JPH06327842A - Animal toy - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an animal toy which reacts to a specific voice and operates on condition of the approach of a person, and which satisfies a feeling of reality and also a desire to possess. CONSTITUTION:The body of an animal toy is made up of an operating mechanism A for moving a part of the body, a sensor 9 for detecting the approach of a person, a voice recognizing device 7 for recognizing whether a prescribed voice has been input or not on condition of the detection by means of the sensor 9, and a control unit 6 for controlling the operating mechanism A when the prescribed voice has been recognized by the voice recognizing device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an animal toy equipped with a voice recognition device.

[0002]

Background of the Invention Generally, animal toys that operate when touched or approached are well known, but these animal toys have no specific reaction target. In addition, in the current situation where the price of animal toys is high, animal toys that respond to anyone and operate to satisfy the owner's desire to own have become unsatisfactory. Therefore, there is a demand for the appearance of animal toys that satisfy the owner's desire to own and have a realistic feeling.

[0003]

It is an object of the present invention to provide an animal toy, which has been formed under the above-mentioned background, and which operates in response to a specific voice on condition of the approach of a person to satisfy a real feeling and a desire to own. With the goal.

[0004]

To achieve the above object, the animal toy of the present invention is characterized by the following requirements. (A) An operating mechanism for moving a part of the body is provided. (B) A sensor for detecting the approach of a person is provided. (C) Recognizing whether or not a predetermined voice is input on condition that the sensor detects the condition. Provided with a voice recognition device (d) Provided with a control device for controlling the operating mechanism when a predetermined voice is recognized by the voice recognition device

[0005]

According to the above construction, when a person approaches the animal toy, the sensor senses the approach of the person. The information of this sensor is used to recognize the approach of a person and display that the condition for operating the voice recognition device is set. Next, when a person produces a voice, the voice recognition device determines whether or not a predetermined voice is input, and inputs the information to the control device. The control device activates the actuating mechanism in response to the information, and moves a part of the body to display that the voice is recognized.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates an animal toy of the present invention. An operating mechanism A is arranged on the head 2 of the animal toy 1, and a control device 6, a voice recognition device 7, a voice generation device 8 and a sensor 9 are arranged on the body part 5.

The operating mechanism A is composed of a head operating mechanism 3 and an ear operating mechanism 4. The ear operating mechanism 4 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), it comprises a right ear member 12, a left ear member 13, a right ear actuating member 14, a left ear actuating member 15 and an ear actuating cam 16, and the right ear member 12 is at the upper right part of the head 2. The left ear member 13 is provided on the upper left portion of the head 2 so as to be rotatable about a support shaft 17 and a support shaft 18, respectively. The two ear members 12 and 13 are integrally formed with an extension piece 19 and an extension piece 20 that are recessed from the rotation fulcrum into the inside of the head portion 2. At the end of the extension piece 19, a fitting shaft 21, A fitting shaft 22 is formed at the end of the extension piece 20. An intermediate portion between the right ear actuating member 14 and the left ear actuating member 15, which are formed in a substantially L-shape, is rotatably left and right with respect to the head 2, respectively, by a spindle 23 and a spindle 24.
Supported by and.

A substantially rectangular fitting hole 26 is formed outside the upper end of the vertical plate 14a of the right ear actuating member 14, and one end of a spring 27 is attached to the inside thereof. The fitting shaft 21 of the right ear member 12 is fitted into the fitting hole 26, and is linked to the rotation of the right ear actuating member 14 so that the right ear member 1
2 is provided so as to rotate around the support shaft 17.
A substantially rectangular fitting hole 28 is formed outside the upper end of the vertical plate 15a of the left ear actuating member 15, and the other end of the spring 27 is attached to the inside. The fitting hole 28
The fitting shaft 22 of the left ear member 13 is fitted to the left ear member 13, and the left ear member 13 is provided so as to rotate about the support shaft 18 in association with the rotation of the left ear actuating member 15. Also, the left ear actuating member 1
5, an engaging piece 29 is formed at the end of the horizontal plate 15b, and the engaging piece 29 is in contact with the upper end of the horizontal plate 14b of the right ear actuating member 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ear operating cam 16 is a disc integrally formed with a gear that meshes with the gear 31 of the rotating shaft of the ear operating motor 30 and has an eccentric shaft 32 formed thereon.
When the ear operating motor 30 rotates, the eccentric shaft 32 presses the inner surface of the vertical plate 14a of the right ear operating member 14, so that the right ear operating member 14 rotates rightward about the support shaft 23 (FIG. 2). (See (b)). Since the right ear actuating member 14 and the left ear actuating member 15 are connected by the spring 27, they are biased so as to attract each other. Since the engagement piece 29 provided on the left ear actuating member 15 is in contact with the upper end of the lateral plate 14b of the right ear actuating member 14, the left ear actuating member 15 is also rotated by the rotation of the right ear actuating member 14. It rotates around the support shaft 24 (see FIG. 2B).

