Abstract:
A software application, provided either through a computer network or via the Internet, where registered users can participate in a competition such as a Spelling Bee (Geography Bee, Science Bee etc.), either synchronously or over a certain time period, and from various locations. It allows for customization of the quiz content and presents the same tasks to every participant. Participants&#39; accomplishments are recorded to determine their rank in the competition.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to an interactive software application designed to conduct a knowledge-based competition (such as a Spelling Bee, vocabulary competition, Geography Bee etc.) online or through a similar network, and, more particularly, to providing a platform that can stage such events and provide instant and updated ranking results based on predefined criteria.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The traditional Spelling Bees and similar knowledge-based competitions are organized as live competitions, requiring contestants to meet in one location at a certain time and involving a long, time-consuming qualification process. Students are one by one quizzed with tasks presented orally or via written test. At the first mistake, the contestant is disqualified. Answering correctly qualifies the contestant to move on to the next round. As the number of contestants is such reduced, the competiton proceeds until the final winner is chosen.  
         [0003]     These types of competitions are done for spelling, Geography, History, Science, vocabulary knowledge etc., and are possible for most any field of knowledge. These Bees are exciting and motivating competitions for the contestants, and are quite popular as an event that provides social recognition—and frequently prizes—to reward academic knowledge.  
         [0004]     One of the frustrating experiences, however, is that during oral competitions different questions or tasks are given to each student. A contestant may lose out feeling he would have known the task given to another student successfully. While Bees are supposed to be a competition of academic or mental skills, there is a big component of luck involved due to the limited management and time resources in the traditional setting. This can produce quite unfair results, and generate frustration.  
         [0005]     In addition, planning and organizing a Bee is complicated, and involves maintaining an attentive environment over a long period of time, before the exciting last rounds take place. The event can easily become boring and burdensome for the audience.  
         [0006]     Furthermore, the fact that Bees are long, public processes frequently discourages more introvert and shy participants from taking part.  
         [0007]     Another back draw is that many potential participants are excluded from the competition because they live too far away from the location of the event, are disadvantaged through disability or lack of transportation, or are not able to attend in the narrow time frame that has been set for the event.  
         [0008]     Spelling Bees and other such events are fun, motivational, and educational games that benefit students, even if the objective is not to win, but to simply hone and practice skills in a fun and challenging environment. However, even written competitions require substantial organizational effort.  
         [0009]     Unfortunately, so far the organizational demands have kept the availability of such competitions to a minimum, although having such intellectual competitions more frequently would help students to sharpen their academic skills.  
         [0010]     The idea for an Internet-based program formed while trying to find the best way to offer a Spelling Bee as a fundraising tool to benefit our non-profit 501 (c)3 organization, which maintains an online spelling tutoring program, www.eSpindle.org. The problems we tried to overcome consequently triggered the development of the system now in place at www.SpellingBeeOnline.org.  
         [0011]     This new application is suitable for pre-qualifying contestants for a final, live event as it is for conducting the entire event online. If used for pre-qualifications the software is used to allow contestants to log into the quiz interface during a certain time period and prove their academic aptitude either from a remote location or at a computer station at a specified location. The top performers are then invited for a live competition.  
         [0012]     This new software application is just as well suited to hold the entire competition online, without a live event complementing the online competition.  
         [0013]     The software makes it effortless to determine the final winner via computer evaluation, and users are able to review their current ranking after logging in to their account. Using the information collected during registration, the software can further display to the administrators who was ranking highest from all contestants, or filter the results to show the top ranking competitors of a certain age group, geographic location, etc.  
         [0014]     Aside from the traditional live events, a few such competitions can be found on the Internet. Spelling bees or similar academic competitions are available as online games as well as software that can be loaded on the computer. These, however, are modular game applications that sometimes allow different users sharing the same computer to compete, but don&#39;t provide the ability to compete with others in an event that is clearly defined.  
