WO2002045051A1

WO2002045051A1 - Device and method of catechetic study utilizing barcodes

Info

Publication number: WO2002045051A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/001600
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yong-Gil Park; Young-Taek Oh
Original assignee: Mt System Korea Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-11-28
Filing date: 2001-09-25
Publication date: 2002-06-06
Also published as: KR20020041683A; AU2001292398A1

Abstract

A catechetic study device includes a barcode reader for reading barcodes expressed in a textbook, a storage portion in which voices corresponding to the barcodes are stored, a voice output portion for outputting the voices stored in the storage portion, and a controller for determining whether, when the barcodes represents a question that requests for an answer, the answer read by the barcode reader is right or wrong, extracting a voice confirming the right answer from the storage portion and outputting the same to the voice output portion. A catechetic study method includes reading barcodes expressed in a textbook by using a barcode reader, outputting pre-stored voices corresponding to the barcodes, reading a barcode corresponding to the answer by using the barcode reader if the barcodes represent a question that requests for an answer, and outputting a voice confirming that the barcode is a right answer.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD OF CATECHETIC STUDY UTILIZING

BARCODES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device and method of catechetic

study, and more particularly, to a device and method of studying

language in an interactive or catechetic manner.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventional approaches to teach infants or children basic

language and numerical systems and logical thinking include parents'

verbally reading books for their children or solving some questions

together with their children, visiting instructors' teaching children

regularly using printed materials, and so on.

The conventional teaching methods have several drawbacks,

including a necessity of an instructor staying with a learner for the

whole period of repetitive learning cycles.

Specifically, in a language learning process, it is quite important

for a learner to repeatedly hear the pronunciation of a speaker who is

proficient in the language to be learned by the learner. Currently,

unilateral language education using language tapes, repeated education by a speaker who is proficient in the language intended to learn, and

the like, are widely adopted.

However, the conventional methods are severely restricted by time

and place and cost a great deal. Also, it is not so easy to arrange

correctly pronouncing speakers for more efficient language education.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the problems encountered with the prior art, it is an

object of the present invention to provide a device and method of

catechetic study utilizing barcodes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a study

device and method by which a textbook can be studied in a multilingual

manner.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a study

device and method by which a textbook or educational contents can be

easily obtained at low cost.

To solve the above objects, there is provided a catechetic study

device utilizing barcodes including a barcode reader for reading

barcodes expressed in a textbook; a storage portion in which voices

corresponding to the barcodes are stored, a voice output portion for

outputting the voices stored in the storage portion, and a controller for determining whether if the barcodes represents a question that requests

for an answer, the answer read by the barcode reader is right or wrong

extracting a voice confirming the right answer from the storage portion

and outputting the same to the voice output portion.

Preferably, the catechetic study device further includes a

language selection portion for selecting a particular language from the

voices stored in the storage portion according to kinds of languages.

Alternatively, the present invention provides a catechetic study

method utilizing barcodes including the steps of reading barcodes

expressed in a textbook by means of a barcode reader, outputting voices

corresponding to the barcodes, the voices pre-stored in a storage

portion, if the barcodes represent a question that requests for an

answer, reading a barcode corresponding to the answer by means of the

barcode reader, and outputting a voice confirming that the barcode is a

right answer or not.

Preferably, the catechetic study method according to the present

invention further includes the steps of pre-storing voices in the storage

portion according to kinds of languages and pre-selecting a language for

the voice to be output.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above objects and advantages of the present invention will

become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments

thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a catechetic study device

utilizing barcodes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a catechetic study method utilizing

barcodes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a textbook having barcodes expressed therein

according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a textbook having barcodes expressed therein

according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be

described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a catechetic study device

utilizing barcodes according to an embodiment of the present invention,

in which a study device 20 reads barcodes 11 expressed in a textbook

10 and outputs a voice.

Referring to the drawing, the study device 20 includes a barcode

reader 21 reading the barcodes 11 expressed in the textbook 10, a storage portion 22 in which voices are stored, a voice output portion 24

for outputting voices, and a controller 26 for controlling these elements.

The study device 20 may further include a communication portion 28.

The textbook 10 may take the form of a printed book, a file

recorded on a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) or a material

output from a file transferred by accessing a server through a network

such as Internet by a personal computer, the file printed using an

output device such as a printer.

