Pragmatic Designs, Inc.

Other

Link Group International

Hasbro, Inc.

Tyco Industries, Inc.

Joseph F Truchsess

Robert S McDarren

Avi Arad

Thomas L Simmel

Michael Matthews

Robert S Winslow

Burt Trattner

David J Wohl

Ross Albert

Patrick Stobbs

Judy Albert

Alexander L Baytman

The present invention provides a toy doll for the amusement of a subject, that includes a torso, body, ahead and limbs, designed, sized and dimensioned for enabling the doll to be worn on the body of the subject in a position thereon sufficient for engaging in a &ldquo;piggy back&rdquo; and/or &ldquo;horsey&rdquo; style play. The child may engage the instant doll in such &ldquo;piggy back&rdquo; and/or &ldquo;horse&rdquo; style play, while in sitting, crawling and upright (or standing) play. The toy doll includes an electronic sound emanating module portions of which can be activated by releasably connecting one limb of the doll to another limb of the doll about the body of the subject. The doll includes a motion sensor including an averaging circuit for enabling substantially continuous sound such as galloping, while the doll is in motion. Optionally, the doll includes a tilt sensor for emanating a &ldquo;neighing&rdquo; sound when the longitudinal axis of the doll is tilted relative to the vertical axis.

Action doll

An electronic sound and music making device includes a memory that stores a plurality of sound segments, such as musical notes, animal noises, etc., a keypad having a series of keys, each of each indicates and is associated with a different one of the stored sound segments, and a set of visual indications, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), that indicate when different ones of the sound segments are being played. The device repeats a programmable sequence of, for example, four of the stored sound segments to form a song while, simultaneously turning on different ones of the LEDs to indicate the different sound segments being played. The keypad enables a user to specify the identity and the order of the sound segments to be played and allows a user to substitute any of the sound segments stored in the memory with the sound segments being played so as to produce a new or different song.

Programmable sound and music making device

An apparatus and a method for assisting a child to read a book having at least one visual indicia displayed adjacent one or more of the plurality of printed objects. Each of the at least one visual indicia is uniquely associated with the adjacent one of the plurality of printed objects. The device includes a user input device separate from the book having at least one touch-sensitive switch and at least one visual indicia displayed thereon for receiving a user command indicative of a user's selection of a visual indicia and for outputting a signal corresponding to the selected visual indicia. The device further includes a storage device for storing data representing speech associated with the printed objects adjacent the visual indicia. A controller receives the signal outputted from the user input device and selectively retrieves the data corresponding to the selected visual indicia. A sound generator then converts the retrieved data into speech.

Reading tutor

An amusement device for a helical coil spring toy that generates a response such as sound or light whenever the wave of the helical coil spring changes direction. The amusement device includes two end caps affixed to the two free ends of the coil spring. One of the two end caps is an active end cap which houses the mechanism for generating the response. When the helical coil spring is compressed at the active end cap end a trigger switch activates an integrated circuit thereby producing the desired response. When the wave of compressed coils travels to the passive end cap a second response is produced by a time delay circuit so that user selective alternating responses are produced each time the wave of coils travels from one end cap to the other.

Helical coil spring toy and a response device therefor

An electronic game apparatus includes a wearable unit having a wearable housing configured for releasable attachment with a bodily part of a player. An inertia sensor affixed to the wearable housing detects oscillations imparted to the wearable housing and produces an output signal corresponding to each oscillatory movement. A counter, affixed to the wearable housing, counts each oscillatory movement imparted to the wearable housing.

Electronic counting apparatus for a child's game and method therefor

An animated character having a face unit provided in a support structure upper body portion so as to resemble a singing tree. The face unit includes a face member and mechanism which consists of two pivotable eye elements and a lower lip element each separately driven by an electric motor through a gear and linkage system. A control circuit unit and a speaker are provided in the support structure, so that the eyes and mouth elements of the face unit are moved by the face mechanism in synchronism with singing and/or speaking sounds produced by the control circuit system and speaker mounted in the support structure.

Animated characters utilizing face unit mechanism and control system

A toy doll or bear that laughs or sings a nursery song when bounced or dandled is disclosed. A particular area on the rump of the doll is pressure sensitive and produces the given sound when a pressure level is detected in that particular area that is within a range of pressure levels produced when the doll's rump contacts the child's knee in a gentle bounce. In an alternative embodiment, electrically conductive sensors are provided on the rump area of the doll to detect when the doll's rump is wet. Tapping one of the bear's knees selects a respective song and controls the sound generator's mode of operation.

