1. A themed interactive toy comprising:
a housing having a base portion and a top portion;
a spindle disposed within the top portion;
a plurality of planar members drivably co-engaged about the spindle, each planar member having first and second sides for displaying images relative to a toy theme;
a drive mechanism disposed within the base portion and operable to advance the planar members about the spindle;
control circuitry operatively linked to the drive mechanism; and
two or more lights for selectively illuminating one or more of the planar members, the lights selectively illuminated in response to the control circuitry.
2. The toy of claim 1 wherein the control circuitry comprises a microswitch arrangement, and each microswitch of the microswitch arrangement is actuatable by one of the planar members.
3. The toy of claim 2 wherein the top portion comprises a floor and the microswitch arrangement projects through a portion of the floor.
4. The toy of claim 3 wherein the floor further comprises:
a track having a plurality of concentric grooves; and
a drive slot along a portion of one groove.
5. The toy of claim 4 wherein each of the planar members further comprises:
a first extension sized and shaped to travel within one of the concentric grooves and actuate one of the microswitches of the microswitch arrangement; and
a second extension sized and shaped to travel within another of the concentric grooves having the drive slot, and engageable by the drive mechanism.
6. The toy of claim 5 wherein actuation of one of the microswitches by the first extension identifies the respective planar member to the control circuitry.
7. The toy of claim 6 wherein the top portion comprises:
a viewing portion for displaying at least a first side of a first planar member and a second side of an adjacent second planar member;
a first light positioned to illuminate the first side of the first planar member; and
a second light positioned to illuminate the second side of the adjacent second planar member.
8. The toy of claim 7 wherein the control circuitry further comprises:
a speaker;
an activation switch for actuating one or more lights and the speaker;
a planar member selector switch for actuating the drive mechanism; and
a mode switch for turning the device off or selecting a mode of operation.
9. The toy of claim 8 wherein the mode of operation comprises an interactive mode for outputting, relative to the viewable sides of the planar members, music and speech via the speaker, and further comprises a nightlight mode for illuminating the lights for a predetermined period of time.
10. The toy of claim 9 wherein, in the interactive mode, the activation switch toggles the output between music and speech relative to the first side of the first planar member, and music and speech relative to the second side of the adjacent second planar member.
11. The toy of claim 9 wherein, in the nightlight mode, the activation switch illuminates the first and second lights for a predetermined period of time.
12. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises a storybook.
13. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises the alphabet.
14. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises a photo album.
15. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises animals.
16. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises geography.
17. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises Karaoke.
18. The toy of claim 1 wherein the theme comprises a juke box.
19. An interactive plush toy wherein the toy in accordance with claim 1 is disposed within a plush doll having a see-through portion for displaying the planar members.
20. The toy of claim 19 wherein the plush doll comprises one or more limbs, and the activation and planar member selector switches are disposed in the limbs.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage medium configured with executable instructions that, if executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
detect an operator input for selecting a bookmark stored in the storage medium;
set up the apparatus to receive broadcast media associated with the bookmark from a broadcast media station;
send a request to a broadcast station server via a data network for information related to the broadcast media station;
send a request for a broadcast frequency to a station id server via the data network; and
receive data indicative of the broadcast frequency;
wherein setting up the apparatus and sending the request to the broadcast station server are both performed in response to the detection of the operator input for selecting the bookmark, and the data indicative of the broadcast frequency is received from the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast media station.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, if executed by the processor, the instructions further cause the apparatus to :
receive information from the broadcast station server; and
display the received information on a display of the apparatus.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the apparatus is configured to display the received information on the display while rendering the received broadcast media associated with the bookmark.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bookmark comprises a radio bookmark, the broadcast media comprises a radio broadcast, and the broadcast media station comprises a radio station.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a mobile terminal device.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the broadcast media comprises analog broadcast media.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the broadcast media comprises digital broadcast media.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bookmark comprises at least one parameter, and at least one of sending a request to a broadcast station server and sending a request to a station id server includes sending the at least one parameter.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the bookmark is programmable by a user of the apparatus.
10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the broadcast media comprises a radio broadcast and the broadcast classification information comprises a music category.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request for information related to the broadcast media station is sent to the broadcast station server through a station id server that redirects the request to the broadcast station server.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a command entry device, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect the user input for selecting the bookmark via the command entry device.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the command entry device includes a keypad.
15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the command entry device includes a graphical user interface.
16. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage medium configured with executable instructions that, if executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
detect an operator input for selecting a bookmark stored in the storage medium, the bookmark comprising at least one parameter;
set up the apparatus to receive broadcast media associated with the bookmark from a broadcast media station;
send a request to a broadcast station server via a data network for information related to the broadcast media station;
send a request for a broadcast frequency to a station id server via the data network; and
receive data indicative of the broadcast frequency;
wherein:
setting up the apparatus and sending the request to the broadcast station server are both performed in response to the detection of the operator input for selecting the bookmark;
the data indicative of the broadcast frequency is received from the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast media station;
at least one of sending a request to a broadcast station server and sending a request to a station id server includes sending the at least one parameter;
the bookmark is programmable by a user of the apparatus;
the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information; and
the unique user id comprises a username and a password.