         [0015]     The existing applications are “just for fun,” missing the components that would turn the competition into an event (such as a predefined time frame, or a focus on geographic location, age group, members of a certain organization only, etc.) and that would enable such an event to raise funds and/or publicity.  
         [0016]     www.spellbee.org allows students to compete interactively online, but the format is still one-on-one: Students meet online with student partners and send each other words that then need to be spelled by the opposite party.  
         [0017]     www.spellbee.org allows two students in different locations to study words together over the Internet. The competitive component does not include a larger group of people since the game involves two people only. Range and scope are very limited. Most games or software applications focus on the individual&#39;s results only, without allowing for competition on a larger scale.  
         [0018]     Most programs are also rather static, with a set database of quiz questions. This does not allow for an organization (such as a school, literacy council, university etc.) to utilize the application with a set of questions and tasks that would meet their individual needs.  
         [0019]     It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an interactive software application to conduct competitions like Spelling Bees, Geography Bees etc. over the Internet or a similar computer network.  
         [0020]     It is another object of the invention to allow competing participants to answer quiz questions and solve tasks as they participate in said competition.  
         [0021]     It is another object of the invention to provide a quiz environment online or via a computer network that can be accessed independently of time and location.  
         [0022]     It is another object of the invention to ensure that all participants are presented with the same pre-defined set of tasks.  
         [0023]     It is another object of the invention to allow the organizing party to determine the content and order of questions for the quiz, giving the organizer full control over the difficulty level and appropriateness of the contest content.  
         [0024]     It is another object of the invention to ensure that all participants are presented with the same background information (text, audio, images etc.).  
         [0025]     It is another object of the invention to evaluate performance and to compute the participants rank in the competition.  
         [0026]     It is another object of the invention to consider (in descending importance) the final score, the number of attempts and the time it took to complete the quiz to determine ranking.  
         [0027]     It is another object of the invention to filter results based on data collected during registration (age, location, school grade etc.), if so desired  
         [0028]     It is another object of the invention to be able to support both pre-qualifying and complete competitions, based on the organizers&#39; objectives.  
         [0029]     It is another object of the invention to provide security features (supervision in a controlled environment, limited time available to enter answer, etc.) that ensure the fair and accurate conduct of the competition.  
         [0030]     It is another object of the invention to allow organizers to determine if an entry fee is charged, and how many times a contestant may try again.  
         [0031]     It is another object of the invention to allow organizations to stage academic competitions without requiring the presence of staff and other resources.  
         [0032]     It is another object of the invention to provide a private environment in which the ranking scores are only visible to the administrators and the contestants themselves.  
         [0033]     It is another object of the invention to automatically generate certificates to be transmitted to the contestants.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0034]     In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an interactive software application, accessible either through a computer network or through the Internet, where registered users can participate in a knowledge-based competition such as a Spelling Bee (Geography Bee, Science Bee etc.), either synchronously or over a certain time period. This software application allows participants to take part in the competition from various locations and whenever it is convenient.  
         [0035]     Since this application qualifies participants individually it is able to present the same tasks and exactly the same information to every participant. It allows the organizing party to determine the set of questions presented for each event.  
         [0036]     This provides a quiz environment that is fairer, easier to administer and does not put shy or introverted competitors at a disadvantage.  
         [0037]     As participants make disqualifying mistakes (enter wrong answer, don&#39;t submit answer in given time frame) their accomplishments are recorded to determine their rank in the competition, visible to both the contestant and the administrators of the event after log in. More detailed classifications can be applied by filtering the results based on data collected during registration (for example age, location, grade level etc.)  
         [0038]     Based on the format desired by the organizer, an event can be free of charge or involve an entry fee, with proceeds supporting the organization staging the event. The organizer can further choose if they want to grant participants permission to try again or not.  
