WO2001053989A1

WO2001053989A1 - Method to achieve and reproduce personal and self-constructed sets of units of information and relative device

Info

Publication number: WO2001053989A1
Application number: PCT/IB2001/000078
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Pastou
Original assignee: Hemust Sun B.V.
Priority date: 2000-01-24
Filing date: 2001-01-23
Publication date: 2001-07-26
Also published as: AU2698901A; IT1314775B1; ITUD20000010A1

Abstract

Method and device to achieve and reproduce personal and self-constructed sets of units of information, transmitted in electronic form through a telecommunications network or a digital satellite, or through electronic supports such as CD ROMs, flash cards or similar, comprising a first step to acquire and select, by means of a computer (11) or other similar or comparable element, one or more of said units of information (12), a second step to compose and construct a personal and univocal set (16) of information consisting of the grouping of a plurality of said units (12) organized according to a personal sequence (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d...), a third step of telematic transfer of said personal set (16) of units of information (12) to a selective-access temporary support (14), and a fourth step to reproduce, listen to and/or see said personal and univocal set (16) of units of information (12a-12d) in any place whatsoever and at any time whatsoever, subsequent to the time of acquisition and selection.

Description

"METHOD TO ACHIEVE AND REPRODUCE PERSONAL AND SELF- CONSTRUCTED SETS OF UNITS OF INFORMATION AND RELATIVE DEVICE"

^•k -k -k -k -k FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a method, and the relative device, to achieve and reproduce personal and self-constructed sets of units of information, of the audio and/or visual type, which can be listened to or seen again in any place and at any subsequent time by the user who univocally selected and created them.

To be more exact, the invention concerns a method which provides :

- .a first step to select one or more units of information in electronic form acquired by recording and memorizing from a telecommunications transmission element, such as for example the Internet;

- a second step of composing and structuring a personal and univocal set of information consisting of the grouping of said units according to a personal and individual architecture;

- a third step to transfer the personal set of univocal information to a temporary support, such as a selectively accessible voice box; - a fourth step to reproduce, listen to and/or see said personal set of univocal information, which can be actuated at any time distinct and subsequent to the time of selection of the relative units which compose it and the time of individual and univocal creation, for example during a journey, by means of an appropriate means of reproduction such as a cell phone, a radio, a monitor or similar. The voice box mentioned above can be centralized and managed by a server body, or also decentralized on one's own reproduction device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In our modern society there is an ever-growing need to optimize all the free time which is not occupied by work.

In particular, those people who are obliged to spend a lot of time in their cars, on the train or on other means of transport in order to move from place to place, complain that they cannot exploit this time remuneratively and profitably, for example by listening to the desired information programs, or specific cultural, entertainment, or amusement programs, or otherwise.

Although there has been a considerable proliferation of radio stations, both national and local, also thematic, the user can rarely find programs which can satisfy him, and often spends a lot of time continuously changing stations trying to find a program he enjoys; this is annoying and, if he is driving at the time, also dangerous.

At the same time, there is an ever-increasing supply, always more widespread, of every type of information, already in electronic form, which is taken substantially from house to house through telecommunications networks such as the Internet, or by means of other forms such as CD ROMs, digital satellites or otherwise. This information ranges practically unlimited in all fields, from current affairs to culture, from economics to medicine, from science to entertainment, and so on.

Another element of the global information transmission system consists of the growing spread of digital cell phones (GSM) and connected services, such as the possibility of broadcasting selective information or having a univocal voice box available to record and broadcast selected messages . On the one hand there is a substantially unlimited supply of potential information of any type; on the other hand, it is not possible to make this supply, which needs a dedicated telephone line and a personal computer to acquire and reproduce it, compatible with the limited times and the lack of a fixed support of a user who is on the move, spending a large part of his time in the car, on the train or on other means of transport.

Document WO 97/10558 discloses a method and a system to provide personalized, up-to-date information by means of a voice-box, E-mail, telephone or other means. However, the system only provides that a user can request, from a system generating standardized information, to be notified with regard to any specific event occurring, for example the changing traffic conditions on a particular section of road, up-dating information on the weather, news, etc.

