Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to computer-based systems, and particularly, to computer-based systems used in electronic homework, as well as electronic test papers and the like.

Brief Description of the Invention

Nowadays, there is a trend in schools to use electronic education devices to replace traditional paper documents such as homeworks, books or test papers.

And, as the contents of an electronic book (herein below referred to as "ebook" ), an electronic homework (herein below referred to as "e-homework" ) or an electronic test paper (herein below referred to as "e-test paper" ) are closely related, it is desirable to link them together by navigation links or the like, to convenient a student to do his/her study.

On the other hand, ebook piracy increasingly becomes a problem awaiting solution.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide computer-based systems for creating navigation links or the like in an ebook, an e-homework, an e-homework assignment, an e-test paper or an answer to an e-test paper, or the like. It is therefore another object of the present invention to encourage people to use authorized copies of ebooks, by restricting the use of the above-said computer-based systems on those authorized copies.

Brief Description of the Drawing

FIG.1 is a flow diagram of a software program for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an e-doc, ebook and the first navigation link and second navigation link, according to the fifth embodiment.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

According to the present invention, there is provided a program for use on a student's computing device, please refer to Fig.1 .

The computing device stores a number of ebooks in a storage device, which may be a hard-disk inside the computing device or a cloud storage at a remote location. The storage device is under the control of the computing device in the sense that the user of the computing device can access a file, such as the ebook, e-homework, e-test paper, in the storage device, and can display and/or can delete the same, and/or make a backup for the same by copying the same to somewhere else, such as a portable storage, for e.g., USB storage.

Under the control of the program, the computing device provides a primary function to facilitate a student to do his e-homework or the like.

In the first embodiment, the primary function requires the student to enter his identity for storing in his e-homework or e-test paper.

The primary function enables the student to copy a part from an ebook already open for a display of content thereof by the student into an electronic document ("e-doc") already open by the student for a display of content thereof, such as his e-homework or notes. Specifically, the primary function will obtain, from the ebook directly or indirectly, the contact information of the copyright owner of the ebook, or a representative (who may be a distributor) of the copyright owner, which may be an address of a digital rights management ("DRM") server, or simply an email address for inquiry. And then, the primary function will send via Internet or any communications link, the identity of the student as well as the identity of the ebook to be copied, to the DRM server, to inquire if the student has bought a copy of the ebook. By way of example and for the sake of simplicity, the DRM server is responsible for selling the ebook through Internet, and therefore it can create a "buyer record" for storing the identities of all the buyers. Note that different ebooks have different buyer records.

After searching the identity of the student in the buyer record corresponds to the ebook, the DRM server sends the result to the primary function.

If the result is, the student identity is not in the buyer record, then the primary function will prevent copying of the pirated copy he illegitimately owns into the e-doc. Alternatively, the primary function may transform the part to be copied from the pirated copy, into a less usable form, for instance, transform from text to graphic form and then render it in graphic form, in the e-doc, so that it is incapable of further editing. Further, the primary function may desirably store into a data record associated with the e-doc, information indicative of the part as being copied from a pirated copy of the ebook, and the identity of the ebook, to alert the student's teacher or other people of the fact, and make the data record unalterable by the student, such as by encryption.

Otherwise, the primary function will perform the copying as requested by the student, and may include into the data record, information indicative of the part as being copied from a legitimate copy of the ebook, and identity of the ebook, but this is not a must and therefore optional.

This "buyer identity check" function by use of the DRM server is an innovative feature of the present invention. Note that in the present invention, the opening of the ebook itself by the student for a display of content thereof, does not require the "buyer identity check", even if it may be a pirated copy.

