This invention relates to toys such as, for example only, dolls. An object of the invention is to provide a means by which a doll or other toy may be provided with an evolving life history, increasing the enjoyment obtained by its owner and providing a means of educational involvement, and a means of facilitating personal development. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the ensuing description of a practical embodiment thereof. The invention broadly resides in the combination of a toy having identifying code means, data processing means including storage means containing characteristics assigned to each of said toy and a plurality of other, similar toys, thereby to distinguish said toys one from the other, said characteristics in respect of each said toy being stored in groups sequentially accessible by inputting said code to said data processing means.

Typically, the toy is a doll, and although other toys and indeed devices other than toys may be the subject of the invention, for the sake of convenience an embodiment of the invention as applied to dolls will now be described with reference to the accompanying Figure which schematically depicts the embodiment of the invention. It is to be emphasised that the ensuing description is of but one possible realization of the invention, and is given solely for the purpose of illustration.

In practice of the invention as applied to dolls, a doll 1 of otherwise conventional manufacture is provided with an identifying code 2 which while ideally unique, may in practice be one of a number of codes sufficiently great that the likelihood of two dolls having the same identification "meeting", so to speak, is small.

The code or "identity" of each doll may be realized as a bar-coded number inconspicuously applied to the doll, or to some document associated with the doll such as, for example only, the "birth certificate" of the doll. In such a case, the identity of the doll will be established for a computer 3 described below, by means of

a bar code reader. _^

Amongst other identification techniques, the doll 1 may be provided with an alpha-numeric code which may be entered into the computer 3 by means of a keyboard. Other approaches to the provision of an identity suitable for use in the present invention will occur to the reader, such as the use of magnetic strip devices and optical character recognition systems.

Upon sale of the doll 1, the purchaser will be provided with, in printed form, a small set of characteristics of the doll appropriate to a small baby, such as its name, gender, place of birth, and basic behavioural patterns such as feeding and sleeping habits. Stored in the computer 3, and accessible to the purchaser at the point of sale, however, will be the life history of that doll, in the form of groups of evolving characteristics prepared to reflect life's characteristics from cradle to grave, e.g. male/female, star sign, kindergarten, health, school/college, ambitions, sporting interests, hobby interests, career path interests, family and other personal relationships, birthdays and other significant events.

At predetermined intervals in the "life" of the doll, the owner may attend at the point of sale and upon identification of the doll obtain the next batch of life characteristics. The computer 3 may for this purpose be linked to a printing facility 4 capable of producing the next "chapter" in the evolving life story of the doll 1. This hard-form life story chapter 5 may then be taken home by the owner and considered.

Typically each life story chapter will consist of approximately 800-1000 words and for each doll the computer data base will contain approximately six chapters of life story. Clearly it is not necessary to attend the point of sale in each case to obtain the next life story chapter. The owner may obtain the same information by mail order, for example..

In developments of the invention beyond the basic

form outlined above, there may be provided the ability of the owner to have chosen characteristics put into the "life" of the doll. Such chosen characteristics may assist the owner in learning about possible career paths, or, as another example, to develop his or her sporting or financial interests. By enabling the owner to determine, for example, the number and relative age of the doll's supposed siblings, or characteristics of its parents, educational role-playing and decision-making may be enhanced.

There is obviously no limit to the range of subject matter which may be the subject of the stored characteristics. For educational purposes, for example, toys may be provided with educationally useful characteristics such as work experience, sporting experience, ethnic experience or geographical and foreign country characteristics.

It will be appreciated that stored in the computer or computers associated with the invention will be a large number of characteristics in predetermined groupings, and that the number of distinguishable possible life paths must be such as to leave a negligible likelihood of two similarly "programmed" dolls being owned, for example, by friends or acquaintances.