Virtual electronic pet and method for use therewith
OwnerKatherine C. Stuckman, Bruce E. Stuckmaninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A virtual electronic pet is capable of performing a plurality of activities and capable of displaying a plurality of behaviors, at least one of the plurality of behaviors dependent upon performance of at lest one of the plurality of activities. An actual name is retrieved from a name database. A name signal, indicating a guessed name, is generated in response to the actions of a user. The actual name guessed name are compared to determine if the guessed name matches the actual name. At least one of the plurality of behaviors is displayed if the guessed name matches the actual name. Further guessing of the name is prohibited unit a time period expires.
Claims15
A virtual electronic pet comprising:
- a user interface for generating signals indicating actions of a user;
- a name database of actual names;
- a processor, in communication with the user interface and the name database, for retrieving an actual name from the name database, receiving name signals from the user interface indicating a guessed name, comparing the actual name and the guessed name to determine if the guessed name matches the actual name, displaying at least one of the plurality of behaviors if the guessed name matches the actual name, and prohibiting further guessing of the name until a time period expires;
- wherein the virtual electronic pet is capable of performing a plurality of activities and capable of displaying a plurality of behaviors, at least one of the plurality of behaviors dependent upon performance of at least one of the plurality of activities.
A virtual electronic pet comprising:
- a user interface for generating activity signals and name signals in response to actions of a user;
- a name database of actual names;
- a display device;
- a clock/timer;
- a random event generator for generating a plurality of new behavior triggers;
- a game memory for storing a plurality of status parameters;
- and
- a processor, in communication with the clock/timer, the random event generator, the game memory, the display device, the user interface and the name database, for displaying at least one of a plurality of behaviors in response to at least one of the plurality of new behavior triggers, for displaying at least one of a plurality of activities in response to activity signals received from the user interface, for retrieving an actual name from a name database, determining an age using the clock/timer;
- displaying a number of letters of the actual name on the display device, the number of letters dependent on the age, the processor also for receiving the name signals from the user interface indicating a guessed name, comparing the actual name and the guessed name to determine if the guessed name matches the actual name, displaying at least one of the plurality of behaviors only if the guessed name matches the actual name, and prohibiting further guessing of the name until a time period expires;
- wherein at least one of the plurality of behaviors indicates an alive mode and wherein the name signals are received only if the virtual electronic pet is in the alive mode.
In a virtual electronic pet having a user interface, the virtual electronic pet capable of performing a plurality of activities and capable of displaying a plurality of behaviors, at least one of the plurality of behaviors dependent upon performance of at least one of the plurality of activities, a method comprising the steps of:
- retrieving an actual name from a name database;
- generating name signals, indicating a guessed name, in response to the actions of a user;
- comparing the actual name and the guessed name to determine if the guessed name matches the actual name;
- displaying at least one of the plurality of behaviors if the guessed name matches the actual name;
- and
- prohibiting further guessing of the name until a time period expires.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.