Patent US 6,438,457

An electronic pet having reality by various machines is implemented. An IC card stores a matter to be renewed in accordance with an action when an electronic pet takes the action on the basis of an internal status parameter which contains the feeling of the electronic pet and represents the internal status thereof, and it is detachably mounted in a device functioning as the body of the electronic pet. A virtual pet device functions as the body of the electronic pet and performs processing to display the electronic pet, and it has a slot in which the IC card is detachably mounted. A pet type robot functions as the body of the electronic pet, and it has a slot in which the IC card is detachably mounted.