Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B19/00—Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09B—EDUCATIONAL OR DEMONSTRATION APPLIANCES; APPLIANCES FOR TEACHING, OR COMMUNICATING WITH, THE BLIND, DEAF OR MUTE; MODELS; PLANETARIA; GLOBES; MAPS; DIAGRAMS
  • G09B5/00—Electrically-operated educational appliances
  • G09B5/06—Electrically-operated educational appliances with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied

Definitions

• the invention refers to a device for learning or teaching an alphabet; in particular it refers to a game to teach children the words of a language.
• Digital entertainment and interaction are part of daily life in the form of digital television, Internet and related devices, such as smartphones or multimedia tablets.
• Digital content and entertainment are easily accessible by all age groups and cultures, often making this uncontrolled availability a source of concern for parents, who would like to protect children from inadequate or violent content.
• a smartphone or tablet is an object that is often expensive and fragile but with performances and functions so powerful that it is difficult to limit for a child the ability to explore content.
• WEB filters to block access to improper sites, but it is very difficult to predict if a program or an app will never behave mischievously (e.g. think of banner ads, unpredictable updates, instant pop-ups or http links of a priori unknown destination).
• the main object of the invention is to propose a device such as defined in claim 1 which is free of one or more of the problems described.
• Another object is to propose a device that gives safe entertainment and learning for children.
• Another object is to propose a device to teach the spelling to a child, which can exploit in a healthy and appropriate way the multitude of data present on the Internet.
• the device for teaching spelling to a child comprises
• microprocessor is programmed for
• the microprocessor operates so that as the typing of a word is completed the list of displayed words is updated and reduced, until only the word equal or close to the typed word is shown. Similarly, the microprocessor preferably operates so that the images, corresponding to words no longer matching to the initial letters typed, are updated and deleted. At the end there remains only one, or the, image related the spelled word.
• the microprocessor works to filter the images proposed to the child
• the search phase of the words by the microprocessor takes place quickly by searching them by the initial, so that the child has a very fast visual feedback on the syllables he is first writing (and usually pronouncing) while he is playing;
• the effect of the particular arrangement of the words found together with the one having only the initials is an improvement of the word search.
• the simultaneous display of the words allows the user to grasp more quickly the meaning of the truncated word (i.e. written only with the initials) and to type the correct word faster by copying it from those in the displayed list.
• the effect is even clearer as one completes the typed word, because the list of displayed words is reduced or however is populated by words increasingly similar to the truncated word. Therefore the device allows speeding up the user's manual input to get to display in accelerated way and correctly the spelled word.
• the alphabetic or alphanumeric keyboard preferably comprises a set of real keys that can be pressed with a finger, to give a physical feeling of tactile feedback.
• Such keyboard may comprise a set of virtual keys represented e.g. on the display, which will be e.g. a touch-screen.
• the keyboard may also comprise numbers, to teach them.
• the keyboard is not of the QWERTY type but comprises the letters of the alphabet in sequence, from A to Z.
• the alphabetical symbols of the keyboard like all the operation logic of the device, are customizable and/or adaptable to the user's national language.
• the device may comprise the display, or - to save on cost and with greater efficiency - may be connected to it e.g. in wired manner or by wireless transmission to take advantage of the display of another device, such as a home TV or the monitor of a PC or a tablet.
• the device preferably comprises a memory, accessible to the microprocessor, for storing therein the images to be associated with the words.
• the device preferably comprises a memory, accessible to the microprocessor, in which to store images to be associated with the words.
• the device preferably comprises a data input interface, e.g. a USB port or a Wi-Fi transceiver.
• a data input interface e.g. a USB port or a Wi-Fi transceiver.
• the user can upload e.g. the images and/or the database of words inside the device.
• the device comprises, in addition or replacement, an interface for connecting to the Internet and for transceiving digital data, and the microprocessor is programmed for downloading from the Internet via said interface an image illustrating an object corresponding to the word inserted by one initial letter after the other.
• the interface for connecting to the Internet may be a (wired or wireless) network card or a GSM communication card for the direct connection to the Internet, or - to save on cost and with greater efficiency - a radio card (e.g. wi- fi or Bluetooth®) capable of connecting to an existing hot-spot, e.g. a wi-fi router or a wi-fi hot-spot of a smartphone.
• a radio card e.g. wi- fi or Bluetooth®
• the word database may already be stored locally in a memory, remote or present in the device, and accessible from the microprocessor. Or - with less limits on the vocabulary - the database may be remote and external to the device, ultimately the entire Internet. Through the interface the microprocessor can consult a database and search the Internet for the words to be shown on the display, but at the same time adopting lexical filters to avoid inappropriate words.
• the microprocessor for example, may
• the precautions taken on the displayed words are reflected on the appropriateness of the images downloaded from Internet.
• the microprocessor may exploit search engines like Google to find the images to be downloaded related to the objects.
• Further filters on the graphical content can be implemented with the microprocessor, e.g. through image recognition algorithms. Or the microprocessor can initially alter the image (e.g. its colors and/or orientation and/ or sharpness and/ or resolution) and present it on the display.
• microprocessor Only after a consensus signal from a present (parent) user, given to microprocessor e.g. through an input means present on the device (e.g. a key or by speech recognition), the microprocessor proceeds to display the image as originally downloaded.
• an input means present on the device e.g. a key or by speech recognition
• An additional effect is that the images are shown on the display and/ or downloaded faster because e.g. their size is compressed.
• the microprocessor is preferably programmed to display on the display the letter associated with the selected key and/ or the word in spelling progress by giving it an emphasis, e.g. by magnifying or highlighting it with respect to the context.
