CA2224597A1 - Audio-video globe - Google Patents

Audio-video globe Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2224597A1
CA2224597A1 CA 2224597 CA2224597A CA2224597A1 CA 2224597 A1 CA2224597 A1 CA 2224597A1 CA 2224597 CA2224597 CA 2224597 CA 2224597 A CA2224597 A CA 2224597A CA 2224597 A1 CA2224597 A1 CA 2224597A1
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CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
globe
audio
video
reader
information
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA 2224597
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Daniel Lospa
Marian Gavrila
Liviu Smarandescu
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to CA 2224597 priority Critical patent/CA2224597A1/en
Priority to CA 2251499 priority patent/CA2251499A1/en
Publication of CA2224597A1 publication Critical patent/CA2224597A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09BEDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
    • G09B27/00Planetaria; Globes
    • G09B27/08Globes

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Astronomy & Astrophysics (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Educational Administration (AREA)
  • Educational Technology (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Electrically Operated Instructional Devices (AREA)

Abstract

An audio-video globe allows a selective reproduction of significant data related to all countries of the world. Two hollow hemispheres are assembled to form the globe. The hemispheres have sensors mounted within the thickness of their walls. Each sensor corresponds to one country. The sensors are connected to a decoding matrix, which is further connected to a scanner. The scanner controls a reader for playing back and providing visual and audio information pre-recorded on a magnetic support, optic support, or any combination thereof. Each time a sensor is touched, the reader starts downloading the pre-recorded information concerning the selected country. In another embodiment, an alphabetical list of countries, stored in a memory, may be displayed on the LCD monitor and by using a fast forward / fast backward button and a country can be selected in conformity with the CD track enclosing the pre-recorded information.
In another embodiment a voice recognizing unit can verbally instruct the reader to display the required information.

Description

AUDIO - VIDEO GLOBE
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Field of the invention.
The present invention is concerned with interactive educational tools, and particularly with an audio-video globe for displaying relevant informatifln stored as pre-recorded data associated with a country of choice.
Description of the prior art It is known to use for educational purposes a model of the earth, supported on a hexagonal base. On the six sides of the base, there are as many sectors containing cards with geographical information, grouped by continents. This system has the disadvantage of a cumbersome and impractical management of the data, and requires a lengthy time to obtain the desired information. The "Talking Globe", manufactured by Educational Insight (USA), uses a sophisticated technology, including a void synthesizer. The globe addresses a large number of questions with a choice of three answers, which can be checked using keys located on the support of the globe. The drawbacks of this device are related to the fact that it only checks on the user's geographical knowledge without offering any information. The "Talking Globe" uses a synthesized voice, and the questions are randomly arranged without being ei~iciently organized. Finally, the information provided is audio, and not associated with an image.
There is a need for an interactive educational globe, providing information and data related to the geography, history and economics of all countries.

S>CrMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an audio-video globe, which alleviates totally or in part the drawbacks of the prior art.
An other object of the present invention is to provide a wide spectrum of relevant geographical and political information for educational purposes. This invention provides a globe with sensors corresponding to all the countries of the world, which can reproduce a large amount of audio-video information relative to a specific country by simply touching the corresponding sensor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of teaching geography, history, zoology, botanic, and economics, which associates significant information related to a country with the location of the country on the globe.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an easy to use educational tool, which combines the benefits of the visual and auditory data.
In one embodiment of the present invention, an audio-video globe comprising a plurality of sensors located underneath the geo-political map, each associated with a country, each sensor for generating a code signal whenever is actuated, is provided. A
decoding matrix receives the code signal and generates an identification signal. Searching means are also provided for receiving the identification signal and generating a control signal. The control signal is transmitted to a reader for accessing audio-video information pre-recorded on a storage medium.
Advantageously, the present invention sets the foundation for an interactive individual study based on a friendly and attractive method, helps the educational process by providing an easy system for building up a structured knowledge, with direct links between the real thing and the specific information. The data presentation is simultaneously provided visually and by a pleasant human voice, might have a broad application in several other fields of general interest -anatomy, solar system, atomic models, regional maps, etc-by providing the connection between the real model and the associated reference data. Moreover, the globe of the present invention can be sold at an affordable price because it does not utilize a costly personal computer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be further understood from the following description with reference to the drawings, where:
Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the audio-video globe of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the pedestal combined with a vertical sectional view of the globe of the Figure 1 showing the functional blocks and the electrical connections inside the globe and the pedestal;
Figure 3 is an electrical block diagram of audio-video globe of the present invention.
Same reference numerals will be used to denote same parts throughout the description.
DETEILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates a front elevational view of the audio-video globe device 10 according to the invention. Device 10 comprises an audio-video globe 20 supported on a pedestal 16.
Pedestal 16 is preferably a rectangular box exposing on its upper surface a front panel including a fast forward/fast backwards button 12, a play button 13, a battery box cover 28, a speaker 30 and microphone 38, and openings 29.

