Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
  • A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
  • A63H3/00—Dolls
  • A63H3/28—Arrangements of sound-producing means in dolls; Means in dolls for producing sounds

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a voice box and a doll character utilizing same. More specifically, the pre ⁇ sent invention is directed to a voice box which has a voice synthesizing microprocessor, which is compact in size, and which can be mounted within and combined with a doll char ⁇ acter for producing a message, such as a prayer, or a story about the doll.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,221,927 discloses a voice responsive "talking" toy which in response to a complex sound, such as human speech, then generates a train of pseudo-random audio pulses which are supplied to a speaker for emitting sounds such as sounds imitating a human voice.
• u.S. Patent No. 4,249,338 discloses a doll with a sound generator and plural switch means. This sound gen ⁇ erator is operable to produce crying sounds. A short sequence of sighing or cooing sounds may be produced at the end of the crying sounds.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,267,551 discloses a multi-mode doll which includes electronic circuitry for selectively generating a number of simulation sounds typically
• U.S. Patent No. 4,291,877 discloses a toy vehicle engine sound device for an electrical toy vehicle which device produces a sound of a running engine.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,314,423 discloses a sound pro ⁇ ducing toy and more particularly a toy animal or object that has a sound emitting system therein.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,318,245 discloses a vocalizing apparatus for use in a doll which has a synthesizer for producing speech sounds.
• This doll has a body with a pocket therein for receiving the vocalizing apparatus which has a self-contained battery and speaker therein.
• the synthesizer is controlled by a digital controller having' a memory which stores information representing a vocabulary of infant-like sounds. Such sounds include crying sounds and happy infant sounds.
• the doll has a gravity activated switch to cause crying sounds which switch, when the doll is lying down will be closed and cause crying sounds, when the doll is upright (cuddled) will cause cooing sounds and when the doll is face down, will be open to deactivate the crying.
• the voice box and doll character utilizing same of: the present invention differ from the previously proposed sound emitting toys and vocalizing apparatus by providing in the voice box, a voice synthesizing microprocessor of simple design and construction which is programmed to produce, upon actuation, predetermined voice messages.
• the specific message is a prayer such as a morning prayer, a mealtime prayer, and/or an eveningprayer.
• a compact voice box sized to be easily held in one hand, said voice box comprising a casing, a speaker in said casing positioned to transmit voice sounds from one side of said casing, means on said casing permitting the voice sounds to be emitted from said speaker to the ambient environment, a voice synthesizing microprocessor mounted within said casing, a self-contained, regulated power supply means coupled to said microprocessor and said speaker, memory means mounted within said casing and coupled to said voice synthesizing microprocessor, control means coupled to or incorporated within said microprocessor and coupled to said memory means for causing selected voice phrases to be generated by said microprocessor and emitted by said speaker, and actuating means for actuating said control means to cause a voice message to be emitted from said speaker.
• a talking character doll comprising a doll figure of an animal, human or imaginary creature, said doll having a fabric body shell and stuffing material within said shell, a portion of said stuffing material being cut away to pro ⁇ vide a pocket, a voice box received in said pocket, said voice box including a casing, a speaker in said " casing positioned to transmit voice sounds from one side of said casing, means on said casing permitting the voice sounds ' to be emitted from said speaker to the ambient environment, a voice synthesizing microprocessor mounted within said casing, self-contained power supply means in said casing coupled to said microprocessor and said speaker, memory means mounted within said casing and coupled to said voice synthesizing microprocessor, control means coupled to or incorporated within said microprocessor and coupled to said memory means for causing selected voice phrases to be generated by said microprocessor and emitted by said speaker, and actuating means for actuating saidcontrol means to cause a voice message to be emitted from said speaker.
• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the front side of a girl doll character of the present invention with por ⁇ tions broken away to show a pocket in the body of the doll which receives a voice box constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
• Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the back side of the girl doll character with a zipper on the back side of a fabric shell of the doll in an open position and showing in exploded perspective the stuffing material in front of the box, the box and ' the stuffing material in back of the box.
• Fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of the voice box shown in Fig. 1.
• Fig. 4 is a flow chart of the program stored in the voice synthesizing microprocessor shown in Fig. 3.
• a doll character 10 which, in the illustrated embo ⁇ diment is the character of a young girl.
• the young girl doll character 10 has a head 12, two arms 14 and 16, and two legs 18 and 20 extending from a body portion 22.
• the body portion 22 includes a fabric shell 24 and has a stuf ⁇ fing material 26, such as sponge rubber or other suitable material therein. A portion of the stuffing material 26 is cut away to provide a pocket 28 in which is received a voice box ' 30 made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
• the voice box 30 includes a casing 32 having a front side 34 and a back side 36 (Fig. 2) .
• a grating 38 behind which is mounted a speaker 40 (Fig. 3) .
• a piece 42 of stuffing or cushion mat- erial 26 is inserted into the pocket 28 in front of the voice box 30 and behind front side 44 of the fabric shell 24.
• the voice box casing 32 typically has a dimension of 3 inches by 2 inches by 3/4 inch. It will be apprecia- ted, of course, that depending upon the size of the compon ⁇ ents utilized, the casing 32 for the voice box 30 could be smaller or larger. It is contemplated, however, that the voice box will not be larger than a size which can be con ⁇ veniently held by hand, such as a 3 x 5 x 1 inch casing 32. As shown in Fig. 2, another piece 46 of stuffing or cushion material is received adjacent the back side 36 of the voice box 30 when it is received in the pocket 28. The pieces 42 and 46 of stuffing material protect the voice box 30 from being damaged. As shown in Fig.
• the back side 36 of the voice box 30 has an easily removable plate 48 which is received over a cavity 50 in the voice box 30 adapted to receive a battery 52, such as a 9 volt battery, which forms part of a self-contained DC power supply within the voice box 30 as will be described in greater detail hereinafter in connection with the description of Figs. 3 and 4.
• a battery 52 such as a 9 volt battery
• a zipper 54 on the back side 56 of the fabric shell 24 can be pulled down to releasably lock the voice box 30 in place within the pocket 28. This enables the voice box
• a young girl doll character 10 is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the doll character 10 could take other forms, such as an animal doll character or an imaginary doll character such as an elf, wizard or dragon, etc.
• the circuit 60 includes a voice synthesizing microprocessor 62 which can be a National Semiconductor Speech Processor part number . MM54104. Alternatively, the microprocessor 62 can be a * Texas Instrument TMS 5100 series Voice Synthesis Processor. Coupled to the microprocessor 62 by an address bus 64 and a data bus 66 is a memory 68 which can be a speech ROM manufactured by National Semiconductor under part number MM52164. Typically, this ROM has 128 memory capacity.
• a voice synthesizing microprocessor 62 which can be a National Semiconductor Speech Processor part number . MM54104.
• the microprocessor 62 can be a * Texas Instrument TMS 5100 series Voice Synthesis Processor. Coupled to the microprocessor 62 by an address bus 64 and a data bus 66 is a memory 68 which can be a speech ROM manufactured by National Semiconductor under part number MM52164. Typically, this ROM has 128 memory capacity.
• the memory 68 can be a Texas inst ⁇ rument TMS 6100 series memory which is typically a 128K mask program ROM.
• circuit 60 utilizing a National Semicon- ductor Speech Processor 62, programmed control circuitry is mounted within the speech processor 62.
• a phrase select circuit might be inserted between the voice synthesize processor 62 and the memory 68.
• the microprocessor 62 is supplied with a clock signal from a crystal oscillator clock circuit 70 and is supplied with a regulated DC voltage via a regulator 72 having an input coupled to the battery 52 (Fig. 1) , and an output coupled to the V So input of the microprocessor
• Unregulated DC voltage is also supplied to input V of the microprocessor 62.
• regulated voltage from the regulator 72 is also supplied to the memory 68.