In other words, in the system according to WO '558 the user does not participate in constructing the set of information, structuring several units of information according to his own personal and univocal choice, but simply indicates areas and parameters of information he is interested in; the fact that this information regarding such areas and parameters has been up-dated is then notified on each occasion by the provider company whenever any modifying event takes place. Therefore, there is no direct intervention on the part of the user in the construction of a univocal set of information, but simply a delayed acquisition of data and information already available for everybody in the same form. Moreover, WO '558 does not provide the intervention of any machine able to process the construction of the univocal set of information. The only operative involvement of the machine is to notify (and possibly transmit) variations in the condition of any possible information as it is identified, without any processing/modification whatsoever.

In other words, in WO '558 the machine simply observes the existing world of information, and possibly notifies the user of changes in said world of information, and the user receives said notifications passively, without intervening in any way in their construction.

The present Applicant has devised and embodied this invention to overcome these deficiencies and to obtain further advantages as will be explained hereafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is set forth and characterized in the respective main claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the main embodiment. The purpose of the invention is to achieve a method to construct univocal sets of units of information in electronic form, hereafter called also information pill, self-constructed according to a personal architecture and which can be recorded temporarily and memorized on an appropriate support, and then listened to again, and/or looked at again at a desired later time, for example during a journey from one place to another by car or by train.

To be more exact, the invention provides a method which allows a user, through a personal computer, or other similar or comparable instrument (for example the new generation WAP or UMTS mobile telephones) , which can be connected to a telecommunications network for broadcasting information of any type, or which is able to read and copy information from a CD ROM^', or to receive information from digital satellites, to select a plurality of units or sets of information of specific interest, appropriately structured in a desired sequence so as to construct one or more sets univocally constructed in a personal way. The information may concern current affairs, for example newspaper articles, specific selected passages from TV or radio news broadcasts, sections of thematic debates or otherwise. Similarly, the information may be of a cultural or didactic type, for example passages or chapters from books, language courses interactive or not, scientific exhibitions, abstracts from conferences or congresses, or otherwise .

Likewise, the information may concern entertainment or amusements, for example extracts from TV or radio programs.

These examples are not to be considered restrictive, and do not limit the possibilities at the disposal of the user to construct for himself a univocal information pill in a personal way, as the supply of information, both oral and oral/visual, which current telecommunications networks can make available, is substantially unlimited.

Using a telecommunications network as a source of information should not be considered restrictive either, since the information pill can also be created from other sources, for example selecting texts, articles, conferences or otherwise, reproduced in digital form on CD or other information support of an electronic type.

It also comes within the field of the invention to provide software able to process written texts, for example reports, conference abstracts, minutes of meetings, and to transfer them into the voice box.

After constructing, in a personal way, a univocal scale consisting of specific units of information which makes up his information pill, the user starts a procedure to transfer said pill electronically to his dedicated voice box.

It must be stressed that the invention gives the considerable advantage, compared with conventional recording systems, that it occupies the user only for the time needed to select his scale of information and to indicate the components which will constitute his univocal and personal set of units of information; in fact, the subsequent steps of transferring the information and memorizing it in the voice box are entirely managed by the computer and do not require the user's presence or particular actions on his part.

In practice, it is the computer itself, according to the user's instructions, which constructs a desired number of personal worlds of information, each one different from the other, starting from a global world of information.

The voice boxes are already marketed, and are normally made available to the user by the company which provides the telephone service, through a subscription and/or specific request.

At any later time whatsoever, for example by means of his GSM cell phone or similar mobile support, the user is then able to access the voice box and to activate the reproduction of the information pill when it is most convenient for him, for example during a journey by car or by train.

In the case of a car with a radio equipped to reproduce messages transmitted via radio or satellite, the user can listen to the information pill from the voice box through said radio .

