Abstract:
An interactive virtual character which represents a real or imagined human or animal having perceptible attributes that are interactively varied by a processor in response data acquired from command accepted from a user as well as by data received from a remote source that is broadcast via a wireless data network. In the preferred embodiment, commands from the user select articles of clothing to be worn by the virtual character and the processor causes the virtual character to smile if the user-selected clothing is suitable for the weather specified by the data received from the remot source, and to frown if the selections are not suitable.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/247,780 filed on Sep. 19, 2002 now Application Publication No. 2003/0076369. This application is also a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/149,929 filed on Jun. 10, 2005 which is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/578,629 filed on Jun. 10, 2004. This application claims the benefit of the filing date of each of the foregoing applications and incorporates their disclosures herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to electronically controlled virtual characters representing real or imagined humans or animals that are rendered as graphical images or movable mechanisms.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Ambient Devices of Cambridge, Mass. operates a wireless network that transmits terse data at very low data rates to remote devices that provide information to users. The “Ambient Orb,” an example of these devices, is a glass lamp that uses color to provide weather forecasts, trends in the stock market, or the level of traffic congestion to expect for a homeward commute. For example, the Orb may display stock market data from the network by glowing red green or red to indicate market movement up or down, or yellow when the market is calm.  
         [0004]     The Ambient Information Network is described in the above-noted patent application 2003/0076369. One of the products from Ambient that uses this network is the five-day weather forecaster, which receives content from AccuWeather™ via the Ambient servers. The weather forecaster, as described in the above-noted U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/149,929, receives and weather forecast specific to a given location and provides forecasts for a full five days or longer. Traditional weather stations employ a local barometer and use this to infer weather patterns for the next 12 hours.  
         [0005]     The preferred embodiments of the present invention use data simulcast over this low speed wireless data network to control interactive “virtual characters” that can provide information, recreation, training and entertainment to users.  
         [0000]     Virtual Characters  
         [0006]     As used herein, the term “virtual characters” refers to electronically controlled representations of real or imagined human or animal forms embodied in physical form, such as a animatronic stuffed animal, or rendered as an image on a display screen. Virtual Characters are often interactive and are typically controlled by a rules-based state machine that determines the virtual character&#39;s behavior. Virtual characters may be used to provide information, entertainment, training, or as a research tool.  
         [0007]     A block diagram of a typical virtual character rendered as a graphical image is shown in  FIG. 1 . All virtual characters include an internal state machine  105  that determines the behavior of the character. The state machine  105  will typically consist of a set of rules that determine how inputs are mapped to outputs. In a very simple implementation these rules are rigid—for example the virtual character will eat every time food is put in front of it. More complex implementations take history into account—for example the virtual character will only eat food in front of it if it has not already eaten in the past hour. In this case, the state machine must include a timekeeping mechanism (the clock  104 ). There is no upper limit to the possible complexity of these rules. Some state machines include complex learning that will take into account events that happened long ago, or make complex correlations between two different events to determine if the food will be eaten or not. For example, the virtual character could take into account the reputation of the entity presenting the food. State machines with this amount of complexity typically also include persistent storage  106  to maintain state between sessions.  
         [0008]     The inputs to this state machine are typically very well defined. Customary inputs include a user interface  102  that can include buttons, keyboard, mouse-action, touch-sensitive screens, and other electronic transducers that convert physical impulses into electronic signals that can be understood by the state machine. Most behavioral state machines also include some amount of randomness, typically provided by a random number generator  103 , so the behavior does not appear overly predictable and mechanistic. For example, a state machine could decide that a character eats food 90% of the time. Users often find this small amount of unpredictability to create a character that is more believable than a character with 100% predictability.  
         [0009]     The output of a state machine in its simplest form is a set of numbers and/or text strings. Most users do not find this interesting. Therefore, the output of the state machine is typically rendered in a form more pleasing to humans. These include a high or low-resolution display screen  110  and audio speaker(s)  111 . Other possible outputs include motors that control the mechatronic output of a physical representation of the virtual character. The rendering of virtual characters of often extremely complex and can employ sophisticated graphics and audio renderers  108  and  109  to make the virtual character appear as real as possible. These renderers can surpass the complexity of the state machine.  
         [0010]     More modern versions of virtual characters allow different instances to communicate with each other. This can be via a short-range infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) communications link, or over a long-range network such as TCP/IP. The state machine of a virtual character that can be connected to another virtual character includes the capacity to input the state of a remote virtual character as seen at  101 , and to transfer state information to another peer as seen at  107 . Generally this communication is symmetrical, but it is certainly possible that some virtual characters only input state, while others exclusively output state. Sometimes the purpose of this linkage is to permit communicating virtual characters to compete with one another in a game or fight that one character can win while another loses.  
         [0011]     Some representative implementations of virtual characters that illustrate the concept are described below.  
         [0012]     The Tamagotchi™ marketed by Bandai of Tokyo, Japan is a self-contained portable virtual pet that require the user to administer feeding, grooming, and other pre-defined nurturing activities at specified times in order to maintain health. The goal of Tamagotchi is to keep the virtual pet alive for as long as possible. Proper care and feeding in accordance with the state machine allow the pet to live longer. Tamagotchi&#39;s are designed to be carried with the user so care can be administered whenever necessary. Tamagotchi&#39;s include a battery, speaker, a low-resolution LCD screen for display, and buttons for user input. Newer version of Tamagotchis include a wireless link allowing groups of Tamagotchis to interact with each other via a RF or IR link.  
         [0013]     The Synthetic Characters group at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Mass. used models of animal behavior as an inspiration for creating intelligent systems. Animals are very successful at learning behaviors that help them survive. By imitating these mechanisms in a virtual environment, the hope is that computers can learn similarly clever and effective means to solve problems. The Synthetic Characters group built several interactive virtual characters where the state machine driving the behavior was modeled on actual animal behavior elements such as classical and operant conditions. The hope is to build a virtual character with believable behaviors from a bottom-up approach. See “Integrated Learning for Interactive Synthetic Characters” by B. Blumberg et al., Proceedings of the 29th  annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques , SIGGRAPH 2002 and “New Challenges for Character-based AI for Games” by D. Isla and B. Blumberg in  Proceedings of the AAAI Spring Symposium on AI and Interactive Entertainment , Palo Alto, Calif., March 2002.  
         [0014]     Virtual characters called Dogz™, Catz™, Petz™ marketed by PF. Magic of San Francisco, Calif. are implemented by software installed on a PC or Macintosh computer. Upon activation of the software, the user is prompted to adopt a dog and/or cat of his or her choice. Various interface elements allow the user to interact with the virtual dog or cat on the computer screen and do actions such as give food or throw a ball. Over time the pet ages from a puppy or kitten into an adult dog or cat. NeoPets™ from NeoPets, Inc. (www.neopets.com) are similar to DogZ™ and Catz™ except the virtual pets are web based. No software is required to be installed on the user computer, and the user can interact with his or her pets via any web-enabled computer. Aquazone™ from SmithMicro Software of Aliso Viejo, Calif. is software similar to DogZ™ and Catz™, except the habitat is a fish tank. Users maintain a virtual fish tank and are required to care and feed for the virtual fish.  
         [0015]     Dress ElMO™ for Weather by Children&#39;s Television Workshop of New York, N.Y. is a virtual character that represents Elmo, a popular television character featured on Sesame Street™. The Children&#39;s Television Workshop website includes an activity that allows children to pick a weather scenario (sunny, snowy, windy, rainy), and then pick out the appropriate clothing for that day. Elmo responds approvingly if he has been dressed appropriately, and suggests an alternative wardrobe if he is dressed incorrectly for the chosen weather conditions. Elmo also reacts to the incorrect weather by shivering or sweating.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]     The following summary provides a simplified introduction to some aspects of the invention as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later, but is not intended to define or delineate the scope of the invention.  
