INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE APPARATUS

• US 20090098517A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cieo Creative, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cieo Creative, Inc.
• Inventors: Reynolds, David, Plasterer, Mary, Townshend, Sarah, Goodman, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 8,251,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/169
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/04 Speaking with audible presentation of the material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04

Abstract

Disclosed is an interactive educational apparatus, ideally suitable for children. A set of symbol pieces, preferably in the form of letter blocks are provided. An interface board is provided for accommodating one or more selected symbol pieces and a sensor on said interface board generates a signal identifying each symbol piece when placed on said interface board. Media files are stored on a storage medium and each media file has an associated tag. A processor is programmed to match a search key represented by one or more selected symbol pieces with said tags. A display device displays one or more media files having identifier tags matching said search key represented by said selected symbol pieces. These identifier tags provide a means to match up the media files with each search key generated by placement of the symbol pieces on the interface board.

Claims

1. An interactive language apparatus, comprising:

a set of symbol pieces;

an interface board for accommodating one or more selected symbol pieces;

a sensor on said interface board for generating a signal identifying each symbol piece when placed on said interface board;

a storage medium containing media files having associated tags;

a processor programmed to match a search key represented by one or more selected symbol pieces with said tags; and

a display device for displaying one or more media files having identifier tags matching said search key represented by said selected symbol pieces.

2. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media files are provided by a user.

3. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the symbol pieces are letters for spelling words.

4. The interactive language apparatus of claim 3, wherein the letters are English language letters.

5. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein each symbol piece has a unique electronic signature used by the sensor for identifying each symbol piece when placed on said interface board.

6. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display device is part of a personal computer.

7. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is on an external server and the media files are launched from the storage medium to the display device via the Internet.

8. The interactive language apparatus of claim 7, wherein the display device is part of a personal computer.

9. The interactive language apparatus of claim 8, wherein the personal computer includes interface software thereon to allow the interface device to communicate with the external server.

10. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the interface board includes receptacles for accommodating each symbol piece and each receptacle includes a sensor.

11. The interactive language apparatus of claim 10, wherein the leftmost receptacle accommodating a symbol piece is considered to be the first symbol in the search key.

12. The interactive language apparatus of claim 11, wherein any empty receptacle to the right of the leftmost occupied receptacle is considered to be a wildcard in the search key.

13. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identifier tags include one or more letters.

14. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media files include digital photos, digital videos, animations, sound effects and/or music.

15. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein a sound effect is triggered when each symbol piece is placed on or removed from said interface board.

16. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display includes a virtual rendering to the interface board.

17. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein said media files having identifier tags matching said search key are zoomed and scaled to an appropriate size for display on said display screen.

18. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein a success event is triggered when a search key matches an identifier tag in full.

19. The interactive language apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display device is part of a personal computer.

20. An interface board for use in an interactive language apparatus, said interface board being configured for accommodating one or more selected symbol pieces, the board comprising:

a sensor for generating a signal identifying each symbol piece when placed on said interface board;

connection to a storage medium containing media files having associated tags;

connection to a processor programmed to match a search key represented by one or more selected symbol pieces with said tags; and

connection to a display device for displaying one or more media files having identifier tags matching said search key represented by said selected symbol pieces.

21. A method of using an interactive language 1 apparatus, comprising:

storing media files having associated tags on a storage medium;

placing one or more selected symbol pieces an interface board;

generating a signal identifying each symbol piece when placed on said interface board;

matching a search key represented by one or more selected symbol pieces with said tags; and

displaying one or more media files having identifier tags matching said search key represented by said selected symbol pieces.