Did You Know...
...When G.G. Hubbard learned of his future son-in-law's invention, he called it "only a toy." His daughter was engaged to a young man named Alexander Graham Bell.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7438555 | Teaching aid A hand held teaching aid is made of three layers of card. The grip has a panel projecting from the grip and a pocket slides on the panel. The grip carries a picture of an item whose name is to be taught, eg. an apple, and the panel bears the name of the item, eg. AP... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7326057 | Language learning computer system A language learning computer system is proposed which allows students to learn a foreign language as naturally as a baby learns its mother tongue. The computer system has a CPU which is programmed to show a first character as an instructor and a second character as ... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7281928 | Method and apparatus for conducting a competition using a divided literary work The invention provides a method of advertising by conducting a competition using a literary work that is divided into a plurality of distinct parts and formed into playing pieces, each piece optionally having an associated advertisement, logo, or brand. A literary w... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7217135 | Electronic educational toy having a contact-sensitive display screen An electronic educational toy designed to teach letters, words and numbers and stimulate the development of a child's mind using audio feedback, the educational toy including an enclosure enclosing a processor, a data storage medium and a speaker and having a substa... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7214066 | Computer software and portable memory for an electronic educational toy having a contact sensitive display screen Computer software and portable memory for an electronic educational toy designed to stimulate the development of a child's mind using audio feedback, the educational toy including an enclosure enclosing a processor, data storage medium and a speaker and having a sub... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7040898 | Computer software and portable memory for an electronic educational toy Computer software and portable memory for an electronic educational toy designed to stimulate the development of a child's mind using audio feedback, the educational toy including an enclosure enclosing a processor, data storage medium and a speaker and having a sub... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7014468 | Visual teaching aid An aid for teach addition and subtraction comprises a single counting member representing a single digit, and consecutive sets of counting members progressing numerically from two members to ten members. The members of each set are interconnected for pivotal displac... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6971880 | Deformable drawing tablet A deformable drawing tablet in which contiguous longitudinal edge portions of a stack of individual elongate strips which are confined for relative sliding movement to form a drawing surface. A user can shift individual strips longitudinally to deform the drawing su... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6763995 | Method and system for illustrating sound and text A method and system (10) for illustrating sound and text comprising a book (18) with pages (20) including illustrations and/or text, wherein at least some of the pages (20) include magnetic signatures (24). The system further inclu... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6739874 | Electronic educational toy appliance teaching letters words and numbers An electronic educational toy designed to teach letters, words and numbers and stimulate the development of a child's mind using audio feedback, the educational toy including an enclosure enclosing a processor, a data storage medium and a speaker and having a substa... | 05/25/2004 |
| 6726485 | Electronic educational toy appliance and a portable memory device therefor An electronic toy appliance designed to stimulate the development of a child's mind using audio feedback, the toy comprising an object having a plurality of substantially planar sides adapted for manipulation by a child on a substantially flat surface so that a chil... | 04/27/2004 |
| 6629845 | Products & methods that harness the power of fun to motivate children A method is disclosed of motivating a child to want to do what is beneficial, including the steps of (a) providing an item which the child interacts with to establish a play pattern that is fun for the child, (b) packaging the item in a manner that is ... | 10/07/2003 |
| 6464503 | Method and apparatus for interacting with a computer using a plurality of individual handheld objects A system where a child or other individual arranges one or more computer-recognizable characters on a working platform to spell words or provide a mathematical result in response to computer generated questions or prompts, the system then indicating wheth... | 10/15/2002 |
| 6409512 | Method and testing instrument for assessing skills of an individual A method for assessing the readiness skills of a child between the ages of two and six years is disclosed. To assess the child's skills, a set of specially designed cards is provided. Each card displays one or more predetermined symbols. The cards are dis... | 06/25/2002 |
| 6234803 | Educational treasure hunt game An educational treasure hunt game provides for teaching young children or others the basics of writing and reading, by conducting a physical search for cards placed or concealed throughout a predetermined area in accordance with clues provided. A series o... | 05/22/2001 |
| 6161108 | Method and apparatus for managing images, a method and apparatus for retrieving images, and a computer-readable recording medium with a program for making a computer execute the methods stored therein Image data and natural language data indicating a visual impression of an image prepared based on the image data are correlated to each other and stored in the correlated form in the image database, and when retrieving an image using the retrieving sectio... | 12/12/2000 |
