Interactive multimedia virtual classes requiring small online network bandwidth

• US 6,381,444 B1
• Filed: 07/12/2000
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Alok, Roychowdhury, Atrayee, Murthy, Sreerama K, Ananthanaratanan, Rema, Sridhar, Satuloori, Kummamuru, Krishna, Modani, Natwar, Mittal, Parul A, Bansal, Vipul
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOSSER, KATHLEEN MICHELE
• Application Number:
  US09/614,420
• Time in Patent Office: 657 Days
• Field of Search: 434/350, 434/322, 434/323, 434/236
• US Class Current: 434/350
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip

Abstract

A system for implementing a virtual class and distance education via a computer network is disclosed. The process carried out by the system involves receiving signals from one or more instructor entities, the signals including lesson material designated as belonging to one or more interest groups. The lesson material is sent in advance to student entities listed in one or more of the interest groups to which the lesson material is designated as belonging. Signals from one or more student entities are received requesting admission to a particular class and instructions are sent to student entities to control the display and execution of the lesson material. Interaction amongst student entities, or between student entities and instructor entities, are facilitated and moderated.

Claims

1. A method for distance education via a computer network comprising the steps of:

receiving signals from one or more instructor entities, the signals including lesson material, the lesson material designated as belonging to one or more interest groups;

sending when network usage is low all relevant and in lesson material in advance of a scheduled class time to student entities listed in one or more of the interest groups to which the lesson material is designated as belonging;

receiving signals from one or more student entities requesting admission to a particular class; and

sending instructions to student entities to control the display and excution of the lesson material.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further step of:

receiving signals from one or more student entities, the signals expressing interest to attend virtual classes of one or more particular categories.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing interest groups, the interest groups including names of students interested in a particular category.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving instructions from one or more instructor entities to remotely control the display and execution of the lesson material.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signals received from one or more instructor entities include scheduled dates and times for virtual classes.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

receiving questions from one or more student entities;

forwarding the questions to one or more instructor entities;

receiving responses from one or more instructor entities; and

sending the responses to one or more student entities.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the questions are voice based.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the questions are text based.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the questions are video based.

10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the responses are voice based.

11. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the responses are text based.

12. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the responses are video based.

13. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the responses are instructions to control the display and execution of the lesson material.

14. The method as claimed in claim 5, comprising the further step of:

sending notification messages about virtual classes to student entities in an interest group for which a virtual class is scheduled.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

encrypting the lesson material sent to said student entities; and

transmitting to the student entities a decryption key to activate the lesson material.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, comprising the further step of:

controlling activation of the lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending decryption keys.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

receiving requests from student entities for a class to be held at a particular time; and

scheduling of the virtual class so that timetabling constraints of student and instructor entities are met.

18. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further step of:

controlling activation of lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending control commands that require low bandwidth.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further steps of:

interacting by a student entity with at least one of the instructor and student entities by sending and receiving voice, text, graphics or control commands.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the interacting step is facilitated by a computer server.

21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the interacting step is moderated by a computer server.

22. The method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the further step of:

charging the student on a per-usage basis for accessing the lesson material.

23. An apparatus for distance education via a computer network comprising:

means for receiving signals from one or more instructor entities, the signals including lesson material, the lesson material designated as belonging to one or more interest groups;

means for sending when network usage is low all relevant and in lesson material in advance of a scheduled class time to student entities listed in one or more of the interest groups to which the lesson material is designated as belonging;

means for receiving signals from one or more student entities requesting admission to a particular class; and

means for sending instructions to student entities to control the display and execution of the lesson material.

24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving signals from one or more student machines, the signals expressing interest to attend virtual classes of one or more particular categories.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for storing interest groups, the interest groups including names of student entities interested in a particular category.

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving instructions from one or more instructor entities to remotely control the display and execution of lesson material.

27. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein the signals received from one or more instructor entities include scheduled dates and times for virtual classes.

28. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving questions from one or more student entities;

means for forwarding the questions to one or more instructor entities;

means for receiving responses from one or more instructor entities; and

means for sending the responses to one or more student entities.

29. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving questions is adapted to receive voice based questions.

30. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving questions is adapted to receive text based questions.

31. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving questions is adapted to receive video based questions.

32. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving responses is adapted to receive voice based responses.

33. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving responses is adapted to receive text based responses.

34. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving responses is adapted to receive video based responses.

35. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein the means for receiving responses is adapted to receive responses which are instructions to control the display and execution of the lesson material.

36. The apparatus as claimed in claim 27, further comprising:

means for sending notification messages about virtual classes to student entities in an interest group for which a virtual class is scheduled.

37. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for encrypting the lesson material to be sent to said student entities; and

means for transmitting to the student entities a decryption key to activate the lesson material.

38. The apparatus as claimed in claim 37, further comprising:

means for controlling activation of the lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending decryption keys.

39. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for receiving requests from student entities for a class to be held at a particular time; and

means for scheduling the class so that timetabling constraints of student and instructor entities are met.

40. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for controlling release of lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending control commands that require low bandwidth.

41. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for enabling interaction by a student entity with at least one of the instructor and student entities by sending and receiving voice, text, graphics or control commands.

42. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the means for enabling interaction is implemented by a computer server.

43. The apparatus as claimed in claim 41, wherein the means for enabling interaction is adapted so as to be moderated by a computer server.

44. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, further comprising:

means for charging the student on a per-usage basis for accessing the lesson material.

45. A computer program having a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code means embodied therein for distance education via a computer network, said computer program product comprising:

computer readable program code means for receiving signals from one or more instructor entities, the signals including lesson material, the lesson material designated as belonging to one or more interest groups;

computer readable program code means for sending when network usage is low all relevant and in lesson material in advance of a scheduled class time to student entities listed in one or more of the interest groups to which the lesson material is designated as belonging;

computer readable program code means for receiving signals from one or more student entities requesting admission to a particular class; and

computer readable program code means for sending instructions to student entities to control the display and execution of the lesson material.

46. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for receiving signals from one or more student machines, the signals expressing interest to attend virtual classes of one or more particular categories.

47. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for storing interest groups, the interest groups including names of student entities interested in a particular category.

48. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for receiving instructions from one or more instructor entities to remotely control the display and execution of lesson material.

49. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the signals received from one or more instructor entities include scheduled dates and times for virtual classes.

50. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for receiving questions from student entities;

computer readable program code means for forwarding the questions to one or more instructor entities;

computer readable program code means for receiving responses from one or more instructor entities; and

computer readable program code means for sending the responses to one or more student entities.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving questions is adapted to receive voice based questions.

52. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving questions is adapted to receive text based questions.

53. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving questions is adapted to receive video based questions.

54. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving responses is adapted to receive voice based responses.

55. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving responses is adapted to receive text based responses.

56. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving responses is adapted to receive video based responses.

57. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the computer readable program code means for receiving responses is adapted to receive responses which are instructions to control the display and execution of the lesson material.

58. The computer program product of claim 49, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for sending notification messages about virtual classes to student entities in an interest group for which a virtual class is scheduled.

59. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for encrypting the lesson material to be sent to said student entities; and

computer readable program code means for transmitting to the student entities a decryption key to activate the lesson material.

60. The computer program product of claim 59, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for controlling activation of the lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending decryption keys.

61. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for receiving requests from student entities for a class to be held at a particular time; and

computer readable program code means for scheduling the class so that timetabling constraints of student and instructor entities are met.

62. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for controlling release of lesson material possessed by the student entities by sending control commands that require low bandwidth.

63. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for enabling interaction by a student entity with at least one of the instructor and student entities by sending and receiving voice, text, graphics or control commands.

64. The computer program product of claim 63, wherein the computer readable program code means for enabling interaction is implemented by a computer server.

65. The computer program product of claim 63, wherein the computer readable program code means for enabling interaction is adapted so as to be moderated by a computer server.

66. The computer program product of claim 45, further comprising:

computer readable program code means for charging the student on a per-usage basis for accessing the lesson material.