         [0017]     The preferred embodiment of the invention take the form of an improvement in interactive virtual characters of the type including an input device for accepting input command data from a user and a display screen for producing a graphical image representing a real or imagined human or animal whose displayed behavior varies in response the input command data, wherein the improvement employs controls the virtual character in response to data received via a wireless data transmission network that repetitively broadcasts update messages that contain the current values of one or more variable quantities, the update messages being broadcast to a plurality of different wireless data receivers each of which is located remotely from said information server and each of which includes a wireless data receiver and a decoder for receiving the update messages and extracting selected ones of said current values from said update messages. A cache memory in the improved virtual character is coupled to the input device and to the decoder in one of said data receivers, and stores input command data from the user and selected ones of said current values extracted form said update messages. A processor coupled to the cache memory and to said display screen controls the perceptible attributes of the graphical image of the virtual character in response to changes in the data stored in the cache memory.  
         [0018]     In the preferred embodiment, the update messages transmitted via the wireless data network are contained in data packets from which the decoder extracts the selected current values that control the behavior of the virtual character. The wireless data transmission network is preferably selected from the group comprising the GSM, FLEX, reFLEX, control channel telemetry, FM or TV subcarrier, digital audio, satellite radio, WiFi, WiMax, and Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) networks. Each of these networks transmits an update message that conforms to a standard data format normally employed by the given network. In the preferred embodiments, the same update message is transmitted in a one-way broadcast to many different display devices.  
         [0019]     Alternatively, the virtual character may be implemented using the World Wide Web. Each state of the virtual character may be visibly represented by a web page transmitted from a conventional web server, and the state may be updated periodically by transmitting update web pages to represent new states. For example, a user may be asked to dress a virtual character using garments suitable for the weather in a specific zipcode.  
         [0020]     The virtual character may be represented by physical character, such as animatronic stuffed animal, having perceptible behavior characteristics that are controlled by the combination of the users commands and the data from the remote source. Alternatively, the virtual character may be represented by a graphical image on a display screen, such as an LCD screen in which the graphical image consist of a mosaic of visual elements which are controlled by the processor.  
         [0021]     In one preferred form, the virtual character is displayed on an LCD screen, or other screen having very low power requirements, that is housed in a stand-alone battery powered unit that includes a wireless receiver for acquiring the data from a remote source, one or more input devices for accepting commands or selections from a user, and a processor which processes the commands and the data from the remote source to vary the perceptible attributes of a displayed virtual character seen on the screen.  
         [0022]     A particularly useful embodiment of the invention employs the receiver to acquire data from a remote source that provides information on local weather conditions, and the user employs pushbuttons or the like to select articles of clothing that the virtual character should wear that would be suitable for those weather conditions. If the user picks appropriate clothing, the displayed virtual character smiles, but if not, the virtual character frowns. Instead of simply showing a child the weather forecast, the interactive virtual character invites the child to participate and take ownership of the weather forecast. By dressing a virtual character in the appropriate wardrobe, to which the virtual character responds with a smile, a child is made more aware of the clothes he or she should be wearing, thereby reducing the supervision required by a parent.  
         [0023]     These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be made more apparent by considering the following detailed description. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]     In the detailed description which follows, frequent reference will be made to the attached drawings, in which:  
         [0025]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a prior art virtual character implemented as a state machine;  
         [0026]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a virtual character of the kind shown in  FIG. 1  but modified to accept and respond to additional content in real-time from a local or remote source.  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  illustrates a virtual character embodying the invention displayed on an LCD screen in a keychain device that contains the control electronics;  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  illustrates a different face displayed for the virtual character  311  in  FIG. 3 ; and  
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a functional block diagram showing the principal functional components of the embodiment seen in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0030]     The preferred embodiments of the invention described below is a virtual character that includes some type of real-time information as part of the inputs to the character&#39;s state machine. For example, in addition to user input, randomness, clock, and other characters, the character&#39;s state is also determined by the current weather conditions and/or the current weather forecast. Continuing this example, if it is forecast to rain, the user might be required by the state machine to make sure the virtual character has shelter. If the user fails to provide shelter, the virtual character might get sick or suffer some other consequence.  
