Interactive plush toy

Abstract

A system is presented for controlling an interactive electronic plush toy using a macro computer program created on a mobile electronic device using a mobile application. The plush toy is provided with an electronic wireless network interface for communicating wirelessly with the smartphone via a network. The macro provides computer programming for instructing the plush toy to perform an Internet search query, receive results of the query, and perform predetermined actions based on the query results. The actions may include producing sound or motion to make the toy seem life-like.

1 . A system for controlling an electronic toy, comprising:
 a) a mobile electronic device having a device processor, a device wireless communication interface in data communication with the electronic toy over a wireless data connection, a tangible, non-transitory device memory, and a mobile application residing on the device memory, the mobile application including macro instructions transmitted wirelessly to the toy over the wireless data connection; and   b) the electronic toy having
 i) a toy processor, 
 ii) a tangible, non-transitory toy memory, 
 iii) a toy wireless communication interface in data communication with the mobile electronic device over the wireless data connection, 
 iv) a processor-controlled apparatus selected from a set comprising a sound generator and a motion actuator, and 
 v) the macro instructions received from the mobile electronic device via the wireless data connection and stored in the toy memory, the macro instructions configured to cause the toy to
 (1) perform a query of an external information resource over the toy wireless communication interface, 
 (2) receive a query result, 
 (3) apply a conditional rule to the query result, and 
 (4) cause the processor-controlled apparatus to perform an action indicated by the conditional rule as applied to the query result. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the information resource is a weather information resource and the query includes a request for at least one of temperature, precipitation, UV index, and pollen count information. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the performed action is generating sound on the sound generator located within the toy, the sound being at least one of recorded sound and text-to-speech sound. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the action performed is activating the motion actuator of the toy. 
     
     
         5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the query result is a numeric value and the conditional rule differentiates the query result by comparing the numeric value to a threshold value. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the toy further comprises a sensor, and the macro instructions include instructions to monitor the sensor and send the query after the sensor makes a detection. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the sensor is one of a motion sensor, a sound sensor, a light sensor, a voice sensor, a clock, and an accelerometer. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the toy further comprises a sensor, and the macro instructions include instructions to monitor the sensor after receiving the query result and perform the action after the sensor makes a detection. 
     
     
         11 . A method for controlling a processor-controlled interactive toy via a mobile device, the mobile device having a processor, a wireless network interface, a user interface, and a tangible, non-transitory memory, the method comprising:
 a) creating a macro, at the mobile device, by selecting, through the user interface,
 i) a search query for performing a query of an information source on a remote network, 
 ii) a conditional rule to apply to a result of the query, 
 iii) a first action for the toy to perform, the action including at least one of generating sound at a sound generator of the toy and activating a motion actuator of the toy; and 
   b) transmitting the macro from the mobile device to the toy via the wireless network interface of the mobile device to be stored in a tangible, non-transient memory of the toy;   
       wherein the conditional rule provides instructions for the toy to perform the first action if the query result satisfies a first condition. 
     
     
         12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the conditional rule provides instructions to perform a second action different from the first action if the query result does not satisfy the first condition. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein step a) further comprises selecting a trigger condition on which to initiate the query of the information resource. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein step a) further comprises selecting a trigger condition on which to initiate performing the action. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the information source is one of a weather information source, a news information source, and a social media information source. 
     
     
         17 . A method for executing a macro by an electronic toy having a processor, a non-transitory memory, and a wireless interface connected to a wireless network, the method comprising:
 a) receiving macro instructions over the wireless network;   b) storing the macro instructions in the memory of the electronic toy;   c) executing the macro instructions after step b), the macro instructions including instructions to:
 i) query a remote information resource via the wireless interface, 
 ii) receive a result of the query, 
 iii) apply a conditional rule to the query result, the conditional rule providing instructions to perform an action if the query result meets a first condition; and 
   d) performing the action, response to executing the macro instructions;   
       wherein the action is one of generating sound at a sound generator of the toy and activating a motion actuator of the electronic toy. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the macro instructions further include instructions to query the remote information resource after a trigger event. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the query result is a numeric value and the conditional rule includes comparing the numeric value to a threshold value. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the motion actuator is one of a leg actuator, an arm actuator, an eye actuator, and a mouth actuator. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the information resource is one of a weather resource, a news resource, and a social media resource. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditional rule is a rule to differentiate the query result using a Boolean yes/no condition. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditional rule is a rule to differentiate the query result based on predetermined keywords. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:
 c) storing the macro in the memory of the toy;   d) performing the query of the information source on the remote network via a wireless interface within the toy;   e) applying the conditional rule to the result of the query; and   f) performing the first action, by the toy.