Electronic teaching aid

• US 4,406,626 A
• Filed: 03/29/1982
• Issued: 09/27/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Anderson, Weston A., Gerald M. Fisher
• Original Assignee: Anderson, Weston A., Gerald M. Fisher
• Inventors: Anderson, Weston A., Fisher, Gerald M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Grieb, William H.
• Application Number:
  US06/362,666
• Time in Patent Office: 547 Days
• Field of Search: 434/156, 434/157, 434/169, 434/307, 434/308, 434/314, 434/312, 179/1 SA, 179/1 SM, 179/1 SP, 364/419
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/04 Speaking with audible presentation of the material to be studied G09B5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/065 Combinations of audio and video presentations, e.g. videotapes, videodiscs, television systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

An electronic teaching aid which enables a student viewing a visual display containing text material being read or studied to designate any words or portion of said text for immediate audible vocalization or alternatively to designate any word of said test for immediate visual display of the definition of said designated word.

Claims

1. A visual and auditory display system including means for selecting a passage of text, means responsive to binary electrical signals for displaying said passage of text, means for selecting and designating one word of said passage of text, and means responsive to said selecting and designating means for providing a synthesized audible sounding of said selected and designated one word.

3. Apparatus of claim 1 or 2 further including means for displaying in legible form the definition of said selected and designated one word in response to said selecting and designating means.

2. A visual and auditory display system including:

first electronic means for selecting a passage of text;

second electronic means responsive to binary electrical signals for sending signals to a visual display for displaying said selected passage of text;

means for selecting and designating one word of said passage of text; and

means responsive to said selecting and designating means for providing a synthesized audible sounding of said selected and designated one word.

4. An electronically assisted method for aiding students of a language to learn to read the legible form of said language and to pronounce the spoken form of a language, comprising:

storing a continuous passage of text of said language comprising a plurality of coded words and selectively providing electrical signals representative of a contiguous portion of said plurality of coded words of said continuous passage;

converting said electrical signals representative of said contiguous portion into commands for controlling a visual display;

visually displaying simultaneously all said words of said contiguous portion of said continuous passage in said legible form of said language responsive to said commands; and

providing an audible output substantially immediately responsive to designation by an operator of one of said plurality of words appearing on said visual display, said audible output being a representation of the spoken form of said designated word.

5. The method of claims 4 including providing a definition output substantially immediately responsive to selection and designation for definition by an operator of one of said plurality of words appearing on said visual display.

6. The method of claim 4 including:

providing immediately a definition output of one of said plurality of words appearing on said visual display in a language other than the language visually displayed responsive to selection and designation for definition by an operator.

7. A device for aiding in the teaching of reading and speaking comprising:

bulk memory means for storing a continuous passage of text of a language in a plurality of codes including codes representing the legible and spoken form of said language, said continuous passage comprised of a plurality of words of said language, said means for storage providing upon command electrical output signals representative of selected contiguous words of said continuous passage;

means for converting said electrical signals representative of said contiguous words of said continuous passage into commands, means for visually displaying said contiguous words of said continuous passage in words of said legible form of said language responsive to said commands from said means for converting;

word designator means, said word designator means for selecting one of said contiguous words in any one line of said contiguous words being visually displayed; and

means substantially immediately responsive to said selection by said word designator means for creating an audible output, said audible output being the spoken form of said designated word.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein said continous passage includes code representing the definition of said words of said passage, means for selecting a definition mode, and means for decoding of said definition of said designated word and for causing said definition of said designated word to appear on said visual display substantially immediately following selection.

9. A machine comprising:

means for receiving a stream of coded data representing a page of text in a language having a legible and spoken form, wherein words of said text are represented in a plurality of forms including a first and second form, said first form of said representation of each said word being coded data representing the legible characters of said word and said second form of said representation of said word being coded data representing the sounding of said word, said means for receiving said stream of coded data including means for selecting a segment of said stream of coded data representing a plurality of contiguous words in said text and further including means for identifying the line and word position of each word in each line of said page of text;

memory means for temporarily storing said selected segment of said stream of coded data for each word in said segment, said memory means including means for loading said memory and means for accessing said memory by addressing any word of said selected segment;

means for sequentially retrieving the said first form of said representation of each word in said segment from said temporary memory means;

a decoder, said decoder being connected and responsive to said means for sequentially retrieving the said first form of said representation, said decoder providing an output;

means for causing said output of said decoder to be provided to a visual display means for displaying said segment of said passage;

means for retrieving said second form of said representation of each word in said segment from said temporary storage means;

means for selectively permitting designation for audible sounding of any single word of said segment appearing on said visual display, said means for selectively permitting designation for audible sounding providing the address to said means for retrieving said second form of said representation for retrieving said second form for a said designated word;

an audio synthesizer having an input, said audio synthesizer being coupled to said means for retrieving said second form of said representation of each word; and

means in said audio synthesizer for decoding data in said second form received at its input and for creating an audible output being the audible form of said designated word.