         [0031]     The conventional virtual character shown in  FIG. 1  has been modified to include a real-time content source seen at  201  in  FIG. 2 . From the perspective of the state machine, this is simply another class of inputs. But a key difference is the state of these inputs is often well outside the control of the user. In the case of the virtual character communicating with other virtual characters (such as  101  and  107  seen in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), this input is also outside the control of any of these remote peer user&#39;s as well. In general, real-time content exists independent of the virtual character and is typically not generated for the purpose of influencing the behavior of the virtual character.  
         [0032]     It is important to note this external real-time content from  201  can be received electronically via a wired or wireless connection, or by using a local sensor such as a barometer, hydrometer, thermometer, accelerometer, ammeter, voltmeter, light-meter, sound-meter, or other. In the case of electronic RF signal transmission, the content source can supplied be via a local wired or wireless link, or a long-range wireless link aggregated by servers as described in Application Publication 2003/0076369. Additionally, the user can be required to pay a one-time or recurring fee for this wireless content.  
         [0033]     Additional content sources that could determine the behavior and state of the virtual character includes stock market performance, road traffic conditions, pollen forecasts, sports scores, and new headlines. These content sources can also be personal, such as email accumulation, personal stock portfolio performance, or Instant Messenger status of a loved one or co-worker. For example, a virtual dog could get excited or wake up from a nap when the instant messenger status of someone on the user&#39;s buddy list changes.  
         [0034]     An illustrative embodiment of this invention is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . This is a keychain pet indicated generally at  300  that is similar to a Tamogatochi™, but the optimal user action depends in part on weather forecast data from a remote source. The keychain device  300  includes an LCD screen  301  that shows the weather forecast for the current day. The weather forcast data is obtained from a remote source in the manner described in the above-noted application Ser. No. 11/149,929. In the implementation shown in  FIG. 3 , the high, low, and current temperatures are shown at  303 . The LCD screen also displays an icon at  307  representing the conditions for the day, and the current time is displayed at  311 .  
         [0035]     The icon  307  may represent one the following 16 states (encoded as four bits), requiring at total of 20 bits encodable as three bytes:  
                                                   Code   State                           0000:   blank           0001   Sunny           0010   Partly Cloudy           0011   Partly Cloudy Rain           0100   Partly Cloudy Snow           0101   Partly Cloudy Rain AM           0110   Partly Cloudy Snow AM           0111   Partly Cloudy Rain PM           1000   Partly Cloudy Snow PM           1001   Cloudy           1010   Cloudy Rain           1011   Cloudy Snow           1100   Cloudy Rain AM           1101   Cloudy Snow AM           1110   Cloudy Rain PM           1111   Cloudy Snow PM                      
 
         [0036]     Note that these sixteen states are displayed by displaying combinations of the following visible elements, each of which consists of a pattern of segments which are rendered visible when the electrodes which form those segments are energized: (1) upper portion of sun icon, (2) lower portion of sun icon, (3) cloud icon, (4) rain icon, (5) snow icon, (6) “AM” letters, and (7) “PM” letters. Note that these icons could be directly controlled by 7 transmitted bits (for each of the five icons), or as noted above, by four bits for the sixteen possible states. Since the most valuable resource is the bandwidth of the broadcast signal, it is preferable to send 20 bits (4 bits for each of the five icons), and employ a microcontroller (seen at  532  in  FIG. 5 ) to translate each four bit value into the corresponding seven control signal states applied to the LCD electrodes.  
         [0037]     The data used to control the weather icon  307  is also used by the state machine to control the behavior of the virtual character. Thus, the states 0001 (sunny) and 0010 (partly cloudy) indicate that sunglasses would be an appropriate selection, whereas the data indicating rain makes the umbrella an appropriate selection as discussed below in connection with Table 1.  
         [0038]     This weather forecast can come from a long-range tower network broadcasting web-configurable individual or broadcast data, from a short-range wired or wireless link to a temperature sensor, barometer, or similar transducer, or from an on-board temperature sensor, barometer, or similar transducer. As contemplated by the invention, remote or local data (such as the weather data and time displayed at the top of the LCD  301  in the illustrative embodiment of  FIG. 3 , is also supplied as input data to control the state machine that governs the behavior of the virtual character.  
