BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to providing educational content and, more particularly, to system and method for delivery of educational content in real time and a secure manner.

A significant amount of digital educational material is available for aiding students in their studies, for example through the Internet, educational CDs among other mediums. While many digital resources provide detailed educational information, most such resources are passive, that is, such resources merely provide educational material and do not aid comprehension of a student (or user) other than by way of the user consuming the educational material.

In certain instances, a user may have difficulty in grasping a particular subject. Despite efforts to consume the material, a student may not gain a realistic assessment of his/her comprehension and/or proficiency of a subject. While such digital resources, multimedia content significantly enhance the instructive ability or comprehensiveness of the educational content as compared to, say a paper book, such educational materials are limited in aiding a user to improve from a low level of comprehension and/or performance. The user experience in such cases is largely passive.

Therefore, a need exists for systems and methods for delivering educational content that enhance user experience, and aids in better learning.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method for delivery of educational content include receiving meta information for encrypted tutorial data, identifying relevant educational data based on the meta information, and displaying the relevant educational data and the tutorial data in real time.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system for delivery of educational content, includes a handheld display device, a portable data storage device comprising encrypted tutorial data, the portable data storage device configured to couple removably with the handheld display device, and an education application server comprising a synchronization module. The synchronization module is configured to receive meta information for the encrypted tutorial data being displayed on the handheld display device, identify educational data relevant to the encrypted tutorial data being displayed on the handheld display device, and send the educational data to the handheld display device. The educational data relevant to the tutorial data and the tutorial data is displayed on the handheld display device in real time.

DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a system for delivery of educational content according to an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a handheld display device according to an embodiment of the invention,

FIG 3 is a block diagram of an educational content server according to an embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a display of the handheld display device of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram for synchronized delivery of educational content in real time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention provide a system and a method for synchronized delivery of educational content in real time. Specifically, techniques discussed herein provide for synchronized delivery of tutorial data (e.g. audio and/or video material, ebooks etc.) and educational data (tests, assessment, community content, question banks etc.), such that the educational data is relevant to the tutorial data being consumed. Such synchronized, real-time delivery of relevant educational data significantly enhances the user experience and effectiveness of the overall educational content, for example, education data and tutorial data, delivered using the techniques discussed herein. Further enhancements include delivery in a secure manner to avoid piracy of the educational content.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for delivery of educational content according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 100 includes a handheld display device 110, a portable encrypted data storage 120, an education application server 130, and a DRM (digital rights management) server for managing secure delivery of educational content. The handheld display device 110 includes devices such as portable devices for accessing digital content, for example, tablet PCs, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other similar devices capable of processing digital information, displaying it on a screen and providing a user interface. The function of the portable data storage device 120 is to make encrypted tutorial data available to the handheld display device 110. The portable data storage 120 is coupled removably with the handheld display device 110, for example through generally known communication interfaces. The handheld display device 110 can also couple communicable with the education application server 130 through the Internet. The education application server 130 is communicably coupled with the DRM server 140 to enable consumption of the encrypted tutorial data on the handheld display device 110.

FIG. 2 illustrates a handheld display device 200, similar to the handheld display device 110 of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the invention. The handheld display device 200 includes in general, a central processing unit (CPU) 202, support circuits 204, a memory 220 and display 230. The CPU 202 may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. Various support circuits 204 facilitate operation of the CPU 202 and may include clock circuits, buses, power supplies, input/output circuits and/or the like. The memory 220 includes a Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), disk drive storage, optical storage, removable storage, and the like. The memory 220 includes application software and data, such as, for example, an OS (operating system) 222, tutorial data 224, and a client application module 226.
The OS 222 is configured to operationalize the handheld display device 200. The tutorial data 224 includes data such as, multimedia educational content illustrating various educational concepts, audio and/or video lectures, question banks, ebooks, and the like. The tutorial data 224 is in an encrypted format to prevent unauthorized access and piracy of the tutorial data. According to one embodiment, the encrypted tutorial data 224 is received from a portable encrypted data storage, for example, the portable encrypted data storage 120 illustrated in FIG. 1.