10. A machine comprising:

means for providing a stream of coded data representing a page of written text wherein each word of said text is represented by a plurality of forms, the first form of said representation of said word being coded data representing the spelling of said word and the second form of said representation of said word being coded data representing the speech sounding of said word;

means for selecting a segment of said stream of coded data representing a plurality of continguous words in said written text including means for identifying the line and word number for each word in each line of said segment;

first temporary memory means for storing said selected segment of said stream of coded data including means for storing separately said coded data in said first form and said coded data in said second form for each word in said segment, each said word having an address in said first temporary memory means;

means for storing in a second temporary menory the address in said first temporary memory of each form of said coded data for each word in said segment;

a decoder for generating written text represented by said first form of coded data, said decoder having an input and output;

means for causing coded data for said contiguous words in said first form in said first temporary memory means to be provided to the said input of said decoder;

means for causing the output of said decoder to be sent to a visual display means for displaying said segment of said written text;

means permitting designation of any word of said segment of said written text appearing on said visual display, said means for permitting designation being coupled to said second temporary memory for retrieving the address in said first temporary memory of said coded data in said second form representing the sounding of said designated word;

an audio synthesizer having an input;

means responsive to said retrieved address for retrieving and sending the coded data in said second form at said address in said first temporary memory means to the input of said audio synthesizer; and

means in said audio synthesizer for decoding data in said second form received at its input and creating an audio output being the spoken form of said designated word.

11. The machine of claim 7 or 10 wherein said plurality of forms of representing said passage includes a third form being representative of the definition in legible form of said words, and wherein said machine includes means for selecting a definition mode, means for causing said legible form of said definition of said designated word to appear on said visual display substantially immediately in response to designation of a word.

12. A learning aid comprising:

means for providing a linear stream of coded data representing a written text wherein each frame of said coded data represents a word in a plurality of forms including a first form of said coded data representing the spelling of the word and a second form of said coded data representing the sounding of the word;

means for selecting a segment of said linear stream of coded data representing a plurality of frames from said linear stream;

temporary storage means;

means for loading said segment into said temporary storage including means for separating coded data representing spelling from coded data representing sounding;

and means for storing a segment of said linear stream of coded data including means for separately storing coded data representing spelling and coded data representing sounding and further including means for determining the address of each form of each word in said temporary storage;

a spelling decoder having an input and output for generating characters represented by said spelling code, means for providing said spelling decoder coded data from said temporary storage, a visual display, said visual display being responsive to said decoder output for displaying said segment of said written text;

means permitting designation for audio sounding by an operator of any word of said segment of said written text appearing on said visual display;

means for determining the address in said temporary storage of said coded data representing the sounding of said designated word and means for retrieving from said temporary storage responsive to said address said coded data representing the sounding of said designated word; and

an audio synthesizer for providing an audio sounding of said designated word, said audio synthesizer being responsive to said coded word representing the sounding of said designated word.

13. A visual and auditory display system adopted for cooperating with means for retrieving data indicative of a text from a memory means, said memory means storing said data by binary encoding, said system comprising means for controlling said means for retrieving binary data such that said binary data is converted to electrical binary signals representative of a selected contiguous passage of said text material, means responsive to said electrical binary signals for sending signals to a visual display for displaying said contiguous passage of said text material, means for selecting and designating one word of said contiguous passage of said text material, and means responsive to said selecting and designating means for providing a synthesized audible sounding of said selected and designated one word.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein means for controlling said means for retrieving binary data further includes means to convert binary signals representative of definitions of portions of said text material to electrical binary signals representative of definitions, and means responsive to selecting and designating means for providing a display of the definition of said selected and designated one word.

15. A new method of using digital electronic apparatus to teach students to learn to read and to speak a language comprising:

storing binary data indicative of a continuous passage of text,

selecting and displaying a contiguous passage of said text,

selecting and designating one word of said contiguous passage of said text responsive to instruction from said student, and

providing a synthesized audible output substantially immediately responsive to a speech request from a student, said audible output being a representation of the spoken form of said selected and designated word.

16. The new method of using the digital electronic apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

displaying in legible form the definition of said selected and designated one word substantially immediately responsive to a definition request from said student.

17. A visual and auditory display system comprising:

visual display means responsive to binary data representative of a passage of text for displaying said text;

means for selecting and designating one word of said passage of text;

means responsive to said selecting and designating means for providing an output display in another form of said selected and designated one word.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said output display is a synthesized audible output of the spoken form of said selected and designated word.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said output display includes a visual alphanumeric representation of the definition of said selected and designated one word.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein said output display includes a visual alphanumeric representation of the translation in another written form of another human language of said selected and designated one word.