Patent Application
20070179788
The invention relates generally to telecommunication networks, and more particularly to support various modes of language interaction.
No matter what career a person chooses, if the person has learned a second language, the person will have a real advantage. A technician who knows Russian or German, the head of a company who knows Japanese or Spanish, or a salesperson who knows French or Chinese can work successfully with many more people and in many more places than someone who knows only one language.
There are lots of Americans who speak languages other than English. A person who, for example, is a nurse, a doctor, a police officer, a judge, an architect, a businessperson, a singer, a plumber, or a Webmaster, will multiply their chances for success if they speak more than one language. A hotel manager or a customer service representative who knows English and Spanish or English and Korean may look much better at promotion time than one who knows only English.
Professionals who know other languages are called on to travel and exchange information with people in other countries throughout their careers. Knowing more than one language enhances opportunities in government, business, medicine and health care, law enforcement, teaching, technology, the military, communications, industry, social service, and marketing. An employer will see such a person as a bridge to new clients or customers if they know a second language.
In fact, fluency in second and even third languages is rapidly becoming a requirement for many business people in today's global society. While there are numerous available options to learn a new language, all of them require dedicated classroom presence, or bulky textbooks, or inconvenient audio devices which must be carried. Currently, there are no viable alternatives for improving or maintaining second language fluency that are highly portable, interactive, and conducive to multiple learning modes.
Wireless communication systems are constantly evolving. System designers are continually developing greater numbers of features for both service providers as well as for the end users. In the area of wireless phone systems, cellular based phone systems have advanced tremendously in recent years. Wireless phone systems are available based on a variety of modulation techniques and are capable of using a number of allocated frequency bands. Available modulation schemes include analog FM and digital modulation schemes using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Each scheme has inherent advantages and disadvantages relating to system architecture, frequency reuse, and communications quality. However, the features the manufacturer offers to the service provider and which the service provider offers to the consumer are similar between the different wireless systems.
Regardless of the modulation scheme in use, the wireless phone available to the end user has a number of important features. Nearly all wireless phones incorporate at least a keyboard for entering numbers and text, and a display that allows the user to display text, dialed numbers, pictures and incoming caller numbers. Additionally, wireless phones may incorporate cameras, electronic phonebooks, speed dialing, single button voicemail access, and messaging capabilities, such as e-mail.
It is a drawback of the prior art that language learning experiences are not offered in interactive portable devices that a user may already possess.
The invention in one implementation encompasses an apparatus. The apparatus in one embodiment may comprise: a mobile terminal having at least a display, audio input/output and a text entry part; a language server operatively coupled to a language lesson database; and a network operatively coupled to the mobile terminal and the language server.
The invention in a further implementation encompasses a method. The method in one embodiment may comprise: storing language lessons at a language server; and accessing, via a network, by a mobile terminal the stored language lessons at the language server.
Features of exemplary implementations of the invention will become apparent from the description, the claims, and the accompanying drawings in which:
Educators have long known engaging more senses in the learning process leads to both quicker mastery and better retention. Embodiments of the present method and apparatus optimize the language learning experience through offering the four modes of language use via a network as content source and a mobile handset as a language content exchange mechanism. In addition, because no additional equipment is required, the solution is highly portable and economical. Finally, the embodiments are particularly well suited to operate in the interrupt-driven mode that people often experience in today's environment.
One methodology of the embodiments of the present method and apparatus is for the network to access stored language lessons from a language server. Another methodology is for the network to transmit the second language to the mobile handset to allow the mobile subscriber to hear correctly spoken words and phrases from the language lesson. A further methodology is for the network to display written words and phrases from the language lesson on the screen of the mobile handset for viewing by the mobile subscriber. Yet another methodology is for the network to receive a mobile subscriber's pronunciation of words and phrases from the language lesson, to compare the received voice to the proper pronunciations stored in the language database, and to provide feedback to the mobile subscriber. Another methodology is for the network to receive text entered by the mobile subscriber in response to voice commands from the network to type specific words and phrases from the language lesson.
A telecommunications network 100 may have a mobile switching center (MSC) 102. The network 100 may be, or may be part of, one or more of a telephone network, a local area network (“LAN”), the Internet, and a wireless network. In the depicted embodiment, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 104 may be connected to the MSC 102. The PSTN 104 may be operatively coupled to, for example, a wireline station 106. The PSTN 104 may route calls to and from a mobile terminal 112 through the MSC 102. The MSC 102 may also be connected to at least one base station (BS) 110. The base station 110 communicates with the mobile terminal 112 in its service area using a subscriber database 108. The PSTN 104 generally may be implemented as a worldwide voice telephone network accessible to all those with telephones and access privileges (e.g., AT&T long distance network). The mobile terminal 112 may be any one of a number of devices, such as a cell phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, etc. The mobile terminal 112 may have a display 111, an audio input/output 121, and a text entry part, such as keypad 113.
The PSTN 104 may also be operatively coupled to a language server 114 that is operatively coupled to a language lesson database 115. Words and phrases of at least one predetermined language, as well as lessons for learning the predetermined language, are stored in the language lesson database 115. The language server 114 may have a language comparison/analysis module 117, wherein the language comparison/analysis module 117 compares pronunciation of the predetermined words and phrases, received from the mobile terminal 112, to proper pronunciations of the words and phrases stored in the language lesson database 115.
Other types of networks, such as an IMS network may be used instead of the PSTN. Also, for example, the language server may be considered to be part of the network, or may be a separate entity that is operatively coupled to the network. Responses from the mobile terminal may be stored in the network or may be stored in a storage that is operatively coupled to the network.
More specifically, as depicted in
Embodiments of the present method and apparatus overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and enables the mobile telecommunications network to gain access to language learning expenences.
The present apparatus in one example may comprise a plurality of components such as one or more of electronic components, hardware components, and computer software components. A number of such components may be combined or divided in the apparatus.
The present apparatus in one example may employ one or more computer-readable signal-bearing media. The computer-readable signal-bearing media may store software, firmware and/or assembly language for performing one or more portions of one or more embodiments. The computer-readable signal-bearing medium in one example may comprise one or more of a magnetic, electrical, optical, biological, and atomic data storage medium. For example, the computer-readable signal-bearing medium may comprise floppy disks, magnetic tapes, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, hard disk drives, and electronic memory. In another example, the computer-readable signal-bearing medium may comprise a modulated carrier signal transmitted over a network comprising or coupled with the apparatus, for instance, one or more of a telephone network, a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), the Internet, and a wireless network.
The steps or operations described herein are just exemplary. There may be many variations to these steps or operations without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the steps may be performed in a differing order, or steps may be added, deleted, or modified.
Although exemplary implementations of the invention have been depicted and described in detail herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions, substitutions, and the like can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and these are therefore considered to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.