         [0039]     In the arrangement seen in  FIG. 3 , the user is required to dress the virtual character seen at  320  displayed on the bottom part of the screen  301 . The user can choose any combination of shorts  321 , a short-sleeved shirt  322 , pants  323 , a turtleneck sweater  324 , a winter hat  325 , sunglasses  326 , gloves  327 , or an umbrella  328 . The user toggles whether or not the character is wearing a particular clothing item by pressing the button adjacent to that item, such as the button  334  adjacent to the image of the shorts at  324 .  
         [0040]     If the character is dressed appropriately, the face displays a smile as seen at  311 . If the character is dressed incorrectly, it will frown. Additional cues will provide details about the nature of the inappropriate wardrobe choice. For example, if the character is too warm it will sweat and frown as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , and if the character is too cold it will shiver and/or show icicles hanging from facial features.  
         [0041]     In this illustrative implementation, there are no long-term consequences to any pattern of correct or incorrect wardrobe choices. But a different implementation could easily add these features in order to make the interaction more compelling. The illustrative arrangement illustrated in  FIG. 3  is a simple example of a virtual character that includes external real-time data as an input to the state machine, but arbitrarily complex characters and behaviors are readily implemented without changing the architecture of the system.  
         [0042]     The preferred embodiment of the invention receives an information bearing contents signal that is simulcast to a plurality of devices, each of which is capable of producing a virtual character whose behavior depends in part on the content of the simulcast data and in part on selections made by the user of each particular device. Each virtual character presentation device includes a wireless receiver for detecting an information bearing signal broadcast by a transmitter and a processing means coupled to said receiver for converting said received data signal into a periodically updated content values, and for further processing the selection data accepted from the device user, to control the appearance or behavior of the virtual character.  
         [0043]     In one arrangement, the transmitter and receiver respectively send and receive data packets via a radio transmission link which may be provided by an available commercial paging system or a cellular data transmission network.  
         [0044]     The display panel  301  may present a mosaic of separately controlled visual elements is preferably formed by a flat panel display, such an LCD, an electronic ink panel, or an electrophoretic display panel, as described in more detail in the above-noted patent application Ser. No. 11/149,929. The individual visual elements of the display are energized or deenergized by the control signals. The reflectivity or visual appearance of each of the visual elements of display panel is controlled by one of said control signals, providing a display device that does not require a source of illumination and can accordingly be operated continuously consuming little electrical energy.  
         [0045]     A functional block diagram is shown in  FIG. 5 . A content server seen at  503 , such as the Ambient Network Server which is currently in operation, aggregates weather content from a weather forecasting service such as AccuWeather™ or the National Weather Service. This data is parsed into a terse format for efficient wireless broadcast via a long range wireless network seen at  505 . A nearby one of the multiple broadcast towers seen at  507  broadcasts a data signal to the RF receiver seen at  510  located in the housing of keychain device that displays the virtual character on a display screen seen at  511 . Each display unit for displaying a virtual character may be assigned a unique serial number that allows for targeted (narrowcast) broadcasts for various purposes including over-the-air reprogramming such that the device will additionally or exclusively decode data packets created exclusively for this specific or class of devices. This allows user to customize both the presentation of data, and the actual data display displayed on his or her device.  
         [0046]     The weather forecast data may be broadcast to the display from the remote content server  503  via a commercial paging network or cellular data network. The weather data signal is simulcast from each of several transmission antenna illustrated at  507 , one of which is within radio range of each display unit. The weather data itself may be obtained from a commercial weather service such those provided by AccuWeather, Inc. of State College, Pa.; The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc. of Atlanta, Ga.; and the National Weather Service of Silver Spring, Md.  
