AU2010100297A4

AU2010100297A4 - Printed medium and publishing method

Info

Publication number: AU2010100297A4
Application number: AU2010100297A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Alexander Pantelic
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2010-03-31
Filing date: 2010-03-31
Publication date: 2010-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 2018-03-31

Description

P/00/012 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Invention Title: "PRINTED MEDIUM AND PUBLISHING METHOD" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 1 TITLE PRINTED MEDIUM AND PUBLISHING METHOD FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 The present invention relates to a printed medium and publishing method. In particular, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to a printed medium comprising one or more indicia associated with recorded audio and a publishing method in which one or more indicia associated with recorded audio may be positioned on a printed medium. 10 BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Conventional publishing is limited to text and printed media. These conventional media are not engaging or interactive. With an increasing exposure to multi-media and interactive media there is a very real need to 15 offer more than mere text based media. Accordingly, there remains a need for additional printed media and publishing methods. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to overcome and/or alleviate one or 20 more of the above disadvantages and/or provide the consumer with a useful or commercial choice. Further objects will be evident from the following description.

2 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventor has discovered a novel and innovative printed media and publishing method. Significantly, the printed media and publishing method combine printed material with recorded audio and/or the ability to add 5 recorded audio. In some embodiments the invention combines printed material with pre-recorded audio, while in other embodiments the invention combines a printed medium or printed material with the ability for a user to record their own audio. In a first form, although it need not be the only, or indeed the broadest 10 form, the invention resides in a printed medium comprising one or more indicia associated with recorded audio wherein the recorded audio comprises information about the printed medium. The printed medium according to the first form may be a photo album wherein the one or more indicia are associated with one or more photo 15 displayed in the photo album. The printed medium according to the first form may be a map wherein the one or more indicia are associated with printed information on the map. The map may be a zoo map. The printed medium according to the first form may be a card or swap 20 card wherein the one or more indicia are associated with the entity displayed on the swap card. The printed medium according to the first form may be a diary wherein the one or more indicia are associated with the events in the diary. The printed medium according to the first form may be a book wherein 3 the one or more indicia are associated with printed matter in the book. The printed matter may be answers and/or questions. The answers may be pre-recorded or may be recorded by a user for review by a reviewer. 5 In a second form the invention provides a publishing method including: providing one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio; providing one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback 10 device to stop recording audio; and providing one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record playback device to play the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia. The second form may also include a step of providing at least one 15 record-playback device comprising a scanner able to detect paired start indicia, stop indicia and paired playback indicia. The second form may also include a step of providing at least one printed medium. In a third form the invention resides in a printed medium comprising: 20 a plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to play the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia.

4 In a fourth form the invention resides in a kit comprising: one or more printed medium; and a plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that 5 signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to play the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia. The third and fourth forms may also comprise at least one record playback device comprising a scanner able to detect paired start indicia, stop 10 indicia and paired playback indicia. The printed medium according to the second, third or fourth form may be a photo album, a map, a swap card, a diary or a book. The map may be a zoo map. The swap card may comprise one or more indicia associated with the 15 entity displayed on the swap card. The entity may be an athlete, a cartoon character and/or a character in a game. The athlete may be a football player. The book may comprise one or more indicia associated with printed 20 matter in the book. The printed matter may be answers and/or questions. The answers may be pre-recorded or may be recorded by a user for review by a reviewer. The one or more indicia may be associated with recorded audio for 5 the wholly or partly recorded book. The one or more indicia according to any of the first, second, third or fourth forms may comprise stick-on indicia. When the printed medium is a book and the one or more indicia are 5 stick-on, the stick-on indicia may be stuck in a position associated with the question and reviewed by a reviewer. The recorded audio may be in any language such as, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Italian, Greek, German, French, Croatian, Russian and Hindi. 10 The record-playback device may take the form of a pen or wand. Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 15 To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect preferred embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts and wherein: 20 FIG. 1. shows one embodiment of the method of the invention; FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the method of the invention; FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a device according to the invention; 6 FIGS. 4 - 9 show various embodiments of printed matter according to the invention; and FIG. 10 shows one embodiment of a sticker sheet comprising indicia according to the invention. 5 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The inventor has provided a novel and innovative printed medium and a publishing method. The invention makes use of recorded audio and indicia associated with the recorded audio. 10 The present invention makes great use of a multi media format to be engaging to all age groups and is therefore of significant appeal in today's marketplace. In one embodiment the invention provides a publishing method. As used herein "publishing" means to issue printed or otherwise reproduced 15 textual or graphic material, etc. for sale or distribution to the public. FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of publishing method 100 in which at step 110 one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio is provided. In step 120 one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback 20 device to stop recording audio is provided. In step 130 one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record playback device to play or playback the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia is provided. That is, the start indicia are paired with the playback indicia.

