Writing and reading aid system

• US 7,555,713 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2005
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: George Liang Yang
• Original Assignee: George Liang Yang
• Inventors: Yang, George Liang
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Blackwell; James H
• Application Number:
  US11/068,614
• Publication Number:
  US 20060190804A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,589 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/205, 715/234, 715/506, 715/222, 434/178, 705/1, 382/176
• US Class Current: 715/248
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A writing and reading assistant system helps a user to create a structured document and read a document. A structured document contains not only information as an ordinary document does but also properties and rules for holding, organizing and processing corresponding portions of information. The system helps the user as an author to search for information, generate, organize, examine, and modify ideas, to supply details, to examine one'"'"'s writing from various aspects, to revise the writing, to specify information and access methods suitable for different audience, and to create a structured document. Further, the system helps the user as a reader to create and modify structures, define and modify properties and rules, and define and specify display forms, to associate text blocks with corresponding properties and rules, to extract information from an input document, to fill structures with corresponding information, to build various links among structures and display forms, and to display structures.

Claims

1. A system having a CPU and a demonstrating device, a plurality of document types, a plurality of structure templates for modeling a plurality of structures, a plurality of extracting procedures, a plurality of modifying procedures, and a plurality of presenting formats, for helping a reader to read a document efficiently by extracting a plurality of contents from said document, generating a plurality of revised contents by modifying said plurality of contents, and presenting said plurality of revised contents on said demonstrating device with a particular presenting format selected from said plurality of presenting formats, wherein each structure template has a plurality of sub-structure templates and corresponds to a particular document type, wherein each document type corresponds to a particular class of documents categorized according to a plurality of requirements of a plurality of readers, wherein each sub-structure template marks a corresponding content, said system comprising:

means for identifying a document type of said document from said plurality of document types by using at least one method selected from a group comprising source identification, author identification, title identification, topic identification, vocabulary identification, 4WH identification and author specification;

means for determining a particular structure template from said plurality of structure templates according to said document type;

means for building a structure with a plurality of sub-structures by instancing said particular structure template;

means for extracting said plurality of contents from said document according to said plurality of extracting procedures, wherein said plurality of extracting procedures extract information according to a plurality of preferences of said reader;

means for generating a plurality of revised contents by applying said plurality of modifying procedures on said plurality of contents, wherein said plurality of modifying procedures amend information according to said plurality of preferences of said reader;

means for filling said plurality of sub-structures by said plurality of revised contents;

means for organizing said structure into a structured document; and

means for presenting said structure document through said demonstrating device according to said particular presenting format,

whereby said structured document is significantly different from said document with information modified according to said plurality of preferences of said reader; and

whereby said system extracts said plurality of contents from said document by running said plurality of extracting procedures on said CPU, organizes said plurality of contents in said structure, modifying said plurality of contents by said plurality of modifying procedures, and presents said plurality of revised contents on said demonstrating device according to said particular presenting format.

2. The system in claim 1, wherein said document is a regular document, said system further comprising means for removing redundant information, supplying necessary information, hiding some information, and presenting information according to said plurality of preferences, means for analyzing sentence structures, means for identifying meanings of words and phases, means for identifying objects, and means for identifying relations among objects,

wherein said means for analyzing sentence structure further comprises means selected from a group comprising means for searching for background information about said document, means for identifying punctuation marks, means for identifying idioms and phrases, means for identifying special words, means for assigning possibilities to words being particular speech parts, means for extracting a plurality of contents with sentence structure knowledge available, means for identifying sections of a document, means for identifying paragraphs, means for identifying sentences, means for finding out subjects, predicates, adverb modifiers, and noun modifiers, means for analyzing relations among sentences, means for generating topic sentences, means for identifying relations among sections, means for providing interfaces for said reader to assign properties to related text portions, means for extracting information with a specific property, means for providing interface for said reader to extract interesting portions of text manually, and means for linking related sentence structures together.

3. The system in claim 1, wherein said demonstrating device comprises a display device and a speaking device, said system further comprising means for recording a reading process, means for illustrating said reading process through a device selected from a group comprising of said display device and speaking device, means for specifying a particular display sequence, means for specifying said particular presenting format, and means for specifying a particular procedure for a particular sub-structure instance.

4. The system in claim 1, wherein said document is a paper-based document, said system further comprising means for converting said paper-based document into an electronic document, means for separating figures from text, means for convening texts in an image format into a computer readable format, means for examining said structured document from a plurality of aspects, means for presenting said structured document horizontally, and means for presenting said structured document vertically.

5. The system in claim 1, wherein each structure template is associated with a plurality of display procedures, said system further comprising means for said reader to set up said plurality of preferences, a plurality of default values, and a plurality of default procedures, means for setting helping levels, means for modifying a particular display procedure, means for specifying a display sequence, means for specifying preferences, default values, and default procedures on system level and module level in a general session and a particular session.

