US5358259A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Talking video games
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1993-10-21
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Granted: 1994-10-25
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Expires: 2013-10-21
Abstract
Abstract Talking video games can provide simulated voice dialog between human players and animated characters on a TV screen. Two or more players can take turns responding to animated characters and two or more animated characters can respond to each player and to each other, thereby providing three-way or four-way conversations. Pictures and voices are generated from digital data separately stored on a laser-readable disk such as a CD-ROM in compressed form. As the game is played each animated character talks to the human game players and waits for a response. Each player has a hand-held controller that displays two or more phrases or sentences and a player responds by pressing a button next to a selected phrase. An animated character then responds to the selected phrase as if it had been spoken by the human player. Speech recognition is not required. Each scene branches to two or more subsequent scenes. But within each scene there are several branching dialog sequences, thereby providing a large variety of possible dialogs. Human game players are thus given an illusion of having dialogs with interesting people, either living, historical or imaginary and with animal-like characters on a TV screen as an active participant in adventures and dramas with these characters. Additionally, human game players can utilize the hand held controllers to select the voice dialog between game characters, thus controlling conversations held between game characters during the game.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert M. Best
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 04:14
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09B; G09B7/00; G09B7/02; G09B7/04; A; A63; A63F; A63F13/00; A63F13/40; A63F13/42; A63F13/424; A63F13/45; A63F13/47; A63F13/80; A63F13/822; A63F13/843; A63F13/90; A63F13/92; G11; G11B; G11B17/00; G11B17/005; G11B19/00; G11B27/00; G11B27/10; G11B27/102; G11B27/105; A63F2300/00; A63F2300/60; A63F2300/63; A63F2300/632; A63F2300/80; A63F2300/807; A63F2300/8088; G11B2220/00; G11B2220/20; G11B2220/21; G11B2220/213; G11B2220/25; G11B2220/2537; G11B2220/2545
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
289 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of one character being selected by a human player, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression of the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; and (j) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said first character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
289 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of one character being selected by a human player, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression of the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; and (j) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said first character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 1, wherein one of said characters is shown hugging or kissing the other character.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 1, wherein said hand-held controller is a portable game system with program cartridge.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
392 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of one character being selected by a human player, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) changing said video signal to indicate that the first character is speaking to the second character; (i) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the second character is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the second character is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follow next for said first character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
392 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of one character being selected by a human player, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) changing said video signal to indicate that the first character is speaking to the second character; (i) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the second character is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said second character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (j) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character; (k) changing said video signal to indicate that the second character is speaking to the first character; and (l) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follow next for said first character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 4, wherein said video signal is changed to show moving lips on the face of the first character when said audio signal is generated from said first voice sound data; and wherein said video signal is changed to show moving lips on the face of the second character when said audio signal is generated from said second voice sound data.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 5, wherein said moving lips are lip-synchronized with the corresponding voices in said audio signal.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of altering either or both of said audio signals so that the signal indicates unspoken thoughts of an on-screen character.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
344 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two on-screen talking animated characters and an off-screen talking character, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least three talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first on-screen character and a second on-screen character and an off-screen character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second on-screen characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression for the voice of said off-screen character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said off-screen character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said first on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said first on-screen character; (j) digitally reading from said catalog of voices third voice sound data for the voice of said second on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (k) generating an audio signal from said third voice sound data representing the voice of said second on-screen character; and (l) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said off-screen character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
344 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two on-screen talking animated characters and an off-screen talking character, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least three talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first on-screen character and a second on-screen character and an off-screen character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second on-screen characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said selected verbal expression for the voice of said off-screen character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said off-screen character speaking said selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said first on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said first on-screen character; (j) digitally reading from said catalog of voices third voice sound data for the voice of said second on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (k) generating an audio signal from said third voice sound data representing the voice of said second on-screen character; and (l) displaying on said hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said off-screen character in the selected branch of the dialog.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 8, wherein said video signal is changed to indicate which of said on-screen characters is speaking.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
60 words
