Education and demonstration – Question or problem eliciting response – Cathode ray screen display included in examining means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-14
2001-09-11
O'Neill, Michael (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Question or problem eliciting response
Cathode ray screen display included in examining means
C434S350000, C434S323000, C434S157000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287125
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates interactive presentation and educational systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a distributed computer based system, and associated methods of operation, to enable the teaching and or presentation of a subject matter topic to an audience that may be located in one or more locations.
2. Background And Objects Of The Invention
Personal computers have been employed in educational settings for a number of years to support somewhat interactive learning. Early programs would typically operate on ‘stand-alone’ computers, wherein subject matter was presented to one or more users. Questions would then be delivered to the users, and (very often) a response would involve the selection of one of a plurality of listed/suggested choices. Thus, the equivalent of an electronic or computer based multiple choice arrangement would be employed to present information. These programs suffered from several significant limitations. First, if the user or student required additional information, or alternately a clarification of the information provided, such an interactive capability was lacking. Second, when employing standalone computer arrangements, a statistical summary of student performance was not immediate and easy to ascertain. Skilled persons will recognize other difficulties with such limited arrangements.
As the cost of personal computing and advanced networking continued to decline, educational and presentation systems that were once unaffordable or impractical to deploy, could be realized, constructed, and supported, with relatively small budgets. Initially networked arrangements of computers were organized in what were termed “computer labs”. The associated programs were delivered from centralized servers, reducing the effort required to load and upgrade software on the individual computers in the lab. As time passed, the level of interactively improved, especially with programs associated with mathematical or ‘memorization’ based subjects, such as biology and history. There is still however, a certain lack of interaction that is possible with such arrangements, especially when employed in class room settings.
There is presently available technology that will enable traditional lecture material to be integrated into a computer based classroom (or presentation environment), wherein the instructor or presenter can present information to an entire class or audience. Further, such systems need to enable oral or computer delivered responses (possibly private and somewhat discreet in nature) and related information to exchange between an instructor and an audience.
Therefore, when considering prior art educational and presentation system architectures, there is a need to provide new and improved arrangements with associated methods of operation, which support the presentation of subject matter in an interactive and somewhat personalized, private fashion. Objects of the present invention are, therefore, to provide new and improved presentation system architectures, and methods of operation therefore, to support the interactive presentation of subject matter to an audience of individuals having one or more of the following capabilities, features, characteristics, and or advantages:
an architecture employing a networked, distributed plurality of computers;
includes a presenter computer and preferably a plurality of audience computers;
may include one or more large display units that are observable by audience members;
significantly improves the interaction between one or more audience members and the presenter;
enables information to be delivered to the entire audience or specific audience members employing respective audience computers;
supports individual interaction between the presenter and audience members or an interaction where the presenter may provide information and or responses to an entire audience;
a scalable architecture;
enables easy management and presentation of selected subject or discussion matter information; and
simple relatively low cost architecture employing embodiments based on many off-the shelf hardware components.
The above listed objects, advantages, and associated novel features of the present invention, as well as others, will become more apparent with a careful review of the description and figures provided herein. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings and the associated description are illustrative and exemplary only, and variations are certainly possible.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention a system architecture, and associated methods of operation, are provided to support the interactive presentation of subject matter by a presenter to a plurality of audience members. The system includes a presenter computer, which is operable by the presenter, and (preferably) a plurality of audience computers. Each respective audience computer, which is operated by at least one audience member, enables the associated audience member(s) to provide information to the presenter. The information would typically be input to the audience computer being used by associated audience members and be transferred to the presenter computer for consideration by the presenter. The audience computers further enable the discreet delivery of information from the presenter to the associated audience members utilizing said computers. A large display unit may be included that is configured to receive information from the presenter computer, wherein the information received is displayed and viewable by the audience members. It is contemplated that the large display unit should be capable of receiving and displaying text and or graphical information to assist in the interactive presentation of the subject matter.
The system further includes a communication network to enable information to be exchanged between the presenter computer and all included audience computers. Accordingly the communication network enables the exchange of information between the presenter computer and the respective audience computers in a cyclical manner. The cyclical flow of information is essential to provide for the interactive presentation and discussion of the subject matter to be considered.
Several methods are provided to interactively present subject matter, including problem statements or discussion statements, to audience members. The subject matter is presented by employing a presenter computer operated by a presenter to generate a statement indicating the problem or discussion topic. The presenter computer may be operatively coupled to a large display unit to receive information therefrom for displaying and viewing by the entire group of audience members. Alternately, the problem or discussion statement may be delivered to audience members via the audience computers over the communication network. If required, translation may be provided at the presenter computer, the audience computers, or both. In addition, translation to and from a plurality of languages can be supported by the present invention.
Once a topic statement is received by the respective audience computers, a temporal period for analysis is provided. The methods of the present invention permit additional information to be requested by audience members, on an ‘as needed’ basis. This additional information is contemplated to be requested in a somewhat private and discreet manner, via the communication network, by the audience members (or groups thereof) associated with respective audience computers. The requests from the audience members are preferably provided to the presenter by way of a presenter display, that is most preferably partitioned into a plurality of sub-areas or regions. Each of the plurality of the sub-areas is associated with (in a one-to-one fashion) each client computer and the information provided to, or received therefrom. A complete discussion of several most preferred methods for the system operation will be fully discussed below.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4715818 (1987-12-01), Shapiro
Goldstein & Canino
Harris Chanda
O'Neill Michael
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