NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC) EDUCATIONAL DEVICE AND APPLICATION

• US 20140113552A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qirfiraz Siddiqui
• Original Assignee: Qirfiraz Siddiqui
• Inventors: SIDDIQUI, QIRFIRAZ
• Granted Patent: US 9,071,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0056 for use in interrogation, identification or read/write systems record carriers G06K7/00, G06K19/00; for railways B61L3/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus and method of initiating an educational application user interface. One example method of operation may include receiving a near field communication signal from a passive near field tag at an active near field communication device operating an educational application user interface. The passive tags may be used to provide educational segment triggers which offer educational content pertaining to the particular lesson being conducted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating an educational application user interface;

receiving a near field communication signal from a passive near field tag at an active near field communication device operating the educational application user interface;

identifying an information identifier associated with the passive near field tag;

comparing the information identifier to an information identifier stored in memory;

matching the information identifier with a predefined educational information content stored in the memory; and

displaying the predefined educational information content on the educational application user interface via a display associated with the active near field communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory storing the predefined educational information content is located in the active near field communication device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory storing the predefined educational information content is located in a remote application server accessible to the active near field communication device via at least one of a cellular 3G/4G communication standard and a WIFI data communication standard.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined educational information content comprises at least one of an image file, an audio file, a video file and a uniform resource locator (URL) link to the information content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the active near field communication device and the display are included in a battery operated child toy.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the passive near field tag comprises a plurality of passive near field tags placed in a plurality of rods each having a different number of fixed length segments, wherein each individual rod is a different length than all the remaining rods, and wherein each of the plurality of rods has at least one of the plurality of passive near field tags included in its respective rod body, and wherein the passive near field tag of each particular rod is configured to identify a total number of segments of that particular rod.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the active near field communication device is a hand-held instructional pointer device that comprises an active near field receiver antenna in the tip of the pointer device.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configure to initiate an educational application user interface;

a near field receiver configured to receive a near field communication signal from a passive near field tag, and wherein the processor is further configured to

identify an information identifier associated with the passive near field tag,

compare the information identifier to an information identifier stored in memory;

match the information identifier with a predefined educational information content stored in the memory; and

a display configured to display the predefined educational information content on the educational application user interface.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

the memory configured to store the predefined educational information content.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive the predefined educational information content that is located in a remote application server accessible to the transceiver via at least one of a cellular 3G/4G communication standard and a WIFI data communication standard.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the predefined educational information content comprises at least one of an image file, an audio file, a video file and a uniform resource locator (URL) link to the information content.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is a battery operated child toy.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the passive near field tag comprises a plurality of passive near field tags placed in a plurality of rods each having a different number of fixed length segments, wherein each individual rod is a different length than all the remaining rods, and wherein each of the plurality of rods has at least one of the plurality of passive near field tags included in its respective rod body, and wherein the passive near field tag of each particular rod is configured to identify a total number of segments of that particular rod.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed causes a processor to perform:

initiating an educational application user interface;

receiving a near field communication signal from a passive near field tag at an active near field communication device operating the educational application user interface;

identifying an information identifier associated with the passive near field tag;

comparing the information identifier to an information identifier stored in memory;

matching the information identifier with a predefined educational information content stored in the memory; and

displaying the predefined educational information content on the educational application user interface via a display associated with the active near field communication device.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the memory storing the predefined educational information content is located in the active near field communication device.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the memory storing the predefined educational information content is located in a remote application server accessible to the active near field communication device via at least one of a cellular 3G/4G communication standard and a WIFI data communication standard.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the predefined educational information content comprises at least one of an image file, an audio file, a video file and a uniform resource locator (URL) link to the information content.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the active near field communication device and the display are included in a battery operated child toy.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the passive near field tag comprises a plurality of passive near field tags placed in a plurality of rods each having a different number of fixed length segments, wherein each individual rod is a different length than all the remaining rods, and wherein each of the plurality of rods has at least one of the plurality of passive near field tags included in its respective rod body, and wherein the passive near field tag of each particular rod is configured to identify a total number of segments of that particular rod.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the active near field communication device is a hand-held instructional pointer device that comprises an active near field receiver antenna in the tip of the pointer device.