CA2293856A1 - Interactive dress-up toy - Google Patents

Abstract

An interactive dress-up toy comprises removable clothing and accessories, sensor means to detect the specific item of clothing or the specific accessory worn by the toy, and communication means to communicate to the user the status of the clothing and accessories worn by the toy or missing from the toy.

Description

INTERACTIVE DRESS-UP TOY
Toys and dolls which can be dressed-up by children have always been popular.
It would be an advantage, however, to be able to ensure that clothing or articles to be held by the doll or toy are correctly placed. In addition, it would be an advantage if the toy or doll could respond to the child once an article of clothing or an accessory has been placed on the doll or toy in order to indicate that the clothing is acceptable. In this way, an interactive relationship between the child and the doll or toy can be created.
Summary of the Invention Accordingly, in a major aspect, an interactive dress-up toy comprises removable clothing and accessories; sensor means to detect the specific item of clothing or the specific accessory worn by the toy; and communication means to communicate to the user the status of the clothing and accessories worn by the toy or missing from the toy.
In further aspects of the invention:
(a) the communication means comprises artificial speech;
(b) the communication means comprises lights;
(c) the communication means comprises an electronic display screen;
(d) the sensor means comprises a master sensor and multiple secondary sensors;
(e) the secondary sensors comprise clothing sensors and accessories sensors;
(f) each clothing sensor comprises a light source and a light sensor;
(g) the light source and light sensor are mounted at a short distance from each other and angled such that when an article of clothing is worn by the toy, light emitted from the light source will reflect from a reflective surface on the interior of the article of clothing and be directed towards the light sensor to create a signal;
(h) an array of clothing sensors is coded to match an array of reflective patterns on various articles of clothing;

(i) each accessory sensor comprises a male portion and a female portion;
(j) the male portion comprises a pin of a selected length, namely long or short, and the female portion comprises a hole adapted to receive said pin, the hole ending with a contact plate or switch adapted to be contacted by a long pin;
(k) an array of female portions is coated to match an array of male portions to correspond with various accessories;
(1) an integrated circuit receives signals from one or more secondary sensors to trigger appropriate communication signals to the user.
Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is illustrated by the following drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship of sensors, controls, and communication means;
Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of sensors, controllers and speakers;
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a light sensor;
Figure 4 illustrates a doll holding certain accessories and wearing certain clothing;
Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the doll or toy wearing certain clothing and accessories;
Figure 6 shows a further alternative embodiment of a doll or toy carrying certain accessories and wearing certain clothing.
Detailed Description of the Invention The interactive dress-up toy of the invention comprises a doll or toy adapted to receive articles of clothing or accessories in certain positions. With respect to the articles of clothing, each contains certain areas of reflective material designed to reflect light from a sensor mounted in the doll. When the clothing is appropriately placed on the doll, light will reflect to certain sensors in a pattern specific to the article of clothing. The doll is then prompted through a controller to emit certain pre-recorded sounds, such as simulated or artificial speech, to indicate that the article of clothing is correctly placed. If the clothing has not been correctly placed, an alternative recording can be played to so indicate.
Alternatively, lights or display screens can indicate whether an article of clothing is correctly placed, incorrectly placed, or missing entirely.
With respect to the accessories, the doll or toy can be provided with a series of holes at various locations adapted to receive various accessories. By means of an array of long and short holes, which will be filled or left empty in an unique way by each different accessory, the doll can be programmed to recognize the particular accessory and whether it has been properly placed or located. The same controller and sound recording, including simulated speech, can be used for this purpose. A typical arrangement of pins on accessories and holes in the doll or toy will allow contact to be made between a pin and the base of a short hole which contains an electrical contact at its base. Pins which fall into long holes make no contact while pins in short holes create a signal. As with the light sensors, the array of signals generated by the accessories sensors is unique to each particular accessory.
In the preferred embodiment a master sensor must be triggered by the placing of an article of clothing before the secondary sensors are activated. Thus, electrical power is saved since sensors are only activated when needed.
In the preferred embodiment, the clothing sensors comprise a light source and a light sensor mounted close to the surface of the doll. The light source emits a beam which is reflected by an appropriate reflective area on each article of clothing, or not reflected if the reflective area is missing. Thus, with an array of such sensors, each individual item of clothing can be coded to permit identification.
::ODMA\PCDOCS\CC'I\33459\1

Claims (13)

1. An interactive dress-up toy comprises: removable clothing and accessories;
sensor means to detect the specific item of clothing or the specific accessory worn by the toy; and communication means to communicate to the user the status of the clothing and accessories worn by the toy or missing from the toy.

2. The toy of Claim 1 wherein the communication means comprises artificial speech.

3. The toy of Claim 1 wherein the communication means comprises lights.

4. The toy of Claim 1 wherein the communication means comprises an electronic display screen.

5. The toy of Claim 1 wherein the sensor means comprises a master sensor and multiple secondary sensors.

6. The toy of Claim 5 wherein the secondary sensors comprise clothing sensors and accessories sensors.

7. The toy of Claim 6 wherein each clothing sensor comprises a light source and a light sensor.

8. The toy of Claim 7 wherein the light source and light sensor are mounted at a short distance from each other and angled such that when an article of clothing is worn by the toy, light emitted from the light source will reflect from a reflective surface on the interior of the article of clothing and be directed towards the light sensor to create a signal.

9. The toy of Claim 8 wherein an array of clothing sensors is coded to match an array of reflective patterns on various articles of clothing.

10. The toy of Claim 6 wherein each accessories sensor comprises a male portion and a female portion.

11. The toy of Claim 10, wherein the male portion comprises a pin of a selected length, namely long or short, and wherein the female portion comprises a hole adapted to receive said pin, the hole ending with a contact plate or switch adapted to be contacted by a long pin.

12. The toy of Claim 11, wherein an array of female portions is coded to match an array of male portions to correspond with various accessories.

13. The toy of Claim 5, wherein an integrated circuit receives signals from one or more secondary sensors to trigger appropriate communication signals to the user.