An intermediate barrel shaped member 26 is fixed in an upright position on the upper surface of the pedestal 16 at an end remote from buttons 12 or 13, for supporting globe 20 on pedestal 16, in the known manner, namely by use of a semicircular support 11 fixed on the intermediate member 26 at point 36. Globe 20 is mounted on support 11 on two diametrically opposed points 23 and 24 (the poles) for ratably positioning globe 20 at the correct inclination.
Globe 20 includes two hollow hemispheres 21 and 22 preferably corresponding to the North and the South hemispheres. Hemispheres 21 and 22 are separated by an assembly board 18 along the Equator. It is to be understood that this specification discloses hemispheres corresponding to the geographical ones. However, the hemispheres may be of unequal surface and separated along another parallel or a meridian, or any other, crossection in the globe 20.
The geo-political map of the world is displayed on the exterior of globe 20.
Also attached to the semicircular support 11 is a LCD display 14.
Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the globe 20 combined with a sectional horizontal section of the pedestal 16, showing the functional blocks and the electrical connections inside the device 10. A plurality of sensors S1, 52,.......,Sn are located in the thickness of the walls of the two hemispheres 21 and 22, underneath the geo-political map of the world. Assembly board 18 comprises a decoding matrix 15 for receiving a code from a sensor Sj, when the sensor is actuated. To this end, electrical connections 31 are provided between sensors 51,...,Sn, and the decoding matrix 15. It is to be understood that wires 31 may be directly soldered with an end to a sensor Sj and with the other end to the board 15, or that the wires 31 may have connectors on both ends for contacting a sensor Sj and a multiple pin connector provided on board 18.
Decoding matrix 15 determines which sensor Sj was activated and provides an identification signal for sensor Sj to a scanner 25, as shown at 32.
A reader 35 is provided inside the pedestal 16 for reading information stored on a magnetic media, optic media, or combinations thereof, as intuitively shown at 39. Any kind of storing means like magnetic tapes, CD-Interactive (CD-I), CD-Audio (CD-A), voice synthesizer, can be used for recording data associated with all the countries in the world.
In a preferred embodiment, a Digital VideoDisc (DVD) which can store up to nine hours of studio quality video data and multi-channel surround sound, or 30 hours of CD audio may be used. Each DVD can store up to 250,000 frames, which can be hold, still images or full motion video at 30 frames per second.
Upon receipt of the identification signal from matrix 15, scanner 25 starts searching the address of the requested information on the storage medium. The correspondence between the address on the storage medium and the location of the sensor is predetermined according to the type of media used.
Scanner 25 is connected to reader 35 by a cable 33 which exits globe 20 at point 24 and guided inside semicircular support 11 and intermediate support 3b to reader 35 mounted in pedestal 16.
LCD monitor 14 receives the selected image information from reader 35, over cable 34, which is guided from reader 35 along and inside intermediate support 36.
Preferably, electrical connections 31 are fiber optics.
A speaker 30 is located inside the pedestal 16 close to openings 29. Power supply is provided by batteries located under the removable cover 28, or alternatively through a standard 12 volts AC power pack, 120 or 220 volts input.
The mode of operation of the device 10 is next described in connection, which Figure 3 shows a block diagram of the device 10 of the invention. To request information on a country of interest, the corresponding sensor Sj is activated on the surface of the globe 20. A sharpened object (pen; stick) may be used to press and activate sensor Sj. Sensor Sj generates a code signal which is identified by the decoding matrix 15 and a country identification signal is generated at the output of matrix 15. The identification signal is input to the searching system or scanner 25. Scanner 25 detects the beginning of any audio-video recording on the magnetic/optic media 39 corresponding to the identification signal, i.e. to the designated country, and instructs reader 35 to play audio-video information previously stored on 39. The information is reproduced on display 14 and/or by speaker 30. Once display 14 and/or speaker 30 indicate that the reader 35 accessed to the address of interest on storage media 39, the user presses play button 13 for retrieving the information. Button 12 is used in the known manner for scrolling back and forth the image and/or sound information.
Optionally, countries name may be stored in memory 17 and can be listed alphabetically and displayed on LCD monitor 14, by using fast forward/fast backwards button 12. This feature is provided for obtaining information on countries difficult to show on the globe 20, such as small countries like Andorra, San Marino, and Monaco.
Thus, a country may be manually selected by pressing button 12 for advancing or going backward one digit at the time. The display of the country name stored in memory 17 is done simultaneously by the access of the CD tracks, via skip forward/ reverse button.
A control unit 40 monitors the operation and synchronization of all units.
The reader 25 can be also activated through a voice-recognized unit 19. By using microphone 38, the user can verbally instruct the reader 35 to display the required information.
Buttons 12 and 13 may also be used to control reader 35 by directly selecting a country of interest, using display 14 and Jor speaker 30. Numerous modifications, variations, and adaptations may be made to the particular embodiments of the invention described above, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. An audio-video globe, comprising:
A plurality of sensors located underneath the geo-political map, each associated with a country, each sensor for generating a code signal whenever actuated;
A decoding matrix for receiving said code signal and generating identification signal;
Searching means for receiving said identification signal and generating a control signal;
and a reader for receiving said control signal and accordingly accessing audio-video information pre-recorded on a storage medium, at an address determined by said control signal.
2. The audio-video globe of claim 1, wherein said searching means is a scanner.
3. The audio-video globe of claim 2, further comprising a LCD display, for displaying visual information at said address.
4. The audio-video globe of claim 3, wherein said storage medium is a digital video disc.
5. The audio-video globe of claim 1, further comprising a speaker for reproducing spoken information at said address.
6. The audio-video globe of claim 5, wherein said storage medium is a compact disc audio.
7. The audio-video globe of claim 5, wherein said storage medium is a CD -Interactive.
8. The audio-video globe of claim 6, wherein said storage medium is a voice synthesizer.
9. The audio-video globe of claim 6, further comprising a microphone and a voice recognition unit for recognizing a spoken command and converting same into said control signal.
10. The audio-globe of claim 1, wherein said sensors are formed on the globe surface using conductive ink, said sensors activated with an electric pen.
11. The audio-globe of claim 1, wherein said reader is an infrared learned remote control.
CA 2224597 1998-02-27 1998-02-27 Audio-video globe Abandoned CA2224597A1 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2224597 CA2224597A1 (en) 1998-02-27 1998-02-27 Audio-video globe
CA 2251499 CA2251499A1 (en) 1998-02-27 1998-11-03 Audio-video globe

