranged so as to be movable with respect to the leg section and the head is further movable with respect to the body. The toy bird may be actuated to produce bird-like sounds in response to sound, light or other stimulus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,326 issued to Ting sets forth a SHAKING TOY having a plush figure resembling a monkey supported within a surrounding cage. In response to stimulus, the toy figure swings back and forth in the cage. An accompanying sound is generated within the toy figure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,038 issued to Arad, et al. sets forth a DOLL WITH PROGRAMMABLE SPEECH ACTIVATED BY PRESSURE ON PARTICULAR PARTS OF HEAD AND BODY in which a doll includes an internal speech producing mechanism together with a plurality of pressure responsive switches supported upon different portions of the body. The speech system responds to the stimulus of one or more of the body supported switches to produce sound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,336 issued to Lebensfeld, et al. sets forth a SUBJECT SPECIFIC WORD/PHRASE SELECTABLE MESSAGE DELIVERING DOLL OR ACTION FIGURE which is capable of providing when activated words or phrases specifically relating to a particular subject, activity, profession or other area of interest for which the doll or action figure is dressed. This selectability is provided by utilizing a doll or action figure which incorporates an audio generator contained therein together with message containing components removably connected with the outfits of wearing apparel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,726 issued to Cohen sets forth a ANIMATED SITTING AND STANDING SANTA CHARACTER having a base upon which a chair is supported together with a toy figure resembling Santa Claus. The toy figure is multiply articulated and is coupled to a drive mechanism which allows the toy figure to move between a standing and seated position upon the chair.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have to some extent improved the art and in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved, interesting and amusing toy figures and dolls which utilize speech simulation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved talking doll. It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved talking doll having a head movement which provides a more realistic response by the doll.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a talking doll comprising: a doll body having a torso and a head; a body housing supported within the torso-and defining an interior body cavity; a head housing within the head pivotally coupled to the body and defining an interior head cavity; a reversible motor supported within the interior body cavity; first gear means operatively driven by the reversible motor; a shaft coupler operatively driven by the first gear means; a shaft having a first end engaging the shaft coupler and a second end; a head coupler coupling the second end to the head housing; a control and sound circuit having a left microphone, a right microphone, sound producing means and means responsive to the microphones to energize the reversible motor in a first direction in response to sound energizing the left microphone and in a second direction in response to sound energizing the right microphone; and a position switch operatively coupled to the shaft coupler providing an off signal to the control and sound circuit when the shaft coupler is pivoted left or right beyond a predetermined position, the head being pivoted to left or right in response to sound from left or right respectively.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like elements and in which:
FIG. 1
sets forth a partially sectioned front perspective view of a doll constructed in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2
sets forth a partially sectioned front view of the housing and operative mechanism of the present invention talking doll;
FIG. 3
sets forth a partial section view of the operative mechanism of the present invention talking doll taken along section lines
3
—
3
in
FIG. 2
;
FIG. 4
sets forth a partial section side elevation view of the head moving mechanism of the present invention talking doll; and
FIG. 5
sets forth a block diagram of the control system operative within the present invention talking doll.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIG. 1
sets forth a partially sectioned front perspective view a doll constructed in accordance with the present invention and generally referenced by numeral
10
. Doll
10
includes a body
11
formed of a conventional plush fabrication material and having a head
12
, a pair.of arms
14
and
15
, and a pair of legs
16
and
17
. Arms
14
and
15
support hands
18
and
19
while legs
16
and
17
support feet
20
and
21
. Head
12
further defines a movable mouth
13
. In the preferred fabrication of the present invention, hands
18
and
19
support pressure responsive switches
22
and
23
while feet
20
and
21
support switches
24
and
25
.
In further accordance with the present invention, body
11
supports a relatively rigid body housing
30
which in turn supports a movable head housing
40
within head
12
. Housing
40
is pivotably joined to body housing
30
by means set forth below in greater detail. The frontal portion of body housing
30
further supports a speaker grille
26
having a plurality of sound emitting apertures formed therein.
