JPS6137634B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for reproducing character and graphic information stored in advance in a storage element and reproducing character and graphic information on a matrix-like display.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, for various types of memorization learning including memorization of English words, methods using paper vocabulary cards and notebooks have been widely used for a long time. Although this method is inexpensive and easy to use, it is inconvenient for testing one's memorization ability or for reinforcing memorization learning by randomly selecting the order in which words are drawn each time. If this were to be done mechanically, it would have to use a computer like CAI, which would have the drawbacks of being huge, not very portable, expensive, and cumbersome to operate. Essentially, memorization cards such as word books or word cards must be small and convenient to carry, and furthermore, if they are equipped with a function to improve one's memorization ability, they can become a powerful learning aid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic word player that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art described above, is convenient to carry, and has the function of improving the efficiency of memorization learning by learners.

The gist of the present invention is to record in advance a large number of word information, each consisting of an English word and its Japanese meaning, in a data memory (for example, a read-only semiconductor memory), or to use a magnetic tape or magnetic card. The above information is recorded in advance, converted into an electrical signal by a magnetic tape reader or magnetic card reader, and recorded in data memory (RAM). The device is equipped with a device and a control panel with operation buttons, and the control panel reads word information recorded in the data memory, and a character generator generates a character shape corresponding to the word information and creates a matrix. Display on the expression display. All these controls are performed by a separately provided control section.

The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to Examples.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic word reproducer according to the present invention. In Figure 1, 1 is the central information processing unit, so-called Central Processing.
Unit (hereinafter abbreviated as CPU), 2 is a program memory (e.g. semiconductor read-only memory (ROM)) for storing playback and display programs, 3 is an operation panel, and 4 is a pre-recorded character/graphics information. 6 is a display memory for temporarily storing and reproducing character and graphic information to be displayed; 7 is a character generation unit for generating character and graphic information on a character display device to be described later; 8 is a display drive unit that drives a character display, 9 is a character display that displays characters and figures, and 10 is a signal path 15 that is described above.
2 or a data bus switching circuit that electronically switches to signal path 17; 11 an address bus switching circuit that electronically switches signal path 16 to signal path 13 or signal path 18; 12 a data bus switching circuit that electronically switches signal path 16 to signal path 13 or signal path 18; 13 is a signal path or address bus for sending address signals to the CPU 1 and other blocks; 14 is a signal path or address bus for sending and receiving data between the CPU 1 and each block; This is a signal path, ie, a control bus, for receiving and receiving control signals.

The data memory 4 shown in FIG. 1 has a structure that is removable from the main body, that is, a so-called cartridge type, and can be replaced according to the learner's ability to easily change the recorded contents.

FIG. 4 is an external view of the display 9 and operation panel 3 shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 4, 31 is a switch for changing the order of drawing words from Japanese to English and from English to Japanese, and 32 is a switch for changing between memorization and testing. When the switch 31 is switched to the E-J side, words are reproduced in the order of English and Japanese, like an English-Japanese dictionary. For example, the word DOG comes out, and then its Japanese meaning, dog, comes out. On the other hand, J
- When you switch to the E side, like a Japanese-English dictionary, ``dog'' appears first, and then ``DOG.'' Next, switch 32
If you switch to memorization and press the "order" button, the memorized English words will always be played back in the order they were recorded. Also, if you press the "Random" button, the songs will be played in random order. The memorization procedure is, for example, when the learner presses ``Jun'', the word MAN is displayed, and when the learner presses ``Jun'' next, the Japanese meaning of that word, HITO, is displayed, and English and Japanese are alternately displayed. This is how it is played back.

Switch 32 is switched to test and "problem"
When you press the button, the question will be displayed as CAT, for example. Next, when you press the "Question" button, several answers will be displayed one after another at regular intervals, such as cat, pig, and kotori.
Press the "Enter" button shown in the figure. If the answer is correct, the next question will appear, but if the answer is incorrect, CAT will be displayed again and the same operation will be repeated.

