Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/647,595, filed on May 16, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Current prerecorded plush toys may be used as sleeping accessories or crib mobiles for babies. Known plush toys have several tunes prerecorded. A user can select to play any one of the prerecorded tunes. Other known plush toys may include a simple record/play function. There are also recordable books, although they are not meant to be used as sleeping plush accessories, and are made for children rather than babies. Recordable books allow one story to be recorded, and the story will not replay on a loop. 
     Certain known recordable plush toys require a USB cable and an Internet connection to download music or record audio to the plush toy. These toys do not repeat the recording. Others toys may allow looping of a recording, but the looping can only playback a set amount of times. For example, the recording to be looped may be required to be 20 seconds long, and any recording shorter than that will playback with silence comprising the remainder of the 20 seconds. Other recordable plush toys can record for up to a certain time, for example, 20 seconds, and re-play only one time for up to 20 seconds. There accordingly exists a need for a recordable plush toy that enables a user to record audio for a relatively short time period such that the recorded audio can be repeatedly played back without having silence between the loops of the audio. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present disclosure provides a new and innovative method and apparatus for providing a long playback of a short recording. An example apparatus for long playback of short recordings includes control circuits, a speaker, a microphone, a battery, a play/stop button, a record button, and a memory. The example apparatus is configured to record a sound for a time period using the microphone, store the sound in the memory, and play back the sound using the speaker such that the sound is played back repeatedly in a loop with each iteration of the loop having a duration of the recorded time period 
     Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  shows a diagram of an exemplary digital recording device, according to an example embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 2 and 3  show flowcharts of exemplary procedures for recording audio using the digital recording device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  shows a flowchart of an exemplary procedure for long playback of a short recording using the digital recording device of  FIG. 1 , according to an example embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention include a system and method for long playback of short recordings. A device records a sound (e.g., audio), such as a person&#39;s voice, a musical instrument, etc., for a short period time, for example, 20 seconds, and plays that recording back repeatedly, on a loop, for a long period of time. Each iteration of the playback loop is as long as the actual recording so that there are no periods of silence between iterations. 
     A digital recording device  101  may be installed into a plush toy.  FIG. 1  depicts an exemplary digital recording device  101  for installation in a plush toy. The digital recording device  101  records audio for any length of time up to a maximum of T2 seconds. T2 may be set in the software of the digital recording device  101 , and may be, for example, 10, 20, 30, etc. seconds. The digital recording device  101  may then playback the recording for a longer time period, up to T1 minutes. T1 may be set in the software of the digital recording device  101 , and may be, for example, 30 minutes or shorter/longer. The playback is the recorded audio being repeated up to the maximum time (T1), or until playback is stopped by a user. 
     When the digital recording device  101  is installed into a plush toy, wires may be sewn in the plush toy, and the digital recording device  101  may be operated using buttons on the outside of the plush toy. Alternatively, the buttons may be integrated with the plush toy. Buttons used for operating the digital recording device  101  may include a volume up button  102 , a volume down button  103 , a record button  104 , and a play/stop button  105 . The digital recording device  101  includes control circuits  106 , which may include any suitable microprocessor, power management circuitry, sound processing circuitry, memory management, and other circuitry. The control circuits  106  are connected to a microphone  107 , a speaker  108 , and a memory module  109 . Audio is recorded using the microphone  107  and stored on the memory module  109 . The control circuits  106  uses the speaker  108  to play back audio or sounds recorded on the memory module  109 . Alternatively, a digital recording from another digital or analog playing device can be stored in the memory of the device  101  via an interface. The digital recording device  101  may be powered by a battery  110 . Alternatively, the digital recording device  101  may be powered by a wall outlet. 
