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EP-4591959-B1 - INTERACTIVE TOY SYSTEM WITH GROUPS OF ASSOCIATED WIRELESS INTERACTIVE TOYS

EP4591959B1EP 4591959 B1EP4591959 B1EP 4591959B1EP-4591959-B1

Inventors

  • KNIGHTS, Andrew James
  • BAXTER, PAUL DANIEL

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240125

Claims (15)

  1. An interactive toy system, the system comprising a plurality of wireless interactive toys (10a-e), wherein each of the wireless interactive toys comprises: - a transceiver (13) adapted for wireless communication; - an interactive function device (14); and - a processor (11) operationally coupled to the transceiver and to the interactive function device; characterized in that the processor is configured to form a wireless toy network (2) with other ones of the plurality of wireless interactive toys of the interactive toy system; wherein the processor is further configured to keep a record of a membership of the wireless interactive toy in a group of associated wireless interactive toys (1A, 1B), and to control operation of the wireless interactive toy within the wireless toy network according to said membership; wherein operation of the wireless interactive toy within the wireless toy network comprises a primary level of operation and a secondary level of operation; wherein the primary level of operation is configured to control cooperation of the wireless interactive toy with one or more further wireless interactive toys within the group of associated wireless interactive toys, so as to provide a linked interactive user-experience (6, 9), wherein communication at the primary level of operation is restricted by said membership to within the group of associated wireless interactive toys; and wherein the secondary level of operation is configured to control cooperation of the wireless interactive toy with one or more further wireless interactive toys within the wireless toy network, wherein communication at the secondary level of operation is not restricted by said membership.
  2. A system according to claim 1, wherein controlling cooperation at the primary level of operation comprises: - determining interaction information in respect of the linked interactive user experience; - sharing said interaction information within the group of associated wireless interactive toys; and - operating the wireless interactive toy based on the shared interaction information.
  3. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein controlling cooperation at the secondary level of operation comprises: - determining concurrence information in respect of access to shared resources by two or more of the wireless interactive toys in the wireless toy network; - sharing said concurrence information within the wireless toy network; and - operating the wireless interactive toy based on the shared concurrence information.
  4. A system according to claim 3, wherein one or more of the wireless interactive toys further comprises a sensing device operationally coupled to the processor, wherein operating the sensing device requires access to shared resources, and wherein the processor is configured to control operation of the sensing device and obtain sensing output data.
  5. A system according to claim 3 and claim 4, wherein operating the wireless interactive toy based on shared concurrence information comprises one or more of: - controlling a timing for operation of the sensing device in agreement with a schedule based on the shared concurrence information; - transmitting a stimulation in agreement with a schedule for transmission based on the shared concurrence information; - measuring a physical quantity of a stimulation in agreement with a schedule for transmission of the stimulation based on the shared concurrence information; - modifying an operational state of the wireless interactive toy based on the shared concurrence information; and - modifying a non-interactive response behavior of the wireless interactive toy based on the shared concurrence information.
  6. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the toy system further comprises an associating device (20), and wherein the wireless interactive toy is further adapted, responsive to a trigger event related to the associating device, to adopt membership in a group of associated wireless interactive toys.
  7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the associating device is a charging device.
  8. A system according to any one of claims 6-7, wherein the associating device comprises a controller module with a transceiver adapted for wireless communication with one or more wireless interactive toys, and wherein the controller module is configured to partake in the wireless toy network.
  9. A system according to any one of claims 6-8, wherein the trigger event includes one or more of: - determining fulfilment of a set of associating conditions; - detecting, at an associating device, proximity of a wireless interactive device; - detecting, at a wireless interactive device, proximity of an associating device; - detecting, at the associating device, that charging of a wireless interactive toy occurs; - detecting, at a wireless interactive toy, that charging occurs; - detecting, at a wireless interactive toy, that charging from the associating device occurs; - determining a duration of proximity, a duration of charging, a charging level, or a change in charging level to exceed a pre-defined threshold; and - establishing a wireless communication between an associating device and a wireless interactive toy.
  10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the set of associating conditions to be fulfilled for associating multiple wireless interactive toys with each other in a group of associated wireless interactive toys includes requiring one or more of: - a spatial correlation between the wireless interactive toys; and - a correlation in time between the wireless interactive toys.
  11. A system according to any one of claims 9-10, wherein the associating device is configured to provide a membership item indicative of a membership in a group of associated toys to wireless interactive toys fulfilling the associating conditions, thereby defining a group of associated wireless interactive toys.
  12. A system according to any one of claims 9-11, wherein at least one of the wireless interactive toys is configured to provide a membership item indicative of a membership in a group of associated toys to wireless interactive toys fulfilling the associating conditions, thereby defining a group of associated wireless interactive toys.
  13. A system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is a toy construction system comprising toy construction elements, the toy construction elements comprising coupling members for releasably coupling the toy construction elements to each other to form a toy construction model, and wherein the wireless interactive toys (10) are wireless interactive toy construction elements of the toy construction system, wherein each of the wireless interactive toy construction elements has a housing (17) comprising coupling members (18, 19) that are compatible with the toy construction system.
  14. Method of operating an interactive toy system according to any one of the preceding claims, the system comprising an associating device (20); wherein the method comprises: - detecting a trigger event related to the associating device, and - responsive to detecting the trigger event, adopting at one or more of the wireless interactive toys (10a-e) membership in a group of associated wireless interactive toys (1A, 1B).
  15. Method according to claim 14, wherein detecting the trigger event includes requiring one or more of: - a spatial correlation between wireless interactive toys to be associated; - a spatial correlation between wireless interactive toys to be associated and the associating device; - a correlation in time between wireless interactive toys to be associated; - a correlation in time between wireless interactive toys to be associated and the associating device; - detecting charging of wireless interactive toys to be associated; - detecting charging of wireless interactive toys to be associated from the associating device; - a duration of proximity, a duration of charging, a charging level, or a change in charging level to exceed a pre-defined threshold; and - detecting a wireless communication between an associating device and a wireless interactive toy.

