Interactive toy

Abstract

An interactive toy train system including a track layout, a plurality of vehicles configured to travel along the track, and a plurality of destinations removeably coupled to the track. The vehicles are configured to communicate with one another and the vehicles are further configured to communicate with one or more of the destinations. The system includes an infrared toy network having a network protocol, which determines who is present and who is not present thereby allowing multiple vehicles and destinations to converse intelligently and without interference.

1 . An interactive toy train set comprising:
 a plurality of track sections removeably coupled together;   a plurality of vehicles configured to traverse the track sections, at least one of the vehicles including an electronics module having a processor, a transmitter configured to transmit infrared signals, a receiver configured to receive infrared signals, and an output module;   a plurality of destinations removeably coupled to one or more track sections, at least one of the destinations including an electronics module having a processor and a transmitter configured to transmit infrared signals;   wherein the vehicle is configured to receive an infrared signal transmitted from a first destination when the vehicle is in proximity to the first destination, and wherein the vehicle is configured to transmit an infrared signal representative of the infrared signal received from the first destination to a second destination such that the second destination can record in memory that the vehicle is in proximity to the first destination.   
     
     
         2 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 1  wherein the second destination includes a receiver configured to receive infrared signals. 
     
     
         3 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 1  wherein the at least one vehicle and the second destination include a network record stored in memory that identifies a status of other vehicles and other destinations. 
     
     
         4 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 1  wherein the transmitter of the at least one destination is configured to transmit a short range infrared signal. 
     
     
         5 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 4  wherein the electronics module of the at least one destination further includes a second transmitter configured to transmit a long range infrared signal. 
     
     
         6 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 4  wherein the vehicle is identified as being in proximity to a particular destination after the vehicle receives the short range infrared signal for a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         7 . The interactive toy train set of  claim 1  wherein the output module of the at least one vehicle is configured to output an audio signal when the vehicle receives the infrared signal transmitted by the at least one destination. 
     
     
         8 . An interactive toy train set comprising:
 a first vehicle including an electronics module having a processor, a transmitter configured to transmit infrared signals, a receiver configured to receive infrared signals, and an output module;   a second vehicle including an electronics module having a processor, a transmitter configured to transmit infrared signals, a receiver configured to receive infrared signals, and an output module;   the second vehicle configured to receive a first infrared signal transmitted by the first vehicle, the first infrared signal including a code identifying the first vehicle,   the output module of the second vehicle configured to generate a randomly-selected audio signal after processing the first infrared signal to determine the code and a status of a play pattern;   the transmitter of the second vehicle configured to transmit a second infrared signal, the second infrared signal including a code identifying the second vehicle;   the first vehicle configured to receive the second infrared signal transmitted by the second vehicle,   the output module of the first vehicle configured to generate a randomly-selected audio signal after processing the second infrared signal to determine the code identifying the second vehicle and a status of a play pattern.