Virtual Creature Breeding Simulation System and Information Processing System

Abstract

A trip made by a virtual creature being fostered in a virtual creature breeding toy 101 is rendered. On the virtual creature breeding toy 101 , an operation can be performed to simulate a trip made by a virtual creature being fostered on the toy 101 . The operation causes a passport number to be displayed on the toy 101 . A user inputs the passport number on a display panel presented by a mobile application 102 b being executed on a mobile terminal 102 . The mobile terminal 102 sends a virtual creature code and an item code included in the number to a server 103 . The server 103 combines a virtual creature image 103 b with a background image 103 a , both of which can be retrieved using codes associated with them. The composite image is associated with the user of the mobile terminal 102 that has sent the codes and is stored as a collected image 103 d . The mobile terminal 102 can access the collected image 103 d through a browser 102 c and display the composite image.

1 . An information processing system that cooperates with an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature, comprising: 
 input means for inputting a virtual creature code associated with the virtual creature the breeding of which is simulated on said electronic toy and a background image code associated with a background image for the virtual creature;    composition means for combining a virtual creature image associated with the virtual creature code input through said input means with a background image for the virtual creature associated with said background image code to compose a composite image; and    display means for displaying the composite image composed by said composition means.    
   
   
       2 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , comprising a mobile terminal and a host computer that are capable of communicating with each other, and wherein: 
 said input means and said display means are provided in said mobile terminal;    said composition means is provided in said host computer;    said host computer uses said composition means to combine said virtual creature image with said background image for said virtual creature on the basis of said virtual creature code and said background image code received from said mobile terminal to compose a composite image; and    said mobile terminal causes said display means to display the composite image received from said host computer.    
   
   
       3 . The information processing system according to  claim 2 , wherein said host computer further comprises image reduction means for reducing a composite image composed by said composition means and said display means displays the image reduced by said image reduction means as a thumbnail image.  
   
   
       4 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 said electronic toy generates a code string including said virtual creature code and said background image code in a first position and a second position, respectively; and    said composition means uses the code in said first position in the code string input by said input means as said virtual creature code and uses the code in said second position as said background image code to compose a corresponding virtual creature image and background image for the virtual creature.    
   
   
       5 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein: 
 said composition means selects one of a plurality of virtual creature images associated with the virtual creature code that corresponds to a time parameter and one of a plurality of background images associated with the background image code that corresponds to said time parameter and overlays the selected virtual creature image on the selected background image to compose a composite image.    
   
   
       6 . A program executed by a computer cooperating with an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature, said program causing a computer to perform the steps of: 
 inputting a virtual creature code associated with a virtual creature the breeding of which is simulated on said electronic toy and a background image code associated with a background image;    combining, by a host computer, a virtual creature image associated with the virtual creature code input through said step of inputting with a background image of the virtual creature associated with said background image code to compose a composite image; and    receiving and displaying the composite image composed by said host computer on a display.    
   
   
       7 . A virtual creature breeding simulation system having an electronic toy capable of simulating breeding of a virtual creature, a mobile terminal, and a host computer, said system comprising: 
 destination information selecting means for selecting a desired piece of destination information from among a plurality of pieces of destination information used for simulating a trip of a virtual creature being bred on said electronic toy;    trip instructing means for instructing said electronic toy to simulate a trip of said virtual creature to a destination indicated by the destination information selected by said destination information selecting means;    display instructing means for instructing said electronic toy to display a destination image corresponding to said destination information after said trip instructing means instructs said electronic toy to simulate the trip of said virtual creature;    code generating means for generating a code string including a virtual creature code associated with a virtual creature being bred in said electronic toy and an image code associated with said destination image;    input means for inputting said code string on said mobile terminal;    composition means for providing said virtual creature code and said image code included in the code string input by said input means on said mobile terminal to said host computer to combine said virtual creature image with said destination image to compose a composite image; and    display means for receiving the composite image composed by said host computer and displaying the composite image on a display on said mobile terminal.