Next, the head actuating mechanism 3 comprises a head 2, a neck member 10 and a head actuating cam 33 as shown in FIG. 2 (a). The neck member 10 is fixed to the upper portion of the body portion 5 by an appropriate method, and the lower end portion of the head portion 2 is provided in the middle portion of the spindle 1.
It is supported by 1 so as to be rotatable left and right. Further, the upper portion of the neck member 10 is recessed inside the head portion 2, a fitting groove 34 is formed in the longitudinal direction, and a projecting piece 35 is provided at the end portion.

As shown in FIG. 3, the head actuating cam 33 is formed by forming an eccentric shaft 38 on a disc integrally formed with a gear that meshes with a gear 37 of the rotating shaft of the head actuating motor 36.
The eccentric shaft 38 is fitted in the fitting groove 34 of the neck member 10. The eccentric shaft 38 pushes the neck member 10 laterally by the rotation of the head actuating cam 33 and acts to swing the neck member 10, but since the neck member 10 is fixed to the body portion 5. , The head portion 2 is rotated left and right with respect to the body portion 5 about the support shaft 11 (see FIG. 2C).

When the head actuating cam 33 further rotates, the protruding piece 35 formed on the neck member 10 presses the vertical plate 15a of the left ear actuating member 15, so that the left ear actuating member 15 moves the support shaft 24. It will rotate leftward around the center (Fig. 2
(See (d)). At this time, the right ear actuating member 14 remains stopped.

Next, a first position switch 40 and a second position switch 41 are arranged on the head 2, and the two switches are linked to the control device 6 (see FIG. 4).
As shown in FIG. 2A, the first position switch 40 is arranged below the lateral plate 14b of the right ear actuating member 14, and the eccentric shaft 32 of the ear actuating cam 16 presses the right ear actuating member 14. The contact of the first position switch 40 is OFF when
Is provided so that it is turned on when not pressed (Fig. 2
(Refer to (b)). When it is turned on, it feeds back to the control device 6 that the ear is in a lowered state. Therefore, after the control device 6 operates the ear operating motor 30, the first When the position switch 40 of the
If is stopped, the right ear member 12 and the left ear member 13 can be stopped in the lowered state.

The second position switch 41 is arranged near one side surface of the neck member 10, and the head actuating cam 33 is provided.
When the head 2 rotates, the second position switch 41 is turned on when the head 2 is vertical to the body 5, and is turned off when the head 2 is tilted with respect to the body 5 (see FIG. 2).
(Refer to (c)) When it is turned on, the control device 6 feeds back to the control device 6 that the head 2 is in a state vertical to the body part 5, so the control device 6 operates the head actuation motor 36. After that, if the head actuation motor 36 is stopped when the second position switch 41 is turned on, the head 2 can be stopped in a state perpendicular to the body portion 5.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the relationship between the control device 6 and the hardware will be described. As the sensor 9 arranged on the body portion 5, a CdS sensor is used so that the approach of a person is sensed by shutting off the light. It is provided. The detection circuit 44 amplifies the change in the voltage of the sensor 9 and outputs the result of comparison with the reference value to the control device 6 as a detection signal. Upon receiving this detection signal, the control device 6 outputs a standby signal (STBY) to the voice recognition device 7 and sets the voice recognition device 7 in an operable state. The sensor 9 may be a pyroelectric sensor or a reflective photo sensor.

The voice recognition device 7 has a microphone amplifier, voice analysis, recognition, control and voice registration memory functions (not shown), a microphone 45 and three recognition registration switches 46 of first, second and third. It is composed of 47 and 48. The three recognition registration switches 46, 47, and 48 are automatic return type push button switches that maintain the ON state only while they are pressed, and are provided on the operation plate 49 arranged under the front foot as shown in FIG. A power switch 50 is provided on the operation plate 49.