Toy figure with rump-actuated sound generator

A device and method for producing sound which simulates the sound of an engine, whereby sound segments are digitally stored in memory and accessed by a microcontroller which is responsive to a user accessible switch. When the switch is activated and the device is producing an acceleration or deceleration sound, the device will 'match' the acceleration or deceleration sound with a closely matched deceleration or acceleration sound, respectively, so that a realistic engine sound is produced.

Device and method for controlling digitally-stored sounds to provide

A bear or baby doll that laughs or sings a nursery song when bounced or dandled is disclosed. A particular area on the rump of the doll is pressure sensitive and produces the given sound when a pressure level is detected in that particular area that is within a range of pressure levels produced when the doll's rump contacts the child's knee in a gentle bounce. Tapping one of the bear's knees selects a respective song and controls the sound generator's mode of operation.

A decorative, action oriented ornament/display system is attained by providing an attention-attracting member which cooperates with a support platform or plate which is removably mounted to any limb or branch of a tree. By employing this construction, an ornament display system is realized which is quickly and easily mounted to a tree, whenever desired, or removed therefrom for display on any other surface. In the preferred embodiment, the ornament/display member incorporates interlock means formed on the support plate for removably affixing the ornament/display member to the support plate whenever desired. Furthermore, the ornament/display member also preferably incorporates a stowable hook or ring member cooperatively associated with the upper portion of the ornament/display member for enabling the ornament/display member to be affixed to a supporting branch or limb independently of the platform. In the preferred embodiment, the ornament/display member is constructed as a bubble blowing member and incorporates circuitry for enabling the ornament/display member to be switchable between three alternate positions, an OFF position, an ON position, and a third position which engages a built-in time delay for continuously cycling between an activated and deactivated mode.

Ornament/display member

A unique audible message or information delivery system particularly suited for toys is realized by providing each model or type of toy in a particular group or class with a unique identification code and also providing a message delivery and handling assembly which incorporates a plurality of independent messages, each of which are specifically related to one particular toy model and are constructed for being delivered by the message delivery assembly upon receipt of the particular identification code. In this way, whenever a toy model interfaces with the information/message delivery assembly, the unique, identifying code associated with the model is received by the information/message delivery assembly and is processed for activating the audible presentation of the specifically designated message associated with that particular model. By employing this invention, every different model or type of toy in a group or class of toys is able to interface with the same information/message delivery assembly and cause a different, unique, specifically designated message to be audibly delivered. By providing an audio producing information delivery assembly uniquely constructed for a particular group or class of toys, any toy group or class is capable of being constructed with identification codes associated therewith for having specially designated messages audibly delivered in response to receipt of a particular code.

Audible message/information delivery system

An electronic simulated baby bottle toy generates human-like sounds and includes a cylindrically-shaped hollow housing portion with a nipple-shaped member mounted on one end of the housing portion to simulate a nurser bottle. Four microswitches within the toy can be individually activated by applying pressure to the nipple member or to a flexible cover on the side of the housing portion. The switches selectively activate a VLSI synthesizer chip which generates any of four signals. Each signal controls a sound transducer causing the transducer to generate a selected human-like sound.

Electronic sound-generating simulated baby bottle toy

An inexpensive yet effective circuit for producing an irregular pulse train of variable frequency and duty cycle, particularly for generating simulated sounds, such as engine sounds for toy vehicles, is disclosed. The circuit comprises an integrated circuit including a plurality of Schmitt trigger inverters (U1A, U1B) configured for oscillation at different frequencies, and a resistance element (R3, R7) in series with one, and preferably both, of the power supply connections to the inverters, with the circuit output comprising the output of one of the Schmitt trigger inverters (U1B). In a preferred embodiment, a capacitance element (C4) is connected between the output of a Schmitt trigger inverter and its system voltage input for further modulating the circuit output.

Electronic circuit for producing an irregular pulse train of variable

A light-sensitive device is placed so as to receive a portion of the ambient light energy present within the mouth of the operator. The amount of ambient light impinging upon the sensing device is then modulated by movement of the lips and teeth of the operator, controlling some external process.

Growing community of inventors

Ridgefield, CT, United States of America

Joseph F Truchsess