The client application module 226 is configured to provide a user interface, for example to display, access and/or consume encrypted tutorial data 224. The client application module 226 is further configured to communicate with an education application server 130, for example, the education application server 130 of FIG. 1. The client application module 226 provides information about the encrypted tutorial data 224, and about a user of the handheld display device 200 to the education application server. The client application module 226 further receives educational data from the education application server and displays the educational data and the tutorial data 224 in a synchronized manner, on the display 230. The client application module 226 also includes a DRM file access module 228 configured to de-crypt the encrypted tutorial data, such that the encrypted tutorial data 224 is accessible to the user of the handheld display device 200. The DRM file access module 228 is configured to receive authorization information from a certification authority such as a DRM server, for example, the DRM server 140 of FIG.l. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that while the DRM file access module 228 is illustrated as a sub-component of the client application module 226, in alternate embodiments, the DRM file access module 228 may be an independent application software resident in the memory 220. Examples of DRM file access module 228 include encrypted file media player, encrypted ebook reader, and the like.

FIG. 3 illustrates an education application server 300, similar to the education application server 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The education application server 300 includes in general, a central processing unit (CPU) 302, support circuits 304, and a memory 320. The CPU 302 may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. Various support circuits 304 facilitate operation of the CPU 302 and may include clock circuits, buses, power supplies, input/output circuits and/or the like. The memory 320 includes a Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), disk drive storage, optical storage, removable storage, and the like. The memory 320 includes application software and data, such as, for example, an OS (operating system) 322, education data 324, and a synchronization module 326.

The OS 322 is configured to operationalize the education application server 300. The education data 324 includes data such as, tests, assessments, benchmark data for assessments, community based content to share what other users may be consuming or working upon, weblinks, and other multimedia educational content illustrating various educational concepts, audio and/or video lectures, question banks, ebooks, and the like.

The synchronization module 326, in the illustrated embodiments, enables de-crypting the encrypted tutorial data on the handheld display device by communicating with the DRM file access module and the DRM server. In other embodiments, the DRM file access module may directly communicate with the DRM server to de-crypt the encrypted tutorial data.

The synchronization module 326 is configured to deliver, in real time, relevant education data based on the tutorial data being consumed on a handheld display device, for example, the handheld display device 110 of FIG. 1. The synchronization module 326 receives meta information for the encrypted tutorial data being displayed on the handheld display device from the client application module 230. The meta information for the encrypted tutorial data includes information on components and sub-components of the tutorial content being consumed, for example, a course identification reference (e,g. course ID) topics, sub-topics, particular portion of the content such as a page of an ebook, or a time instance of a video and/or audio content being played, and the like. The meta information, according to one embodiment, includes an identification of the user (e.g. user ID) consuming the tutorial content, based on which a user profile, for example, the proficiency level, tutorial content already consumed, course plan, past performances in test and question bank, sources of tutorial content, and the like may be obtained by the synchronization module 326. The meta information, according to another embodiment includes identification information of the handheld display device (device ID), and display requirements associated with the handheld display, for example, the display size, resolution and the like.

The synchronization module 326 identifies education data 326 relevant to the tutorial data being consumed on the handheld display device based on the meta information and/or the user profile information, and sends the relevant education data to the handheld display device in real time, for being displayed in synchronization with the tutorial data, such that the education data dynamically updates based on the tutorial data being consumed. For example, in one embodiment, if a tutorial on calculus is being consumed on the handheld display device, education data displayed simultaneously (real time and synchronized) includes community information such as posts from other users currently consuming or having recently consumed calculus tutorials, test and question banks focused on calculus, preview of additional tutorial data which was rated highly by others, question banks on calculus, assessments of past and current students with varying preparation levels, and the like. If a particular user has performed well in the past in calculus, education data consistent with advanced users for calculus may be identified as being relevant. Relevant education data may also be identified based on the course plan for the user.
Further, only that education data may be displayed, that is appropriately viewable in the handheld display device being used (based on the display requirements such as size, resolution etc. of the handheld display device). The real time and synchronized delivery of relevant education data and tutorial data advantageously provides the user a significantly enhanced user experience, providing all relevant resources in a single view, along with the performance benchmarks, better alternate tutorial content, and community information. The techniques enable a highly functional classroom experience for a user from the convenience of a handheld display device, which aids in better learning, higher retention and pacing study effort for desired performance.

