Dual Mode Arithmetic Teaching Apparatus

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to calculator-type educational devices which electronically present a problem to a student who then selects a solution by depressing the appropriate keys on a keyboard. More specifically, the present invention relates to an arithmetic teaching device which provides certain improvements over prior art teaching devices to motivate the student to greater learning progress by keeping him informed of his arithmetic proficiency in solving arithmetic problems within teacher-defined limits.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There are numerous educational electronics devices for teaching arithmetic in which a problem to be solved by a user is generated and displayed without the answer. Typically, the user solves the problem mentally or with pencil and paper and inserts the proposed answer by depressing appropriate keys on a keyboard. The teaching device then compares the proposed answer entered by the student with the correct answer derived electronically by the teaching device and indicates whether the entered answer was correct or incorrect. By way of example, one such prior art teaching device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,048 to Lien. Other calculator arithmetic teaching devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,605 to Toal et al and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,988 to Nakajima et al.

Although such prior art teaching machines may produce an initial sense of excitement and learning motivation due to the unique interaction with an electronic device, the child has no statistical basis upon which to perceive his own learning progress. As a result, the child is likely to eventually find that even learning arithmetic on an electronic calculator device can become dull and unrewarding, especially without the constructive feedback that a student is given by a human teacher to indicate that the student is making progress and to motivate him on to further learning.

Furthermore, prior art electronic teaching machines typically provide only one mode of problem solving, thereby further increasing the liklihood of quickly losing the student's interest and attention and further reducing a student's motivation to become competent in basic arithmetic skills. By way of example, it is well known in the education field that after a student has had ample opportunity to practice solving a set of arithmetical problems utilizing certain number sets to gain a minimum level of confidence, it is then highly advantageous to have the student practice his skills using a flashcard approach so that computation within the prescribed number limits becomes almost mechanical in nature.

The present invention overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art by providing an electronic apparatus for teaching arithmetic, but with novel improvements comprising: dual mode of operation which reduces the liklihood of loss of interest by the student; operation of the apparatus within teacher or student prescribed mathematical limits utilizing selected number factors to further define the problem to be presented to the student; and means for presenting and reporting to the student and teacher, statistics representative of the learning progress of the student as he acquires increased competency and proficiency in solving arithmetic problems within increasing number limits.

As previously indicated, the present invention can be used by a student in either one of two modes. The first mode, designated Problem Mode, allows the student to answer arithmetic problems at his own pace determined by the amount of time the student feels he needs to comfortably practice arithmetic problems during an initial learning period. The student is given a set number of problems, each of which falls within a teacher-defined set of limits and each of which utilizes numbers that are related to teacher-defined factors. The problems are generated randomly and electronically checked to be sure that they fall within the specified limits and utilize the specified factors and are then presented to the student. The student utilizes a calculator-type keyboard to enter his answer. The invention then shows the student whether the problem was answered correctly or incorrectly and also the time it took the student to answer the problem. After a specified number of problems has been presented to the student, the invention displays statistics of the student's performance including the average response time it took to answer each problem, the percentage of problems answered correctly, the total number of problems given, and the total elapsed time to do the entire problem set. Using these statistics, and comparing them to prior similar statistics, the student may begin to form an idea of the progress he is making as he uses the apparatus in the Problem Mode.

Once the student acquires a minimum degree of confidence in his ability to correctly answer problems within specified limits, he may then resort to a second mode of operation, namely, the Flashcard Mode. The Flashcard Mode is intended to be used by the student as a fast-action math drill, much like conventional flashcards are used. Typically, if the student is successful in the Flashcard Mode, the teacher can be confident that the student can handle more difficult problems. The Flashcard Mode operation of the present invention presents the student with as many problems as possible within a teacher-defined amount of time. Thus, the student is working against the clock in an effort to answer as many problems as possible, but also to answer a high percentage of them correctly. In the Flashcard Mode, statistics are the same as those that appear after a problem set in the Problem Mode. Evaluation of the student's statistics after a Flashcard Mode test helps determine if the student should be given more difficult problems, that is, problems using higher number limits and/or problems involving a larger selection of numbers determined by selection of the factors of which these numbers are integral multiples.

It is accordingly, a principle object of the present invention to provide an electronic teaching apparatus that overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantageous omissions of the prior art.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic apparatus for teaching arithmetic computation by means of a dual mode of operation, namely, a Problem Mode and a Flashcard Mode.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic teaching device in which a student's learning progress is reported to the student in statistical terms that increase a student's motivation for further improving his arithmetic proficiency.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide an electronic apparatus for teaching arithmetic which includes provisions for teacher-defined numerical limits and factors for problems presented to a student for solution.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more evident below from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodient of the present invention suitable for desk-top use;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the keyboard and display portion of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the interface between the microprocessor unit and the various signal buses of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the interface between the signal buses and the memory, keyboard, and display portions of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a detailed schematic drawing of the microprocessor section of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a detailed schematic diagram of the random access memory portion of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a detailed schematic diagram of the address decode portion of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a detailed schematic diagram of the read-only memory portion of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a detailed schematic diagram of the tri-state buffer portion of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a detailed schematic diagram of the keyboard and scan electronics portion of the present invention; and

FIGS. 11 through 22 are flow chart drawings illustrating the principal program routine and subroutines thereof utilized in the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown therein a three-dimensional drawing of the electronic teaching apparatus 10 of the present invention illustrated in a desk-type configuration and comprising a prismoidally configured cabinet or chassis having a front viewing surface 11 upon which is mounted a display panel 14 and a keyboard panel 16. Display panel 14 and keyboard panel 16 are each disclosed in greater detail in FIG. 2. As indicated in FIG. 2, the display panel 14 comprises a plurality of 8-segment digital displays, of which digits 18, 20, and 22, comprise a time display line; of which digits 24, 26, 28, and 30 comprise display line l; of wich digits 32, 34, 36, and 38 comprise display line 2; of which digits 40, 42, 44, 46, and 48 comprise display line 3; and of which digits 50, 52, 54, and 56 comprise display line 4. Display lines 1, 2 and 3 are located on the right side of display panel 14 while the time display line and display line 4 are located on the left side of display panel 14.