In accordance with an important aspect of the present invention, body housing
30
supports a right side microphone
31
and a left side microphone
32
(microphone
32
seen in FIG.
2
).
By means set forth below in greater detail, head housing
40
is moved with respect to body housing
30
in response to sound detected by microphones
31
and
32
(microphone
32
seen in FIG.
2
). In further accordance with the operative mechanism set forth below in greater detail, sound detected at right microphone
31
triggers a movement of head housing
40
and head
12
in the direction indicated by arrow
34
. Conversely, the operative mechanism within body housing
30
set forth below responds to sound detected by left side microphone
32
(seen in
FIG. 2
) by pivoting head housing
40
and head
12
in the direction indicated by arrow
33
. Concurrently, a sound producing circuit set forth below in greater detail within body housing
30
causes predetermined sounds to be emitted from speaker grille
26
. In accordance with the operative mechanism set forth below in FIG.
4
in greater detail, mouth
13
is moved up and down in the directions indicated by arrows
35
each time sound is outputted through speaker grille
26
to give doll
10
the appearance of speaking.
In operation, the user is able to activate the sound circuit within doll
10
by actuating switches
22
,
23
,
24
or
25
to stimulate sound production by the sound circuit within doll
10
. In addition, doll
10
responds to sound detected from sources on either side of the doll by turning head
12
toward the source of sound. This direction determination utilized in turning head
12
in the proper direction is provided by the system set forth below in greater detail. However, suffice to note here that sound reaching doll
10
from its right side is maximally detected by right side microphone
31
while sound reaching doll
10
from its left side is maximally detected by left side microphone
32
(seen in FIG.
2
). In response to detected sound which is maximum from either microphone, doll
10
is actuated to pivot head
12
in the corresponding direction. This action allows doll
10
to exhibit an apparent reaction to a child user speaking or other sounds by turning in the appropriate direction toward the source. This action greatly enhances the realism and interactive appearance of doll
10
.
FIG. 2
sets forth a partially sectioned front view of body housing
30
and head housing
40
showing the operative mechanism of the present invention doll therein. As described above, body housing
30
supports a right side microphone
31
and a left side microphone
32
. As is also described above, body housing
30
is coupled to a pivotally supported head housing
40
. Head housing
40
and body housing
30
are joined by a head coupler
66
which is set forth below in
FIG. 4
in greater detail. A plurality of batteries
36
are supported within the bottom end of body housing
30
. Additionally, a control and sound circuit
80
is also supported within body housing
30
. Body housing
30
defines an interior cavity
50
within which a motor housing
51
is supported. Motor housing
51
supports a motor
52
having an output pulley
53
driven thereby. Pulley
53
is coupled to a combination pulley and gear
55
by a belt
54
. The gear portion of combination pulley and gear
55
engages a gear
56
which in turn drives a worm gear
57
.
A coupler
59
supports a gear
58
engaging worm gear
57
. Coupler
59
further supports a rotary switch
61
and a bearing
62
. Switch
61
and bearing
62
are supported within a slot
60
formed within motor housing
51
. The upper end of coupler
59
receives the bottom end of a shaft
63
. Shaft
63
extends upwardly through body housing
30
and is rotatably supported by a bearing
65
. By means set forth below in
FIG. 4
in greater detail, the upper end of shaft
63
passes through bearing
65
and engages head coupler
66
of head housing
40
. Thus, head housing
40
is pivotally movable in response to pivotal movement of shaft
63
in the manner indicated by arrows
69
and
79
. Shaft
63
is hollow allowing a plurality of wires
64
to pass upwardly from sound and control circuit
80
into mouth drive housing
67
.
The apparatus within mouth drive housing
67
is set forth below in
FIG. 4
in greater detail. However, suffice it to note here that mouth drive housing
67
includes a forwardly extending mouth link
69
which in the manner described below is operative to manipulate mouth
13
(seen in
FIG. 1
) to simulate mouth movement during speaking action of doll
10
.
