Abstract:
The present invention provides a mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. The popular Internet, mobile communication devices (e.g. Wireless Application Propocol (WAP) mobile phone, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)), the utility wireless communication system, and a specially designed system software containing a vocabulary database are employed, so that a user can call the system software to provide related foreign vocabulary for studying at all times by means of a mobile communication device.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary, and more particularly to a mobile communication system for receiving associated vocabulary to study by means of a mobile communication device through RF linkage. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The usual way of learning foreign vocabulary is to transcribe related foreign vocabulary from a dictionary on to a notebook for recitation, but this method is generally not very effective. If we can learn foreign vocabulary according to circumstances, or be able to review them during our free time, it will greatly increase our efficiency for learning foreign vocabulary. 
     However, no one will carry a dictionary at all times in order to look up new or unfamiliar words. If we can utilize the popular mobile communication device for receiving related foreign words through RF linkage, we will be able to learn foreign vocabulary more effectively. 
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary by means of the popular Internet, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) mobile phone/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile phone, or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and the utility wireless communication system, together with a specially designed system software, so that a user can receive related foreign vocabulary to study at all times by means of a mobile communication device. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be better understood by a detailed description with the following drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a system structure block diagram according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. 
     FIG. 2 is a flow chart for users&#39; operation according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. 
     FIG. 3 shows the database structure for user&#39;s personal vocabulary or test vocabulary according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. 
     FIG. 4 shows the flow chart of the system software for issuing test vocabulary for the first time according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. 
     FIG. 5 shows the flow chart of the system software for revising test vocabulary according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1 shows a system structure block diagram according to the present invention of mobile communication system for learning foreign vocabulary. As shown in the figure, the specially designed system software  1  has a complete vocabulary database  10  that is stored in a central computer mainframe  2 . The central computer mainframe  2  is connected with the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) gateway  4  of a utility wireless communication system  3  by line  5 . By means of RF transmission, a plurality of users can communicate with the utility wireless communication system  3  by a WAP/GPRS mobile phone  6  or a PDA  7 . A user can use his WAP/GPRS mobile phone  6  or PDA  7  to call the central computer mainframe  2  that will provide related foreign vocabulary for the user to study. The present invention is not limited to WAP/GPRS mobile phone  6  or PDA  7 . Any type of mobile communication device that is able to receive data from the utility wireless communication system  3  through RF linkage can be used. 
     The central computer mainframe  2  and the system software  1  of the present invention can also be linked with a desktop or notebook computer  8 . This is achieved by connection through a telephone line  9  and an http (hyper text transfer protocol) gateway  14  of the utility wireless communication system  3 , as shown in the figure. 
     FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the user&#39;s operations. The user&#39;s first step is to use his WAP/GPRS mobile phone  6  or PDA  7  to select between inputing his personal vocabulary list or accepting a prepared test vocabulary (step  20 ). 
     If the user selects inputting his personal vocabulary list, he will input the vocabulary that he wants to learn (step  21 ). When his list has been entered, he will call the central computer mainframe  2  (step  211 ). Then the central computer mainframe  2  will use the user&#39;s identification code (ID) and password to set up a user&#39;s database  11  (step  212 ). Next, it will transmit the vocabulary requested by the user through RF linkage into the user&#39;s mobile communication device to provide related words and explanations thereof (step  213 ). The vocabulary requested by the user will be stored in the central computer mainframe  2  to form the user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  for future testing when requested by the user (step  214 ). 
     If the user selects the option of accepting a test vocabulary, the system software  1  of the central computer mainframe  2  has prepared several sets of test vocabulary  13  of different levels based on the vocabulary database  10 . Therefore, the user can select a suitable set of test vocabulary  13  to test himself (step  22 ). This set of test vocabulary  13  will be the user&#39;s proprietary test vocabulary  13  for future testing. The central computer mainframe  2  will use the user&#39;s identification code (ID) and password to set up the user&#39;s database  11  (step  221 ). Then it will transmit the user&#39;s selected set of test vocabulary  13  to the user&#39;s mobile communication device through RF linkage to test the user (step  222 ). 
     The method in which the present invention will test the user is described below. Both the user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  and the test vocabulary  13  can be used for testing. 