7 FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the method 200 of the invention in which at step 240 the record-playback device 300 is provided. Record playback device 300 is described below in relation to FIG. 3. The steps of methods 100, 200 may be performed in any order. 5 The indicia of the invention may be stick-on indicia that can be stuck in any desirable position. The indicia may be in the form of data dots. The data dots may be printed data dots. Preferably, the indicia are labeled to indicate the type of indicia, e.g. a 10 start indicia may be labeled with an "R" to indicate scanning with device 300 will initiate recording; and a stop indicia may be labeled with "STOP" to indicate scanning with device 300 will stop recording. Although it may be preferable to provide paired playback indicia without a label, they may also be labeled for example, "PLAY" or "PLAYBACK". 15 The paired start and playback indicia may be provided in a manner to indicate that they are paired such as, by providing them adjacent to each other or labeling them with the same symbol or same type of symbol for example, 1, 2, 3, etc. When provided adjacent to each other the paired start indicia may be provided immediately above the paired playback indicia. 20 When labeled with a symbol, the symbol may be part of a sequence to indicate the sequence in which the recorded audio should be played, e.g. in order of "1'", then "2", then "3" etc. FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of the record-playback device 300 which may be used in method 100, 200 to scan the indicia and record and 8 play audio. Device 300 comprises sensor 302; on/off control 304; volume controls 306, 308; speaker 310; headphone input 312; connection port 314; memory 316; power source 318; and microphone 320. 5 Sensor 302 is an infra-red (IR) sensor that reads the indicia and signals device 300 to take the appropriate action depending on the type of indicia scanned and detected. When sensor 302 detects a start indicia, device 300 uses microphone 320 to record detected audio. The detected audio may be a user's voice, 10 ambient music or ambient sound. The recorded audio may be stored electronically such as in .mp3. and/or .wav format. The recorded audio may be spoken word, music or any other sound detected by microphone 320. 15 The recorded audio may be in any language such as, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Italian, Greek, German, French, Croatian, Russian and Hindi. When sensor 302 detects a stop indicia, device 300 stops recording. When sensor 302 detects a playback indicia, device 300 plays 20 recorded audio associated with that playback indicia. As mentioned above a start indicia may be paired with a playback indicia such that scanning the paired playback indicia initiates playback of the audio recorded when triggered by the paired start indicia. Sensor 302 is an infrared (IR) sensor, however other suitable type of 9 sensor may be used. On/off control 304 is pressed to turn device 300 off and on. Volume control 306 is used to turn the volume of speaker 310 up and volume control 308 is used to turn the volume of speaker 310 down. 5 Speaker 310 is used to play or playback the recorded audio. Headphones may be inserted into headphone input 312 and then used to listen to the recorded audio. Connection port 314 is used to connect to a computer or other device for transferring recorded audio or other data from or to device 300. 10 Memory 316 is a 1 GB mini SD card used to store the recorded audio and other data. The mini SD card is removable. In other embodiments memory 316 may comprise an integrated memory such as flash memory or any other suitable type of memory. Memory 316 may be of any size such as, 1 GB, 2BG, 5GB, 10GB, 15 20GB or 50GB. The other data may be software for running device 300, software for connecting to a computer or other device or software for connecting to and or interacting with a peripheral device. Power source 318 is two (2) AAA batteries. The batteries may be 20 rechargeable or disposable. In other embodiments the power source may be a rechargeable battery pack which may be integral to device 300. Microphone 320 is used to detect and record audio. Based on the teaching herein a skilled person is readily able to select a suitable 10 microphone. Device 300 comprises a case 301 made from moulded plastic. Based on the disclosure herein a skilled person is readily able to select other suitable materials for the case of device 300 such as, aluminium or wood. 5 Device 300 is shown to have the form of a pen. In other embodiments device 300 has the form of a wand. As shown in FIG. 4 the invention also provides a printed medium 400 comprising one or more indicia 402 associated with recorded audio wherein the recorded audio comprises information about printed medium 400 or 10 information on the material 404 contained in printed medium 400. As shown in FIG. 4, material 404 may be text or graphic. The printed medium 400 may take any of a variety of forms such as a photo album, a map, a swap card, a diary or a book, as described below with reference to FIGS. 5-9, respectively. 15 One or more indicia 402 is associated with recorded audio in that scanning one or more indicia 402 with device 300 causes the associated recorded audio to be played by device 300. As shown in FIG. 5, in one embodiment printed medium 400 is a photo album 500 wherein the one or more indicia 502 is associated with one 20 or more photo 504 displayed in photo album 500. As shown in FIG. 6 the printed medium 400 may be a map 600 wherein the one or more indicia 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 612, 616, 622 are associated with information on map 600. The information on map 600 may be information for navigating map 600 or information such as, performance 11 times, train or bus timetables. The map 600 may be a zoo may and one or more indicia 616 may be associated with animal sounds and/or educational facts on animals on display at the zoo. FIG. 7 shows that printed medium 400 may take the form of a card or 5 swap card 700 wherein one or more indicia 702, 706, 708, 710 are playback indicia associated with the entity 704 displayed on swap card 700. The entity embodied on swap card 700 may be for example, an athlete, a cartoon character and a character in a game. The athlete may be a football player. 10 FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which printed medium 400 is a diary 800 wherein one or more indicia 802 are associated with events in diary 800. As shown in FIG. 9 the printed medium 400 may be a book 900 wherein the one or more indicia 902, 906, 908, 910, 912 comprise indicia associated with printed matter 904 in book 900. 15 Book 900 may comprise one or more question and indicia 906 associated with audio containing an answer to the one or more question. Book 900 may also comprise start indicia 908 allowing a user to record answers for review by another. The invention also provides a printed medium comprising a plurality of 20 indicia, the plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to playback the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia.