Basing on the "buyer identity check" function, the primary function may further provide an automatic function to capture information related to the ebook, including the file name of the ebook in the directory of the storage device of the computing device and position of the part being copied in the ebook, which may be a page number, and insert the same into the e-doc as a navigation link, preferably at the position or in the vicinity of the copied part as supplementary reference information accompanying the copied part, for future quick reference. Thereafter, a click on the inserted navigation link, or alternatively the copied part, will cause the primary function to retrieve the ebook file name and page number from the navigation link so as to download the ebook file from the storage device and open the ebook to the page number. However, this automatic navigation link function may be totally disabled if the ebook is a pirated copy, or be reduced, for instance, the primary function may still insert the navigation link into the e-doc, but thereafter a click thereon will trigger the primary function to retrieve the data record, and if the data record indicates the student failed the "buyer identity check" previously, it will go on to do the "buyer identity check" again, otherwise the second check will be unnecessary and the primary function will open the ebook to the page number, and if the result of the second check is still he hasn't bought the ebook, the primary function will not open the ebook, otherwise it will open the ebook in the above-mentioned manner and update the data record that he has bought the ebook so that no further checking would be necessary. In a second embodiment, there is provided a computer for a teacher to create and issue an electronic document ("e-doc"), such as, an e-homework assignment or e-test paper, to a group of students, and the teacher may include in the e-doc, a navigation link (herein referred to as first navigation link) containing the file name of an ebook, and a page number of the ebook where there is information for the students to learn in order to do the assignment or the test or the like.

The first navigation link itself may preferably be invisible, however its existence may be made noticeable to a viewer by a highlighted message, such as "clicked here to see Topic/Chapter/Lesson 3 in ebook Basic Math", in the e-doc.

Specifically, the computer will display the e-doc and ebook, and require the teacher to indicate a position on the displayed e-doc by a click, then insert the message at the position, and further then require the teacher to select a part in the displayed ebook by clicking, and finally create a navigation link to link the message in the e-doc to the selected part in the ebook.

Or in other words, the computer will automatically obtain information including the file name of the ebook as well as the position of the selected part therein, and include the information obtained in the navigation link.

And, in an improvement of the second embodiment, the computer generates the message itself by using the file name of the ebook as the ebook name, which is "Basic Math", in the above-mentioned message. The computer also determines the Topic/Chapter/Lesson number in the message basing on the position of the part in the ebook, by using a table containing the beginning positions of all Topics/Chapters/Lesson, for e.g., if the part is found by the computer to be within the beginning positions of a Topic, say, Topic 4 and the next Topic, that is Topic 5, then 4 will be the correct Topic number in the message.

After the e-doc being open in a student's computing device, and upon receiving a click on the message, or in other words, the first navigation link, the primary function will search from the directory of the hard-disk or any storage device of the computing device, for the ebook, basing on its file name as provided by the first navigation link. And then, open the ebook at the page number as provided by the first navigation link.

However, this automatic function may be reduced or totally disabled if the ebook of the student is determined as a pirated copy by the "buyer identity check" as mentioned above. For instance, the primary function may display the message or navigation link, but not respond to a click thereon, or not display the same at all so that no click thereon is possible, if the student fails the "buyer identity check".

Note that the present invention does not prevent the opening of the ebook by the student himself for a display of content thereof, even if it may be or is actually a pirated copy. In a third embodiment, the teacher can use his computer to copy into an e-doc, a part of an ebook, or any supplementary material which is related to the ebook and which the students may not have and which may be for providing the teacher with candidate questions and answers or the like, the computer will also create automatically a confidential file containing information for identifying the copied part and information indicative of the identity of the ebook. After receiving the e-doc, which may be an e-homework assignment (together with the confidential file, which may be included into the assignment as a part thereof) from the teacher, a student opens the e-doc with his computing device, and the primary function in his computing device will know, from the confidential file, that a part in the e-doc is copied from an ebook or its related supplementary material, and accordingly it will determine if the student has bought a copy of the ebook, by the "buyer identity check" as disclosed above. If the student has, it will display the e-doc, including the part. Otherwise, it will not display the e-doc at all, or will display the e-doc, but without the part, or display the part in a less usable form. Note that since it is the e-doc, not the ebook itself, is to be displayed, therefore the primary function needn't search for a copy of the ebook in the storage device of the computing device.