Display lines 1 and 2 are used to display the two numbers involved in the computation problem presented to the student, whether it be addition, subtraction, multiplication. When a nondivision problem is given, display line 3 is used to display the number entered by the student as the proposed solution to the problem presented; otherwise, display line 3 is the divisor and display line 2 is used to display the number entered by the student. Display line 4 displays the dividend for division problems. Display line 4 is used to also illustrate the number of problems given when the previously indicated statistics are reported to the student. Also included in the statistics reported to the student, is average response time which is displayed on the time display line wherein display digit 20 includes a decimal point indicating that display digit 22 is a tenth-of-seconds column for time display. Display lines 1 and 3 serve double duty in that they are also used to display portions of the statistical report to the student wherein display line 1 displays the percentage of correct answers to the student and display line 3 displays the total elapsed time in seconds to the student.

As also shown in FIG. 2, keyboard panel 16 comprises three keyboard sections, namely, section 58 on the left side of the keyboard, section 60 in the center of the keyboard and section 62 on the right side of the keyboard.

In the left-most section 58 of keyboard 16, the four buttons labeled ADD, SUB, DIV, and MULT, are used to select one of the four basic arithmetic operations that are to be tested. The TIME key is used to set the time allowed in a flashcard type test. Time is set in tenths of seconds. Accordingly, for a student to take a test of 20 seconds in duration, he would set the number 200 before depressing the TIME key, as will be disclosed in further detail below.

The # PROBS key is used to set the number of problems the student is to be given in a Problem Mode set.

There are two upper limit keys, namely, UPPER LIMIT #1 and UPPER LIMIT #2. These keys are depressed after entering numbers which will be the upper limits or the largest numbers to be given in each problem. By utilizing two upper limit keys one number of a problem may have a different upper limit than the other number of a problem. By way of example, this dual upper limit selection permits a teacher to select a large dividend and a small divisor for division problems. The keyboard also includes two lower limit keys, LOWER LIMIT #1 and LOWER LIMIT #2, which are used in the same manner as the upper limits but, in this case, to select the smallest numbers to be given in each problem.

The TEST key is depressed to start a problem after all the limits and other parameters have been set. The TEST key is depressed to start a problem set in either the Problem Mode or the Flashcard Mode of operation.

There are also two factor keys, FACTOR #1 and FACTOR #2, which extend the ability of the present invention to produce problems tailored to the needs of the student. There are two factor keys, one for each set of upper and lower limits, which allow the teacher to require the problems to have a specified factor. Thus, for example, the factor keys are used to cause all the numbers presented for each parameter of a particular problem set to be multiples of selected factor. For example, if the number 100 were depressed before depressing a factor button, all the numbers corresponding to that parameter of the problem presented to the student would be multiples of 100. The FACTOR #1 button controls the numbers between LOWER LIMIT #1 and UPPER LIMIT #1 so that they are integral multiples of the number depressed before depressing the FACTOR #1 key. The FACTOR #2 key is used with the UPPER LIMIT #2 key and LOWER LIMIT #2 key so that numbers given between the limits specified by the upper and lower limit for the second number are all integral multiples of the FACTOR # 2 that is selected.

The WRONG AGAIN key is depressed to specify that no new problems are to be generated for the next test, but rather that the problems given are to be those from the previous problem set which the student had answered incorrectly. Thus, incorrectly answered problems from the previous test are repeated when the WRONG AGAIN key is depressed and followed by depression of the TEST key.

In the center section 60 of keyboard panel 16, only one key in the described embodiment is utilized, namely, the RESET key which is used to initialize the invention to a known state by erasing all previous numbers and entries that may in the random access memories of the computer. The RESET key is normally depressed only at the beginning of a test session when power is first applied to the invention.

The right-most portion of the keyboard 16, namely, section 62, includes the keys numbered 0 through 9 which are used to enter numbers for setting parameters for problem sets and for answering the problems presented to the student. The key labeled E is used to signal the end of an answer. Thus, when a student finishes entering his answer, the E button is depressed to indicate that the student is satisfied with his answer at that point.

The key labeled C is a clear key that the student may depress to erase previously entered numbers, should he have made an error in entering those numbers. After depressing the C key, the student may reenter a proposed answer, but he must do so before depressing the E button.

Although the above indicated multiple displays of display panel 14 and the numerous keys of keyboard panel 16 all have useful and important functions in the operation of the present invention, it is noteworthy that an additional benefit of the large number of displays and keys for operation of the present invention is that of providing the student with additional operational variety to even further interest and motivate him to utilize the educational features of the invention and thus to further improve his learning progress.

The electronic components of the present invention that are housed within the confines of chassis 12 will now be described in sufficient detail to enable one having skill in the relevant art to fabricate a preferred embodiment of the invention and for practicing the invention in what is presently contemplated by the inventor to be its best mode. Of course, it will be understood by those familiar with the electronics arts and more specifically with the microcomputer arts, that the detailed description to follow is of merely one implementation concept and that numerous alternative implementation concepts involving functionally similar components are possible, but that all such alternatives are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as equivalents to the embodiment herein described.

