Education and demonstration – Audio recording and visual means – Visual information in book form
Patent
1996-07-09
1999-02-09
Cheng, Joe H.
Education and demonstration
Audio recording and visual means
Visual information in book form
434169, 434185, 200 5A, 200512, 462 55, 281 151, G09B 500
Patent
active
058685812
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to document interpreting systems and is especially applicable to such systems for assisting learning of reading or pronunciation or understanding of words, phrases or sentences or interpretation of drawings, pictures, music, etc. It should be understood that the term "document" covers any printed matter or indeed any written or drawn matter, and in particular includes books.
In International Patent Application No. PCT/GB92/00302 (Publication No. WO92/15077) there is disclosed and claimed a document interpreting system comprising detecting means on which a plurality of documents to be interpreted which are not prepared specifically for use with said system may be stacked and for detecting through said documents the location of pointing means associated with said location detecting means and directed at any arbitrary area of the topmost document of said stack, speech storage means for storing speech relating to arbitrarily different areas of said documents, and speech reproduction means for reproducing speech stored in said speech storage means corresponding to the area of said topmost document to which said pointing means is directed.
In such a system it is to be noted that: specifically for the system. book. and co-ordinate location techniques which are used to identify the location of the pointing means. another non-physical means.
In the aforesaid International application the graphics tablet is fixed to a reading stand or desk and on which is positioned the book or documents to be interpreted.
Many different types of graphics tablets or digitisers, as they are sometimes referred to, are known and typical examples are disclosed in the following references: communication device", Fall Joint Computer Conference (FJCC), 1964, Spartan Books, Baltimore, Md, 325. graphic data input", SJCC 1968, Thompson Books, Washington, D.C.315. IEEE, EC--19, 6, Jun. 1970, p 546. Accessories Corporation, Southporth, Conn., 1970. McGraw-Hill, Kogakusha Ltd., 1973, pp 177-178. Ph.D. thesis, University College London, June 1981, pp 82-109, 288-298 and 300-301.
Existing graphics tablets and digitisers such as, for example, the Rand Tablet (1), the Sylvania Tablet (2), the Acoustic Tablet (3,4), the voltage gradient Tablet (5), and others (6), are complicated, expensive and rigidly constructed, using high resolution grids.
The graphics tablet disclosed by Mamigonians (reference 7) utilises a simple printed circuit platern construction with a relatively coarse grid of relatively wide spaced horizontal and vertical conductors on both sides of an insulating material e.g. a double sided Printed Circuit Board (PCB), which method produces very high resolution and linearity.
It has now been discovered that such co-ordinate locating means may advantageously be arranged very cheaply in a very thin, near two dimensional form, which provides an advantageous arrangement for implementing the features of electronic book reading as disclosed in the aforesaid International Patent Application No. PCT/GB92/00302. It has been discovered that such co-ordinate locating means may be printed, or formed, using electrically conducting inks and other conducting materials, on paper, plastic or any other thin non-conducting material and may be embodied in the cover or loose cover of a book. Such an arrangement will enable electronic book reading systems to dispense with cumbersome separate; rigid, expensive graphics tablets and to provide electronic book reading very cheaply to a world-wide mass market of users.
Accordingly, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a document interpreting system comprising a book having a cover and a plurality of printed pages, a graphics tablet including a co-ordinate array of conductors formed as part of said book, processing means to which said co-ordinate array is connected, speech storage means responsive to said processing means for storing speech relating to different areas of the pages of said book, and speech reproduction means for reproducing speech stored
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King Reginald Alfred
Mamigonians Hrand Mami
Cheng Joe H.
Scanna Technology Limited
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