The contents of the textbook 10 may consist of a simple sentence,

picture, photograph and the like as indicated by numbers 31 and 32

shown in FIG. 3. Otherwise, as indicated by numbers 41, 42 and 43

shown FIG. 4, the contents of the textbook 10 may consist of questions

and answers.

The barcodes 11 expressed in the textbook 10 are used to

represent data keys accessing databases containing information. The

barcodes 11 are constructed such that a series of information can be

optically read with ease by combination of characters and numbers

using lines having different thickness. The educational contents stored

in the storage portion 22 can be easily extracted by categorizing

numbers represented by barcodes according to regions, as will be

described later. For example, the barcodes can be categorized by a region indicating existence of questions, a region indicating storage list

numbers of databases, a region indicating answers to the questions,

and so on.

Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the barcodes are expressed at a place

near a sentence to be read. If a learner reads barcodes 35 using a

barcode reader, the study device 20 outputs the educational contents

corresponding to the read barcodes as sound or voice.

Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the barcodes 35 can represent

questions 45 or answers 45b, 45c and 35d.

The barcode reader 21 optically perceives barcodes expressed in a

textbook, converts the same into an electrical signal and transmits the

electrical signal to the controller 26. In general, a barcode reader is

constituted by an optical system unit for scanning light onto a symbol

and detecting the scanned light, and a decoder unit for converting the

electrical signal received from the optical system unit into data. That is,

the barcode reader converts optically expressed barcodes into data.

The storage portion 22 stores educational contents corresponding

to the barcodes, and may be a general memory device such as a flash

memory or a hard disk drive (HDD). The educational contents stored

in the storage portion 22 are stored in the form of voice or text,

preferably in the form of a database. The voice output portion 24 outputs the educational contents

stored in the storage portion 22 as sound. The voice output portion 24

may include a DAC for converting a digital signal into an analog signal,

an amplifier for amplifying signals, a speaker or earphone port for

outputting the signals.

The language selection portion 27, including a language display

unit in which options for Korean, English, Japanese and so on are

available, allows a learner to select one or more desired languages. If a

language is selected by the language selection portion 27, data stored in

the corresponding language among the voices stored in the storage

portion 22 according to kinds of languages, is output as voice.

The communication portion 28 communicates for receiving

educational contents or textbook contents stored in the storage portion

22 through a computer or network. The communication portion 28

can access to a server 80 through a network 70 to receive data

including a textbook and educational contents for the study device 20.

Also, the communication portion 28 includes an interface capable of

communicating with a computer, e.g., a USB port or RS232C serial port,

to be connected with the network 70 through a computer 60, and can

receive data including a textbook or educational contents from the

server 80. The controller 26 controls the barcode reader 21, the storage

portion 22, the voice output portion 24, the language selection portion

27 and the communication portion 28.

If the barcodes expressed in the textbook 10 by means of the

barcode reader 21 of the study device, the controller 26 checks whether

the educational contents corresponding to the read barcodes are stored

in the storage portion 22 to extract the educational contents Here, if a

particular language has been selected by the language selection portion

22, the controller 26 outputs an appropriate voice among the

educational contents stored in the storage portion 22 through the voice

output portion 24.

If the read barcodes is data representing a question, input of

barcodes corresponding to an answer to the question is waited or a

voice requesting a learner for barcode input is output. If the read

barcodes represent a right answer, a voice informing that the input

barcodes represent a right answer is output to then proceed to a next

question. If the read barcodes represent a wrong answer, a voice

informing that the barcodes represent a wrong answer is output and

then selection of barcodes representing a right answer is waited.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a catechetic study method utilizing

barcodes according to an embodiment of the present invention A U l

learner acquires a textbook having barcodes expressed therein so as to

study in a catechetic manner by means of the study device 20 (step

SI 00). The acquisition methods of the textbook include purchasing a

published book. Alternatively, the study device 20 may receive a

textbook transferred by accessing to the server 80 through the network

70, e.g., Internet, and prints the transferred textbook to an output

device such as a printer.

The educational contents corresponding to the textbook are

stored in the storage portion 22 of the study device 20 (step S101). The

educational contents can be stored in the storage portion 22 after

accessing to the server 80 through the network 70, followed by receiving

the educational contents by the communication portion 28.