In operation, motor
52
responds to control and sound circuit
80
in the manner described below in
FIG. 5
to rotate either direction. Sound and control circuit
80
responds to sound energy received by right microphone
31
and left microphone
32
to actuate motor
52
in a corresponding direction. Thus, for example, sounds reaching doll
10
from the doll's right side provide maximal energy at right side microphone
31
in response to which sound and control circuit
80
energizes motor
52
to rotate in a corresponding direction. The rotation of motor
52
rotates output pulley
53
which in turn rotates combination pulley and gear
55
through the coupling of belt
54
. As combination pulley and gear
55
rotates in a selected direction, gear
56
drives worm gear
57
in a resulting direction of rotation. Gear
58
is rotated by the rotation of worm gear
57
to produce rotation of coupler
59
and shaft
63
. Because the maximal sound energy was received at right side microphone
31
, sound and control circuit
80
selected the direction of rotation of motor
52
which would result in rotation of coupler
59
and shaft
63
in the direction indicated by arrow
69
. The engagement of shaft
63
with coupler
59
and the further engagement of shaft
63
with head coupler
66
causes head housing
40
to correspondingly pivot or rotate in the direction indicated by arrow
69
. The result of this action is a movement of the head of doll
10
in the manner described above in
FIG. 2
to produce a head turning toward the detected source of sound providing a realistic response to the speaking child or other sound source. In accordance with the operation of switch
61
described below in conjunction with
FIG. 3
, motor
52
remains energized by sound and control circuit
80
and thereby continues to pivot or rotate coupler
59
and shaft
63
until switch
61
reaches a predetermined position at which point switch
61
produces a signal coupled to sound and control circuit
80
which terminates the energizing of motor
52
. This in turn stops head housing
40
at a predetermined angular position to the right side of doll
10
.
Conversely, the detection of maximal sound energy by left side microphone
32
causes control and sound circuit
80
to energize motor
52
in the opposite direction of rotation. This opposite direction rotation is coupled through pulley
53
and belt
54
to combination pulley and gear
55
. This in turn rotates gear
56
and worm gear
57
in the opposite direction to that caused by energizing of right side microphone
31
. Correspondingly, gear
58
and coupler
59
are rotated in the direction indicated by arrow
79
. This rotation or pivotal movement in the direction indicated by arrow
79
causes a corresponding pivotal movement or rotation of head housing
40
to produce the left side turning movement of doll
10
indicated by arrow
33
in FIG.
1
. Once again, in accordance with the operation of switch
61
set forth below in
FIG. 3
in greater detail, once coupler
59
has rotated or pivoted to a predetermined left side direction, the operation of switch
61
produces a signal condition which causes control and sound circuit
80
to cease energizing motor
52
. This in turn terminates the rotation or pivotal movement of head housing
40
and head
12
(seen in
FIG. 1
) to the left side of doll
10
.
In the preferred fabrication of the present invention, control and sound circuit
80
responds to an absence of sound energy at right side microphone
31
and left side microphone
32
extending beyond a predetermined time to energize motor
52
so as to return head housing
40
and head
12
to the forwardly extending rotational position shown in FIG.
1
.
FIG. 3
sets forth a section view of switch
61
taken along section lines
3
—
3
in FIG.
2
. As described above, switch
61
is supported within a slot
60
formed in motor housing
51
(seen in FIG.
2
). Switch
61
may be constructed in accordance with conventional fabrication techniques utilizing a printed circuit board
70
upon which a plurality of conductive paths
76
are formed. A plurality of connecting wires
74
and
75
operatively couple conductive paths
76
of printed circuit board
70
to motor control and sound circuit
80
(seen in FIG.