         [0039]     If two contestants have the same test score, and the same number of quiz repetitions (where permitted), the participant that completed the quiz fastest wins. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0040]     A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which:  
         [0041]      FIG. 1  is software flowchart view of a software application process in sequence from the moment a user is logged in successfully; and  
         [0042]      FIG. 2  is software flowchart view of a procedure to verify that parameters for a user to log in are correct before the quiz session starts. 
     
    
       [0043]     For purposes of clarity and brevity, like elements and components will bear the same designations and numbering throughout the Figures.  
       DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0044]      FIG. 1  is software flowchart view of a software application process in sequence from the moment a user is logged in successfully.  
         [0045]     It consists of an Authoring module  10 , which allows the author to assort data (text, audio, images) appropriate for event, and to predetermine the tasks for the quizzes (questions and answers, words and their correct spelling convention etc.), along with the order in which the tasks will be presented.  
         [0046]     The Authoring module  10  is supplying information to the Quiz database  12 . They are the prerequisites for the quiz.  
         [0047]     The Quiz database  12  is storing and managing the data created in the Authoring module  10 , and sending it to the user interface upon demand. It may contain text, audio, images or similar information. The transmitting module sends the information to the Quiz interface  14  in predefined order. A Optional timer  16  may be used for limiting the total time available for each task. It monitors the time allowed for each task based on settings predetermined by the system administrator. It also provides visible feedback regarding time restrictions.  
         [0048]     The Session terminator  18  will be terminating the session when a task is completed incorrectly or not completed in time.  
         [0049]     The Final score registration  20  is computing and finalizing the user&#39;s test score and submitting it to the User database  44  for storage. The User database  44  is maintaining and storing the session data of users.  
         [0050]     If used for fundraising purposes, this component may offer the option to “buy a second chance,” so that the session can be reactivated for another trial. The Task trigger  42  is then triggering the Quiz database  12  to display the next task to the user.  
         [0051]     The competition ends at the predetermined day and time. No further activity by the user is accepted and the Final ranking table  28  starts processing the user scores.  
         [0052]     The Final ranking table  28  sorts the scores of various users from highest to lowest score and other pre-defined criteria and ranks the users accordingly. It then sends the data on to the Report generator  30 .  
         [0053]     The Report generator  30  generates reports based on the information provided by Final ranking table  28  and User database  44  that summarize the quiz session. It generates virtual reports and graphics or documents suitable for printout. The format chosen along with which user data is displayed or hidden is based on system administrator&#39;s directives.  
         [0054]     The Optional certificate mailer  32  generates documents or certificates that communicate the results of the quiz to the user, transmitted online, via email, mail or other suitable means.  
         [0055]      FIG. 2  is software flowchart view of a procedure to verify that parameters for a user to log in are correct before the quiz session starts.  
         [0056]     The initial User registration  34  module allows the user to register with the program and to create a computer ID that associates the user&#39;s performance with the right user account. This User registration  34  then sends the identifying information to the User database  44  and creates a new account.  
         [0057]     The Log-in module  36  is used to provide a means of verification of the true identity of the participating user, as well as of payment or other pre-qualifying requirements. It may also allow the user to choose which quiz to participate in, if more than one is offered.  
         [0058]     The Identity verification engine  38  compares the data entered in the Log-in module  36  with the associated user entry in the User database  44  and creates a record for the new quiz in the user database.  
         [0059]     The Optional payment processor  40  secures payment if an entry fee is part of the quiz before allowing the user to proceed.  
         [0060]     The Optional supervision verification  46  is an additional feature to ensure fair completion of the quiz in compliance with the competition standards, and without the use of non-allowed aids. This Optional supervision verification  46  functionality can be provided by requesting that the quiz be taken in a certain environment and under supervision of a registered supervisor—a teacher, librarian, test administrator, for example.  
         [0061]     Activating a web cam or automatically detecting the use of disallowed aids such as online dictionaries etc. maybe additional features utilized here.  
         [0062]     After successful completion of the prior steps, the Task trigger  42  starts the quiz.  
         [0063]     Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention.  
         [0064]     Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.