Electronic book educational publishing method using buried reference materials and alternate learning levels
First Claim
1. A method for compiling information for presentation on a monitor or through a voice synthesizer, comprising the steps of:
- providing a first set of information requiring a first level of comprehension;
dividing said first set of information into first discrete subsets;
providing a second set of information, corresponding to said first set of information, having a second level of comprehension;
dividing said second set of information into second discrete subsets corresponding to said first discrete subsets;
indexing each of said first subsets to a corresponding one of said second subsets to accommodate switching between said subsets by a user of said monitor or voice synthesizer;
encoding said information on a magnetic tape as an analog sine wave with each half-cycle amplitude modulated to represent a data bit, said sets of information being on a first track of said tape and control signals for said indexing being on a second track of said tape;
converting said analog signal on a portion of said tape into an electrical signal;
converting said electrical signal into a series of digital bits;
storing said digital bits in a buffer;
converting said digital bits into a format representing characters; and
displaying said characters on said monitor.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for compiling and presenting educational material on an electronic book is disclosed. A set of information requiring a first level of comprehension is created at a terminal or provided from a pre-existing data base. The set of information is examined for words which require a higher level of comprehension. Different types of explanatory information are created for such words and are tagged to the words so that they can be immediately called up when the word is later presented. The compiled first set of information at a first level of comprehension is a first modality. Additional modalities at different levels of comprehension or simply adjusted for different learning styles are also prepared. Each modality is cross-indexed to the other modality at a conceptual meaning level. The conceptual meaning level can be roughly a paragraph long block. The electronic book uses analog storage on a magnetic tape. A magnetic tape is a tape drive mechanism stores textual material of a book in the form of encoded analog signals. The tape reader provides an analog electrical signal which is fed to an analog-to-digital converter for conversion into a digital data stream. A digital buffer capable of storing an amount of data corresponding to at least several pages of text, but not the entire book, is provided. A display coupled to the digital buffer displays a page of textual data from said buffer at any one time. A controller responsive to user input signals advances the tape and replaces the data stored in the buffer with new data to advance through pages of the book. A speech synthesizer may be used in place of the display for visually impaired users.
182 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method for compiling information for presentation on a monitor or through a voice synthesizer, comprising the steps of:
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providing a first set of information requiring a first level of comprehension; dividing said first set of information into first discrete subsets; providing a second set of information, corresponding to said first set of information, having a second level of comprehension; dividing said second set of information into second discrete subsets corresponding to said first discrete subsets; indexing each of said first subsets to a corresponding one of said second subsets to accommodate switching between said subsets by a user of said monitor or voice synthesizer; encoding said information on a magnetic tape as an analog sine wave with each half-cycle amplitude modulated to represent a data bit, said sets of information being on a first track of said tape and control signals for said indexing being on a second track of said tape; converting said analog signal on a portion of said tape into an electrical signal; converting said electrical signal into a series of digital bits; storing said digital bits in a buffer; converting said digital bits into a format representing characters; and displaying said characters on said monitor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for compiling information for presentation on a monitor or through a voice synthesizer comprising the steps of:
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providing a first set of information; selecting elements of said first set of information for further explanation; providing a set of explanatory information for any selected element of information in said first set of information; indexing each set of explanatory information to the corresponding element of information in said first set of information to accommodate switching between said element of information and said explanatory information by a user, whereby only said first set of information is presented to said user unless there is a switch between said element of information and said explanatory information by said user; encoding said information on a magnetic tape as an analog sine wave with each half-cycle amplitude modulated to represent a data bit, said sets of information being on a first track of said tape and control signals for said indexing being on a second track of said tape; converting said analog signal on a portion of said tape into an electrical signal; converting said electrical signal into a series of digital bits; storing said digital bits in a buffer; converting said digital bits into a format representing characters; and displaying said characters on said monitor. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification