SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERACTIVE RESPONSES BY TOYS AND OTHER CONNECTED DEVICES

Interactive responses for connected toys and devices.

The present disclosure may be embodied in systems, methods, and computer readable media, and may allow for interactive responses by network-enabled objects, programs, and machines. Embodiments described are well-suited for communicating and responding using small-sized data messages, thus allowing for their implementation in standard messaging systems and by simple devices such as toys and other low-level electronic devices that may have limited processing capacity and/or memory. The present disclosure provides in one embodiment a method comprising receiving at least one broadcast message, each broadcast message in the at least one broadcast message comprising a plurality of identifiers and determining a highest priority identifier amongst the plurality of identifiers received in the at least one broadcast message. The method may further comprise identifying a command sequence associated with the highest priority identifier and executing the command sequence.

BACKGROUND

In today's technological environment, everyday physical items can be fitted with electronic components, such as processors, memory devices, communication antennas, and sensors. These electronic components may allow these physical items to connect over networks and process information as connected devices. In some instances, the ability to send, receive, and process information may allow these physical items to provide greater utility. For example, a smart fridge might be able to order groceries, a smart watch might be able to track a user's sleeping habits, etc. These devices might be programmed to interact with the user, and with one another, in useful ways, such as for optimizing the performance of tasks and the like. However, their ability to respond in entertaining and interactive ways is often limited. In other words, although these devices may act in an intelligently useful manner, they nonetheless behave like life-less machines.

Connected devices typically run on a standard communication protocol. This ensures that messages are uniquely conveyed for each task and can be readily understood by each device as intended. However, these protocols also set constraints that limit flexibility in programming, especially with respect to available memory. Standard short-distance messages especially are of limited size. At the same time, a considerable amount of memory is required to generate a unique identifier for each command or for each identifiable entit