         [0047]     At the server  503 , the weather forecast data is encoded into “micropackets” and multiple micropackets are assembled for efficient delivery via a wireless data transmission network, such as a Flex™ type wireless pager system at  505 . The encoded data packets can range in size between a single byte of data to several hundred bytes. The time-slice format used to transmit pages place an upper limit on the size of a paging packet. While there is no lower limit on packet size, small packets are inefficient to deliver. For example, in Flex™ paging systems, the overhead to transmit a single data packet ranges from 8 to 16 bytes. . Therefore, less bandwidth is used to send a single 100-byte data packet, than to send 20 5-byte data packets. Because the amount of data needed to provide a full weather forecast for a given location is approximately 25 bytes, several micropackets each of which provides forecast data for a different location may be aggregated into a single packet, and each remote ambient device  101  is configured to listen to, or receive, a specified segment of that packet including the expected micropacket of data. Additionally, smaller micropackets of a single byte can be used to update only the current temperature. The entire forecast does not need to be updated with the same periodicity as the current temperature because the above cited weather forecasting organizations only update their forecasts a small number of times per day. By dynamically sizing the update to only include data that has changed, even greater bandwidth savings can be achieved. Aggregation of the micropackets into packets of data for transmission is much more efficient than transmitting individual data packets to each individual remote ambient device. More sophisticated aggregation and scheduling approaches can, for example, take into account additional parameters such as how much the data has changed, how urgently the data needs to be updated, what level of service the user is entitled to, and what type of coverage is available to the user. See the above noted U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0076369 for additional details.  
         [0048]     As also discussed in detail in Publication 2003/0076369-A1, the server  503  may provide a web interface that permits a user or administrator to configure the content and format of the data broadcast to the remote display units for different applications and special needs of individual users. The user or administrator may configure the system using a conventional web browser program executing on a PC which is connected via the Internet to a web server process that runs on the server  503  or a connected server.  
         [0049]     Each virtual character rendering device incorporates a data receiver  510  for receiving the wireless radio broadcast signal from a nearby transmission antenna  507  and a microcontroller  532  for processing the incoming packetized data signals from the receiver  510  and converting those packetized signals into control signals that are delivered via display driver circuitry  540  to an LCD display panel  511 . The microcontroller  531  may accumulate data transmitted at different times in a cache store  524  which may hold enough weather forecast data to permit several different display modes to be selected at the display panel.  
         [0050]     The transmission system, as described above, provides a continuous display of information. At any given time, some of the displayed information may change very infrequently whereas other portions of the display may change only on a daily basis (such as the high and low temperature values for the day), and still other portions of a display may change often (such as the current temperature of “72°” in the display seen in  FIG. 5 ). By sending data defining the new state of only those portions of the display that change, when they change, a significant bandwidth saving is achieved. In addition, the transmission facility may be used to download executable code or over-the-air (OTA) reprogramming instructions to a specific device on an as needed basis. Thus, when a user selects a new service or display format using a Web interface or by some other means, new data and/or software may be directed to that device. In this way, new screen layouts, new symbols or icons, and the like may be transmitted to a specific device to alter its function whenever the user changes his preferences, or changes to a different service (perhaps a premium service which is billed at a different subscription rate), or a when an existing service is updated or improved (perhaps transparently to the user). As described in the above noted U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0076369-A1, a sub-addressing operation may be used to transmit specific data to a specific display device.  
         [0051]     Each display device may be assigned a unique ID which is stored locally on the device. Broadcast packets preceded by this unique ID are decoded by the device, while other devices with different unique ID are discarded. By transmitting a particular service code or codes to a particular device or group of cloned devices which defines the kind of service that device subscribes to (e.g. a nine-day forecast for Boston), the display device can be conditioned to thereafter look for and respond to packets relating to that designated service. The transmitted data to which the device responds include not only displayable data, but also mapping data and software which determine how the device renders the received data on the display screen.  