Referring now to FIG. 3 which is a block diagram representation of the microprocessor portion of the present invention, it will be observed that the invention is implemented by means of a microprocessor unit hereinafter designated MPU, as well as a number of microcomputer-related devices which are designed to operate in conjunction with the MPU. In the preferred embodiment described herein, the MPU is a Motorola model M6800 microprocessor which is an N-channel MOS 8-bit microprocessor capable of addressing 65,000 bits of memory utilizing a 16-bit address bus. Further details regarding the Motorola model M6800 microprocessor unit and associated devices designed for use with the 6800 microprocessor unit, are described in the publication entitled "Microcomputer System Reference Handbook" by Motorola Incorporated, published in 1974, and are further described in a publication entitled "Microprocessor Applications Manual" by Motorola Incorporated, published by McGraw Hill in 1975. These publications provide a detailed description of programing techniques, input/output techniques, hardware characteristics, peripheral control techniques, system design techniques instruction sets, and other such detailed information that may be useful in understanding the specific characteristics of the microprocessor unit as it is utilized for implementing the present invention. Accordingly, such detailed description will not be included herein except to the extent necessary for a full understanding of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the microprocessor unit, MPU, is connected to a local oscillator, L0. Local oscillator L0 transfers a dual-phase signal to the MPU which controls the timing of the MPU and the periods during which data signals, control signals, and address signals are transferred within the microprocessor system. The MPU utilizes an address output line, designated address out, to carry 16 bits of address signals which are applied to output buffer circuits B1 and then to the microprocessor address bus MAB. The MPU also generates a number of control signals that are applied to the control out line which are also buffered, in this case, by buffer circuits B2 before being applied to control bus CB. Control bus CB and microprocessor address bus, MAB, respectively, apply signals to an address decoder, AD, which responds to the control and address signals to generate seven memory select binary signals which are used to select the memory elements beng utilized during a particular arithmetic operation. The MPU also utilizes a microprocessor data bus, MDB, upon which data signals are transferred to and fromm the MPU as well as to and from memory units, the keyboad and the displays by means of a peripheral interface adapter. These latter elements of the system are shown in block diagram form in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the microprocessor data bus, MDB, delivers data signals to the random access memory unit, MEM 1, and also to a peripheral interface adapter, PIA, which is a Motorola M6820 device, described in great detail in the aforementioned Motorola references. The microprocessor data bus, MDB, also receives data signals from the peripheral interface adapter PIA, and from tri-state buffers, TSB. Tri-state buffers TSB receive the data signals output from the memory units of the system by means of a local data bus LDB which is used to, in effect, make the data signals available at the output of the memory units until the appropriate time for transfer of the data signals onto data bus MDB.

The microprocessor address bus, MAB, is used to transfer address signals from the MPU as previously shown in FIG. 3, to the three memory units, namely, RAM memory MEM 1, and the two PROM memory units, MEM 2 and MEM 3.

The peripheral interface adapter, PIA, is a dual 8-bit bidirectional data device useable as a 16-bit register which appears to the MPU as an additional memory device. Five bits of the 16-bit register are assigned to a BCD to decimal decoder/driver 70 which is used to enable selected digits in the 20 digit display 14. Four bits of the peripheral interface adapter PIA are assigned to a binary to 7-segment decoder/driver 72 which is used to drive the appropriate segments of each selected digit in display 14. Seven bits of the peripheral interface adapter PIA receive signals from keyboard 16 to provide the system with signals representative of the input selections made by the student during operation of the invention. A real time clock, 74, is also connected to the peripheral interface adapter to provide the PIA with a periodic clock signal that is the time base for the entire system. The peripheral interface adapter also includes peripheral control lines that may be used for interfacing with additional optional equipment not shown in FIG. 4. By way of example, the two additional lines of the PIA may be used for interface with a magnetic card reader. The PIA also receives control signals from the control bus CB, generated by the microprocessor unit, and two address bits from the microprocessor address bus MAB, that determine which of the two registers, within the peripheral interface adapter, are to be used in conjunction with each memory operation.

A more detailed component description of the present invention will now be provided in conjunction with FIGS. 5 through 10.

In FIG. 5, which is a detailed schematic diagram of the microprocessor portion of the present invention, the pin connections of the MPU are illustrated. As shown in FIG. 5, the microprocessor unit, MPU, which as previously indicated is a Motorola model 6800, also referred to as a Motorola model MC6800, includes 8 data lines, sequentially labeled D0 through D7, which comprise the microprocessor data bus MDB; and 16 address lines, sequentially designated A0 through A15, which constitute the microprocessor address bus MAB. Signals on the MAB are bufferred through appropriate buffer amplifiers which, in this case, are in 3 buffer amplifier circuits manufactured by National as model 8T97. As indicated to the right of the lower most buffer amplifier 1-3 in FIG. 5, all 16 address lines comprising the microprocessor address bus are connected to inverting amplifiers, in this case TI model 7404 so that the signal logic level on the microprocessor address bus MAB is actually the inverse of the signal logic level available at the output of the microprocessor unit.

As previously indicated in conjunction with the block diagram of FIG. 3, the MPU utilizes a two-phase clock to control signal transfer within the MPU logic circuits and in conjunction with circuits to which the MPU is connected directly. As shown in FIG. 5, the local oscillator L0 comprises a 2 megahertz crystal circuit that feeds the clock terminal, C, of a 7474 D type flip-flop. This flip-flop is connected in a divide-by-two configuration with the Q output signal fed back to the D input terminal to produce a one megahertz square wave signal available at the Q terminal. This square wave signal is applied to a pair of NAND gates of a National 7400 chip and including a single inverter stage of a 7404 inverter chip to ultimately apply two out-of-phase non-overlapping clock signals .phi.-1 and .phi.-2 to the like designated terminals of the MPU by way of a Motorola MC3459 clock driver chip. The Phase 2 clock signal is also applied to the DBE terminal in the MPU as a data bus enable signal which enables the MPU bus driver when in a high logic state.

Certain other input terminals of the MPU are tied permanently to either ground or +5 volts DC because their logic state need not be changed during operation of the present invention. These terminals include the non-maskable interrupt terminal NMI which is tied to 5 volts DC, the three-state control terminal TSC which is tied to ground, and the halt terminal which is tied to 5 volts DC. The interrupt request terminal, IRQ, and the restart terminal RESTART are tied to 5 volts DC through a suitable pull-up resistor for open collector, voltage switching operation.

Two control lines, namely, the valid memory address line VMA and the read/write line RW, comprise the control out line of the MPU. The valid memory address line, VMA, indicates to memory and peripheral devices that thee is a valid address on the address bus MAB. The read/write line RW signals the peripheral and memory devices as to whether the MPU is in a read or write state. The signals on the VMA and RW lines at the output of the MPU are also applied to buffer amplifiers on a National model 8T97 buffer chip and are then applied to the control bus CB for use in other portions of the system as will hereinafter be described.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the random access memory portion of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the random access memory RAM comprises eight Fairchild model 2102 RAM memory chips. Address lines A0 through A9 are applied to all eight random access memory chips simultaneously as an address for each memory chip where a bit location, corresponding to the address, is either to be read out or written into. In a read mode, the output signals, read from the respective RAM chips, appear on the output lines identified as DO buff through D7 buff. During a write mode, the data to be written into the selected memory address location appears at input lines D0 through D7 respectively. A RAM select signal RAM SEL, generated by the address decoder circuit to be discussed below in conjunction with FIG. 7, is applied to the eight RAM memory chips simultaneously when signals are to be read out from the RAM or written into the RAM. Selection between reading and writing with respect to the RAM memory is made by the logic state of the read/write signal RW generated by the microprocessor unit as previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 5. The read/write signal RW is applied to a NAND gate to which the second input signal is the phase 2 clock signal .phi.2 so that the read or write function is performed at the appropriate time in the microprocessor sequence. Each of the RAM memory chips is also connected to a 5 volt DC source as shown, typically, for the D0 chip.

As previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 3, an address decoder AD receives signals from both the control bus CB and the microprocessor address bus MAB to generate a plurality of control signals that are used to select either the peripheral interface adapter, or one of the three memory units for the particular data transfer taking place.

Details of the address decoder are provided in FIG. 7 which is a schematic diagram of the address decoder AD. As indicated in FIG. 7, the address decoder AD is used to develop five signals, namely, the ram select signal RAM SEL, the peripheral interface adapter select signal PIA SEL, the EPROM1 and EPROM2 signals and a vector signal VECTOR. As shown in the top-most portion of FIG. 7, the first four of the above listed signals are developed by using an eight-input NAND gate to which the address signals A13, A14, A15 are input, as well as the valid memory address signal VMA and the phase 2 clock signal .phi.2. The output signal of this multiple input NAND gate, designated MEM SEL, is applied to one of four input terminals of a 7442 4-to-10 decoder chip, the other three input signals to which are the address signals A10, A11 and A12. The vector signal output of the address decoder is developed by a combination of two eight-input NAND gates wherein the first such NAND gate, 2-17, receives address input signals A8 through A15 and wherein the second such multiple input NAND gate, 1-20, receives the inverted output of the first NAND gate as well as address signals A4 through A7, the valid memory address signals VMA, the phase 2 clock signal .phi.2 and the read/write signal RW. The output of multiple input NAND gate, 1-20, is the signal VECTOR.

Referring now to FIG. 8 which is a schematic illustration of the read only memory portion of the invention, it will be seen that the read only memory comprises three programmable read only memory circuit chips including a pair of Intel model 2708 proms (MEM2) and a single MMI 6631 prom (MEM3). As shown in FIG. 8, each such prom chip receives two types of input signals, namely, a plurality of address signals and a single control signal. By way of example, the Intel 2708 prom M2 at the left-most portion of FIG. 8 receives address signals A0 through A9 from the microprocessor address bus MAB. The same address lines are also applied to the second Intel 2708 prom circuit chip M3. Therefore, separate control signals, namely, EPROM1 and EPROM2, are applied respectively to enable the prom chips M2 and M3 in accordance wih which of the two memory chips is to provide the data output signal for a particular data transfer operation. As shown in the right-most portion of FIG. 8, a third programmable read only memory device MEM3, the contents of which are listed below in conjunction with Table I, utilizes input address signals A0 through A3 and the control signal, VECTOR, to also generate data signals at the appropriate time in a data transfer operation.

The output terminals of the three prom chips shown in FIG. 8 and labeled D0 BUFF through D7 BUFF, comprise the local data bus LDB as previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 4. As previously discussed, the local data bus LDB is applied to a tristate buffer TSB the output of which feeds the microprocessor data bus MDB. The circuit of tristate buffer TSB is shown in detail in FIG. 9. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the tristate buffer TSB utilizes a pair of National Semiconductor model 8T97 buffer circuits, the input signals of which are derived from lines D0 BUFF through D7 BUFF and the output signals of which are available at lines D0 through D7. The output signals on lines D0 through D7 of the tristate buffers TSB are only available when one of the memory chips M1, M2 or M3 is being addressed.

Furthermore, a transfer of data from the memory devices to the microprocessor data bus MDB is made only during a read mode so that such data does not interfere with data signals that are being input from the data bus to the random access memory device MEM1 during a write mode. Accordingly, the tristate buffer circuits are enabled only when the read/write signal RW is at the logic level representing a read mode.

The means by which the buffer circuits of TSB are enabled only at the appropriate combination of control signals, is embodied in the logic circuits shown at the lower-most portion of FIG. 9. These logic circuits apply an input signal to the enable terlminals 1 and 15 of both National 8T97 circuit chips of the tristate buffers TSB. The four control signals, EPROM1, EPROM2, RAMSEL and VECTOR are applied to a pair of multiple input NOR gates including a suitable logic inverter which, in combination, develop a signal indicating whether or not any of those control signals are at the logic level which indicates selection of a memory device. That signal is applied to a NAND gate along with the read/write signal RW and the output signal of that NAND gate is applied to the enable terminals of the tristate buffer chips.

Reference will now be made to FIG. 10 which is a detailed schematic diagram illustrating the manner in which the peripheral interface adapter, PIA, interfaces with the system buses, the display and the keyboard. As shown in FIG. 10, the peripheral interface adapter is connected to the data bus comprising data lines D0 through D7, the address bus comprising address lines A0, A1 and A2, and the control bus comprising control lines RW, .phi.2, RESET, IRQ and PIASEL. As previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 4, the peripheral interface adapter PIA is a dual 8-bit register which is treated by the microprocessor unit MPU as an additional memory device in the system. The purpose of the peripheral interface adapter PIA is to provide suitable data signal flow and control between the display unit 14, the keyboard unit 16 and the remainder of the system. Thus the signals on the microprocessor data bus, MDB, or more specifically, D0 through D7, are bidirectional and flow into and out of the dual 8-bit registers in the PIA. Clearly, data transfers are made from left to right in FIG. 10 into the PIA through the data bus and out of the PIA register lines PA0 through PA7 and PB0, and out to the decoder/drivers 70 and 72 before being applied to the appropriate segment select and digit select lines that are connected to the display system 14. On the other hand, data flows from right to left from the keyboard system 16 which, as illustrated in FIG. 10, in the disclosed embodiment is a DATASAAB keyboard model 350012, and into the PIA register lines PB1 through PB7 and out into the remainder of the system over the microprocessor data bus lines D0 through D7. The internal operation of the peripheral interface adapter, Motorola model MC6820, is best understood by reference to FIG. 3-4.1.2-1 on page 3-10 of the aforementioned Motorola reference "Microprocessor Applications Manual" and therefore need not be described in detail herein.

