1 2352062 Computing device for seeking and displaying information This
invention relates to a computing device which can receive information, correlate it with other information, store it, search i and display it for the benefit of the user, both aurally and visually, at an appropriate moment, Information may be received from a local or remote source, and the display triggered by a local or remote event. Tbe information or trigger may be obtained through a signal that is received by infra-red, radio-ftequency, wire or inductive loop. Or the display may be triggered by user request. Or the display may be triggered by identification of an object or location in the environment which can be correlated with a record stored in the device. Such identification may be by bar-code scanning or by interacting with a radio-frequency tag.
Applications include shopping and visiting exhibitions, where objects of interest (retail items or exhibits respectively) may be bar-coded or otherwise tagged, and the user can use the device to identif, the object and display information about the object.
Information may be in text form, and converted to speech in digital audio form for aural display by means of either a speech synthesiser or a person ("actor") who reads the text into a microphone for recording digitally. Recorded speech is stored in the device along with corresponding text. Synthesised speech may be generated directly from stored text. There is means for synchronising the text display and corresponding speech (aural display), on a sentence by sentence.. phrase by phrase or word by word basis.
Information may also be in the form of a map, stored as a bit map or by vector graphics, on which routes and positions of objects may be marked. A map, and routes and positions on the map, may be described in text, which can be converted to speech for aural display. Routes may be calculated using algorithms stored in computer memory.
The visual display component can display text. In an embodiment of the invention, the visual display component can also display the map on which routes and positions of objects may be marked, together with the current position and orientation of the user if the device is used in conjunction with a positioning and orientation system (such as GPS and compass).
The device can store a user profile. The profile can speci7 interest of the user in certain objects or in classes of object or in subjects which the objects illustrate. The profile can specif, preferred characteristics for the display - for example the size of characters for the visual display or the volume of the sound for the audio display.
A user may own a device for daily use, or may hire or borrow a device temporarily for visiting a place, such as a supermarket or an exhibition, where there would be a number of devices for customer use. Receipt of the device may be at the entry "gate" into a space (such as a ball or building), and return at the exit "gate" from that space. At the gate there would be a system for updating information in the device, loading an event schedule for the day, setting the device's internal clock, customising the device according the user profile, and recharging the batteries of returned devices.
The user can search the text in the database for particular items of interest or navigate the database structure to find them. The user can add these items to the profile of interest. A route can be calculated taking the user past objects which are likely to be of interest for their given profile.
The database of maps, routes, positions and descriptions of objects in a space can be replicated on the web, allowing the customer (and potential future user of the device) to find out what may be of interest to him or her. The customer can fill in a form concerning their own profile, which can be automatically sent to a central repository or directly to the appropriate gate system or systems of the places where the customer is likely to visit in person.
I Another application of the device is in digital radio broadcasting where the text corresponding to speech may be broadcast simultaneously or nearsimultaneously with the speech, possibly on a separate narrow channel. The device displays the text corresponding to speech. This can be helpful for a person who is hard of bearing. The text can be displayed alone, in which case the device can act as a "radio for the deaf '. The device can record prograrnmes. The user can search the text to find particular passages and have them played back with the corresponding speech. This is particularly helpful for blind people, who may rely on radio as a source of information.
Some important characteristics of the invention are:
audio received by the device and synthesised speech can be output on the same speaker or headphones; data coded on the radio or infrared signal can be decoded and stored in the computer memory for subsequent retrieval,,A-bere this data may be text which can be output as speech by the speech synthesiser; the keypad allows input of textual characters and of commands to the computer, and allows control of computer and other components; the speech output allows an alternative to visual display for all functions.
A further application is the "radio computer". Text may be broadcast as data separately to normal radio broadcasting, and spoken using speech synthesis.
The radio computer variant of the invention comprises a combination of a radio receiver and a computer with synthesised speech output, sharing an audio output means. The computer receives data encoded on the broadcast radio signal. The data contains text which can be stored in the computer and subsequendy read out using the speech synthesiser.
The preferred embodiment of the radio computer variant combines the computer with the radio in the one box, sharing the loudspeaker, Ile radio and computer components are on the same printed circuit board and share the same power source, which may be battery, solar cells or clock- work. The computer software allows access to information in text form, using a keypad for input of characters, for control and for navigation through the structure holding the information. The computer software includes a speech -nthesiser for speech output of text through the shared loudspeaker.
Some important characteristics of the radio computer embodiment are:
radio sound and computer speech can be output on the same speaker or headphones; radio electronics and computer electronics can share the same power source; data coded on the radio signal can be decoded and stored in the computer memory for subsequent retrieval, where this data may be text which can be output as speech by the speech synthesiser, or may be software to run on the computer; controls (e.g. switches or knobs) and visual display (e.g. by LED or LCD) can respectively modif, and show the state of the radio, power supply, and computer; the keypad allows input of textual characters and of commands to the computer, but can also be used for controlling radio functions, e.g. to select bands or control volume; the speech output allows display of radio functions, as an alternative to visual display.
The radio computer can be made at low cost, and requires minimal infrastructure (e.g. without telephone or mains power), and is thus suitable for deployment in developing countries for purposes of education and of information dissemination generally, The speech synthesiser can run on a fairly inexpensive microprocessor with low power consumption. The keypad can be a discrete unit which, when not in use, can be clipped onto the "box", or, when in use, detached from the box and connected to it by a cable, to enable the computer operator (typically the teacher) to be operating the computer from a few feet away.
3 Note that any piece of text occupies several orders of magnitude less storage than the equivalent audio file containing that text as digitised speech. It can also be broadcast correspondingly faster. 'Mus information as text is very much more compact than as speech. It can also be searched and structured more easily.
Data (including textual data) is sent to the computer digitally over the radio, For this process, both radio and computer are powered up. Ile computer stores the text and programs as files in a directory structure in persistent memory, able to hold many megabytes of text while power is off. (This could be flash memory or hard disc.) Whi-le computer power is on, the directory structure can be navigated, and text files read out using the speech synthesiser.
The diagram shows an embodiment of the invention, where loudspeaker is shared, Ilere is a tuning dial for tuning the radio. Input to the computer for control and navigation of information is by means of a keypad which is shown clipped to the top of the box containing computer and radio. The keypad has buttons in two planes at right angles: one the top for finger operation, and one at the side for thumb operation. There is a slot in the side (away from loudspeaker magnet) for a memory card, having flash memory or hard disc. Radio signals picked up by the aerial are amplified and demodulated by the radio receiver electronics. Audio is passed straight to the loudspeaker; whereas data is decoded by a de coder and passed to the computer processor to be stored in the computer memory, Power may be supplied by mains, battery, solar cells, or clock-work (in which case there would a handle on the back of the box).
The text and audio files are stored in a hierarchical structure which the user can navigate and search using commands and search character strings entered using the keypad. T'he audio files which correspond text can be played (displayed aurally) at the same time as the text is displayed, either sentence by sentence, phrase by phrase, or word by word, In one embodiment, firning information is stored with the text. The time at which a sentence is started in relation to the start of the corresponding audio file is stored, such that the text of the sentence can be displayed while it is being spoken from the digital recording. Tle user can search for a word of text, and have a sentence in which the word appears displayed both aurally and visually.
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