The method of claim 9, wherein said video signal is changed to show moving lips on the face of said first on-screen character when said audio signal is generated from said second voice sound data and to show moving lips on the face of said second on-screen character when said audio signal is generated from said third voice sound data.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 10, wherein said moving lips are lip-synchronized with the corresponding voices in said audio signal.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 8, wherein said hand-held controller is a portable game system with program cartridge.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 8, wherein said selected verbal expression for said off-screen character is displayed on said video screen.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 8, wherein one of said characters is shown hugging or kissing the other character.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
328 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of the characters being selected by two corresponding human players, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a first selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said first selected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said first selected verbal expression; (h) displaying on a second hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said second character in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) receiving from said second hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a second selected verbal expression in said second set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a next branch in the dialog; (j) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data that corresponds to said second selected verbal expression for the voice of said second character; and (k) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character speaking said second selected verbal expression.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
328 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two talking animated characters, the words of the characters being selected by two corresponding human players, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least two talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments or phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first animated character and a second animated character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a first selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said first selected verbal expression for the voice of said first character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first character speaking said first selected verbal expression; (h) displaying on a second hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said second character in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) receiving from said second hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a second selected verbal expression in said second set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a next branch in the dialog; (j) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data that corresponds to said second selected verbal expression for the voice of said second character; and (k) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said second character speaking said second selected verbal expression.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
444 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two on-screen talking animated characters and two off-screen talking characters, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least four talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments o phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first on-screen character and a second on-screen character and a first off-screen character and a second off-screen character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second on-screen characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a first selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said first selected verbal expression for the voice of said first off-screen character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first off-screen character speaking said first selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said first on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said first on-screen character; (j) displaying on a second hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said second off-screen character in the selected branch of the dialog. (k) receiving from said second hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a second selected verbal expression in said second set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a next branch in the dialog; (l) digitally reading from said catalog of voices third voice sound data that corresponds to said second selected verbal expression for the voice of said second off-screen character; (m) generating an audio signal from said third voice sound data representing the voice of said second off-screen character speaking said second selected verbal expression; (n) digitally reading from said catalog of voices fourth voice sound data for the voice of said second on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; and (o) generating an audio signal from said fourth voice sound data representing the voice of said second on-screen character.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
444 words
A method of electronically simulating voice conversations between at least two on-screen talking animated characters and two off-screen talking characters, comprising the steps of: (a) digitally storing a catalog of distinctive voices for at least four talking characters, each in the form of voice sound data representing a plurality of sentences, phrases, word segments o phonemes; (b) digitally storing a preprogrammed branching dialog between a first on-screen character and a second on-screen character and a first off-screen character and a second off-screen character, each branch comprising a plurality of alternative verbal expressions; (c) generating a video signal representing an image of said first and second on-screen characters for display on a video screen; (d) displaying on a first hand-held controller apparatus a first set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions, each corresponding to a branch in said dialog; (e) receiving from said first hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a first selected verbal expression in said first set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a branch in the dialog; (f) digitally reading from said catalog of voices first voice sound data that corresponds to said first selected verbal expression for the voice of said first off-screen character; (g) generating an audio signal from said first voice sound data representing the voice of said first off-screen character speaking said first selected verbal expression; (h) digitally reading from said catalog of voices second voice sound data for the voice of said first on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; (i) generating an audio signal from said second voice sound data representing the voice of said first on-screen character; (j) displaying on a second hand-held controller apparatus a second set of alternatively selectable verbal expressions that follows next for said second off-screen character in the selected branch of the dialog. (k) receiving from said second hand-held controller a manually initiated signal representing a second selected verbal expression in said second set of verbal expressions, thereby selecting a next branch in the dialog; (l) digitally reading from said catalog of voices third voice sound data that corresponds to said second selected verbal expression for the voice of said second off-screen character; (m) generating an audio signal from said third voice sound data representing the voice of said second off-screen character speaking said second selected verbal expression; (n) digitally reading from said catalog of voices fourth voice sound data for the voice of said second on-screen character speaking the verbal expression that follows next in the selected branch of the dialog; and (o) generating an audio signal from said fourth voice sound data representing the voice of said second on-screen character.
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