As illustrated by FIG. 4, a display 400, for example the display 230 of the handheld display device 200 of FIG. 2, displays tutorial data 410 (audio/video/multimedia, ebooks, question banks, offline tests, weblinks etc.) and synchronized education data 420 (community users' activity, tests and assessments, weblinks, recommended tutorials etc.) in real time.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 500 for delivering synchronized educational content for an improved user experience. The method 500 starts at step 502, and at step 504, subscription status of a user for a particular tutorial content (or data) is verified. At step 506, a determination is made if the subscription of the user is enabled, and if the subscription is enabled (option "YES"), the method 500 proceeds to step 508 at which access to tutorial data is enabled, for example on the handheld display device 110 of FIG. 1. If at the step 506, a determination is made that the subscription of the user is not enabled (option "NO"), the method 500 proceeds to step 510 at which the user is notified for enabling the subscription, and the method 500 ends at step 520. At step 512, meta information for the tutorial data being consumed is provided, for example to the education server 130 of FIG. 1. At step 514, education data relevant to the tutorial data being played is identified based on the meta information for the tutorial data and the profile of the user consuming the tutorial data, for example, by the synchronization module 326 of the education application server. At step 516, the relevant education data is provided, for example, to the handheld display device 110. In one embodiment, the education data is pushed to the handheld display device at regular time intervals, or soon as a change in the tutorial data being consumed is detected. At step 518, the relevant education data and the encrypted tutorial data are displayed in a synchronized manner in real time, for example, on the handheld display device 110. The method 500 ends at the step 520. The method 500 may be iterated as required, for example, on different instances (page of ebooks, time instance of multimedia, video, audio content, different question from a question bank, etc.) of tutorial data being consumed.

Various embodiments disclosed herein provide several advantages to a user. The educational content delivered in real time and synchronized manner advantageously simulates an active classroom/ group study user experience, enhances learning and retention and provides real time feedback on performance and therefore, potentially, much needed motivation to a user. Overall, the methods and systems disclosed herein enhance a user's performance, provide an active classroom experience while delivering educational content is a secure manner.

While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A system for delivery of educational content, comprising:

a handheld display device;

a portable data storage device comprising encrypted tutorial data, the portable data storage device configured to couple removably with the handheld display device; and

an education application server comprising a synchronization module configured to receive meta information for the encrypted tutorial data being displayed on the handheld display device, identify educational data relevant to the encrypted tutorial data being displayed on the handheld display device, and send the educational data to the handheld display device,

wherein the educational data relevant to the tutorial data, and the tutorial data is displayed on the handheld display device in real time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the handheld display device comprises a client application module.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the client application module further comprises a DRM file access module to access the encrypted tutorial data.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the client application module communicates the meta information associated with the tutorial data to the synchronization module.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the client application module communicates the meta information associated with sub-components of the tutorial data to the synchronization module in real time.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the client application module communicates at least one of identification information of the handheld display device, identification information of tutorial data being consumed and identification information of a user, to the synchronization module.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the client application module displays the tutorial data and/or the educational data based on a type of the handheld display device and the meta information associated with the tutorial data.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a DRM server, wherein the synchronization module is configured to communicate with the DRM server to de-crypt the encrypted tutorial data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization module identifies the educational data based on user profile.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the synchronization module pushes the educational data to be displayed on the handheld display device.