Note that and the confidential file may be made confidential by encryption, to prevent alteration by a student; similarly the part copied from the ebook or its related supplementary material, in the e-doc, should also be made confidential by encryption, to prevent a student from accessing it without using the primary function.

The teacher's computer may also create and insert, in the manner as disclosed in the first embodiment's automatic navigation link function, a navigation link in the e-doc, for pointing at the part being copied, in the ebook, and for use by a primary function of a student to open the student's ebook to the page containing the part, in the manner as disclosed above.

And instead of the above-mentioned page number used in the above embodiments' navigation links, the logical address or relative address (here it means the address relative to or counting from the first location of a file) of a part in an ebook can be used in the navigation links to navigate to that part of the ebook, for locating and displaying that part, in a more precise manner.

In a fourth embodiment, it supports an "Exam" mode, and a teacher can use his computer to issue a specific command to his students' computing devices, to cause the computing devices to enter into the "Exam" mode. When in the "Exam" mode, even if an e-test paper document received from the teacher's computer contains any portions of ebooks which a student has not bought, the student's primary function will still display those portions, or in other words, the "buyer identity check" is not needed for the display of those portions. When not in the "Exam" mode, those portions will not be displayed if student fails the "buyer identity check". On the other hand, in the "Exam" mode, the students may be denied by their computing devices to access all ebooks with no or some exceptions as determined by the teacher.

In a fifth embodiment and for the sake of simplicity, both the above-mentioned e-homework assignment and e-test paper are also the same e-doc into which a student has to write his answers in response to a number of questions therein. And, the primary function is further being used to insert a second navigation link into the ebook, and details will be disclosed herein below.

And, according to the fifth embodiment and see Fig.2, the first navigation link is inserted, preferably by a teacher, in an e-doc, at a position close to a question, for opening an ebook right at the page containing information pertinent to the question, whereas the second navigation link is inserted in the ebook at a position close to the information pertinent to the question, for opening the e-doc at where the question is, or where the answer to the question is to be entered, or the like.

Therefore, for each first navigation link, there is a corresponding question, a corresponding answer to the question, and a corresponding second navigation link.

Essentially, the second navigation link should be located at where the first navigation link is pointing at or in other words, to where the first navigation link navigates to, or in the vicinity thereof, and the second navigation link is for pointing back to where the first navigation link is, or in its vicinity. Therefore, as will be described herein below, the second navigation link can be created either by the teacher's computer or student's computing device (herein below either one will be referred to as the " 'Computer' " ) automatically.

To create the second navigation link, firstly the 'Computer' will obtain the file name of the ebook where the second navigation link is to be inserted, which as discussed above and in Fig.2, is stored in the first navigation link and therefore the 'Computer' can retrieve it from the first navigation link directly, then the 'Computer' will obtain the file name of the e-doc containing the first navigation link, by looking for the file name of the e-doc from the directory of the 'Computer' itself, or alternatively the file names may be input by the teacher himself.

As to the position in the e-doc for the second navigation link to point at or navigate to, the 'Computer' can determine itself the beginning position of the question corresponding to the first navigation link. If the format of a question is, for e.g., question 3 begins with "Qn. 3", wherein "Qn." stands for "Question", the 'Computer' can be programmed to scan "Qn." for obtaining the beginning positions of all the questions, then use the one which immediately preceding the position of the first navigation link as the right one. Note that in this way, the 'Computer' can obtain the question number as well, as it follows immediately after the "Qn." And in this example, we use "question 3" and therefore the question number follows immediately "Qn." is "3" and can be obtained by the 'Computer'.

In this way, the 'Computer' may as well develop a table containing all the beginning positions of the questions and save it for future use, so that when next time it needs to make similar determination, it may rely on the table.

The 'Computer' may go further to determine the beginning position of an area where an answer to the question corresponding to the first navigation link is to be entered and use it as the position in the e-doc for the second navigation link to point at instead. For e.g., if for at least one question in the e-doc, including the corresponding question, there is provided a corresponding answer area which begins with a word "Answer:", then the 'Computer' can find its position by a search for the word "Answer:", with the search starting right after the beginning position of the corresponding question.