2
). In accordance with conventional fabrication techniques, switch
61
includes a rotating member
78
which is engaged by coupler
59
and which supports a plurality of movable contacts
71
,
72
and
73
. The operation of switch
61
is substantially conventional in that it functions by the interaction of conductive paths
76
and contacts
71
,
72
and
73
to provide the appropriate electrical signals to sound and control circuit
80
in response to rotational position of rotating element
78
. The position of rotating element
78
corresponds directly to the position of coupler
59
. As a result, the pivoting or rotating of coupler
59
described below in response to energizing of motor
52
causes a corresponding movement of contacts
71
,
72
and
73
with respect to conductive paths
76
. At each selected position of conductive paths
76
, the desired one of contacts
71
,
72
or
73
is moved upon the desired one of conductive paths
76
to produce an appropriate position signal for control and sound circuit
80
(seen in FIG.
2
).
FIG. 4
sets forth a partially sectioned side view of head housing
40
and mouth drive housing
67
together with the mouth moving mechanism supported therein. Doll
10
includes a body housing
30
supporting a head housing
40
. Head housing
40
includes a mouth drive housing
67
secured thereto by conventional fasteners (not shown). Mouth drive housing
67
is joined to a head coupler
66
.
Body housing
30
supports an upwardly extending shaft
63
having a bearing
65
and an upper end
90
. End
90
of shaft
65
passes through a bearing
91
supported within head coupler
66
. Mouth drive housing
67
includes a plate
92
having a downwardly extending tab
93
which is received within and which engages end
90
of shaft
63
. Thus, the rotational or pivotal movement of shaft
63
described below in conjunction in
FIG. 2
is imparted to mouth drive housing
67
and head housing
40
through the engagement of tab
93
within end
90
of shaft
63
. Bearing
91
facilitates this pivotal or rotational movement.
Mouth drive housing
67
includes an interior cavity
95
supporting a motor
96
. Motor
96
includes an output pulley
97
which is coupled to a pulley
99
by a belt
98
. Pulley
99
is joined to a worm gear
100
which is rotatably supported within interior cavity
95
. A gear
101
is rotatably supported upon a shaft
102
within interior cavity
95
and further supports an eccentric cam
103
. A movable arm
110
includes a link
68
at its outer end and a slot
112
at its inner end. Arm
110
further includes a pin
111
which engages eccentric cam
103
. A slot
112
is formed in arm
110
and receives shaft
102
.
In operation, control and sound circuit
80
(seen in
FIG. 2
) provides operative power to motor
96
energizing motor
96
and rotating output pulley
97
. The rotation of pulley
97
,is coupled to worm gear
100
via belt
98
and pulley
99
. Rotation of worm gear
100
rotates gear
101
which in turn rotates eccentric cam
103
. As cam
103
rotates, pin
111
is moved forwardly and rearwardly in an oscillatory motion indicated by arrows
115
. Link
68
is joined to the fabric forming mouth
13
of head
12
in a conventional attachment (not shown) such that the front to back oscillatory motion of link
68
caused by the motion of arm
110
moves mouth
13
vertically in the directions indicated by arrows
116
. This movement simulates the speaking action of doll
10
. In the preferred fabrication of the present invention, motor
96
is energized by control and sound circuit
80
(seen in
FIG. 2
) each time doll
10
speaks.
In accordance with the preferred fabrication of the present invention, it will be noted that the operative coupling between shaft
63
and head housing
40
together with the provision of an independent mouth moving mechanism energized by motor
96
within mouth drive housing
67
allows mouth
13
to be moved during speech regardless of the pivotal or rotational position of head
12
. Accordingly, doll
10
is able to do the mouth movement concurrent with speech regardless of whether head
12
is pivoted to the left side, right side or any position therebetween.
FIG. 5
sets forth a block diagram of control and sound circuit
80
. Control and sound circuit
80
includes a comparator
81
operatively coupled to right microphone
31
and left microphone
32
. Comparator
80
provides a pair of output signals to a motor control
82
. Motor control
82
receives operative power from battery
36
and is further coupled to a bidirectional motor
52
. Motor
52
is mechanically coupled in the manner set forth above in
FIG. 2
to a position switch
61
. A head
12
is mechanically coupled to motor
52
in the manner described above in
FIGS. 2 and 4
. Switch
61
is further coupled back to motor control
82
. A sound circuit
83
is coupled to comparator
81
and produces sound output signals which are coupled to a conventional speaker
84
. A jaw motor
96
is operatively coupled to sound circuit
83
.