The peripheral interface adapter provides two 8-bit peripheral interface registers with bidirectional flow thereto available at the pins labeled PA0 through PA7 through PB7 respectively. The signals available on the microprocessor data bus, comprising lines D0 through D7, are also bidirectional, and provide access to data bus buffers within the peripheral interface adapter PIA for data flow between the peripheral interface internal registers and the remaining portions of the microprocessor system.

The remaining input lines to the left side of the PIA as illustrated in FIG. 10, provide means for controlling and selecting the appropriate registers internal to the peripheral interface adapter PIA and for read/write control with respect to such registers. Accordingly, the read/write signal RW, which is applied to the PIA at terminal 21 thereof, is a signal generated by the MPU to control the direction of data transfers on the data bus. A low logic state read/write signal at terminal 21 of the peripheral interface adapter, enables data transfer into the PIA on the occurrence of the .phi.2 signal which is applied to terminal 25 of the PIA.

Similarly, a high logic state read/write signal RW sets up the peripheral interface adapter for a transfer of data to the micrprocessor data bus on the occurrence of the .phi.2 signal. The two address signals, A0 and A1, which are applied respectively to pins 36 and 35 of the PIA, are the PIA register lines used to select the registers within the PIA to be written into or read out from. The three signals comprising address signal A2 and control signals VMA and PIASEL, which are applied respectively to pin numbers 22, 24, and 23 of the PIA, are chip select lines that are used to select the peripheral interface adapter for data transfer in much the same way the previously described memory select lines are used to select particular memory devices for data transfer to or from such devices.

The four lines labeled PA0 through PA3, are applied to a binary-to-7-segment decoder/driver 72 which in the disclosed embodiment is a Texas Instruments model 7447 chips which converts the binary coded four-bit input signal to an appropriate seven segment decoded output signal to select the appropriate display segments of a selected digit. The digit is selected by means of peripheral interface adapter lines PA4 through PA7 and PB0. These lines are applied to a BCD-to-decimal decoder/driver 70, which in the disclosed embodiment comprises the two chips namely, TI model 74154 and TI model 7442. The output of driver 70 comprises twenty digit select lines only one of which, at any one time, will have a signal with the appropriate logic state to enable a selected digit.

The remaining PIA register lines, PB1 through PB7, are connected to the keyboard 16, previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 2. When a particular key is depressed by the user, the seven data lines, PB1 through PB7, take on signal logic states, the combined value of which corresponds to a seven-bit binary representation of the value assigned to that key. PB1 is the least significant bit and PB7 is the most significant bit of the seven-bit number. When no key is depressed, the data lines are all at a logic high level. A separate signal is generated by depression of the reset button which becomes the RESET signal for the system which is applied to the PIA of terminal 34 as well as to other components of the system which are cleared at the beginning of operation. The equivalent hexadecimal key value of each key of keyboard 16 is listed in Table II from which the binary signal logic condition of the signals available at PIA lines PB1 through PB7, may be discerned.

The above description of the electronics of the invention, including the description of the block diagram of FIGS. 3 and 4 and of the schematic diagrams of FIGS. 5 through 10, will enable those skilled in the art to fabricate the preferred embodiment of the invention from the standpoint of physical component architecture. However, to enable those of skill in the art to prepare such as assembled component architecture to operate in accordance with the best mode of the invention contemplated by the inventor, the detailed programming, or software, that is stored in the read only memory of the present invention will now be described. In addition, to more fully enable those familiar with the art to which the present invention pertains, to make and use the invention and to comprehend the interaction of the software and hardware comprising the invention, a detailed description of the operation of the invention, in conjunction with the flow chart figures of FIG. 11 through 22, is also provided below.

Table III of the appendix hereto is a comprehensive listing of the main computer program utilized in the present invention, including the subroutines which form a part of that program. Although the program is self explanatory, and will be readily understood by those familiar with the programming art, the following brief explanation of the contents of Table III will further expedite a full understanding of the program.

The listing of the program in Table III is provided in seven (7) columns which, from left to right, are the following: The left-most column is the statement number, which, as is well known in the programming art, merely provides a sequential listing of the statement lines comprising the program for convenient use of the listing. The second column to the right of the statement number column is a four (4) place instruction address which is a hexadecimal representation of the sixteen (16) binary bits comprising the contents of the microprocessor address bus MAB during system operation in carrying out the instruction, or instructions, corresponding to the statement line. Accordingly, the instruction address represents, in hexadecimal form, the binary logic state of the sixteen (16) address signals A0 . . . A15 applied to the read only memory MEM2 of the system as previously discussed in conjunction with FIG. 4.

Each source statement in Table III may represent one, two or three microprocessor instruction bytes. For example, for the statement number 244, the instruction address is 0898 and corresponds in this case to a single instruction byte. It is well known that a byte is usually defined as half of the number of bits of a full word. In this embodiment the term "byte" means bits which equals two hexadecimal digits. The fact that this is a single instruction byte may be readily observed by noting that the immediately following statement number, namely 245, corresponds to the next instruction address in sequence, namely, 0899. However, in response to the instruction address 0899, three instruction bytes are used to execute the instruction. This may be observed by noting that the next instruction address in the sequence corresponding to statement number 246 is 089C which those familiar with hexadecimal format will understand, is in effect, spaced three (3) instruction address sequence numbers away from the prior instruction address 0899 on statement number 246. When an instruction address corresponds to more than one instruction byte to be carried out in the system operation corresponding to the statement line in the program, that instruction address is only the first of either two (2) or three (3) such bytes. The second and third instruction bytes are read in response to the generation of the subsequent instruction byte addresses in sequence which are not separately listed in the program of Table III.