17. An apparatus comprising:
a storage medium configured with executable instructions that, if executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a request with a bookmark comprising at least one parameter from a data terminal device for broadcast frequency information of a broadcast station and a network address for a broadcast station server of the broadcast station;
determine a broadcast media station based on the at least one parameter received in the request;
send data indicative of the broadcast frequency information to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter; and
send data indicative of the network address to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein, if executed by the processor, the instructions further cause the apparatus to redirect the request to the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast station.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the broadcast media station is a radio station and the broadcast classification information comprises a music category.
21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the broadcast media station is a radio station.
22. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage medium configured with executable instructions that, if executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a request with a bookmark comprising at least one parameter from a data terminal device for broadcast frequency information of a broadcast station and a network address for a broadcast station server of the broadcast station;
determine a broadcast media station based on the at lest one parameter received in the request;
send data indicative of the broadcast frequency information to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter; and
send data indicative of the network address to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter;
wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information, and the unique user id comprises a username and a password.
23. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions to perform a method comprising:
detecting an operator input for selecting a bookmark stored in a storage medium of an apparatus;
setting up the apparatus to receive broadcast media associated with the bookmark from a broadcast media station;
sending a request to a broadcast station server for information related to the broadcast media station;
sending a request for a broadcast frequency to a station id server; and
receiving data indicative of the broadcast frequency from the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast media station;
wherein setting up the apparatus and sending the request to the broadcast station server are both performed in response to detecting the operator input selecting the bookmark.
24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein, for detecting an operator input, the bookmark comprises at least one parameter, and sending the request to the broadcast station server for information related to the broadcast media station comprises sending the at least one parameter to the broadcast station server.
25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information.
26. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the broadcast media station comprises a radio station.
27. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions to perform:
receiving a request with a bookmark comprising at least one parameter from a data terminal device via a communication network for a broadcast frequency and a network address for a broadcast station server;
determining a broadcast media station based on the at least one parameter received in the request;
sending data indicative of the broadcast frequency to the data terminal device via the communication network after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter; and
sending data indicative of the network address to the data terminal device via the communication network after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter.
28. The computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured to perform redirecting the request to the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast station.
29. The computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of a broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information.
30. A method comprising:
detecting an operator input for selecting a bookmark stored in a storage medium of a terminal device;
sending a request for a broadcast frequency to a station id server via a data network;
receiving data indicative of the broadcast frequency from a broadcast station server associated with a broadcast media station;
setting up the terminal device to receive broadcast media associated with the bookmark from the broadcast media station; and
sending a request to a broadcast station server for information related to the broadcast media station;
wherein setting up the terminal device and sending the request to the broadcast station server are both performed in response to detecting the operator input selecting the bookmark.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein, for detecting an operator input, the bookmark comprises at least one parameter, and sending the request to the broadcast station server for information related to the broadcast media station comprises sending the at least one parameter to the broadcast station server.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of the broadcast frequency for the broadcast media station, a radio station call sign, a television station call sign, a unique user id, a unique apparatus id, user location information, and broadcast classification information.
33. The method of claim 30, wherein the broadcast media station comprises a radio station.
34. The method of claim 30, wherein, for detecting an operator input selecting the bookmark, the operator input is received via a command entry device of the terminal device.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the command entry device includes a keypad.
36. The method of claim 34, wherein the command entry device includes a graphical user interface.
37. A method comprising:
receiving a request comprising at least one parameter from a data terminal device via a communication network for a broadcast frequency and a network address for a broadcast station server;
determining a broadcast media station based on the at least one parameter;
sending data indicative of the broadcast frequency to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter; and
sending data indicative of the network address to the data terminal device after the broadcast media station has been determined based on the at least one parameter.
38. The method of claim 37, further comprising redirecting the request to the broadcast station server associated with the broadcast media station.
39. An apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a storage medium configured with executable instructions that, if executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:
detect an operator input for selecting a radio bookmark;
set a radio receiver to a frequency to receive a radio broadcast from a radio station associated with the radio bookmark;
send a request to a radio station server via a data network for information related to the radio station, wherein the information is different from the radio broadcast;
receive the information from the radio station server; and
display the information on a display;
wherein the radio bookmark is stored in the storage medium, the radio bookmark pointing to the frequency for receiving the radio broadcast for the radio station and pointing to the network address for the radio station server for the radio station.
40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the apparatus is configured to display the information on the display while receiving the radio broadcast associated with the radio bookmark.