SELECTING INFRARED TRANSMISSION MODES BASED ON USER ACTIONS

Number: 20170128851
Published: 2017-05-11
Filed: 2015-11-06
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: NANEY; David Tillman, PUTZEYS; Philippe
CPC: A63H33/26; A63H30/00; A63H3/36; A63H30/04; A63H33/00
Verdict: High Hardware
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

The keeper's note

Uses multiple infrared/visible-light transmission modes to simulate melee versus ranged toy weapon attacks based on distance between devices.

Abstract

Embodiments herein use multiple different transmission modes of a line-of-sight (LOS) communication system (e.g., an infrared (IR) or visible light communicate system) to simulate user actions that correspond to different distances—e.g., a melee attack versus a ranged attack. A toy device may include various sensors that detect user motion which is then used to identify a user action. If the user action is a melee attack, then the attack should affect only targets that are close to the toy device. To simulate this difference between user actions, the toy device uses a first LOS transmission mode which may have a limited range to send an instruction to a target device. Conversely, if the user action is a ranged attack, then the toy device uses a second LOS transmission mode which has a greater range than the first LOS transmission mode to send the instruction.

Background

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited aspects are attained and can be understood in detail, a more particular description of embodiments of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the appended drawings.

It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system that uses two infrared transmission modes, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of selecting between infrared transmission modes based on user actions, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate a user action triggering an infrared transmission mode, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a user action triggering an infrared transmission mode, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a toy system that includes a master and servant toy device, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate an infrared transmission system, according to one embodiment described herein.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example storytelling environment, according to one embodiment described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical referen

Claims

1. A method of operating a toy device, comprising: detecting user motion using the toy device; selecting a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based on the user motion; selecting a line-of-sight (LOS) transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmissionmodes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and transmitting a signal corresponding to the selected action using a LOS communication system operating in the selected LOS transmission mode. 11. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code is executable by one ormore computer processors to perform an operation comprising: detecting user motion using a toy device; selecting a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based onthe user motion; selecting a line-of-sight (LOS) transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmission modes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and transmitting a signal corresponding to the selected action using a LOS communication system operating in the selected LOS transmission mode. 16. A toy device, comprising: a line-of-sight (LOS) communication system; at least one sensor; and control logic configured to: detect user motion using the at least one sensor; select a user action from a plurality of predefined user actions based on the user motion; select a LOS transmission mode from a plurality of LOS transmission modes based on the selected user action, wherein each of the LOS transmission modes corresponds to a different transmission pattern; and instruct the LOS communication system to transmit a signal corresponding to the selected action while operating in the selected LOS transmission mode.