6. The system in claim 1, said system further comprising means selected from a group comprising means for creating a new structure template, means for displaying all available structure templates associated with a document type, means for modifying an existing structure template, and means for modifying a particular structure.

7. The system in claim 1, said system further comprising means selected from a group comprising means for said reader to specify a particular display format for information contained in a particular sub-structure, means for providing a plurality of questions, means for extracting background information about said document means for extracting background information about said reader, means for said reader to select a text portion and assign it to a particular sub-structure manually, means for help said reader to preview and review, means for saving related information, and means for making use of saved information.

8. The system m claim 1, said system helping said reader to master speed reading skills to increase reading efficiency, said system further comprising means selected from a group comprising means for determining reader'"'"'s familiarity on a subject, means for guiding said reader to relax mentally and physically, means for guiding said reader to survey, means for helping said reader to set up reading purpose and to speculate answers, means for helping said reader to determine a reading strategy, means for guiding said reader to practice speed reading, means for capturing said reader'"'"'s actions, means for checking said reader'"'"'s comprehension, means for adjusting helping levels, and means for helping said reader to evaluate comprehension, estimate progress and review effectiveness of each stage involved in a speed reading process.

9. A system comprising a CPU for assisting a reader to read a structured document efficiently, wherein said structured document is a document containing a plurality of structures, wherein each structure has a plurality of sub-structures for holding a plurality of contents and connecting to a plurality of presentation methods for a plurality categories of readers and for a plurality types of documents, said system comprising:

means for identifying a particular type of documents from said plurality types of documents by extracting related information from said structured document;

means for helping said reader to set up a plurality of preferences for said particular type of documents;

means for determining a particular structure to be built according to said particular type of documents and said plurality of preferences;

means for building said particular structure from said structured document by extracting said plurality of contents and filling each sub-structure by a corresponding content;

means for determining a particular presentation method from said plurality of presentation methods according to said plurality of preferences; and

means for presenting said particular structure according to said particular presentation method,

whereby said system recovers organized information from said structured document and delivers said organized information to said reader according to said plurality of preferences of said reader.

10. The system in claim 9, said system having a plurality types of documents and a plurality of structure templates for each type of documents and for each category of readers said system further comprising

means for specifying a particular target audience and a particular document type;

means for selecting a structure template according to said particular document type and said particular target audience;

means for creating a structure with a plurality of sub-structures according to said structure template and a corresponding plurality of sub-structure templates, wherein said structure inherits a plurality of procedures from said structure template with said plurality of procedures to be run on said CPU to perform a plurality of specific tasks;

means for stimulating ideas to produce a plurality of ideas;

means for organizing said plurality of ideas to produce a plurality of organized ideas;

means for manipulating said plurality of organized ideas to produce a plurality of manipulated ideas;

means for developing a plurality of details for said plurality of manipulated ideas;

means for filling each sub-structure of said structure by a corresponding detail;

means for specifying a particular presentation suggestion for said particular target audience;

means for specifying a plurality of interesting sub-structures from said plurality of sub-structures for said particular target audience;

means for combining said plurality of interesting sub-structures and said particular presentation suggestion into said structured document, wherein said plurality of interesting sub-structures forms a reading structure; and

means selected from a group comprising means for generating said plurality of structures by selecting a plurality of sets of a structure, means for generating said structured document by integrating said plurality of structures and said plurality of presentation suggestions, means for generating a derived sub-structure from a plurality of sub-structures in a same structure, and means for generating a derived sub-structure from a plurality of sub-structures in said plurality of structures,

whereby said system helps examining ideas from various aspects, helps developing details for various target audiences, and helps generating said structured document comprised with various suggesting approaches for guiding said various target audiences to read; and

whereby said reader can access information by following said plurality of presentation suggestions and said reader'"'"'s specific requirements.

11. The system in claim 10, said system connected to a database and the Internet, said system further comprising means for collecting information, organizing information, displaying information, and building connection among information, and means for retrieving information.

12. The system in claim 10, wherein said system is connected to the Internet and a database, said system comprising means for modifying said structure, means for assigning a new property to said structure, means for searching for information from Internet and said database, means for detecting sentence patterns, providing variations, displaying good and bad examples, means for displaying information in various formats, means for examining information systematically, means for examining said structure vertically and horizontally, means for performing grammar analysis, and means for proving advices on editing and revising.