12 Additionally the invention provides a kit comprising: one or more printed medium; and a plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that 5 signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to playback the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia. The kit may comprise the printed medium 400, photo album 500, map 600, card 700, diary 800 and/or book 900 in combination with indicia sheet 10 1000. The kit may also comprise instructions for use. The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the following examples. EXAMPLES 15 EXAMPLE 1 PHOTO ALBUM Photo album 500 shown in FIG. 5 may be provided with indicia sheet 1000 shown in FIG. 10. To record audio, sensor 320 of device 300 is touched to and along part or all or all of start indicia 1010. Once the start 20 indicia 1010 has been scanned device 300 records an audio file containing any detected audio such as, the user's voice, ambient music or ambient sound. In this example of a photo album 500 the detected audio is a description of photo 504 to be included in album 500. To stop recording a stop indicia 1014 is scanned with device 300.

13 To play the recorded audio device 300 is touched to and along part or all of paired playback indicia 1012 associated with the recording of photo 502. Paired playback indicia 1012 is provided as a removable sticker so 5 that it can be removed from indicia sheet 1000 and applied adjacent photo 504. When paired playback indicia 1012 is placed in album 500 it becomes indicia 502. This way whenever photo 504 is viewed, device 300 may be used to listen to the audio file recorded to describe it. EXAMPLE 2 10 MAPS As shown in FIG. 6, map 600 is of a zoo and contains printed representations of the flags of Australia 602, China 604, Japan 606, Germany 608, France 610 and Italy 612. The language a user wishes to use may be set by touching scanner to and along part or all of one of flags 602, 15 604, 606, 608, 610 or 612. It is possible to switch the language of use by scanning a different flag. English is set as the default language, therefor it is not necessary to scan Australian flag 602 to use English. In other embodiments different 20 languages may be set as the default language or no default language may be set. The Chinese flag is associated with Mandarin. Cantonese may be set by providing a printed label "Cantonese", not shown. The user may then tour the zoo and use device 300 to listen to any 14 audio files associated with items of interest. For example, when viewing lion's enclosure 614 a user may touch device 300 to an indicia labelled "lion's roar" 616 to have an audio file of a lion's roar play. The audio file played by scanning indicia 616 may also include educational facts on lions. 5 Map 600 also contains a section titled "ZOO INFORMATION" 620 containing indicia labelled with text associated with various information of use to visitors to the zoo. For example, touching device 300 to the printed label "train timetable" 622 will cause audio of train timetable information to play. 10 Device 300 contains a clock and can playback the time of only the next train or the next two or three trains. Additional information may be added before or after any of the audio files played by device 300. The additional information may be for example, sponsor advertising information, information on upcoming events such as 15 jazz nights, sleepovers, camps, sister-zoos or related zoos or information on the zoo gift shop. EXAMPLE 3 SWAP CARD As described above, football card 700 showing a player's image 704 20 also contains playback indicium 702 which is associated with recorded audio comprising a message from entity 704. Card 700 also comprises playback indicium 706 which is associated with audio comprising player's statistics for entity 704; indicia 708 which is associated with audio comprising player's fantasy football statistics for entity 704; and indicium 710 which is associated 15 with audio comprising player's personal information. Card 710 also comprises text or printed material 712 which contains printed information on entity 704. The printed information may be the same or similar to that in recorded audio associated with indicia 702, 706, 708, 5 710. Scanning device 300 over playback indicia 702, 706, 708, 710 causes audio associated with these labels to be played. For example, when scanning indicia 702 a message from the player is played. The message may be recorded by the player in the player's voice. Scanning indicia 706 10 causes audio listing various relevant player statistics to play such as, total games, total goals, average possessions and/or average goals to play. Scanning indicia 708 causes audio listing the player's fantasy football statistics to play. The fantasy football statistics may be those of a virtual online game based upon sporting statistics such as the AFL and NRL Dream 15 Team and/or AFL Herald Sun Supercoach games. Scanning indicia 710 causes audio listing a piece of personal information on the player such as, the player's favourite