Interactive instructional apparatus and method

An apparatus for providing instruction in stroke-forming skills, comprising:

• display means for displaying an exemplary stroke to a user;
• input means having a stroke-drawing surface for providing a digital data output representative of a stroke drawn by a user upon said stroke-drawing surface in response to said displayed exemplary stroke;
• mode selecting means for selecting one of a plurality of instruction modes including at least one instruction mode in which a succession of exemplary strokes defining a character are presented on a stroke-by-stroke basis to said user on said display means for emulation by said user on said stroke-drawing surface;
• memory means for storing digital representations of at least one exemplary stroke for display on said display means and for storing digital data provided by said input means representative of each stroke drawn on said stroke drawing surface in response to said displayed exemplary stroke;
• and
• stored-program controlled processor means for controlling said memory means and said display means in accordance with a mode selected by said mode selecting means to display each said exemplary stroke and for analyzing digital data of each corresponding stroke drawn on said stroke-drawing surface to identity segments constituting each drawn stroke and quantifying the deviation between the digital data representative of the segments constituting each drawn stroke and digital data representative of segments that constitute the corresponding exemplary stroke.

A method of providing instruction in stroke-forming skills, comprising the steps of:

• selecting one of a plurality of instruction modes including at least one instruction mode in which a succession of exemplary strokes defining a character are presented on a stroke-by-stroke basis to a user on a display device for emulation by the user;
• displaying an exemplary stroke on said display device;
• inputting a stroke on an input device in response to said displayed exemplary stroke;
• digitizing the input stroke to obtain a set of digital data representative of the input stroke;
• comparing the digital data representative of the input stroke to digital values representative of the displayed exemplary stroke to obtain a representation of the deviation between the displayed exemplary and input strokes;
• deducting the deviation value from an ideal value to obtain a grade representative of the inputted stroke;
• and
• providing an indication of the obtained grade.