• the circuit 60 also includes an actuating- circuit 74 comprising two ganged single pole single throw switches 76 and 78.
• One pole 30 of one of the switches 76 is con- nected to one input WR .of the microprocessor 62 and one pole 82 of the other switch 78 is connected to another input of the microprocessor 62.
• These poles 80 and 82 of the switches 76 and 78 are normally spring biased to system common.
• the poles 80 and 82 are connected to the DC voltage thereby to change the inputs to the microproc ⁇ essor 62 from logic 0 to logic 1. This is only momentary because the switch is spring biased to the system common (or ground) connected pole position of the switches 76 and 78.
• An output 84 of the microprocessor 62 is connected to a filter and amplifier circuit 86 which in turn has an output 88 coupled to the speaker 40.
• a control ROM will be inserted for facilitating control of the microprocessor 62.
• actua ⁇ ting mechanisms can be used besides the spring biased two ganged single pole single throw switches 76 and 78 shown in Fig. 3. Also, it is to be understood that the actual switching can be effected by movement of a part of the doll character 10, such as by movement of an arm 14, the head 12, a leg 18, etc., or by a gravity operated switch which can be operated by the position of the doll charac- ter 10.
• the voice synthesizing microprocessor 62 is pro ⁇ grammed to be operated upon actuation of the switches 76, 78 and a brief description of the protocol or procedure followed by the program stored in the microprocessor 62 to cause a voice message to be emitted from the speaker
• Step 1 is a manual step which is the actuation of the two ganged single pole single throw switches 76 and 73 by pressing a button.
• Step 2 Once the logic inputs to the microproc ⁇ essor 62 are changed from logic 0 to logic 1, the program is initiated and performs general housekeeping tasks. Step 3. Once the housekeeping, etc. has been completed, the microprocessor 62 asks the speech ROM 68 what is the address for certain sounds required to produce a predetermined voice message to be generated by the voice synthesizing microprocessor 62. Step 4. Here the ROM 68 supplies the address to the synthesizer in the voice synthesizing microprocessor 62 which then selects the requested syllable (vowel) sounds and consonant sounds.
• Step 5 the microprocessor 62 makes certain that the output of the sounds is controlled, in particular, the duration of the sound and the spacing between the sounds is controlled.
• Step 6 Once the control of the output of sound has been carried out by the microprocessor 62, a timed and controlled analog output signal is outputted from the microprocessor 62 and supplied to the filter and amplifier circuit 86. 9 Step 7. Here the analog signal is converted in the speaker 40 to a voice sound and such sound for a part of the voice message is emitted from the speaker 40.
• the program is ended and the microprocessor 62 returns to its quiescent state.
• the microprocessor 62 and memory 68 are capable of storing and reproducing approximately 400 words.
• the voice message can be one long message or a plurality of shorter messages, and the shorter messages can be separately/independently and sequentially recalled from the memory 68 and emitted from the speaker 40.
• the program in the microprocessor 62 will only cause generation of one of the voice messages when the voice box 30 is actuated and will not. produce the subse ⁇ quent message stored in the memory 68 until the voice box 30 is actuated again.
• the voice message is a prayer. More specifically, in a preferred embodi- ment of the doll character 10, three prayers are stored in the memory or speech ROM 68, one prayer being a morn ⁇ ing prayer, one prayer being a mealtime prayer and one prayer being an evening prayer. These prayers read as follows: Morning Prayer
• doll characters can be provided in addition to a young girl doll charac ⁇ ter 10.
• voice messages can be recor ⁇ ded in the microprocessor system such as a story of the character represented by the doll.
• the voice sounds in the microprocessor 62 are that of a young girl's voice and if another type of doll character is to be used, then different voice sounds will be programmed in the voice synthesizing microprocessor 62. Also, as shown in Fig. 3, the connection of the memory 68 can be through jacks 91-94 (shown schematically) which permit alternative or multiple memories to be cou ⁇ pled to the microprocessor 62.

Landscapes

• Toys (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=23518729

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (5)

Family Cites Families (7)

• 1983
  • 1983-06-03 EP EP19830902197 patent/EP0110980A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1983-06-03 WO PCT/US1983/000861 patent/WO1983004184A1/en not_active Ceased

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events