The above will be better understood in reference to the third column of the program listing of Table III which may comprise two (2), four (4) or six (6) hexadecimal digits. For example, referring back to statement number 244 and the corresponding instruction address 0898, it will be seen that in the instruction column only two (2) digits are shown, namely 36. This number, 36, represents in hexadecimal format the eight (8) bits which comprise the eight (8) signals appearing at the output of the addressed read only memory device at terminals D0 through D7. Accordingly, the program operation carried out in response to the source statement at statement number 244, results in the generation of only one instruction byte. However, the following source statement line, namely, that corresponding to the statement number 245, has three (3) groups of eight (8) binary signals generated in response to the instruction address 0899. However, in this case, 0899 is only the first address of the first byte corresponding to the source line statement number 245. Implied therein are the two additional byte addresses, namely, 089A and 089B. The resulting binary signal output generated from the addressed ROM for each of these two sequential instruction addresses is OC and 01, respectively.

In other words, the first byte (first two hexadecimal digits) in an instruction corresponding to a source statement line in Table III, indicates to the MPU whether one or two additional bytes follow. These additional instruction bytes may be a constant or a memory address to which an instruction pertains. the MPU sequentially accesses these additional bytes as part of the instruction.

It will now be observed that by means of the listing of the program provided in Table III, one may readily learn the contents of the read only memory devices comprising MEM2 of the system.

The fourth column from left to right, is a column of labels which correspond to either a numerical value or a memory location. The use of labels as references to memory, permits programming without using specific numerical memory addresses. For example, labels are required for source statements that are the destination of jump and branch instructions. The label BEGIN 1 may identify the statement as the destination of a brach or jump instruction located elsewhere in the program. That instruction will in turn have the term BEGIN 1 in its OPERAND column to be discussed below. Labels may be up to six (6) characters long and may use any alphanumeric combination as long as the first character is alphabetic. Three signle character labels namely, A, B, and X, are reserved for referring to the microprocessor accumulators A and B and its index register, respectively. Incidentally, the accumulators and internal registers of the MC6800 MPU are discussed in the aforementioned 1975 Motorola reference at page 1-10 thereof.

The fifth column is used to indicate the operator-instruction or directive mnenonic. Up to four (4) alphanumerics may be used in this column. By way of example, LDAA is a four (4) letter mnenonic which indicates that the current OPERAND is to load the A accumulator of the microprocessor.

The next column in Table III is called the OPERAND field. This field may contain up to eight (8) numerical values, labels, or algebriac expressions. Such expressions can include arithmetic operators such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division or a numerical value that may, for example, correspond to a memory location used in an addressing mode that involves an additional numerical address such as in indexed or extended addressing.

The last column to the right in Table III is reserved for comments. Comments are utilized during programming to improve understanding of the program by providing an indication of the purpose of each of the instructions or statements.

Because flow charts and computer listings, particularly for the commonly used Motorola MC6800 microprocessor system, are well known in the art, it is not necessary to describe in full all the flow charts of FIGS. 11 through 22 or the entire listing in Table III. However, for purposes of providing a more complete description of the present invention and to further enable complete understanding of FIGS. 11 through 22 and the corresponding listing of Table III, a portion of the listing of Table III and the corresponding flow chart of FIG. 18 will now be described by way of illustrative example.

Reference will be had now to FIG. 18 which is the flow chart for the scan keyboard subroutine SCANK and concurrently to Table III, line numbers 1437 through 1458, which include the program subroutine statements for the SCANK subroutine.

The SCANK subroutine begins with the statement at line 1443 wherein it will be observed that the instruction address 0F50 which corresponds to the following binary logic state for the signals A15 through A0, namely, 0000111101010000. In response to this instruction address the programmable read only memories of memory device MEM2 will have already been programmed to generate the data output corresponding to the hexadecimal representation B6. B6 corresponds to binary signals appearing upon the microprocessor data bus MCB, lines D7 through D0 as follows: 10110110. Similarly, the implied subsequent instruction byte addresses OF51 and OF52, result, respectively, in hexadecimal data output signals 04 and 06 in the three-instruction byte sequence corresponding to statement line number 1443.

As indicated in Table III, a label is used at this point, namely, the label SCANK so that the scan keyboard interrupt subroutine may be branched to or jumped to in response to a keyboard interrupt signal through the PIA from another point in the program by simply referring to the SCANK label in lieu of the actual instruction address OF50. The instruction carried out in response to the statement at line number 1443, is the loading of the A accumulator, one of the two accumulators internal to the MPU. This instruction is represented by the mnemonic LDAA. The operand KBD indicates that it is the keyboard data which is loaded into register A and as indicated in the comments portion of Table III for line number 1443, the instruction carried out is for the process of obtaining the data available at the keyboard by means of the peripheral interface adapter PIA. The corresponding flow chart is indicated in FIG. 18. In the first rectangular block it is indicated that the operation is to get the data from the keyboard by reading the peripheral interface adapter.

The way the present system is configured, each keyboard scan occurs at the occurrence of a change in the signal applied from timer 74 to the PIA input terminal 40 as shown previously in FIG. 10. Thus the SCANK subroutine occurs periodically with a period of one (1) millisecond which is dependent upon the frequency of the timer signal generated by real time clock 74, shown in block diagram form in FIG. 4. Each time the scan of the keyboard is performed, a flag, consisting of 8 bits and called S flag which is internal to the RAM memory, is set if when the keyboard is tested to determine whether or not any of the keys have been depressed, a key has in fact been depressed and the S flag is not yet set. It is the function of the SCANK subroutine to determine whether or not there are any depressed keys. As previously discussed in conjunction with Table II, only seven (7) data lines are used to report keyboard status to the peripheral interface adapter PIA. Accordingly, before testing the PIA register to determine whether or not any of the keyboard keys have been depressed, the A accumulator contents are shifted to the right so that only the most significant seven (7) bits are tested. This is accomplished by the LSRA, a shift right logic instruction which is shown on statement line number 1444. On the following statement, line number 1445, the contents of the A accumulator are tested by comparing them with seven (7) binary ones that form a constant inherent in the instruction byte, namely 7F.

The comparison of the contents of the A accumulator, is accomplished by the dual instruction bytes generated by a sequential presentation of instruction addresses OF54 and OF55, both of which are implied by line statement number 1445. The comparison is denoted by the instruction mnemonic CMPA which results in the comparison of the contents of the previously loaded accumulator with the constant 7F.

