4.Oh!: The Patent

    The 4.Oh! learning system is protected by U.S. Patent # 6,287,123, issued on September 11, 2001.  The abstract and figure below are from the patent.  A description of the system is provied at the G-NA, LLC website: www.gee-na.com .

    You can view the entire patent by going to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office web site and searching their patent database on patent number 6287123.  In order to view the figures, you will need an "AlternaTIFF" plug in, which you can download free by following the links provided by the USPTO.  

    If you are online as you read this, here is a link to the text-only version of the patent.  You don't need AlternaTIFF to access this version, but you miss the really sexy diagrams, like the figure below.  

    If you have inquiries, are interested in licensing the patent, or would like to weigh in with your comments and ideas, contact Denis O'Brien here.
   

Abstract A Computer Managed Learning System (CMLS) and process are provided by which an information database is produced by formatting the information to be learned into units; inputting the units of information into a computer system; storing the units of information in discrete locations on a storage media; and, assigning to each unit an Importance Rank, a provisional Individualized Difficulty Rank (IDR), a provisional Individualized Urgency Rank (IUR), a provisional Population Difficulty Rank (PDR) and a provisional Population Urgency Rank (PUR), which are also stored in discrete locations on storage media. When a student accesses the database, the student may elect to filter the units by specifying subject matter and/or ranges for IDR, Importance-rank and IUR, or combinations or permutations thereof. The system selects the appropriate units from the database according to the filtering criteria input by the student. The selected units are sorted into random order by the system and then displayed in that order by an output device. The student responds to the information displayed, a determination is made as to whether the student's response was satisfactory, and the system re-calculates the IDR, PDR, IUR and PUR values of the unit according to whether or not the student's response was satisfactory. The new IDR, PDR, IUR and PUR values are stored in their respective locations on the storage media to be used for subsequent filtering and tagging procedures, and the process is repeated as necessary until the required level of learning has been achieved.

Figure 2 from the patent.