Toy-Based Music System Using Vision Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing interactive music play systems lack mechanisms for versatile user interactions and customization, making them less engaging and difficult for children to navigate, especially when trying to select and activate user-interface elements.
Innovation Solution
An interactive music play system that uses a combination of toy elements, an image capturing device, and a processing unit to recognize and respond to physical toys, allowing users to create and customize musical presentations through tangible and intuitive interactions, including virtual characters and user-activatable functions, which can be modified in real-time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional user interfaces with multiple menu options are used, then comprehensive functionality is provided, but ease of operation deteriorates due to difficulty in navigation and selection
Solution Approach 1:
Physical toy elements serve as intermediaries between the user and the digital system. Instead of directly interacting with complex menu interfaces, users manipulate tangible toy elements that the image capturing device and processing unit translate into digital commands, simplifying the interaction process while maintaining comprehensive functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical/electronic user interface mechanisms (buttons, menus, screens) with a vision-based recognition system. The image capturing device captures images of toy elements, and the processing unit automatically identifies and processes them, substituting manual navigation through digital interfaces with automatic recognition of physical objects
2Adaptability or versatility
If more user-interface elements are provided for customization, then adaptability improves, but device complexity increases making the interface harder to navigate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complexity of interface selection and customization from the user interaction process. Instead of requiring users to navigate through complex menus to select and customize interface elements, the system automatically detects toy elements in the field of view and extracts their identifying features to provide corresponding functions, removing the burden of interface complexity from the user
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically identifying toy elements and generating appropriate user-interface elements without requiring manual configuration. The processing unit analyzes captured images, recognizes toy elements, and autonomously creates customized interfaces based on the detected elements, eliminating the need for users to manually navigate complex setup procedures
3Ease of operation
If physical toy elements are used for interaction, then ease of operation improves through tangible interactions, but device complexity increases due to additional hardware components
Solution Approach 1:
The image capturing device and processing unit serve multiple functions: they capture images for toy element recognition, process visual data to identify elements, generate user-interface elements, and control music rendering. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized hardware components, mitigating the increase in device complexity while maintaining ease of operation through physical toy interactions
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances user engagement by providing a customizable and intuitive interface for interacting with digital music systems, allowing users to modify musical presentations instantly through physical toy interactions, thereby improving the play experience and simplifying the selection of user-interface elements.
Implementation Method 1
The image capturing device is configured to capture one or more images of a user-selected subset of toy elements arranged in a field of view of the image capturing device
Data Source
AI summary
An interactive music play system, comprising a plurality of toy elements, an image capturing device, a processing unit and a music rendering device; wherein the image capturing device is configured to capture one or more images of a user-selected subset of said toy elements arranged in a field of view of the image capturing device; wherein the processing unit is configured to: recognise the user-selected subset of toy elements in the one or more captured images; create a musical presentation based on one or more of the recognised toy elements; cause the music rendering device to present the created musical presentation to the user.