The user can thus use at least part of his free time, which is not normally exploited profitably, for an activity of learning, entertainment, or simple diversion, according to personal and specific choices, by first selecting and then composing desired sets of units of information inside a substantially unlimited world of information.

Within the field of this basic arrangement, an extremely large number of variants and evolutions are possible, some of which will be explained hereafter.

A first variant provides that the user can select a service to periodically up-date one or more of the units which make up his personal set of information, for example a

TV or radio program in episodes, or to achieve a desired learning profile.

Another variant provides that the user can select desired

TV programs on a personal support, which in this case may not even be a voice box; the programs can then be reproduced subsequently by means of appropriate transmission means, for example a monitor associated with audio and visual diffusers .

A further variant provides that the user can program a specific server, enabled to supply various types of information, or even his own personal computer, so that it downloads to his voice box the specific set comprising the selected units of information so as to form the information pill which will be reproduced later. It also comes within the field of the invention that the information pill can be selected by an appropriate service upon request, for example via fax, voice mail, e-mail, telephone or other means, of a user who does not have access to the telecommunications network. The user, indicating his personal scale and a voice box number, can request this service and use it at the desired time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other characteristics of the invention will be clear from the following description of the preferential embodiment, given with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a functional diagram of the device which allows to actuate the method according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a diagram of the principle of the method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the attached drawings a device to achieve and reproduce personal sets of units of information is indicated in its entirety by the reference number 10, and comprises at least a computer 11 or other type of similar or comparable processing unit (for example a recent generation mobile telephone WAP or UMTS) , which can be connected by a modem

(not shown here) or similar device to a data transmission network.

The computer 11 is also able to read electronic information supports such as CD ROMs, or video cards connected to TV or satellite, and to copy, memorize and/or transfer part of the information contained on the electronic supports, also located elsewhere and at other times. Therefore, a user has access via the computer 11 to a substantially unlimited world of information, represented in its entirety in Fig. 2 by the reference number 20 and specifically by the individual units 12.

Each of said units 12 represents a unit of information of any type from any source, represented by the arrows 13. The units of information 12 can come from the world of current affairs, culture, science, medicine, entertainment, leisure, or substantially any other field of knowledge.

As already said, the units of information 12 can be accessible through a telecommunications network to which the computer 11 can be connected, or through electronic supports such as CD ROMs or flash cards.

The units of information 12 can consist of passages or chapters of books, language courses or scientific up-dating, abstracts from conferences or congresses, or otherwise. By means of the computer 11 a user can select a sequence of units of information 12 which interest him, and construct a personal scale wherein some of the units of information 12 selected (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d...) are removed from the network, or from other transmission means or from respective electronic supports (web sites, satellite, cable TV, etc.); the units 12a-12d are used by the user to construct a set 16 structured univocally and absolutely personally, which is transferred to an appropriate, dedicated temporary support 14.

The support 14 consists in Fig. 1 of a voice box 15, which is an element already on the market and allows to memorize univocal audio units of information which only the enabled user can access. With the invention, according to the steps described above, the user can therefore form a personal set 16 of units 12 of information, organized in an appropriate sequence and memorized on a temporary support which can be remote accessed both in time and space. At a later time, for example one or more days later, and when the user is unable to access the world of information directly by means of the computer 11, he can activate the reproduction of the personal sets 16 by accessing his voice box 15 directly, for example by means of a cell phone 17. It comes within the field of the invention to provide that, by means of the cell phone, the user can activate a remote selection procedure to create a new information pill.

In any place whatsoever, therefore, the user can use his time profitably by listening to information that he himself has selected and constructed according to a univocal and appropriate structure.

If he is on a journey, for example in a car 18, by means of the cell phone 17, possibly associated with a loud speaker system, the user can activate the reproduction of the personal set 16 of units 12 he has constructed, and exploit the journey time according to his personal choices. The car 18 can also be equipped with a radio 19 modified and equipped with a GSM card; therefore the information memorized in the voice box 15, after the user has activated it, can be directly reproduced and listened to through said radio 19.