food, birthday. fear and/or causes of interest to the player e.g. environment and/or green issues or respect for women. EXAMPLE 4 20 DIARY A diary 800 shown in FIG. 8 may be provided with indicia sheet 1000 shown in FIG. 10. To record audio, sensor 320 of device 300 is touched to and along part or all or all of start indicia 1010. Once the start indicia 1010 has been scanned device 300 records an audio file containing any detected 16 audio which in this example is a user's voice describing an event to be listed in diary 800 such as, a business meeting, a holiday or a friend's birthday. To stop recording a stop indicia 1014 is scanned with device 300. To play the recorded audio device 300 is touched to and along part or 5 all of paired playback indicia 1012 associated with the recording by paired start indicia 1010. Paired playback indicia 1012 is provided as a removable sticker so that it can be removed from indicia sheet 1000 and applied over or adjacent the relevant date in diary 800. When paired playback indicia 1012 is placed 10 in diary 800 it becomes indicia 802. This way whenever indicia 802 is scanned the associated audio file may be listened to which reminds a user of that event on the relevant diary date. EXAMPLE 5 BOOK 15 As shown in FIG. 9, the invention also provides an interactive book 900 comprising playback indicia 902. The playback indicia 902 may contain audio of the text 904 in book 900 or may contain further information additional to the text of book 900. Indicia 906 is a playback indicia that contains the answer to a question 20 listed in book 900. Book 900 also contains paired start indicia 908 and playback indicia 910 as well as stop indicia 912 which a reader scans with device 300 in order to record an answer to a question in book 900. A reviewer checking the reader's answer such as, a teacher, parent, supervisor or guardian, may then 17 use device 300 to scan playback indicia 910 to review the reader's answer. The reviewer may then use indicia 908, 910, 912 to add a comment for review by the reader. The comment may replace the reader's answer or may be appended to the reader's answer. 5 A device 300 used by the reader and a device 300 used by a reviewer may be in communication via a computer network. The reader device 300 and reviewer device 300 may be connected to the network during use or before and after using book 900 to allow recorded audio to be updated. The present invention provides methods, printed media and kits that 10 are interactive and engaging to users of all ages. The invention also provides a way of keeping an oral history of events including cataloguing of photos. Many users prefer the convenience and ease of keeping electronic and oral records compared to written records. The present invention may also find a use in keeping a record of languages that are rare or becoming extinct. 15 Throughout the specification the aim has been to describe the invention without limiting the invention to any one embodiment or specific collection of features. Persons skilled in the relevant art may realize variations from the specific embodiments that will nonetheless fall within the scope of the invention. 20 It will be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A printed medium comprising: one or more indicia associated with recorded audio wherein the recorded audio comprises information about the printed medium; 5 wherein the printed medium is: a photo album wherein the one or more indicia are associated with one or more photo displayed in the photo album; or a map wherein the one or more indicia are associated with printed information on the map; or 10 a swap card wherein the one or more indicia are associated with the entity displayed on the swap card; or a diary wherein the one or more indicia are associated with events in the diary; or a book wherein the one or more indicia are associated with printed 15 matter in the book.

2. A publishing method including: providing one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio; providing one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback 20 device to stop recording audio; and providing one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record playback device to play the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia.

3. A printed medium comprising: 19 a plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to play the 5 recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia.

4. A kit comprising: one or more printed medium; and a plurality of indicia comprising one or more paired start indicia that signal a record-playback device to record audio, one or more stop indicia that 10 signal the record-playback device to stop recording audio and one or more paired playback indicia that signal the record-playback device to play the recorded audio associated with the paired start indicia.

5. The printed medium of claim 3 or the kit of claim 4 wherein the printed medium is selected from the group consisting of a photo album, a map, a 15 swap card, a diary or a book.