GB2222284A

GB2222284A - An electronic bible

Info

Publication number: GB2222284A
Application number: GB8819193A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kayode Agunbiade
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-08-12
Filing date: 1988-08-12
Publication date: 1990-02-28
Also published as: GB8819193D0

Abstract

An electronic bible (2) has memory means containing a bible text, a keyboard (4) for inputting information requests into the bible, and a display screen (6) for displaying the required information. <IMAGE>

Description

AN ELECTRONIC BIBLE This invention relates to an electronic bible.

There are many different types of Sacred Books of different Faiths and all of these Sacred Books may be generally referred to as bibles. The bibles are printed and many persons own a bible. There often arise occasions in which persons require different types of information from their bibles and it can often be time consuming to obtain the required information from the printed bibles.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problem.

Accordingly, this invention provides an electronic bible comprising memory means containing a bible text, a key board for inputting information requests into the bible, and a display screen for displaying the required information.

The use of electronics to create an electronic bible enables users of the electronic bible quickly and easily to be able to obtain different types of information from the bible. Very complex types of cross referenced information can be obtained quickly and easily from the electronic bible.

Preferably, the electronic bible is in the general shape of a book. The electronic bible is thus constructed to look as closely as possible to existing printed bibles so that, for example, the electronic bible can quickly gain aesthetic approval from users. Preferably, the electronic bible will be arranged to open and close like a printed bible. If desired, however, the electronic bible may be produced in other shapes, The electronic bible is preferably produced so that it looks like a printed bible and is also able to be carried. In order to enable the electronic bible easily to be carried in the same manner as a printed bible, the electronic bible will usually be battery operated.If desired however the electronic bible may be mains operated, for example for larger bibles which may be substantially permanently left in church pulpits or which may be left in churches to take the place of bibles which are currently mounted on lecterns and from which public readings are delivered.

The bible text may be all or part of a version of a bible. Usually the bible text will be the complete version of a bible.

The bible text may thus be all or part of a version of a Christian Faith Bible. The bible text may be all or part of the Old and New Testaments. The bible text may include the Apocrypha if desired.

When the bible text is all or part of a version of a Christian Faith Bible, then the bible text may be as used by persons in the Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish Faiths. The bible text may be in various versions so that, for example, the bible text may be the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the American Standard Version, the Living Bible, the Amplified Version or the New War Translation.

Alternatively, if desired, the bible text may be all or part of a version of a Mohammedan Faith Koran.

As indicated above, the bible text may be all or part of any of the sacred books of any other religious faiths.

The bible text may be given in any appropriate language depending upon the country in which the electronic bible is to be marketed. Thus, for example, the bible text may be given in English, French, German, Islamic, Russian or any other desired language. Similarly, the alphabet employed may be any desired and appropriate alphabet such for example as the English, Arabic,Russian, Chinese or Japanese alphabets.

The key board may have a first section relating to the type of information required and a second section relating to different books of the bible text.

The key board may have scroll means for causing the displayed required information to scroll across the display screen. The displayed information will usually scroll up and down but it may scroll from side to side if desired, for example for use in countries like Japan and where reading is done up and down instead of from side to side.

The key board may have note input means for enabling users to input their own notes into the bible.

The key board may also have retrieve means for retrieving what was last shown on the display screen during a prior use of the bible.

Where the electronic bible has more than one version of a bible, then the key board will have version selector means for selecting the required version.

The display screen may be a flat or a curved display screen.

Any appropriate means may be employed for providing the required display on the display screen. Thus the display may be provided by any of the means currently available in computers, word processing machines, televisions and the like. The display may be a liquid crystal display or any other suitable and appropriate type of display.

The memory means may form part of a micro processor.