| 6146146 | Learning device for children An interactive learning device for children has a housing with a front and back face. Multiple switches are located on the front face of the housing and an image of a letter of an alphabet is associated with each of the switches. The housing also supports... | 11/14/2000 |
| 6148286 | Method and apparatus for database search with spoken output, for user with limited language skills A method and apparatus which allows a user with minimal understanding of the orthography of a language to nevertheless use its orthography as the basis for performing a database search. Orthographic information is displayed. When a user indicates a possib... | 11/14/2000 |
| 6120297 | Vocabulary acquistion using structured inductive reasoning A system for increasing the vocabulary of a student using inductive reasoning is disclosed. The system displays a target word to be learned and associated derivation information, followed by a clue. The derivation information can include a pronunciation g... | 09/19/2000 |
| 6116907 | System and method for encoding and retrieving visual signals A method and system are disclosed for encoding signs in a given sign language. The sign typically uses a dominant hand for some signs and a second hand is used for other signs the dominant hand remaining dominant of the two hands. In order to encode the s... | 09/12/2000 |
| 6045363 | Educational aid and method for using same An educational aid and a method for using it to teach students to read by facilitating the rapid development of extensive sight-word vocabularies in an interesting and challenging manner through the utilization of a student's natural ability to learn and ... | 04/04/2000 |
| 6009397 | Phonic engine A method and apparatus which allows a user to specify phonemes and the relative positions of the phonemes with respect a word or a group of words, such as at title. Phonemic indicators representing phonemes are provided, and selection of the indicators is... | 12/28/1999 |
| 5953692 | Natural language to phonetic alphabet translator A method and apparatus which transforms a standard natural language alphabet into a phonetic alphabet provides a user with a plurality of alphabetic characters of a natural language and prompts the user to select a letter. When a letter is selected, a plu... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5842868 | Educational method for developing sight-word vocabulary An educational aid and a method for using it to teach students to read by facilitating the rapid development of extensive sight-word vocabularies in an interesting and challenging manner through the utilization of a student's natural ability to learn and ... | 12/01/1998 |
| 5823782 | Character recognition educational system A system where a child or other individual arranges one or more computer-recognizable characters on a working platform to spell words or provide a mathematical result in response to computer generated questions or prompts, the system then indicating wheth... | 10/20/1998 |
| 5799267 | Phonic engine A method of accessing information in a database of text entries is provided. The user may be prompted for an initial sound of the information to be accessed, by providing a menu of symbols, each symbol representing a respectively different sound. The init... | 08/25/1998 |
| 5651678 | Educational reading aid and method for using same An educational aid and a method for using it to teach students to read by facilitating the rapid development of extensive sight-word vocabularies in an interesting and challenging manner through the utilization of a student's natural ability to learn and ... | 07/29/1997 |
| 5411271 | Electronic video match game An electronic video game requires the player to match the location of information on a video screen with the correct location of a pushbutton in a corresponding array. Initially, the video screen produces a display showing nine object character icons loca... | 05/02/1995 |
| 4693694 | Toy with moving screen A toy, as for instance a simulated toy computer, has a housing with a window formed in the housing. Behind the window is an indicia strip or carrier which has indicia located on its surface. Positioned in front of the indicia strip is a lenticular screen.... | 09/15/1987 |
| 4573928 | Teaching toy A teaching toy has a housing with a viewing screen located in the housing. Positioned behind the viewing screen is an indicia carrier located on rollers. A plurality of indicia is located on the surface of the indicia carrier. By rolling the indicia carri... | 03/04/1986 |
| 4505682 | Learning aid with match and compare mode of operation An electronic learning aid selectively provides synthetic speech to an operator. An electro-optic sensor which reads bar code from the pages of a book selects speech words or phrases to be produced by an electronic speech synthesizer. A mode of operation ... | 03/19/1985 |
| 4457719 | Electronic learning aid for providing sequencing and spelling exercises Disclosed is an electronic learning aid having modes of operation to provide an interesting and effective learning experience to a student. In the preferred embodiment, inputs to the learning aid are effected via scanning of a bar code on a page by the st... | 07/03/1984 |
| 4439757 | Interchangeable keyboard defining means A computer interactive device supports a planar keyboard and a display panel. A resilient keyboard overlay may be inserted to and removed from a position overlying the keyboard. The keyboard is surrounded by an inwardly projecting lip defining a pair of o... | 03/27/1984 |
| 4196529 | Teaching device and method A teaching device especially suitable for use in teaching reading at the elementary school level. The device, in its preferred form, comprises a lesson sheet on one side of which words are arranged in a preselected pattern. A window card is provided and i... | 04/08/1980 |
| 4189779 | Parameter interpolator for speech synthesis circuit Disclosed is a parameter interpolator for a speech synthesis circuit. Using a parameter interpolator permits the data rate to the speech synthesis circuit to be lowered inasmuch as the incoming speech data is used to slowly charge the data previously inpu... | 02/19/1980 |