The operand of the statement corresponding to statement number 1445 is the four (4) digit term #$7F. The pound sign specifies the immediate mode of addressing, (meaning the constant 7F is part of the instruction), the dollar sign specifies that the number following the $ in the operand is a hexadecimal number and the 7F is the hexadecimal number which is all ones which comprises the comparison mask to test the keyboard.

The test of the keyboard is indicated by the top-most diamond in the flow chart of FIG. 8, wherein it is indicated that the operation being conducted is the decision operation which asks the question "Is data equal to all ones?". As is well known in the art, the decision process involves a branch operation depending upon the outcome of the test. Accordingly, the next operation of the program, which corresponds to the statement at line number 1446, is a branch if not equal to zero (0) instruction BNE. In this case the number being tested for being equal to zero (0) is the result of the comparison between the contents of the A accumulator and seven (7) ones. If none of the keyboard keys is being depressed, the logic levels transferred to the corresponding input lines of the PIA, are all equal to one (1) and the comparison process between the signals generated by the keyboard and available at the registers of the PIA and the seven (7) ones, results in a zero (0) indicating that none of the keys is depressed at that time (i.e., a previously depessed key has been released). As a result, there is no branch operation and the next statement in the routine, namely, CLR is designed to clear the S flag to indicate a released key. The S flag will have been previously set by the scan operation when it was detected a key was depressed. The S flag clear operation is accomplished by the instructions corresponding to line number 1447, and then returns the program from the SCANK subroutine to the point left previously in the program by means of the RTS instruction.

The S flag is cleared to indicate that there need not be any further wait to determine whether a previously depressed key has been released. On the other hand, if the comparison process results in a non-zero answer, the subroutine SCANK branches to the program sequence beginning with the label KEY, commencing with the statement at line 1450.

The first operation in the portion of the SCANK subroutine labeled KEY, is a test of the S flag the logic of which indicates whether or not release of a previously depressed key is still being awaited. This is reflected in the flow chart by the second diamond operation of FIG. 18 which again calls for a branch operation depending upon the outcome of the test corresponding to the instructions performed by the statement at line number 1450. Only if the previously depressed key has been released would the character corresponding to the depressed key be stored. Accordingly, as noted in the statement at line number 1451, if the S flag tested in the previous statement is set to the logic level indicating that the key release has not occurred, the program branches to the statement labeled SC1 which is a return from subroutine instruction the effect of which is identical to the RTS instruction discussed previously in conjunction with the statement at line number 1448.

On the other hand, if the S flag, tested during the operation corresponding to the statement at line number 1450, indicates that the previously depressed key has been released, the program continues with the statement at line number 1452. The latter statement is a store accumulator statement wherein the contents of the A accumulator are used to set the S flag by being transferred to the allocated portion of a random access memory device in memory MEM1. It will be recalled at this point that the contents of the A accumulator must be non-zero corresponding to the seven (7) bit binary representation of the key that has been depressed. Accordingly, the instruction carried in response to the statement at line number 1452 sets the S flag which in effect indicates during subsequent scan subroutines that a new character cannot be saved until the presently depressed key has been released. The following instruction, corresponding to statement line number 1453, then increments and thus sets a new character flag indicating that a new character has been received. Finally, the contents of the A accumulator, which indicate the value of the depressed key, are stored in an appropriate portion of the random access memory device MEM1 and the program SCANK subroutine terminates at statement line number 1455, which is a return from the subroutine. The corresponding operations, namely, that of setting the two (2) flags, saving the new character and returning from the subroutine are indicated in the lower most portion of FIG. 18.

Now that the hardware and software of the present invention has been described in sufficient detail to enable those familiar with the art to make and use the present invention, typical operation of the invention will be discussed to enable the reader hereof to be more fully appraised of the advantageous use thereof.

In typical operation, the student first pressed the RESET key on keyboard 16. The system is then ready to accept parameters comprising the limits and the type of problem. There are two types of parameters to be set by the student. The first type of parameter uses some numerical value associated with it. For example, these parameters include the limit keys, the number of problems key and the time key. The second type of parameters have no value associated with them but indicate the type of operation to be performed. For example, these are employed by means of depressing the TEST, ADD, MULT, SUB, DIV, and WRONG AGAIN keys. No numbers are entered immediately before these keys are depressed.

To set the parameters associated with numbers, the student first depresses keys corresponding to the desired number associated with a particular parameter and then the associated parameter key is depressed. for example, to set the number of problems in a problem set to 10, which implies the use of the invention in the problem mode, the student depresses the one (1) and the zero (0) on keyboard 16 resulting in the display of the number ten (10) on display line one (1). The student then depresses the number of problems button. As a result, the number of problems is set to the parameter ten (10). The display is cleared after the parameter button is pushed. In the use of the keys corresponding to the second type of parameter, namely, those with which no number is associated, the student merely depresses the appropriate key at the appropriate time. For example, by depressing the ADD key, the operation presented to the student will be addition. Depression of the latter type of functional keys results in no display. It is to be noted that parameters can be entered in the present invention in any order, that is, there is no restriction on which parameter should be entered first, and a parameter can be changed merely by reentering it.

In order to more fully understand operation of the present invention, it is assumed that the following use is contemplated by a student: He wishes to practice addition by means of fifteen (15) problems of which no number is below five (5) of either of the two numbers given in each problem. He also wishes to restrict one of the two potential numbers of each problem to a maximum of twenty (20) and the other to a maximum of fifteen (15). In addition, he desires that one number always be multiples of two (2).

To enter these parameters for the problem set, the student would perform the following: First he would depress the ADD key to indicate that the invention is to be used for practice of addition problems, he would then depress the numbers one (1) and five (5), in that sequence, in response to which the top display, namely display line one (1) of display 14 will indicate a fifteen (15) has been entered. He would then depress the number of problems key, in response to which the display will go dark and the number of problems for that particular problem set will have been established. He will then depress the number five (5) key in response to which the number five (5) will appear on the top display line. He will then depress the lower limit number one (1) button to establish the number five (5) as the lowest number that may be used for at least one (1) number of the two (2) numbers given in each problem. He will repeat this process, namely, depressing the number five (5) key for the lower limit number two (2) button which will also establish the number five (5) for the second number for each problem in the problem set. He will then depress the two (2) and zero (0) keys and the upper limit number one (1) key to enter twenty (20) as the highest number for one set of numbers in the problem and repeat the process for the number fifteen (15) for upper limit number two (2 ) key.

Finally, he will establish the factor number relationship desired by depressing the key number one (1) and factor number one (1) for one (1) set of numbers and the key number two (2) and the factor number two (2) button for the other set of numbers. The result will be the setting of the parameters to be followed by the present invention during the ensuing test which the student mav they initiate by depressing the TEST button.

When the TEST button has been depressed, a problem will immediately appear. For multiplication, addition and subtraction problems the two (2) numbers for a problem will appear on display lines 1 and 2 of display 14 (see FIG. 2). For division problems the two numbers will appear on display lines 3 and 4 of display 14 (see FIG. 2). The student then enters his proposed answer by using numeric keys. Each time the student feels his answer is ready to be evaluated, he pushes the E key to enter the proposed problem solution. Should the student make an error in entering his answer before pushing the E key, that is, an error in his own mind resulting from inadvertent depression of the key he hadn't planned on depressing, he may depress the C button to clear his answer and recent his proposed solution.

After the student has entered his answer by pushing the appropriate numerical keys and the E button, one of two ensuing events will occur. If the student has determined that he wishes to operate the invention in its problem mode by depressing the number of problems key at the beginning of parameter entry, the time the student had taken to answer the presented problems will be displayed on the time display line shown in the upper left hand corner of display 14 in FIG. 2. In addition, if the problem was answered incorrectly, the wrong answer will flash on and off. Whatever, the result, to obtain presentation of the next problem in the problem set and in the problem mode, the student then depresses the E key again.

On the other hand, if the student has decided on use of the invention in the flashcard mode by entering a desired time interval and depressing the TIME key during the parameter entry, the next problem will be given immediately if the previous problem was answered correctly. However, if the previous problem had been answered incorrectly, the wrong answer will flash on and off twice before the subsequent problem is automatically presented to the student.

At the end of a test, which occurs either when the number of problems given equals the number of problems sought by the student in the problem mode, or if in the flashcard mode, when the allowed time for the test has expired, statistics showing the student's performance are then displayed. The percentage of correct answers, namely, the number of correct answers divided by the number of total problems presented, is displayed in display line 1 as a percentage. If the student's percentage of correct answers is ninety (90) percent or greater, the correct answer percentage will flash on and off. This feature is an extra incentive for the student to perform well to achieve the required ninety (90) percent or greater to cause the resultant statistics display to include an on and off flash. In addition, the total elapsed time the student had taken to complete the problem set will be displayed in seconds in display line 3. The average response time, in tenths of seconds, for the student to provide the correct answer to each problem will be presented in the time display line and the total number of problems presented to the student will also be displayed in display line 4.

At the completion of a test, the invention is in a mode suitable for entry of new parameters for a new test. In this mode, depression of any key will clear the display of the previously indicated statistics for the prior problem set. For example, if at this point, a numerical key number one (1) is depressed, the statistics will disappear from the display and the corresponding number one (1) will appear on the top display line. However, before this occurs at the end of a test, all parameters remain intact, that it, none of the parameters is changed from when it was last entered. Any number of parameters can be changed, including none of them. This feature is particularly useful when several students are to use the same problem parameters, thereby saving the teacher the additional effort of reentering the parameters for each student. Thus the TEST key can be depressed immediately after a first test is given to a student so that the same test parameters can be utilized in a subsequent test for a new student.

Some interesting additional aspects of the present invention can be utilized in certain circumstances. For example, by making one set of upper and lower limits, (upper limit number one (1) and lower limit number one (1)) equal to the same number, will fix one (1) of the numbers in a problem set to a constant for the entire test. For example, if the upper limit number one (1) and lower limit number one (1) were both set equal to five (5), the five (5) will always be one of the numbers in a problem set. This feature permits multiplication tables to be exercised and also permits the student to concentrate on a particular set of problems dealing with number relationships involving a constant.

Another example of such interesting effects is the use of the WRONG AGAIN key. After a student has completed a problem or flashcard test, he may depress the WRONG AGAIN key which will, when followed by depression of the TEST key, result in presentation of the incorrectly answered problems from the previous test. He may repeat this until he has answered all the presented problems correctly so that a particular problem set may be re-presented to a student with the correct answers omitted so that he may eventually gain the confidence of having answered one hundred (100) percent of the problems correctly. In addition, the use of the WRONG AGAIN key provides a built-in retest function for those problems with which a student has the most difficulty.

It will now be apparent that what has been disclosed herein is a unique calculator-type educational device for teaching arithmetic and which provides unique new features to motivate the student to greater learning progress. Such new features include means for reporting to the student his arithmetic proficiency by means of post-test statistics. It will also be apparent that the present invention includes certain features that enhance the teacher-student interaction whereby certain teacher defined limits may be established to further improve the proficiency of the student in solving arithmetic problems in a classroom environment.

Of particular importance in regard to advancement over prior art calculator type teaching aids are those features of the present invention which enhance the rate of a student learning by providing the student with variety in a dual mode of operation, namely, a problem mode and a flashcard mode, and means to gradually increase the scope of complexity of the problems presented to the student as his proficiency increases. The motivation for learning arithmetic provided by the present invention, further enhances the liklihood of continued student interest and learning progress.

A preferred embodiment for practicing the invention in the best mode presently contemplated by the applicant, has been disclosed as a microprocessor based system in a desk-type calculator configuration. Of course, it will now be apparent to those familiar with the art that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment disclosed and that many modifications and additions may be made within the scope of the invention. By way of example, it will now be apparent to those familiar with the art that the invention may be implemented in a portable hand-held type calculator configuration utilizing the latest state of the art in large scale integration that is more readily implemented in high density, smaller volume packages. In addition it will be noted that although a particular microprocessor and associated electronics have been disclosed herein, many microprocessor based systems, utilizing a variety of computer architectures, word lengths, and timing, may be readily substituted as equivalents for the embodiment herein disclosed. It will therefore be apparent that the subject invention is not to be limited except by way of the appended claims in which: ##SPC1## ##SPC2## ##SPC3## ##SPC4## ##SPC5## ##SPC6##