     First of all, the user will use his WAP/GPRS mobile phone  6  or PDA  7  to link with the central computer mainframe  2  through the utility wireless communication system  3  by means of RF linkage. Then the user will download relevant user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  or the test vocabulary  13 . For example, the display of the mobile communication device of the user may display: 
     Do you know the word below? 
     ANGEL 
     [1] YES [2] MAYBE [3] NO 
     After the user has selected an answer, the mobile communication device will display: 
     Do you want to display this word next time? 
     ANGEL  
     [1] YES [2] NO 
     After the user has selected an answer, the mobile communication device will continue through a list of words until the test is completed. When the test is finished, the mobile communication device will display: 
     Do you want to send out the test result? 
     [1] YES [2] TEST AGAIN 
     If the user selects “TEST AGAIN”, the mobile communication device will redisplay the same test vocabulary list from the beginning. If the user selects “YES” (i.e. to send out the test result), then the mobile communication device will link with the central computer mainframe  2  through RF linkage to send the test result back to the central computer mainframe  2 . The system software  1  will then analyze the test result and user&#39;s response to update the user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  or test vocabulary  13  for future testing. 
     FIG. 3 shows the database structure for user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  or test vocabulary  13 . Each vocabulary stored in the user&#39;s personal vocabulary  12  or test vocabulary  13  has several fields to show related attributes. The first field shows the related vocabulary in the user&#39;s language of choice, e.g. “”. The second field shows the corresponding foreign vocabulary, e.g. “ANGEL”. The third field shows the number of times the message “do not display next time” was selected by the user during testing. With respect to the third field, the user can set a predetermined number “P” to indicate the number of times the message “do not display next time” must be selected before the word is removed from his vocabulary list. When the number of times this message being selected is greater than “P”, it indicates that the user is already familiar with the word and the word will not be displayed in the future. The fourth field shows the number of times that the vocabulary has been sent out. The fifth field shows a number which corresponds with the vocabulary&#39;s level of difficulty during testing (a larger number indicates a higher importance which was calculated based on the individual user&#39;s test result). 
     FIG. 4 shows the flow chart of the system software for issuing the first test vocabulary  13 . When the central computer mainframe  1  receives a request from a user (step  40 ), the system software  1  will process the user&#39;s objectives and requirements. Next, it will randomly select several related words from the vocabulary database  10  to generate the user&#39;s first test vocabulary  13  (step  41 ). Then the user&#39;s identification code (ID) and password are compiled to create the user&#39;s database  11 . This information is stored along with the user&#39;s first test vocabulary  13  in computer&#39;s memory (step  42 ). Each vocabulary in the user&#39;s first test vocabulary  13  has its own attribute structure, with the third, the fourth and the fifth field to be contained with the number “0”. The user&#39;s first test vocabulary  13  will be sent to the mobile communication device of the user through RF linkage (step  43 ), for testing the user (step  44 ), and the fourth field of each vocabulary being sent is automatically increased by one (step  45 ). When the user finishes testing, he will call the central computer mainframe  2  to send the test result back to the system software  1  for further processing (step  46 ). 
     FIG. 5 shows the flow chart of the system software for revising test vocabulary. When the system software  1  receives the test result transmitted from the user (step  50 ), the test result is processed and analyzed in order to update the fifth field (step  51 ). If the user does not know the word, then the word is considered to be of higher importance and it is therefore assigned a higher value. The system will scan all the attributes of each vocabulary in user&#39;s test vocabulary  13 . If the value of the third field is larger than the “P” value set by the user, it indicates that the user is already familiar with the word. Therefore the system software will delete the already familiar word from the user&#39;s test vocabulary  13  (step  52 ). The fifth field is then scanned (step  53 ). Since a larger number indicates a higher level of importance, words with larger number will be prioritized and sent out during the next test. Next, the vocabulary database  10  randomly selects some other vocabularies for the user to learn (step  54 ). The fourth field of each word being selected will be increased by one (step  55 ). Therefore, a new set of test vocabulary  13  is generated and ready to be used by the user (step  56 ). 
     The language of choice and the foreign vocabulary in the present invention has no limitation at all, any type of native language and any foreign vocabulary can be adopted by the present invention. 
     The scope of the present invention depends only upon the following Claims, and is not limited by the above embodiment.