In FIG. 4, the switch 31 is on the E-J side,
A case where the switch 32 is switched to the memorization side will be explained. When the user presses the "Sequence" button, the CPU 1 first retrieves the English word information recorded in the data memory 4, passes it through the data bus 12, data bus switching circuit 10, and signal path 15, and then displays it for display. Store in memory 6. At this time, the data bus switching circuit 10 operates so that the data bus 12 and the signal path 15 are connected by the signal on the control bus 14. Similarly, the address bus switching circuit 11
also operates so that address bus 13 and signal path 16 are connected. Once the character and graphic information is stored in the display memory 6, the CPU 1 transfers the information to the control bus 14.
The data bus switching circuit 10 and address bus switching circuit 11 are controlled via the bus switching circuit 10, and signal paths 15 and 17 and signal paths 18 and 16 are connected, respectively. The character/graphic information stored in the display memory 6 is sent to the character generator 7.
It represents the storage address of the character/graphic pattern stored in . For example, when displaying A, B, and S, if the character generation unit 7 stores A, B, and S at addresses 0, 1, and 127, respectively, then the display memory 6 stores 0, 1, and so on. , 127 information is stored. As mentioned above, the display drive unit 8
drives display memory 6 via signal paths 18 and 16, the information stored therein, ie 0, 1, 127 in the example, arrives via signal paths 15 and 17 to character generator 7. Character generation section 7 is signal path 1
The address signal of the character that has arrived through 7, that is, the character figure corresponding to the addresses 0, 1, and 127 in the previous example, is output to the character display 9 in accordance with the scanning order of the display drive section 8.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the display section in the block diagram of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the character generator. The character display operation will be explained in detail using FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2, a display memory 6, a character generator 7, a character display 9, a data bus switching circuit 10, an address bus switching circuit 11, a data bus 12, an address bus 13, a control bus 14, signal paths 15, 16, 17 and 19 are the same as those in FIG. Further, the signal paths 181 to 186 are the first
The signal paths are collectively expressed as the signal path 18 in the figure.

In FIG. 2, 81 is a reference signal oscillator for scanning the character display; 82 is a horizontal scanning counter for horizontally scanning the character display;
83 is a vertical scanning counter that scans the character display in the vertical direction; 84 and 85 are decoders that decode the output of the counter; 86, 87, and 88 are holding circuits that hold data; and 89 to 92 are the character display This is a drive amplifier for driving.

In addition, in FIG. 2, the display 9 displays one character by 8×
This is a so-called dot matrix display which is constructed in a matrix of 8 dots and displays characters by blinking display elements located at the intersections of the 8 dots. In the example shown in FIG. 2, each character is an 8×8 dot, and eight characters can be displayed in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the horizontal scanning counter 82 that scans eight characters in the horizontal direction and the vertical scanning counter 83 that scans the matrix in the vertical direction are both 3-bit counters, and the display memory 6 also stores information representing eight character information. is stored. Assume that the outputs of the horizontal scanning counter 82 and the vertical scanning counter 83 are zero. That is, Q _A =0, Q _B =0, Q _C =0, and the decoder 8
4 and 85, only their output terminals 0 output signals, and in horizontal scanning, the data holding circuit 86 becomes operational. Further, in the vertical scanning direction, the electrode H ₀ is in the operating state. At the same time, the output of the horizontal scanning counter 82 is applied to the display memory 6 via signal paths 181, 182, 183 and 16, and the 0
Address information is applied to the character generator 7 via signal lines 15 and 17.

In FIG. 3, A ₀ , A ₁ , and A ₂ indicate the signal states of signal paths 184, 185, and 186 in FIG. 2. Also, A ₃ , A ₄ , A ₅ , A ₆ , A ₇ , A ₈ , A ₉
indicates the state of the signal arriving at the signal path 17 in FIG. For example, in the previous example, if 0 is output from the display memory 6, the signal path 17 has a binary number (0000000) and the signal paths 184, 185, 186
is (000) in binary, assuming that H0 on the character display 9 is being scanned. Therefore, A ₃ in Figure 3
~ _A9 are all 0, _A0 , _A1 , and _A9 are all 0, and the character pattern A (00011100) shown in FIG. 3 is output to the output signal path 19 of the character generating section 7. This signal is held in the data holding circuit 86, and the drive amplifier 8
9 to the electrodes V ₀ to _{V 7} . As a result, the electrodes V ₀ -V ₇ and H ₀ are brought into operation, so that the first line "A" (00011100) of the letter "A" is displayed as shown in FIG. Subsequently, when the horizontal scanning counter 82 increases by 1 bit and becomes 1,
The outputs of signal paths 181, 182, 183 are (100)
Then, the data at address 1 of the display memory 6 is read out. If information 1 is stored at address 1 in the display memory 6, then (100000) is applied to the character generating section 7 as described above. At this time, the vertical scan counter is still 0, so the electrode of the display is H ₀
remains operational. However, since the horizontal scanning counter 82 has changed to 1, the output terminal of the decoder 84 has also changed from 0 to 1, and the data holding circuit 8
7 is in the operating state. Therefore, the first line of the second character from the left of the character generator 9 is displayed in the pattern (01111110) shown in FIG. 3B. Subsequently, the third, fourth, and so on are scanned in the horizontal direction, and when the eighth scan is completed, the horizontal scanning counter 82
returns to 0, the vertical counter 83 becomes 1 due to the carry signal of the horizontal scanning counter 82, and the electrode of the display device
_H1 becomes operational. Then, horizontal scanning is started in the same way.