• the user's perception of the output of the device improves, also favouring the visual comparison with the words of the list and therefore the input of the next word to complete the word to be spelled.
• the input of the next word to complete the word to be spelled also speeds up the next update of the words in the list, therefore the device, with the "help" of the user, converges towards the complete spelled word much more quickly.
• the microprocessor is preferably programmed to display on the display the list of words
• the microprocessor preferably is programmed to generate sound signals related to what is shown on the display.
• the microprocessor is preferably programmed for generating a sound corresponding to the pronunciation of the letter corresponding to the selected key, and / or
• the device preferably comprises a sound emitter (e.g. a loudspeaker), or the microprocessor is preferably programmed to generate the audio signal corresponding to the pronunciation, and to send it to an external device, e.g. the very TV set or tablet whose display is used.
• a sound emitter e.g. a loudspeaker
• the microprocessor is preferably programmed to generate the audio signal corresponding to the pronunciation, and to send it to an external device, e.g. the very TV set or tablet whose display is used.
• the microprocessor is preferably programmed to display on the display said corresponding downloaded image near the list.
• Another aspect of the invention is a program for microprocessor comprising instructions which, when executed, carry out one or each of the operations defined above for the microprocessor.
• the program is for example an app for smartphone.
• Another aspect of the invention is a method for managing a multimedia device in order to teach spelling to a child, especially a method comprising the above steps performed by the microprocessor.
• the method comprises the steps of
• Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the device
• - Fig. 2 shows a favourite display mask.
• a device 10 for teaching the spelling to a child comprises a microprocessor 30 connected to an alphanumeric or alphabetic keyboard 14, a video signal generator 22 for driving a display 70, and a data transmission wireless interface 20.
• the arrows indicate a data line.
• the microprocessor 30 is also connected to a memory 32, in turn connected to a data input interface 34, e.g. a USB port.
• the aforementioned components are preferably mounted inside a rigid casing (not shown), and the microprocessor 30's actions hereinafter described should be intended as a result of executed instructions of a program.
• the video signal generator 22 drives a display 70 of an external device, e.g. a PC monitor.
• a display 70 of an external device, e.g. a PC monitor.
• the display 70 may also be mounted on the casing of the device 10.
• the wireless interface 20 is used to transceive data from/ to an external device, e.g. a smartphone 80 that shares its Wi-Fi hot-spot with the interface 20 and provides to it remote access to the Internet. So the device 10 does not need on board means for data transmission from/ to the Internet.
• the device 10 may also comprise on board means for the transmission of data to/ from the Internet.
• the microprocessor 30 is also connected to a memory 32, in turn connected to an (optional) data input interface 34, e.g. a USB port.
• the memory 32 may be ROM or RAM, and the interface 34 serves to a user to write data to the memory 32.
• the microprocessor 30's program is contained in the memory 32 or in another dedicated one.
• the microprocessor 30 controls and performs the functions of the device 10. It is programmed to detect the selection and pressure, by a user, of a key on the keyboard 14 and recognize a letter of the alphabet associated with the selected key.
• the microprocessor 30 searches in a database of words words having such letter as initial.
• the database can be contained in the memory 32 and/or in a database external to the device 10 and remote, in which case it is scanned via the interface 20 through the data or telephone channel of the smartphone 80.
• the Internet access implemented with the interface 20 allows for example to exploit public search engines to find words or for consulting text archives.
• the microprocessor 30 selects or searches an image illustrating an object corresponding to the word having as initial the letter of the pressed key. Images can be contained in the memory 32 and/or in a database external to the device 10 and remote, case in which - as before - it is accessed via the interface 20. Internet access implemented with the interface 20 allows e.g. to exploit public search engines (e.g. Google) to find images.
• public search engines e.g. Google
• the microprocessor 30 drives the signal generator 22 to display them on the display 70.
• Fig. 2 shows a favourite display mask.
• the word sequence 78 typed up to that moment by the user is shown.
• a textual pull-down 74 containing a column of words that have as initials the words in the field 72.
• images 88 corresponding to the words 76 and to a word selected among the words 76.
• the field 72, the textual pull-down 74 and the images 88 are all observable at a glance, for maximum reaction speed.
• the list of words 76 and the images 88 are filtered and controlled by the microprocessor 30.
• the list of words 76 is pre-stored in the memory 32, or searched over the Internet but subjected to examination by the microprocessor 30 before its output on the display 70.
• the microprocessor 30 may eliminate the words that belong to or evoke those in an exclusion "black list" present in the memory 32.
• the images 88 are e.g. pre-stored in the memory 32 and/or searched over the Internet but subjected to examination by the microprocessor 30 before the output on the display 70.
• the microprocessor 30 may evaluate the images through graphic recognition and discard inappropriate ones.
• the user may load in the memory 32 images to be associated with a word 76 via the interface 34.
• association between a word 76 and an image 88 is made by the microprocessor with various criteria.
• an image 88 contains an identification of the word, or in the memory 32 there is an association table or - simply - the microprocessor 30 executes an alphabetical sorting of the images 88 (whose file will have the same name as the word to be illustrated).
• microprocessor 30 is programmed for
• the microprocessor 30 may also autonomously generate phonemes and send them to a loudspeaker or sound emitting means; and/ or
• the updated images 88 will match the new words 76 updated and displayed.

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

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=61006054

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (1)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 2017
  • 2017-08-24 IT IT102017000095800A patent/IT201700095800A1/it unknown
• 2018
  • 2018-08-15 WO PCT/IB2018/056120 patent/WO2019038635A1/en unknown
  • 2018-08-15 EP EP18769486.4A patent/EP3673477A1/en not_active Withdrawn

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