When the voice recognition device 7 receives the standby signal (STBY) from the control device 6 and then pushes the first recognition registration switch 46, the first keyer stored in the voice registration memory in advance. When the voice is input to the microphone 45 with the first recognition registration switch 46 pressed, the voice feature is registered as a new first keyword. Further, the second and third recognition registration switches 4
Similarly, by operating 7, 48, after deleting the second and third pre-stored keywords, the characteristics of the voice,
It is provided to register each as a new keyword. A backup circuit (not shown) is provided so that this memory is protected even when the power switch 50 is turned off. A display device such as an LED may be provided on the operation plate 49, and may be turned on or blinked depending on the input voltage level when registering the keyword.

Next, the voice recognition device 7 is controlled by the control device 6
When a voice is input to the microphone 45 after receiving the standby signal (STBY) from, the input voice is analyzed to recognize whether it is a pre-registered keyword or not.
1st key word, 2nd key word, 3rd key word
Recognition signals K1, K2, K3 respectively
Is output to the control device 6, and if it cannot be recognized by any of the keywords, an error signal ER is output to the control device 6 as an error reaction.

The voice generator 8 comprises a voice synthesizing circuit 51, a voice output circuit 52 and a speaker 53. The voice synthesizing circuit 51 has a standby, three keys and an error.
Five kinds of sounds corresponding to the reaction are stored in advance. The five types of voices are selected by the instruction of the control device 6, and predetermined voices are output. The voice output circuit 52 amplifies the output signal of the voice synthesis circuit 51 and outputs the voice from the speaker 53.

The controller 6 has input / output, judgment, control, timer and memory functions (not shown), and is provided to execute a program stored in the memory. When the control device 6 determines that a person is approaching based on the detection signal of the detection circuit 44, it activates the voice synthesizing circuit 51 to generate a predetermined voice, and the ear operating motor drive circuit 42.
Is operated to perform a predetermined operation. Then, the standby signal (STBY) is output to the voice recognition device 7 to set the voice recognition device 7 in an operable state. The recognition signals K1, K2, K3 and the error signal E from the voice recognition device 7 are also provided.
Judge one of R, activate the voice synthesis circuit 51,
A sound corresponding to K1, K2, K3 and ER is generated, and the ear operation motor drive circuit 42 or the head operation motor drive circuit 43 is operated to perform a predetermined operation.

Since the animal toy 1 of the present invention is constructed as described above, the operation mode will be described by the flow chart.

The registration flow chart will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the animal 9 is approached so that the sensor 9 is not exposed to light, it is determined whether or not the light is blocked (step 1), and when it is determined that the light is blocked, it is recognized that a person is approaching, Go to step 2. In step 2, the voice generator 8 and the ear operating motor 30 are operated (step 2
0), the standby voice (one-on-one) is emitted and the ear is rotated. The first position switch 40 is 3
It is determined whether or not the sound has been turned on (step 21), and when the sound is turned on three times, the operations of the voice generating device 8 and the ear operating motor 30 are stopped (step 22). Therefore, the right ear member 12 and the left ear are barking while barking. A standby operation in which the member 13 and the member 13 are rotated three times indicates that the voice recognition device 7 is ready (see FIG. 6B).

After that, the voice is input from the microphone 45 while pressing the voice registration switch. In step 3, it is determined whether or not the recognition registration switch has been pressed. If not, the registration is completed. If yes, go to step 4,
The recognition registration switch is identified, and the first recognition registration switch 4
If it is 6, the first key word is erased in step 5, and the voice from the microphone 45 is registered as the first key word. If the switch is the second recognition registration switch 47, the voice from the microphone 45 is registered as the second keyword after the second keyword is erased in step 6. If it is the third recognition registration switch 48, after the third key word is erased in step 7, the voice from the microphone 45 is sent to the third key.
Register as a word. These three keywords are protected by a backup circuit (not shown) so that they will not disappear even if the power switch 50 is turned off.

Next, the recognition flow chart will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 (a), 6 (b) and 6 (c). First, when the sensor 9 is prevented from being exposed to light when approaching the animal toy 1, it is determined whether or not the light is blocked, and when it is determined that the light is blocked, it is recognized that the person is approaching (step 1). Go to step 2. In step 2, the voice generator 8 and the ear operating motor 30
And (step 20) to activate the first position switch 4
It is judged whether 0 has been turned on three times (step 21), and when turned on three times, the operations of the voice generating device 8 and the ear operating motor 30 are stopped (step 22). The standby operation of rotating the left ear member 13 and the left ear member 13 three times indicates that the voice recognition device 7 is ready.