       FIG. 2  depicts an exemplary procedure for recording. In block  201 , a record button is pressed and held down. In block  202 , a beep or other sound is generated after the record button has been held down for a certain time period, such as, for example, 3 seconds. The beep or other sound signals the start of recording. This time period between the pushing of the record button and the start of recording may prevent accidental operation of the recording, for example, by a baby using the plush toy, thus erasing previous recording. In block  203 , the digital recording device  101  records audio using the microphone. In block  204 , a time counter is incremented during the recording. In block  205 , if the record button is still held down, flow proceeds back to block  203 , where recording of the audio continues. If the record button has been released, flow proceeds to block  206 , where the recording of the audio is stopped. In block  207 , the time counter is checked. If the time counter has equaled or exceeded the maximum recording length, for example, as set by T2, flow proceeds to block  206 , where the recording of the audio is stopped. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block  203 , where recording of the audio continues. The recording may be stopped by either block  204  or block  205 . In block  206 , the recording is stopped, and a beep or other sound may be generated to signal the end of recording. 
       FIG. 3  depicts another exemplary procedure for recording. In block  301 , a record button is pressed and released. Blocks  202 ,  203 ,  204 ,  206  and  207  operate as described in conjunction with  FIG. 2 . In block  302 , if the record button is pressed again, flow proceeds to block  206 , where the recording of the audio is stopped. Otherwise, flow proceeds back to block  203 , and recording continues. 
       FIG. 4  depicts an exemplary procedure for long playback of a short recording. In block  401 , a play/stop button is pressed and released. In block  402 , the digital recording device  101  plays the recorded audio, for example, as recorded according to the procedures described in conjunction with  FIG. 2  or  FIG. 3 . When the playback reaches the end of the recording, which may be identified by when the recording was stopped, rather than the maximum length allowed for recording, playback may immediately start over from the beginning of the recording. For example, if the maximum recording length is 30 seconds, but the recording is 20 seconds long, and playback proceeds for 10 minutes, then the recording may be played back 30 times instead of 20. In block  403 , a time counter is incremented during playback of the recording. In block  404  if the play/stop button has not been pressed and released again, flow proceeds back to block  402 , where playback continues. If the play/stop button has been pressed and released, flow proceeds to block  406 , thereby stopping the playback of the audio. In block  405 , the time counter is checked. If the time counter has equaled or exceeded the maximum playback length, for example, as set by T1, flow proceeds to block  406 , stopping the playback of the audio. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block  402 , where playback of the audio continues. The playback may be stopped by either block  404  or block  405 . 
     The digital recording device  101  may also use a repetition counter in place of, or in conjunction with the time counter. The repetition counter may be used to count the number of times the recording has been played back. The digital recording device  101  may be set up to stop playback of the recording when the recording has been played back some preset number of times, causing the repetition counter to exceed a maximum preset number of playbacks. 
     The digital recording device  101  may be used to record any sound, song or voice message without the limitation of a prerecorded background sound. New sounds or messages may be recorded on top of older sounds or messages, thereby replacing them. Alternatively, the digital recording device  101  may remove previously recorded audio prior to recording new audio. In this manner, the digital recording device  101  ensures that no previous audio remains in memory in instances where the new audio has a shorter duration than previously recorded audio. 
     The digital recording device  101  may operate without external accessories such as, for example, cables or an Internet connection. Alternatively, the digital recording device  101  may include a connection to the Internet and/or a connection to another device. The Internet connection may enable a user to record audio from a website or an application. For instance, remote users may be able to record or otherwise transmit audio for storage in the memory of the digital recording device  101 . The connection to another device enables audio to be recorded or received from that device. For instance, a user may transmit or otherwise store computer generated audio to a memory of the digital recording device  101 . 
     The digital recording device  101  may be installed in any suitable item. For example, the digital recording device  101  may be installed in a plush toy, as described, or in plastic toys, mattresses, books, mobiles, and bracelets. 
     It will be appreciated that all of the disclosed methods described herein can be implemented using one or more computer programs or components. These components may be provided as a series of computer instructions on any conventional computer-readable medium, including RAM, ROM, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks, optical memory, or other storage media. The instructions may be configured to be executed by a processor, which when executing the series of computer instructions performs or facilitates the performance of all or part of the disclosed methods and procedures. 
     It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the example embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

Technology Category: 5