The micro processor may be able to call up information from a memory, send information to the memory, and send information for display to the display screen.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first electronic bible in a closed position; Figure 2 shows the electronic bible of Figure 1 in an open position; Figure 3 shows a key board lay out for the electronic bible; Figure 4 shows part of a display for the display screen of the electronic bible; Figure 5 is a simplified block diagram of the electronic circuit operation of the bible; Figure 6 illustrates part of an operating sequence of the bible; Figure 7 illustrates in more detail part of an operating sequence of the bible; and Figure 8 shows part of a key board for a second electronic bible.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, there is shown an electronic bible 2 having memory means containing a bible text, a key board 4 for inputting information requests into the bible 2, and a display screen 6 for displaying the required information. As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, the bible 2 is contructed to look like a printed bible so that it opens and closes. When the bible 2 is in its open position as shown in Figure 2, the key board 4 occurs on the right hand side of the bible 2 and the display screen 6 occurs on the left hand side of the bible 2. The bible 2 may be arranged to open and close by any suitable hinge or other means.

The electronic bible 2 is battery powered by one or more batteries (not shown). This enables the bible 2 easily to be portable so that it can be carried and used similar to a printed bible.

Figure 3 shows in detail the key board 4 as it would be for a Christian Faith Bible containing bible texts in a number of different versions such for example as the American Standard Version, the King James Version, the Living Bible, the Amplified Version or the New War Translation versions. The key board 4 has a first section 4A having a read key 8, a chapter key 10, a verse key 12, a subject key 14, a concordance key 16, a character key 18, a memory key 20, a memorize key 22 and a version key 24.

As will be apparent, the chapter key 10 will be used to select a desired chapter, and the verse key 12 will be used to select a desired verse. Similarly, the subject key 14 can be used to get the memory means in the bible 2 to search for any chosen subjects such for example as information required on the Holy Ghost or the God Head.

The concordance key 16 may be employed for causing the bible 2 to search for any chosen topic, for example lust, hatred, Hell or Heaven.

The character key 18 may be employed to enable a user of the bible 2 to obtain information appropriate to the study of any particular character in the bible, for example David or Jesus Christ. The display screen 6 will then list all the scriptures or other parts of the bible 2 that are relevant to the chosen character.

The memory key 20 is employed to tell the electronic bible to go into its memory mode of use.

The memorize key 22 may be employed to enable access to a 40 - space memory. This may be effective for collecting a group of different bits of information from a screen display on the display screen 6. The displayed information can be erased and updated as may be desired.

The version key 24 will be employed to select the required version of the bible, for example the King James Version or the American Standard Version as may be desired.

The read key 8 is employed simply when it is desired to place the bible 2 in a read only mode so that a person using the bible 2 can then read information being displayed on the display screen 6 similarly as they would read from a printed bible.

The key board 4 has a second section 4B having 66 keys, only some of which are shown in Figure 3. The 66 keys correspond to the 66 Books in the bible. As can be seen from Figure 3, each key contains the name or an abbreviation of the name of its associated book, Thus, for example, GEN is an abbreviation for Genesis and 1 KNG is an abbreviation for the First Book of Kings.

The key board 4 has a third section 4C having keys with the numbers 1....0 giving the ability to key into the bible 2 desired numbers. When the numbers have been selected, they are entered into the memory means by an enter key 26.

The key board 4 has a fourth section 4D. This section 4D has 26 keys each having one of the letters of the alphabet on them together with other keys having, for example, an equal sign, a full stop sign, and a comma sign. The key board section 4D enables persons to type their own notes for putting information into the bible 2.

If these notes require numbers also to be input, then these numbers are input via the key board section 4C.

The key board section 4D has a total of 31 keys together with a space key 28.

The key board 4 has a fifth key board section 4E having a scroll up key 30, a scroll down key 32, a notes key 34 and a key 36 containing the letters RLS. The scroll up key 30 is employed to scroll displayed information up the display screen 6, whilst the scroll down key 32 is used to scroll displayed information down the display screen 6. The notes key 34 is used to cause the users notes to be displayed on the display screen 6.

The RLS key 36 is used to show what was last on the display screen 6 during a prior use of the bible 2, with the letters RLS standing for Retrieve Last Screen. Use of the scroll up key 30 and the scroll down key 32 is envisaged because the display screen 6 will usually only be able to show a certain number of verses at any one time, for example five verses, whilst still giving a display that is easy to read.

