Cassette player and slide assembly

A cassette player and slide assembly adapted to play back a pre-recorded magnetic tape cassette having a voice recording of a performer whose facial image appears on a transparency slide receivable in a holder attached to the player and provided with a window so that as one hears the performance, one also sees the performer. The player includes an audio amplifier whose output is applied both to a sound reproducer and to a light bulb producing light pulses in synchronism with the reproduced sounds. The slide holder includes a ground glass screen that supports the inserted slide and is back illuminated by the light bulb. The rear surface of the slide is masked to expose only the eyes and mouth of the image whereby only these are intermittently illuminated by the light pulses to impart realistic animation to the performer's image in the course of the played-back performance.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
1. Field of Invention 
This invention relates generally to players for pre-recorded magnetic tape 
cassettes, and more particularly to a player of this type having a holder 
attached thereto to receive a transparency slide carrying a facial image 
of the performer whose voice is recorded, the eyes and mouth of the image 
being intermittently illuminated by light pulses in synchronism with the 
reproduced sounds to impart realistic animation to the image in the course 
of the played-back performance. 
2. Status of Prior Art 
In a conventional magnetic tape cassette player, when a cassette is 
inserted in the player, it is engaged by a drive mechanism causing the 
tape to be drawn across a magnetic pick-up head that yields audio signals 
that are amplified and reproduced. The typical player of this type is 
provided with an eject mechanism making it possible to quickly replace one 
cassette with another. In recent years, such players have been reduced in 
size and cost by means of microcassettes which are considerably smaller 
than standard cassettes, yet provide recordings of good quality. The 
present invention is applicable to both microcassette and cassette 
players. 
Magnetic tape cassette or microcassette players have become popular with 
children, for pre-recorded cassettes are now available that tell stories 
intended for a young audience. These often involve familiar characters or 
personalities, such as Disney-inspired characters such as Mickey Mouse and 
Donald Duck, or Big Bird and others included in the cast of the Sesame 
Street educational TV series. And many recordings are available that are 
made by singers who cater to the tastes of young children. These songs may 
be based on nursery rhymes or other verses involving ducks, cats or other 
animals or cartoon characters. 
Before the advent of television when the phonograph and radio were the 
principal sources of home entertainment, children and adults were 
accustomed, without any sense of deprivation, to listen to a record or 
broadcast without seeing the performer. The listeners then depended on 
their imagination to create an image of the performer. But the fact that 
one could only hear but not see the performer developed in the same 
listeners a desire to see the performer. To a small degree, this desire is 
satisfied in the case of phonograph records whose jackets contain a 
picture of the performer which the listener can look at while hearing the 
record. 
But in this more advanced age of television when being able to see as well 
as hear a performer is commonplace, children whose conditioning is molded 
by watching television find it difficult to just listen to a magnetic tape 
player, for the child wished to see as well as hear the performer. In an 
attempt to satisfy this need, my prior patent 4,521,205 discloses a 
three-dimensional character that is united with a pre-recorded magnetic 
tape cartridge or cassette which plugs into a tape player. The character 
in my prior patent is provided with eye and mouth openings covered by 
translucent elements coupled to internal light guides to a common optical 
inlet. When the cassette is plugged into the player to effect playback, 
the character is then in an erect position above the player which acts as 
a stage for the character. In this position, the optical inlet is then in 
registration with a light outlet whose bulb is energized by the audio 
output of the player. As the recorded sound is reproduced by a 
loudspeaker, the light emitted by the bulb is modulated to produce light 
pulses which are conveyed by the light guides to the eye and mouth 
elements to impart animation to the character in synchronism with the 
reproduced sounds. 
The practical drawback of my prior patented cassette player, apart from its 
relative complexity, is that each cassette is united with a 
three-dimensional character, thereby ruling out the use of ordinary 
cassettes. Since there are now commercially available hundreds of 
pre-recorded cassettes intended for children, each carrying a recording of 
a different character or performer, it would be prohibitively expensive to 
unite each of these cassettes to a separate three-dimensional character 
appropriate to the recording. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing, the main object of this invention is to provide a 
cassette player and slide assembly having a slide holder adapted to 
receive a transparency slide carrying a facial image of the performer 
whose voice is recorded on the cassette. 
More particularly, an object of this invention is to provide a holder of 
the above type in which the eyes and mouth of the image are intermittently 
illuminated by light pulses in synchronism with the reproduced sounds to 
impart realistic animation to the image in the course of the played back 
performance. 
Also an object of the invention is to provide an assembly of the above type 
which makes it possible to supply with each cassette of a performance a 
slide image of the performer, so that as one inserts the cassette into the 
player, one then also inserts the slide in the slide holder attached to 
the player. 
Briefly stated, these objects are attained in a cassette player and slide 
assembly adapted to play back a pre-recorded magnetic tape cassette having 
a voice recording of a performer whose facial image appears on a 
transparency slide receivable in a holder attached to the player and 
provided with a window so that as one hears the performance, one also sees 
the performer. The player includes an audio amplifier whose output is 
applied both to a sound reproducer and to a light bulb producing light 
pulses in synchronism with the reproduced sounds. The slide holder 
includes a ground glass screen that supports the inserted slide and is 
back illuminated by the light bulb. The rear surface of the slide is 
masked to expose only the eyes and mouth of the image whereby only these 
are intemittently illuminated by the light pulses to impart realistic 
animation to the performer's image in the course of the played-back 
performance.

DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a cassette player and slide assembly in 
accordance with the invention, generally designated by reference numeral 
10, is adapted to play back a microcassette 11 having a voice recording of 
a living performer or personality, or a fanciful character pre-recorded 
thereon. The microcassette is received in a cavity within the player in 
which the spools of the cassette engage drive capstans and the tape is 
then in operative relation to a magnetic playback head. This cavity is 
covered by a hinged lid which is caused to open when the cassette, then in 
place in the cavity, is ejected. This is a commonplace arrangement in 
cassette players. 
The assembly is constituted by a slide holder section integral with a 
cassette player section which, per se, is entirely conventional and 
includes various control elements 12 to 17, which when actuated, effect an 
eject/stop action, a fast forward action, a fast rewind action and other 
actions typically found in such players. Also included is a volume control 
18. 
Thus, if one wishes to eject the microcassette then in place and replace it 
with another, the user presses the eject button. He presses the play 
button to drive the cassette to effect playback of the recording. If one 
wishes to return the tape to its start position, the user then presses the 
fast rewind button. And if one wishes to skip over a portion of the tape 
recorded to hear the portion that follows, the user presses the fast 
forward button. The sound taken from the cassette is reproduced by a 
loudspeaker 29 at a volume level determined by setting volume control 18. 
The slide holder section includes a rectangular socket 20 whose entrance is 
at the upper end of a case 21 housing both the player section and the 
slide holder section, so that the assembly is integrated. One interior 
wall of socket 20 is defined by a ground glass plate 22 (shown separately 
in FIG. 3) acting as a screen which is back illuminated by a light source 
to be later described. Receivable within socket 20 is a framed 
transparency slide 23 (shown separately in FIG. 4) containing a facial 
image of the personality or character whose voice is recorded on the 
cassette to be played. When slide 23 is fully inserted in socket 20, its 
rear face 23B lies against screen 22, while its front face 23A is exposed 
through a rectangular window 24 in the case of the unit. 
To give an example of the relationship of the cassette to the slide, if the 
recording is that of Madonna, the rock star, the facial image on the slide 
will be that of Madonna. Hence, in packaging cassettes for use with the 
assembly, the slide and the related cassette are packaged together. The 
facial image on the slide, regardless of the personality or character 
depicted thereon, will include in all cases a pair of eyes 25 and an open 
mouth 26. 
The rear 23B of slide 23, as shown in FIG. 5, is rendered opaque by 
polymeric black masking paint or other suitable means in all regions of 
the slide except eyes 25 and mouth 26, so that these elements of the image 
and none other are light permeable. Hence, when slide 23 overlies the 
back-illuminated screen 22, only the eyes and mouth of the image, as seen 
through window 24 of the slide holder section, are lit up, the remaining 
portions of the image being exposed to ambient light and being visible to 
the viewer. 
While a single light source behind the screen at its center serves to 
illuminate the screen, because it is of ground glass, the light is 
distributed and internally reflected, so that the screen is substantially 
illuminated. Because of this, the eyes and mouth of the image are lit up 
regardless of their sites on the slide which may change from slide to 
slide. 
As shown schematically in FIG. 6, mounted in the case behind screen 22 is a 
high intensity light-emitting diode, a gas-discharge bulb or other light 
source 27 capable of being activated and modulated at an audio frequency 
rate to emit light pulses in accordance therewith. These light pulses back 
illuminate screen 22. 
Light source 27 is connected to the output of a solid-state audio amplifier 
28 in the microcassette player section of the assembly. Applied to the 
input of amplifier 28 are audio signals derived by a magnetic playback 
head 19 associated with the moving tape of cassette 11. 
Thus, the output of amplifier 28 is connected both to light bulb 27 and 
loudspeaker 29 so that light pulses are generated in synchronism with the 
performer's voice. The cassette player section further includes a battery 
power source 30 and a drive mechanism 31 operatively coupled to the 
capstans for driving the tape spools of the cassette. 
When, therefore, a microcassette of a given performer is being played back, 
the resultant light pulses back-illuminate screen 22 and serve to light up 
the eyes and open mouth of the slide image overlying the screen. And 
because these light pulses are synchronized with the reproduced voice of 
the performer, the eyes and mouth of the performer's image then visible to 
a viewer through window 24 are caused to flicker accordingly. This acts to 
effectively animate the image, but not in a random manner; for the 
animation exactly follows the performer's voice so that the face of the 
performer appears to be singing or speaking, depending on the nature of 
the recording. 
In practice, the recording need not be the voice of a real life performer 
or personality but may be that of a popular character such as a 
Disney-inspired or Sesame Street TV figure; i.e., Mickey Mouse, Donald 
Duck or Big Bird. 
Contrary to normal expectations, I have found that when the facial image on 
the slide has a mask-free mouth region which is made darker than the 
region surrounding the open mouth to provide contrast therebetween, and it 
is the darkened mouth that is intermittently illuminated, though the mouth 
will not then appear to be as brightly illuminated as it would be in the 
absence of darkening, the illusion of animation is enhanced. The reason 
for this is that as a person talks and more or less opens his mouth in 
doing so, the open mouth as seen by a viewer is actually darker than the 
area around the lips. Hence, the changing contrast between light and dark 
produced by the open mouth and the region surrounding the mouth acts to 
accentuate the sense of animation. 
While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of a 
cassette player and slide assembly in accordance with the invention, it 
will be appreciated that many changes and modifications may be made 
therein without, however, departing from the essential spirit thereof. 
Thus, it is not essential that the slide holder section be integrated with 
the player section, and in practice it may be a separate unit whose light 
bulb is connected by a cable to the player section.