After that, the timer is started (step 3) and the voice input is awaited (step 4). Step 5
Then, it is determined whether or not the timer has passed 30 seconds, and if there is no voice input for 30 seconds, the operation proceeds to step 6, the ear operating motor 30 is operated (step 60), and the ear is rotated. Then, the state of the first position switch 40 is judged (step 61), and when it is turned on, it is stopped (step 62). Therefore, the reset operation of rotating the right ear member 12 and the left ear member 13 once is performed, After releasing the standby and resetting the timer (step 63), the process returns to step 1 and waits for another person to approach.

If there is a voice input within 30 seconds, the voice is discriminated in step 7, and if it is the same as the first keyword, the process proceeds to step 8 and the voice generating device 8 and the ear operating motor are operated. 30 and 30 are operated to emit the first keyword sound (one) and rotate the ear. Then, the state of the first position switch 40 is judged (step 9), and when it is turned on, it is stopped (step 10). Therefore, the right ear member 12 and the left ear member 13 are rotated once to bark once. . After that, the process proceeds to step 20 and the timer is cleared and then step 3
Return to.

If it is the second keyword, the process proceeds to step 11 to activate the voice generating device 8 and the ear operating motor 30,
A second key word voice (Wow Wow Won) is emitted and the ear is rotated. Then, the state of the first position switch 40 is judged (step 12), and when it is turned on, it is stopped (step 13). Therefore, the right ear member 12 and the left ear member 13 are rotated once to make a wow wow warn. bark.
After that, the process proceeds to step 20, the timer is cleared, and then the process returns to step 3.

If it is the third key word, the process proceeds to step 14 to activate the voice generating device 8 and the head operating motor 36, and the third key word voice (crowd voice). -Turn and turn your head. Then, the state of the second position switch 41 is judged (step 15), and when it is turned on, it is stopped (step 16). Therefore, the left ear member 13 is flipped up while tilting the head 2, and the crow-woo-woo Cries. After that, proceed to step 20 to clear the timer,
Return to step 3.

If the key words other than the three previously registered keys or the registered key words cannot be recognized due to differences in pronunciation, it is judged as an error reaction and the process proceeds to step 17 to generate a voice. The device 8 and the ear operating motor 30 are operated to generate an error reaction sound (coon) and rotate the ear. Then, the state of the first position switch 40 is judged (step 18) and stopped when turned on (step 1).
9), the right ear member 12 and the left ear member 13 are rotated once while squealing. After that, proceed to step 20 to clear the timer, and then return to step 3,
The timer is restarted and the voice input is waited for.

As described above, when the animal toy 1 of the present invention senses that a person is approaching, it shows a reaction and goes into a standby state, and an arbitrary word (keyword) is given in advance.
Can be registered so that the animals can learn. By speaking the registered word (keyword) to the animal toy 1, in response to the word (keyword),
Since the voice is emitted while moving the head and ears, it is possible to provide the animal toy 1 with a realistic feeling as if they are having a dialogue, and it is possible to satisfy the owner's desire to own the same toy. .

By providing the voice synthesizing circuit 46 with a recording / playback function, not only a specific voice but also a message to be transmitted like a message board can be played back.

[0032]

[Effect] Unlike animal toys, which respond to a predetermined voice and respond to anyone, unlike animal toys, you can have a realistic feeling of interacting with a living animal and satisfy the owner's desire to own. An animal toy that can be provided can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an animal toy according to the present invention.

2 (a), (b), (c), and (d) are configuration and operation explanatory views of an operating mechanism of the animal toy.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the operating mechanism with a part of FIG. 2 omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a relationship between a control circuit and hardware.

FIG. 5 is a registration flowchart.

6 (a), (b) and (c) are recognition flowcharts.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Animal Toy 6 Control Device 7 Voice Recognition Device 9 Sensor A Operating Mechanism

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location A63H 31/08 E G10L 3/00 Q 8946-5H R 8946-5H 551 H 9379-5H

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An animal toy, wherein the toy body has the following requirements. (A) An operating mechanism for moving a part of the body is provided. (B) A sensor for detecting the approach of a person is provided. (C) Recognizing whether or not a predetermined voice is input on condition that the sensor detects the condition. Provided with a voice recognition device (d) Provided with a control device for controlling the operating mechanism when a predetermined voice is recognized by the voice recognition device