         [0052]     Note that individually addressing each device can also be accomplished by assigning each device a unique “capcode” which is obtained from the paging network operator. In some situations this may have certain advantages for battery optimization, but it requires greater coordination between the server operator and the paging network operator. Note also that any scheme which uses an explicit address (either subaddressing or unique capcode) to send a packet a particular device or devices is only used for the reprogram instructions and code, which are typically infrequent and in practice are a very small percentage of the bandwidth budget. The actual data is broadcast using a “micropacket” scheme described above and in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0076369-A1. This micropacket scheme is much more efficient at transmitting small amounts of data typically employed with the devices described in this application. The Flex™ paging system which may be used to transmit data to the devices is divided by the paging network operator into 63 “simulcast zones”. In this way, a single simulcast zone acts like a large distributed antenna, which greatly increases coverage by filling in dead spots. Simulcast zones are arranged such that there is minimal overlap between adjacent simulcast zones. This ensures that any given device only receives signal from a single simulcast zone.  
         [0053]     The raw FSK signal from the receiver  510  is fed into a data port of the microcontroller  512 , a Microchip™ PIC 18LF252 chip, for decoding. The first step of this decoding is clock recovery, de-interleaving, and error correction performed by the microcontroller  512  as indicated at  521 . A data filter  522  listens for and extracts content appropriate for this particular device. The desired content appropriate for this device is decoded and stored in an onboard data cache  524 . A behavior state machine  530  combines this incoming, decoded weather forecast data with the user input data supplied by the pushbuttons seen at  532  to determine if the virtual character displayed on the screen  511  is to smile or frown, and adds any other modifiers to the character&#39;s state such as sweat or ice. This screen content data also stored in the onboard cache  524 . A renderer  535  maps the state machine to LCD segments and drives an LCD controller  540 , which physically connects to the custom LCD screen  511 .  
         [0054]     This embodiment also includes a reset button  551  to erase any state, and a power supply  553 , which can be AC powered, battery powered, or both.  
         [0055]     Table 1 below shows a state table for each article of clothing and accessory along with the appropriate forecast and/or current conditions:  
                           TABLE 1                           Forbidden   Mandatory               Weather   Weather   Out of range       Item   Conditions   Conditions   response                   Shorts   Below 50 degrees   Above 90 degrees   Shiver/sweat       Short-sleeved   Below 50 degrees   Above 90 degrees   Shiver/sweat       shirt       pants   Above 90 degrees   Below 50 degrees   Shiver/sweat       Turtleneck shirt   Above 80 degrees   Below 40 degrees   Shiver/sweat       Winter hat   Above 60 degrees   Below 40 degrees   Shiver/sweat       sunglasses   Any precipitation   Part cloudy, sunny   Squint/                   disoriented       gloves   Above 60 degrees   Below 40 degrees   Shiver/sweat       umbrella   No precipitation   Any precipitation   Wet/awkward                  
 
         [0056]     Every time there is a change in the state data supplied by the user interface (that is, a change in the selection of items, the state machine compares each article of clothing and accessory to a state table and makes the following determinations: 
        (1) Does the forecast weather mandate this article be included?    (2) Does the forecast weather mandate this article NOT be included? If any clothing or accessory is inappropriate for the forecast, the character will frown and display additional cues about the nature of the dissatisfaction. If all clothing and accessories are appropriate, the character will smile.        
 
         [0059]     The following conditions and results are examples inferred from Table 1; 
    a) If character is dressed in shorts and forecast temperature is below 50 degrees, the character will shiver and frown.     b) If character is dressed in winter doting at and temperature is above 60 degrees, the character will sweat and frown.     c) If character is carrying an umbrella but there&#39;s no forecast, the character will have an awkward or silly facial expression and frown.     d) If character is NOT carrying an umbrella and there is forecast rain, the character will appear wet and frown.     e) If character is wearing sunglasses and it&#39;s not sunny or part cloudy, the character will appear disoriented and frown.     f) If character is NOT wearing sunglasses and it&#39;s sunny or part cloudy, the character will squint and frown.    
 
         [0066]     It is possible for the character to display multiple negative emotions—for example the character can shiver and be wet if it&#39;s forecast to be cold and rainy, and the character is wearing shorts and no umbrella. Note that, from Table 1, if the forecast temperature is exactly 60 degrees, any article of clothing is considered appropriate.  