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2224597 CA2224597A1 (en) 1998-02-27 1998-02-27 Audio-video globe

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2224597A1 true CA2224597A1 (en) 1999-08-27

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ID=29275386

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA 2224597 Abandoned CA2224597A1 (en) 1998-02-27 1998-02-27 Audio-video globe

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA2224597A1 (en)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2378305A (en) * 2001-07-31 2003-02-05 Hewlett Packard Co Interactive map or globe for delivering geographically specific data.
FR2919100A1 (en) * 2007-07-19 2009-01-23 Francois Michel Quemere Terrestrial globe for e.g. use by school professor, has motors driving globe on horizontal and vertical planes, respectively, where rotation planes of globe is alternated by sliding border that is moved by stepper motor
SG148826A1 (en) * 1999-12-01 2009-01-29 Silverbrook Res Pty Ltd Method of displaying visual information on a viewer
EP2148310A1 (en) 2008-07-21 2010-01-27 IDT Electronic Products Limited Data retrieval apparatus

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
SG148826A1 (en) * 1999-12-01 2009-01-29 Silverbrook Res Pty Ltd Method of displaying visual information on a viewer
GB2378305A (en) * 2001-07-31 2003-02-05 Hewlett Packard Co Interactive map or globe for delivering geographically specific data.
FR2919100A1 (en) * 2007-07-19 2009-01-23 Francois Michel Quemere Terrestrial globe for e.g. use by school professor, has motors driving globe on horizontal and vertical planes, respectively, where rotation planes of globe is alternated by sliding border that is moved by stepper motor
EP2148310A1 (en) 2008-07-21 2010-01-27 IDT Electronic Products Limited Data retrieval apparatus

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