Description

The present invention relates in one aspect to an interactive toy system, the system comprising a plurality of wireless interactive toys, wherein each of the wireless interactive toys comprises: a transceiver adapted for wireless communication; an interactive function device; and a processor operationally coupled to the transceiver and to the interactive function device. According to a preferred aspect, the interactive toy system is a toy construction system and the wireless interactive toys are toy construction elements of said toy construction system. According to a further aspect the invention relates to a method of operating an interactive toy system to provide a linked interactive user-experience, the system comprising a plurality of wireless interactive toys, wherein each of the wireless interactive toys comprises: a transceiver adapted for wireless communication; an interactive function device; and a processor operationally coupled to the transceiver and to the interactive function device. According to a yet further aspect, the invention relates to a method of defining groups of associated wireless interactive toys for providing a linked interactive user experience. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Interactive play scenarios where a user interacts with a toy are considered highly stimulating and educational, and often provide an engaging user-experience. The user-experience is considered to become significantly more stimulating and engaging, when linking interactive toys together to provide in combination a linked interactive user experience, where the user interacts with a group of interacting toys. Examples of such linked interactive toys include toy and educational robotics kits, where a processing hub can be combined with peripheral devices, such as sensors, switches, light emitters, sound emitters, and motors to create an interactive robotic toy model. However, such creations typically require a costly central processing hub for controlling operation of the linked devices. Furthermore, such robotic kits are often challenged by requiring the users to establish these links and require advanced skills in order to make them work. This limits both the flexibility for creating new user experiences and the accessibility for a broader group of users. Therefore, there is a need for facilitating flexibility and modularity in combining and using interactive toys to create new linked interactive user experiences. Furthermore, there is a need to make the creation and use of such linked user experiences more intuitive and satisfying, and thus improve accessibility to a broader user group. At the same time it is desirable to mitigate, avoid, or even prevent interference with other toys, such as interference with other toys of the same kind, e.g. a similar type of interactive toys used by a sibling in the same house, or interference with other toys also present and active in the vicinity. It is furthermore desirable to provide an environment, where it becomes possible to generate a new interactive play context, where different interactive toys collaborate to provide a cohesive play story to one or more users. To facilitate the creation process and provide a satisfying user experience, it is further desirable to bring about such collaboration in an intuitively accessible manner, promptly, and/or even automatically. Furthermore it is desirable to facilitate a simple and intuitive manner of using elements and components of such a system, e.g. as part of a play activity or as an integrated part of the normal usage of the system. Furthermore, it is desirable to facilitate a satisfying user experience by striving for a high level of responsiveness and low lag of such an interactive toy system when starting to use the system, when creating with the system, and/or when interacting with creations made from the system. US 2022/0118375 A1 describes a modular toy system with a plurality of separate electronic toy modules, each electronic toy module comprising a function device operable to perform a user-perceptible function and a control circuit for controlling the function device. At least a first electronic toy module comprises a first control circuit, a first function device and a sensor system configured for contactless detection of respective coordinate values of at least two coordinates. Each coordinate is indicative of a position or an orientation of at least a second electronic toy module relative to the first electronic toy module. The first control circuit is configured to control operation of the first function device based on one or more of the detected coordinate values. US 2017/0144083 A1 describes a toy construction system with a plurality of interactive construction elements including multiple function construction elements, and one or more input construction elements. Each input construction element has a wireless transmitter for transmitting a control signal to at least a subset of the function construction el