APPARATUS FOR CHINESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND METHOD THEREOF

• US 20110015920A1
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Locus Publishing Company
• Original Assignee: Locus Publishing Company
• Inventors: How, Rex
• Application Number:
  US12/692,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20110015920A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/10 Recognition assisted with metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/287 of Kanji, Hiragana or Katakana characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04

Abstract

An apparatus for Chinese language education includes a set of Chinese character pieces, a Chinese dictionary database, an input unit, and a processing unit. Each of the Chinese character pieces is associated with a distinct Chinese character, has the distinct Chinese character visibly indicated thereon, and is provided with a distinct machine-readable identification code. The Chinese dictionary database contains a plurality of dictionary entries, each of which corresponds to a respective one of the Chinese character pieces and includes information of the distinct Chinese character, such as pronunciation, evolution of a character form, stroke sequence and a radical of the distinct Chinese character, and meaningful Chinese phrases including the distinct Chinese character. The input unit reads the identification code of a selected one of the Chinese character pieces. The processing unit determines the dictionary entry corresponding to the selected one of the Chinese character pieces.

Claims

1. A Chinese character piece associated with a distinct Chinese character, comprising the associated distinct Chinese character visibly indicated thereon, and a distinct machine-readable identification code corresponding to the associated distinct Chinese character.

2. The Chinese character piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein the machine-readable identification code is in the form of an optical pattern code.

3. The Chinese character piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein the machine-readable identification code is in the form of a radio-frequency identification tag.

4. The Chinese character piece as claimed in claim 1, being in a form of a cubic body with six sides, wherein said sides are provided respectively with the associated distinct Chinese character and the machine-readable identification code.

5. The Chinese character piece as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one image that represents the associated distinct Chinese character, and that is selected from a foreign language translation, a pronunciation, and an illustration.

6. A method of Chinese language education, comprising:

a) providing a set of Chinese character pieces, each of which is associated with a distinct Chinese character and has the associated distinct Chinese character visibly indicated thereon, each of the Chinese character pieces being provided with a distinct machine-readable identification code corresponding to the associated distinct Chinese character;

b) establishing a Chinese dictionary database containing a plurality of dictionary entries, each of the dictionary entries corresponding to a respective one of the Chinese character pieces and including information of the distinct Chinese character associated with the respective one of the Chinese character pieces;

c) reading, through an input unit, the identification code of a selected one of the Chinese character pieces;

d) comparing, through a processing unit, the identification code read by the input unit with the information stored in the Chinese dictionary database to determine the dictionary entry corresponding to the selected one of the Chinese character pieces; and

e) generating, through an output unit, an output associated with the information included in the dictionary entry determined by the processing unit to correspond to the selected one of the Chinese character pieces.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the machine-readable identification code is an optical pattern code, and the input unit is an optical reader operable for reading the identification code.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the machine-readable identification code is in a form of a radio-frequency identification tag disposed at the Chinese character piece, and the input unit is a radio-frequency identification reader operable for reading the radio-frequency identification tag.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the information of the distinct Chinese character associated with the respective one of the Chinese character pieces is selected from pronunciation of the distinct Chinese character, evolution of a character form of the distinct Chinese character, stroke sequence of the distinct Chinese character, a radical of the distinct Chinese character, meaningful Chinese phrases that include the distinct Chinese character, and combinations thereof.

10. A method for Chinese language education to be implemented using a computing terminal, comprising:

a) configuring the computing terminal to execute a gaming program for playing a Chinese phrase building game;

b) configuring the computing terminal to enable display of a gaming image associated with the Chinese phrase building game, the gaming image including virtual Chinese character pieces, each of which is associated with a corresponding Chinese character;

c) configuring the computing terminal to enable user manipulation of selected ones of the virtual Chinese character pieces in the gaming image;

d) configuring the computing terminal to determine if a meaningful Chinese phrase is obtained as a result of user manipulation of the selected ones of the virtual Chinese character pieces; and

e) configuring the computing terminal to generate a gaming output based on the determination made by the computing terminal in step d).

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, the computing terminal being a server capable of communicating with a plurality of user terminals through a communication network, wherein:

in step b), the computing terminal is configured to enable display of the gaming image on the user terminals of participants of the Chinese phrase building game;

in step c), the computing terminal is configured to enable the participants of the Chinese phrase building game to take turns in manipulating the virtual Chinese character pieces in the gaming image; and

in step d), the computing terminal is configured to determine for each turn taken by the participants of the Chinese phrase building game if a meaningful Chinese phrase is obtained.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the Chinese phrase building game is a Chinese shiritori game.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the Chinese phrase building game is a multi-player memory game in which the virtual Chinese character pieces in the gaming image are initially shown face down in step b) and are subsequently shown face up upon user manipulation in step c).

14. An apparatus for Chinese language education, comprising:

a set of Chinese character pieces, each of which is associated with a distinct Chinese character and has the associated distinct Chinese character visibly indicated thereon, each of said Chinese character pieces being provided with a distinct machine-readable identification code corresponding to the associated distinct Chinese character;

a Chinese dictionary database containing a plurality of dictionary entries, each of said dictionary entries corresponding to a respective one of said Chinese character pieces and including information of the distinct Chinese character associated with the respective one of said Chinese character pieces;

an input unit operable for reading the identification code of a selected one of said Chinese character pieces;

a processing unit coupled to said input unit and said Chinese dictionary database, and configured to operate in an educating mode for comparing the identification code read by said input unit with the information stored in said Chinese dictionary database to determine said dictionary entry corresponding to the selected one of said Chinese character pieces; and

an output unit coupled to and controlled by said processing unit to generate an output associated with the information included in said dictionary entry determined by said processing unit to correspond to the selected one of said Chinese character pieces.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the machine-readable identification code is an optical pattern code, and said input unit is an optical reader operable for reading the identification code.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the machine-readable identification code of each of said Chinese character pieces is in a form of a radio-frequency identification tag, and said input unit is a radio-frequency identification reader operable for reading said radio-frequency identification tag.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said output unit includes at least one of an audio output device and a video output device.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said processing unit is further configured to operate in a Chinese phrase building game mode, in which said processing unit

enables, through said output unit, display of a gaming image associated with a Chinese phrase building game, the gaming image including virtual Chinese character pieces, each of which is associated with a corresponding Chinese character,

enables, through said input unit, user manipulation of selected ones of the virtual Chinese character pieces in the gaming image, and

determines if a meaningful Chinese phrase is obtained as a result of user manipulation of the selected ones of the virtual Chinese character pieces, and generates a gaming output accordingly.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein, when said processing unit operates in the educating mode, said processing unit is operable to control said output unit to generate the output associated with the information that is selected from pronunciation of the distinct Chinese character, evolution of a character form of the distinct Chinese character, stroke sequence of the distinct Chinese character, a radical of the distinct Chinese character, meaningful Chinese phrases that include the distinct Chinese character, and combinations thereof.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein each of said Chinese character pieces is a cubic body with six sides provided respectively with the associated distinct Chinese character, at least one image representing the associated distinct Chinese character, and the machine-readable identification code in the form of an optical pattern code.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said image representing the associated distinct Chinese character is selected from a foreign language translation, a pronunciation, and an illustration.