Context-based interactive plush toy

摘要

An interactive toy for interacting with a user while a story is being read aloud from a book or played from a movie/video. The toy includes a speech recognition unit that receives and detects certain triggering phrases as they are read aloud or played from a companion literary work. The triggering phrase read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video may have independent significance or may only have significance when combined with other phrases read aloud from the book or played in the movie/video. In one embodiment, the toy is configured to detect only certain types of triggering prompts in certain states, such as, for example, triggering phrases or triggering terms. In this embodiment, and others, the toy is configured to switch between states such that it can at times respond to triggering terms and at other times respond to triggering phrases.

主权项

1. An interactive toy that performs a method for interacting with a user, the method comprising:
activating a phrase-detection state in which said toy is configured to receive a first plurality of audible sounds corresponding to text read aloud from a book; receiving, through a microphone embedded in the toy, the first plurality of audible sounds; processing a signal associated with the first plurality of audible sounds to detect one or more triggering phrases, wherein the one or more triggering phrases are a combination of words corresponding to text from the book; detecting a triggering phrase was read aloud by the user reading the book; upon detecting the triggering phrase, switching to a term-detection state in which said toy is configured to receive a second plurality of audible sounds; receiving, through the microphone, the second plurality of audible sounds; processing a signal associated with the second plurality of audible sounds to detect one or more single triggering terms, wherein the one or more single triggering terms are predetermined words or commands; detecting the one or more single triggering terms spoken by the user; and upon detecting the triggering term, activating a response sequence that supplements a story told in the book, wherein the response sequence is determined from a pre-programmed response program.