Next, the specific operation of learning will be explained. When the user presses the "Random" button, the CPU 1 generates a pseudo random number, reads out the character/figure information stored in the data memory 4 from the data memory 4 in an irregular order, and generates the characters according to the above-mentioned operation. It is displayed on the display 9. Japanese and English are distinguished codes (for example, if the most significant bit is 1, it is English, and if it is 0, it is Japanese)
Since the data are recorded in the data memory 4, the CPU 1 can determine the state of the switch 31 and determine the playback order. Similarly, for the test, the CPU 1 determines the state of the switch 32, stores several pieces of character information, extracts the character information from the character information using the aforementioned pseudo-random numbers, and issues the question. For example, assume that DOG - dog, CAT - cat, PIG - pig, and BIRD - bird are randomly extracted. The questions are CAT, and the answers are displayed sequentially for dogs, cats, pigs, and birds. If a cat is displayed, the question was asked.
Since it is read from the same address as CAT, if the input button shown in Figure 4 is pressed at that time, it can be determined that the answer is correct; otherwise, since the address is different, the display will continue.

As described above, all operations of the CPU 1 are stored as programs in the program memory 3, and operate according to this control order.

Next, a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. The same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers. The difference from the configuration in Figure 1 is that data memory 4' (RAM = Random Memory) is replaced with data memory 4 (ROM = Read Only Memory) in Figure 1.
access memory) and a magnetic tape reader 5.

As shown in a detailed external view in FIG. 6, this magnetic tape reader 5 is loaded with a magnetic tape 51 on which information such as characters and graphics has been recorded in advance, and can be rotated by manual operation of a handle 52. The recorded information is converted into an electrical signal and output to the data bus 12 in FIG.

On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 8, the operation panel 3 is provided with a "record" button, and when this "record" button is pressed, the input from the magnetic tape is transferred to the data bus 1.
2, the CPU 1 is in a state where it receives the command. The CPU 1 receives character and graphic information from the magnetic tape reader 5 and writes it into the data memory 4'. Magnetic tapes are convenient because they can be easily replaced depending on the recorded content. Furthermore, magnetic tape is extremely inexpensive and convenient to carry.

In the above embodiment, similar effects can be obtained by using a magnetic card reader 5' as shown in FIG. 7 in place of the magnetic tape reader 5. In FIG. 7, 53 is a magnetic card on which characters and figures are magnetically recorded in advance. As shown in the figure, when the magnetic card 53 is manually moved in the direction of the arrow, the recorded magnetic signals are converted into electrical signals, and an output similar to that of a magnetic card is obtained.

As described above, according to the present invention, the device of the present invention can be realized using up to several LSIs, mainly LSIs for microcomputers. Also, the character display
By using a liquid crystal dot matrix character display, it is possible to reduce power consumption and downsize. Although the present invention uses a dot matrix character display, it is also equipped with a character generation section, so the data memory for storing Japanese words contains the data necessary for the character generation section to generate characters. There is no need to store the data actually displayed on the dot matrix character display, and the capacity of the data memory can be reduced. Therefore, the device of the present invention can be miniaturized to the extent that it can be carried in a pocket like a pocket calculator, making it extremely efficient and convenient. Furthermore, if the data memory in which character and graphic information is recorded in advance is of a ROM cartridge type, it is convenient because it can be easily attached and detached and the cartridge can be replaced according to the capacity. Further, similar convenience can be obtained by using a data memory (RAM) and a magnetic tape or magnetic card reader instead of the data memory (ROM). Furthermore, since words are displayed in random numbers, it is possible to increase the efficiency of memorization learning, which is a new function not found in conventional technology. In particular, the test function, which was almost impossible with paper cards of the prior art, can now be easily realized with the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an electronic word generator according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the display part in the block diagram of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a character generator. FIG. 4 is an external view of the display and operation panel. Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, Figs. 6 and 7 are external views of a magnetic tape reader and a magnetic card reader used in the embodiment of Fig. 5, and Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an external view of the operation panel used in the embodiment of FIG. 5. FIG. 1: Central information processing unit (CPU), 2: Program memory (ROM), 3: Operation panel, 4: Data memory (ROM), 4': Data memory (RAM), 5: Magnetic tape reader (or magnetic card (Reader), 6: Display memory, 7: Character generation section, 8: Display drive section,
9: Character display.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Storage means for storing a plurality of word translation information consisting of Japanese word information and corresponding foreign language word information; Random number generation means for generating random numbers; Random number generation means for generating random numbers; a selection means for selecting and reading out at least one word translation information from the storage means in accordance with the random number selected by the selection means; corresponding to Japanese word information and foreign language word information of the word translation information selected by the selection means dot matrix display means for displaying Japanese and foreign language words in a dot matrix; setting means for setting the display order of Japanese and foreign languages on the dot matrix display means; translation of the word selected by the selection means. information is supplied, and corresponding to the selected word translation information, the word translation information is converted into display information for each picture element in the dot matrix display means in Japanese or foreign language, and the converted word translation information is supplied to the dot matrix display means. An electronic word regenerator characterized by having a character generating means. 2. The electronic word regenerator according to claim 1, wherein the word translation information stored in the storage means is address information of the character generation means.