And by the way, in the above-mentioned improved second embodiment, the table containing the beginning positions of all Topics/Chapters/Lesson may also similarly be obtained by the 'Computer' itself, by scanning for "Topic", "Chapter" or "Lesson", instead of "Qn."

And the question number may also be input to the teacher's computer by the teacher.

As to the position for insertion of the second navigation link in the ebook, it should preferably be where the first navigation link is pointing at, or in the page being pointed at or in the vicinity thereof, and therefore the 'Computer' can obtain from the first navigation link directly.

Note that, the two positions needed for creating the second navigation link, that is, the position in a student's e-doc for the second navigation link to point at, as well as the position for insertion of the second navigation link in the student's ebook, may be alternatively obtained by the teacher's computer by receiving the teacher's clicks at the desirable positions on a copy of the e-doc or ebook displayed on the teacher's computer.

The above-mentioned two positions, the file names of the e-doc and ebook, as well as the question number corresponding to the first navigation link, if being obtained by the teacher's computer, will be communicated to the student's computing device by the teacher's computer, for creating a second navigation link, as well as displaying the question number in the vicinity of the second navigation link.

In future, after the teacher has awarded a score to the student's answer to the corresponding question, the teacher's computer will transmit the score to the student's primary function, together with the question number so that the primary function can associate the score with the above-mentioned displayed question number, by doing a comparison and obtaining a finding that both question numbers are the same, and then display the question number together with the score closely.

Note that the insertion of the second navigation link in an ebook or use of it for opening an e-doc, may also be used to prevent piracy, by including a step of or a means for submitting the student's identity for a "buyer identity check", and permitting the insertion or use if he passes the check.

Note also that in the above, the detection of a pirated copy relies totally on the identity of the student submitted by the student himself for to be used in his e-homework or enter an e-test, which should be a real one as the student wouldn't use a fake identity to submit his e-homework or enter an e-test. Note also that other skills well known to those in the art may be used instead or as well, especially for those people without a student identity.

For instance, an ebook may be bound to the hardware of a user's portable computer (such as smart phone, tablet), that is, contains a hardware identity of the portable computer such that the primary function resides in the portable computer can know a copy is a pirated one if it doesn't contain the hardware identity.

It may also be that the teacher's computer automatically includes the student identities into the e-homework assignments or e-test papers, and a student's primary function obtains the same from the assignment or e-test paper.

Anyway, a student should not be allowed to alter his student identity in an e-homework assignment or e-test paper, for e.g., by storing the same in a confidential (such as by encryption) record inside the e-homework file or e-test paper file, after his primary function has performed a job that requires he passes the "buyer identity check", as disclosed above.

And, only the student identity is needed for the above-mentioned "buyer identity check", and no financial password for authorising payment for buying the ebook is required for the identity verification, however, to provide further deterrence to piracy, such financial password may as well be used.

Note that it should be understood from above, the student identity obtained from an e-homework assignment or e-test paper, can be used to do a "buyer identity check", for permitting the student to use/insert a navigation link to access an ebook or use/insert copyrighted materials from or related to an ebook, in an electronic document other than the e-homework assignment or e-test paper, such as an electronic notes file.

Further, the above-mentioned navigation links should preferably be created and/or stored and/or use in a confidential manner, such as by encryption, to discourage the student from bypassing the "buyer identity check", by creating or duplicating one himself.

Further, the student's computing device may include a tablet PC, as well as a personal computer, e.g., IBM PC, so that instead of displaying both the e-homework assignment and ebook by a same device with a same screen, the IBM PC can display the e-homework assignment to enable the student to input his e-homework into it conveniently and when the student clicks a navigation link as provided by the assignment, the IBM PC can transmit, via a local communications link, such as WIFI, the identity of an ebook and its page number for to be open as provided by the navigation link, to the tablet PC, so that the tablet PC can search in its storage for the ebook and display and open the same to the student at the page number.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are given by way of example only, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.