The learner may select his/her preferred language from the

language selection portion 27 (step SI 02). The language selection

portion 27 selects the voice of a language selected from the storage

portion 22 among the educational contents corresponding to the

barcodes to be output.

The barcodes expressed in the textbook are read by the barcode

reader 21 to then be input to the controller 70 (step SI 04). Among the educational contents corresponding to the input

barcodes, an appropriate voice is extracted from the storage portion 22

to be output as voice through the voice output portion 24 (step SI 06).

It is determined whether the read barcodes represent a question

or not (step SI 08). If not, next barcodes are read to study another

sentence (step SI 04).

Otherwise, if the read barcodes represent a question that requests

for an answer, the answer to the corresponding question is read (step

SI 10).

It is determined whether the read answer is right or wrong (step

SI 14). If right, a voice confirming a right answer is output through the

voice output portion 24 (step SI 16), and then it is determined whether

there remain barcodes to be read (step SI 18). If there are barcode to

be read, next barcodes are read to study another sentence (step SI 04).

However, if there is no barcode to be read, the process is completed.

On the other hand, if the read barcodes do not represent a right

answer in the step SI 14, the fact that the read barcodes represent a

wrong answer is indicated (step SI 12) and then barcodes for selection of

a right answer are read (step SI 10).

For the sake of convenient explanation, the present invention has

been described in context with voice output from a study device. However, various modifications and changes may be made to catechetic

study devices and methods utilizing barcodes within the spirit and

scope of the present invention. For example, a device for outputting

characters or the like on a screen such as a liquid crystal display (LCD)

may be provided in a study device, thereby displaying a voice generating

signal on the screen. Therefore, it is intended that the present

invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the

best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention, but that

the present invention includes all embodiments falling within the scope

of the appended claims.

According to a catechetic study device utilizing barcodes of the

present invention, a user can learn one and the same sentence by an

audio-visual manner in multiple languages.

In contrast with the conventional study device in which sentences

to be learned are simply read by an instructor who fluently speaks a

language to be learned by a learner, the catechetic study device

according to the present invention allows a learner to study in an

interactive or catechetic manner such that a question is read verbally

and, when the learner selects an answer, correction of the answer is

notified verbally to the learner, thereby arousing the learner's interest in

study and enhancing a learning efficiency. Also, since the educational contents or textbook to be printed is

transferred through a computer or network to be used during study,

thereby saving the cost and time required for study.

The present invention has been described in detail. However, it

should be understood that the detailed description and specific

examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are

given by way of illustration only, since various changes and

modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become

apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A catechetic study device utilizing barcodes comprising:

a barcode reader for reading barcodes expressed in a textbook;

a storage portion in which voices corresponding to the barcodes

are stored;

a voice output portion for outputting the voices stored in the

storage portion; and

a controller for determining whether, when the barcodes

represents a question that requests for an answer, the answer read by

the barcode reader is right or wrong, extracting a voice confirming the

right answer from the storage portion and outputting the same to the

voice output portion.

2. The catechetic study device according to claim 1, further

comprising a language selection portion for selecting a particular

language from the voices stored in the storage portion according to

kinds of languages.

3. The catechetic study device according to claim 1 or 2,

further comprising a communication portion which communicates for receiving educational contents or textbook contents stored in the

storage portion through a computer or network.

4. A catechetic study method utilizing barcodes comprising

the steps of:

reading barcodes expressed in a textbook by means of a barcode

reader;

outputting voices corresponding to the barcodes, the voices

pre-stored in a storage portion;

when the barcodes represent a question that requests for an

answer, reading a barcode corresponding to the answer by means of the

barcode reader; and

outputting a voice confirming that the barcode is a right answer

or not.

5. The catechetic study method according to claim 4, further

comprising the steps of:

pre-storing voices in the storage portion according to kinds of

languages; and

pre-selecting a language for the voice to be output.

6. The catechetic study method according to claim 4 or 5,

further comprising the step of receiving a voice to be stored in the

storage portion through a computer or network. ^•

7. The catechetic study method according to claim 6, further

comprising the steps of:

receiving the textbook from a computer or network; and

outputting the received textbook as a printed material.