In operation, comparator
81
receives electrical signals in response to external sound from either or both of microphones
31
and
32
. In the event either microphone is energized solely in response to sound from either side of the present invention doll, comparator
81
produces a signals indicative of the microphone side which is energized. This signal is applied to motor control
82
. In the event both microphones
31
and
32
receive sound simultaneously, comparator
81
functions in the manner set forth in the above-described prior art systems to determine the greater sound energy received between microphones
31
and
32
. In response to the determination of the greater sound energy received, comparator
81
produces a corresponding direction control signal to motor control
82
.
Motor control
82
responds to a direction signal from comparator
81
to energize bidirectional
52
in a corresponding direction of rotation. The rotation of motor
52
is mechanically coupled to a position switch
61
and to head
12
. Correspondingly, head
12
and switch
61
are rotatably moved until the position obtained by switch
61
corresponds to a shutoff or termination position. Once motor
52
has rotated switch
61
in a given direction a sufficient distance to cause switch
61
to turn off,- a signal condition is returned to motor control
52
causing the termination of operation of motor
52
. This in turn terminates the pivotal or rotational movement of head
12
.
Comparator
81
may also respond to the input energy received at microphones
31
or
32
to energize sound circuit
83
. Energizing sound circuit
83
causes an output applied to speaker
84
corresponding to a selected stored audio response. Additionally, sound circuit
83
, when energized to produce sound, also activates jaw motor
96
causing the simulation of mouth movement described above in FIG.
4
. Once the operation of sound-circuit
83
terminates, a corresponding termination of mouth movement also occurs.
Thus, what is provided by the present invention doll is a simple and straight forward system by which a plush doll is provided with head motion simulating the doll directing its attention to sound received from either side due to the position of a sound source such as a child user. In the preferred fabrication of the present invention, the inventive doll is responsive to virtually any sound source on either side of the doll to provide the head turning movement in apparent “listening” response to the sound. Thus, the present invention doll is able to participate in a further play pattern in which a second similar doll is positioned in reasonable proximity to the inventive doll. Under this circumstance, a pair of the present invention dolls together with the child user may provide response to each doll as it speaks and to the child user as the child also speaks. A further plurality of dolls may be used such as three or four or more dolls to provide further amusement and play value.
While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. Therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
- 1. A talking doll comprising:a doll body having a torso and a head; a body housing supported within said torso and defining an interior body cavity; a head housing within said head pivotally coupled to said body and defining an interior head cavity; a reversible motor supported within said interior body cavity; first gear means operatively driven by said reversible motor; a shaft coupler operatively driven by said first gear means; a shaft having a first end engaging said shaft coupler and a second end; a head coupler coupling said second end to said head housing; a control and sound circuit having a left microphone, a right microphone, sound producing means and means responsive to said microphones to energize said reversible motor in a first direction in response to sound energizing said left microphone and in a second direction in response to sound energizing said right microphone; a movable mouth supported by said head and means for moving said mouth including a single direction motor supported within said interior head cavity wherein said sound circuit causes said means for moving said mouth to be active simultaneously with sound production; and a position switch operatively coupled to said shaft coupler providing an off signal to said control and sound circuit when said shaft coupler is pivoted left or right beyond a predetermined position, said head being pivoted to left or right in response to said sound from left or right respectively and said means for moving said mouth operating independent of left or right pivoting head movement.
- 2. The talking doll set forth in claim 1 wherein said control and sound circuit includes a comparator coupled to said left and right microphones producing a signal for selecting said first or second direction energizing of said reversible motor.
US Referenced Citations (19)