Education and demonstration – Language – Spelling – phonics – word recognition – or sentence formation
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-20
2003-12-30
Fernstrom, Kurt (Department: 3712)
Education and demonstration
Language
Spelling, phonics, word recognition, or sentence formation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06669480
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to rapid reading methods and reading pointers, and specifically to underscoring methods for the rapid reading of common text, and to devices which implement the methods of underscoring common text.
2. Description of Prior Art
Other than “generic pointers” used as a means of teaching students to read faster, or used by ordinary readers to mark and pace their reading, nothing germane to pointers used in the method of the invention for reading purposes appears to have been patented, sold, or suggested in any material that appears in the public domain. “Generic pointers,” that is pointing fingers or objects, such as pens or pencils, are the only known prior art implementation devices that have been commonly used as training or continuous use devices operated in connection with either teaching a student to read faster, or for common use by any reader.
The patent data base reveals that numerous patents have been obtained for “reading devices” in the form of complex mechanisms which all either use the generic method of the prior art, which is to directly, transversely scan text lines with a generic pointer or a light beam, or to sweep a generic pointer in a downwardly disposed, vertical arc across a page of reading material while the generic pointer is held approximately parallel to the reading material by a complex mechanism. None of these diverse patents either imply or otherwise suggest the method of the present invention. Moreover, the prior art of generic pointer utilization appears to teach away from utilizing an indirect or removed method of marking and pacing a reader's position in the reading material, as is done in the method of the present invention.
Those skilled in the art of teaching students faster reading, otherwise know as “rapid reading,” or “speed reading,” typically teach a reading method wherein a generic pointer, usually a finger or a generic object, such as a pen or other pointing implementation device, is pointed toward the text lines. The pointer tip is then targeted below the text line to be read, i.e., toward the straight, linear space which extends in-between the text lines to be read. The student reader is then taught to move the pointer tip horizontally, left-to-right, through the linear space below the text line, then move the pointer tip downward one linear space as the pointer tip is returned right-to-left. This cyclical, zigzag process of pointer tip movement through the sequential, downwardly disposed linear spaces continues until the end of the page, and begins anew at the start of the next page. The movement of the pointer tip in this manner typically requires that the non-pointing end of the pointer be grasped with the thumb and fingers as the wrist and arm move back and forth to carry the pointer tip in the described zigzag-shuttling and downward movement. The pointer is typically held so that its tip is continuously nearly, or actually touching the surface of the print matter or virtual display monitor text lines being read. This zigzag-shuttling process of passing a moving pointer tip in an approximately straight, horizontal manner, at an approximately even distance from the surface of the reading material, through the linear spaces below and parallel to the text lines is generally known as “underscoring.” An underscoring pointer tip emphasizes the reader's linear space positioning below a text line, thus enabling a reader to position his eyes for the reading of the words above the pointer tip within the linear space. Thus the prior art of rapid or speed reading teaches that underscoring, as a method of both keeping place and pacing left-to-right linear reading, should be a process wherein the words and phrases within a text line are emphasized by passing a pointing finger or object beneath a line of text in the manner just described.
Once a student has learned this method of underscoring and has become a faster reader, he or she may often use an inverted method of underscoring wherein the moving pointer tip is targeted toward the linear space above, rather than below, a text line to be read. To differentiate underscoring from this inverted use process, it will be referred to as “overscoring.” Overscoring is performed during awkward circumstances of reading, such as when attempting to read a legal brief while it lies flat on a surface immediately in front of the reader. To avoid arm movement next to his body, the reader may choose to move his hand and wrist above the text lines to be read, invert the pointer, and then bend the wrist to aim the pointer tip downward toward the linear spaces above the text lines. The reader then targets the linear space above the text line to be read and initiates pointer tip movements in the same general manner as described for underscoring. That is, the reader initiates a shuttling-zigzag, downwardly moving wrist and arm movement process that carries the pointer tip in an approximately straight, horizontal manner, at an approximately even distance from the surface of the reading material. An overscoring pointer tip emphasizes the reader's linear space positioning above a text line, thus enabling a reader to position his eyes for the reading of the words below the pointer tip within the linear space. Overscoring is thus the procedural equivalent of underscoring, but is performed from a linear space above a text line rather than below a text line.
The prior art underscoring and overscoring methods are intended to have the reader realize at some level of awareness that his eyes will naturally follow the tip area of the moving pointer while he or she is simultaneously reading the text line. In this way the reader realizes that as the pointer tip is properly controlled at higher rates of shuttling, the reader's eyes will shuttle faster, and he or she will read faster.
In the prior art method, one problem that many people using these types of underscoring or overscoring methods encounter is that the performance of such pointer motions as described above are both tedious and fatiguing to the wrist or arm, and, if done improperly with the fingers, leads to friction burns with the surface of the reading material. Also, when an object, such as a pen, is used to read text at a high rate, the pointer often touches against the surface of the page and makes distracting noises. And as well, many people feel self-conscious about performing the exaggerated wrist and arm motions that are required by these prior art underscoring or overscoring methods. It thus often happens that despite having learned an effective method of underscoring or overscoring text lines to read faster, many students regress to their previous, slower reading habits.
It is also obvious when randomly observing ordinary readers reading in a library and during other reading circumstances, that many such readers frequently utilize a pointer of some kind, typically a pen or pencil, whether reading general or technical material. These readers seem to nearly continuously utilize such pointers apparently because it is preferable to them. That is, they appear to appreciate having the ability to rapidly scan through numerous lines of text presently irrelevant to them, and then use the pointer repeatedly at temporary stopping points for focused concentration on particular key words or phrases before again moving on to a higher scan rate.
Another problem that student and general readers using a pointer from the prior art typically encounter is that they often must confront reading matter in three basic, but very different reading positions. The first position is when the material is laying on a flat surface. The second position is when the material is angled up to a typical 45°, as when it is held in the reader's lap or hands. And the third common position is when the reading material is angled up to a head-on confrontation at 90°, as when holding a book on edge in f
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