The notes key 34 enables users to input and retrieve their own comments on various parts of the bible or on verses or on whatever else may be desired to be input into the bible 2. The bible 2 will be such that part of the memory means will be accessible to the user for the purpose of inputting notes made by the user. Naturally, other parts of the memory means of the bible 2 will not normally be accessible to a user of the bible 2 in case the user should damage or erase the bible text or texts.

Figure 3 shows the display screen 6 with a typical display. Thus it can be seen from Figure 6 that there is a heading section 78 displaying that the King James Version is being looked at, and, more particularly, Genesis 1:1-5. The concordance is "love" and number 2 gives the amount of memory used up. A first quotation is given in Figure 4 as "in the beginning was the word".

The heading section 78 has a speaker 80 which bleeps appropriately.

Referring now to Figure 5, it will be seen that there is shown a block diagram circuit 82 for the bible 2. The key board 4 and the display screen 6 are shown. The display screen 6 is shown in Figure 5 as a liquid crystal display screen 6. The key board 4 inputs information into a micro processor 84. The micro processor 84 has a memory part 86 as shown. The micro processor 84 with its memory part 86 may be regarded as the memory means of the bible 2.

Information can pass from the micro processor 84 to the memory part 86 and from the memory part 86 to the micro processor 84. The micro processor 84 can also send information to the display screen 6 as shown.

Figure 6 shows a computer program flow chart indicating a sequence of operation to an input level one. The flow chart is self explanatory from the information given on the flow chart.

Figure 7 shows a flow chart giving the sequence of operations from input level one to an input level two. Again the sequence of operations is self explanatory from the information given on the flow chart.

Referring now to Figure 8, there is shown a key board 88 for a second electronic bible. This second electronic bible is the Sacred Book of the Mohammedans which is known as the Koran. The electronic bible 2 having the Koran bible text may operate similarly as the above described bible 2 having the bible text of all or part of a version of the Christian Faith. In the Koran version, different books are arranged in alphabetical order from A - Z. A single book is called a sura. All books are proceeded by the prefix AL.Examples of books under the letter A are as follows: AL - ANAM AL - ARAF AL - ANFAL Examples of books occurring under the letter B are as follows: AL - BAQARH AL - BALAD Examples of books occurring under the letter K are as follows: AL - KAHF AL - KAFIRUN AL - KANTHAR Examples of books appearing under the letter Z are as follows: AL - ZUMAR AL - ZUKHRUF AL - ZILZAL It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the bible 2 may be such that scrolling can be effected from side to side instead of up and down. Different types of speaker 80 may be employed to indicate during scrolling up when the end of a book or chapter has been reached and so there is no point in trying to scroll up any further. A visual indicator may also be employed for showing when the end of a chapter or book has been reached. The electronic bibles 2 can be programmed in any language and with any alphabet as appropriate and desired for manufacture and sale in various countries of the world.

Claims

1. An electronic bible comprising memory means containing a bible text, a keyboard for inputting information requests into the bible, and a display screen for displaying the required information.

2. An electronic bible according to claim 1 and which is in the general shape of a book.

3. An electronic bible according to claim 1 or claim 2 and which is battery operated.

4. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the bible text is all or part of a version of a bible.

5. An electronic bible according to claim 4 in which the bible text is all or part of a Christian Faith Bible.

6. An electronic bible according to claim 4 in which the bible text is all or part of a version of a Mohammedan Faith Koran.

7. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the keyboard has a first section relating to the type of information required and a second section relating to different books of the bible text.

8. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the keyboard has scroll means for causing the displayed required information to scroll across the display screen.

9. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the keyboard has note input means for enabling users to input their own notes into the bible.

10. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the keyboard has retrieve means for retrieving what was last shown on the display screen during a prior use of the bible.

11. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims and which has more than one version of a bible, and in which the keyboard has version selector means for selecting the required version.

12. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the display screen is a flat or a curved display screen.

13. An electronic bible according to any one of the preceding claims in which the memory means forms part of a micro processor.

14. An electronic bible substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.