13. The system in claim 9, said system having a display device and a speaking device, said system further comprising means for sharing information, means for splitting information, means for combining information, means for building a new procedure, means for modifying an existing procedure, means for examining information horizontally and vertically, means for displaying information sequentially, means for stimulating ideas, means for organizing a plurality of ideas, and means for manipulating a plurality of organized ideas,

wherein said means for determining a particular presentation method comprises means for determining said particular presentation method according to information contained in said structured document, means for determining said particular presentation method according to preferences of said reader, and means for means for determining said particular presentation method according to both said structured document and said preferences of said reader;

wherein said means for presenting said structure comprise means for displaying said plurality of contents on said display device and means for describing said plurality of contents through said sneaker device;

wherein said means for stimulating ideas comprise means selected from a group comprising means for creating branching and egging, means for creating Venn diagram, means for creating comparison list, means for mapping, means for displaying free association, and means for searching similar items, general items, and specific items;

wherein said means for organizing said plurality of ideas comprise means for displaying said plurality of ideas sequentially, means for displaying said plurality of ideas simultaneously, means for sorting said plurality of ideas according to alphabetical letters, means for sorting said plurality of ideas according to categories; and

wherein said means for manipulating said plurality of organized ideas comprises means for converting an idea to a different one, means for displaying an idea in a different format, means for providing synonyms and antonyms, means for searching for information with several conditions satisfied simultaneously.

14. The system in claim 9, said system comprising a structure template selected from a group comprising a first set and second set, said first set comprising title, thesis statement, foreword, introduction, a plurality of sections with each section having a section header and section statement, a plurality of paragraphs with each paragraph having a topic sentence, a plurality of arguments with each argument associated with a plurality of examples, transition, and conclusion, and postscript;

said second set comprising title, author, thesis statement, ideas, examples, comments, tables, and figures, whereby said system is able to produce a plurality of virtual cards.

15. A system for assisting a reader to read a document efficiently, said system comprising a CPU and a display device, having a plurality of structure templates with each structure template designed for helping a particular target audience to access information from a particular type of documents and associated with a plurality of procedures, wherein said plurality of procedures run on said CPU to perform a plurality of tasks to help said reader to collect information, organize information, and display information, said system comprising:

means for identifying a document type of said document by using at least one item selected from a group comprising document type information contained in said document, source identification, author identification, title identification, topic identification, vocabulary identification, 4WH identification and author specification to select a particular structure template, wherein each document type is categorized according to general reading requirements on a particular class of documents;

means for building a structure according to said particular template, said structure having a plurality of sub-structures to hold a plurality of contents to be extracted from said document;

means for filling said structure by extracting said plurality of contents from said document according to a corresponding procedure;

means for revising said plurality of contents to produce a plurality of modified contents and saving said plurality of modified contents into said plurality of sub-structures; and

means for presenting said plurality of modified contents on said display device,

whereby said system extracts information from said document, modify information, and presents information on said display device to help said reader to read efficiently.

16. The system in claim 15, said system further comprising means for manipulating said structure according to reader'"'"'s preferences to generate a modified structure, means for organizing information according to reader'"'"'s preferences, means for presenting information differently for different readers, means for presenting information differently for a same reader at different stages, means for capturing reader'"'"'s responses, means for providing feedbacks, means for determining helping levels, means for generating questions, providing different explanations, and offering other examples, means for building a new procedure, and means for modifying an existing procedure.

17. The system in claim 15, wherein means for animating said modified structure further comprises means selected from a group comprising a first set of means and a second set of means, wherein said first set of means comprises of means for specifying a display form, means for specifying a plurality of interesting sub-structures, means for specifying a specific presentation format for each interesting sub-structure, and means for specifying a displaying sequence;

wherein said second set of means comprises of means for specifying sentence structures, means for specifying different fonts for different sentence structures, means for displaying information by one selected from a group comprising word clusters, sentences, and paragraphs, means for updating presentation by one selected from a group comprising of internal timer and manual operation, means for flashing important words and phrases, and means for emphasizing important words and phrases by one selected a group comprising different font, different color, underline font, larger font, bold font, italic font, and longer interval.

18. The system in claim 15, said system comprising a speaker device, said system further comprising means for deriving information from said plurality of sub-structures, means for controlling volume, tone, and speed, and means for depicting information with playing function, repeating function, pausing function, forward function, backward function, slowing down function and speeding up function, whereby said system is able to provide animation presentation with tempo controlled by said reader.

19. The system in claim 15, said system further comprising means for identifying human objects and their conversations, means for specifying voice features for each commentator and for each human object, and means for specifying tones and emphasizing words for conversations, whereby said system is able to produce a radio drama according to said document with different people having different voice features.

20. The system in claim 15, said system further comprising means for extracting images from said document, means for generating images for texts, means for making images funnier, means for making images simplifier, means for making images more characteristic, means for linking images to related sub-structure, means for specifying when, where and how to display images, means for associating a particular image with a particular object, means for associating images with a particular event, and means for inserting images into a presentation, whereby said system is able to produce comical effects.