       Other Illustrative Embodiments  
       [0067]     The embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1  renders the virtual character as a graphical image on a display screen, but the virtual character take other forms, such a physical object like a plush animal. The user is required to dress the animal appropriately for the current weather forecast. RFID tags embedded in the clothes may be detected by sensors in the animal so that a determination can be made as to what clothes the animal is wearing. This wardrobe information is fed to the state machine. Similar to the embodiment in the previous example, the overall happiness of the character is determined by manner in which the user has dressed it. The difference between this example and the former example is the former is rendered on an electronic display, while the latter uses a physical doll and physical clothes. Happiness and sadness with wardrobe can be shown with motors controlling eyelids and other facial expressions, and a vibrating motor can reproduce shivering while a sound chip can create the sound of panting. Or a sound chip could simply render speech with snippets such as “I&#39;m too hot” or “I&#39;m too cold”.  
         [0068]     Another illustrative embodiment might employ the weather forecast for a pre-determined geographical region to control the interaction between a user and an online pet. For example, NeoPets™ described above could act differently if the weather forecast shows rain in the region where the user lives. Or to use the example of “Dress Elmo”, instead of using a small number of pre-determined weather scenarios, the user would be required to dress Elmo according to the actual weather report for where the user lives. This would entice children to visit the website every day not only to learn what the weather is, but to make sure Elmo is wearing the correct clothing.  
         [0069]     Similar interactions can be created for other content sources as outlined in Table 2 below:  
                   TABLE 2                       Data Content   Interaction                   Pollen forecasts   Dosage of anti-allergy medication to virtual character.           Character responds by being drowsy (too much           medication), sneezy (too little medication) or           happy (just right)       Traffic   What time character needs to leave for work.       Sports   Performance of user&#39;s “fantasy” team against           actual sports performances       Stocks   Performance of user&#39;s “fantasy” stock portfolio against           actual stock performance.       Fishing   User must choose appropriate bait and times for fishing           based on actual current and forecast parameters affecting           fishing conditions.                  
 
         [0070]     As described in the above noted Application Publication No. 2003/0076369 and application Ser. No. 11/149,929, the centralized server can reprogrammed dynamically to supply different content. This allows the user to change the content source (e.g stock market), or modify parameters of the content (e.g. contents of stock portfolio). Some data feeds may be associated with a recurring or one-time fee. Additionally, the ability for the virtual character to respond to the content may also be monetized. Signals sent from the server determine the permissions the device has to decode certain signals and/or unlock certain features.  
         [0071]     Consumer Behavior  
         [0072]     One goal of this invention is to allow the user to create an emotional bond with the virtual character by participating in its care in a way that is also relevant to the “real” world. The various forms of virtual characters are very popular, and this invention is intended to make them more relevant by including actual real-time data that impacts the behavior of the non-virtual user. By including behaviors that respond to real-time content, the user experience of interacting with a virtual character will be even more compelling and enjoyable.  
         [0073]     A more specific goal of the weather responsive embodiment described above is to help children dress appropriately for the day. Instead of simply showing a child the weather forecast, this invites the child to participate and take ownership of the weather forecast by dressing a virtual character in the appropriate wardrobe. This activity makes the child more aware of the clothes he or she should be wearing, and thereby reduce the supervision required by a parent.  
         [0074]     Although the preferred embodiment described in connection with  FIGS. 3-5  use weather data to control the virtual character, all kinds of content can be used as inputs to the virtual character&#39;s state machine. The examples disclosed here all have a virtual character as the entity receiving input from the content source. But this disclosure applies to the insertion of real-time content anywhere in the virtual world—for example if it is raining in the “real” world, it is also raining in the virtual world, and this virtual rain will have an effect on the character.  
         [0075]     In many ways, this interaction is best understood by considering the weather as being another virtual character that interacts with other virtual characters in the same way that the peer character seen at  101  in  FIGS. 1 and 2  influences the behavior of other virtual characters. This “environmental” character receives real-time inputs that affects its state machine. This in turn affects the outputs from this environmental character, which affects the inputs of more traditional virtual characters.  
       CONCLUSION  
       [0076]     It is to be understood that the methods and apparatus which have been described above are merely illustrative applications of the principles of the invention. Numerous modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.