It is obvious that the univocal information constructed by the user and memorized in the voice box 15 can be reproduced in places and with means which are different from those indicated here, for example using appropriately configured home radios, satellite phones, or even home phones, provided that they can be connected on command to said voice box 15. Although we have described some preferential embodiments of the invention, it is obvious that numerous variants and evolutions can be made thereto, which must all be considered as included in the field of protection defined by the attached claims . In particular, it comes within the field of the invention that the voice box 15 is of the centralized type, as shown above, or is installed directly on the telephone 17 and/or the radio 19. It also comes within the field of the invention that the telephone 17 is of the simplified type, for example equipped with simple ON-OFF keys able to activate the transmission and reproduction of the personal set 16.

Claims

1 - Method to. achieve and reproduce personal and self- constructed sets of information, said sets (16) consisting of units of information (12) transmitted in electronic form through a telecommunications network, a digital satellite or similar, or through electronic supports such as CD ROMs, flash cards or similar, the method being characterized in that it comprises a first step to acquire and select, by means of a computer (11) or other similar or comparable element, one or more of said units of information (12), a second step to compose and construct a personal and univocal set (16) of information consisting of the grouping of a plurality of said units (12) organized according to a personal sequence (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d... ) , a third step of telematic transfer of said personal set (16) of units of information (12) to a selective-access temporary support (14) , and a fourth step to reproduce, listen to and/or see said personal and univocal set (16) of units of information (12a-12d) in any place whatsoever and at any time whatsoever, subsequent to the time of acquisition and selection.

2 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that said acquisition and selection step provides a connection between said computer (11) , or similar or comparable element, and a telecommunications network for the diffusion of information, such as the Internet, and to select specific units of information (12a-12d) from among all those (12) made available by said telecommunications network.

3 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that said acquisition and selection step provides to read by means of a computer (11) at least an information support of an electronic type, such as a CD ROM, a flash card or similar, and to copy at least some parts of the content of said electronic support.

4 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that said acquisition and selection step provides to use a software able to recognize and subsequently process a written • text into a form suitable to send to said temporary support (14) .

5 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that said step of transferring the personal set (16) of selected units of information (12a-12d) comprises a telematic transfer to a dedicated voice box (15) . 6 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that said step of reproducing, listening to and/or seeing said personal set (16) of selected units of information (12a-12d) provides to selectively access said temporary support (14) by means of an apparatus to reproduce digital information, such as a GSM cell phone.

7 - Method as in Claim 2, characterized in that it provides to activate a service of periodic up-dating by means of a programmed access to said telecommunications network and to transfer at least some of the selected units of information (12a-12d) to said temporary support (14) .

8 - Device to achieve and reproduce personal and self- constructed sets of units of information, said units of information (12) being transmitted in electronic form through a telecommunications network, or through electronic supports such as CD ROMs, flash cards or similar, the device being characterized in that it comprises at least a computer (11) , or similar or comparable means, which can be connected to said telecommunications network of data transmission and/or able to read said electronic information supports, a temporary support (14) for the information able to communicate with said computer (11) to receive therefrom a sequence of said units of information (12a-12d) appropriately selected and structured to constitute a personal and univocal set (16) and to maintain said personal set (16) in its memory, and reproduction means (17,- 19) able to remote access said temporary support (14) and to allow to listen to said personal set (16) of units of information (12a-12d) substantially in any place whatsoever and at any time whatsoever subsequent to the time of acquisition, selection and memorization.

9 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said temporary support (14) consists of a selectively accessible voice box (15) .

10 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said reproduction means consist of a GSM cell phone (17) .

11 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said reproduction means consist of a modified radio (19) . 12 - Device as in Claim 9, characterized in that said voice box (15) is of the centralized type.

13 - Device as in Claim 9, characterized in that said voice box (15) is installed on the cell phone (17) .

14 - Device as in Claim 9, characterized in that said voice box (15) is installed on the radio (19) .