Interactive terminal with an electronic unit controlling a printer for printing content, particularly texts, in a random manner

Abstract

An interactive terminal with a built-in electronic unit running a program and controlling a printer for printing content, particularly texts, more particularly literary texts, the printing of the content being random according to the selective application of pressure by a user on an area of interface with the terminal.

Claims

1. An interactive terminal for printing of items of content that includes at least one of texts and images, with the content to be printed not being specifically selected by a user and the user does not know the final content that will be printed, the interactive terminal comprising: a structure that is self-supporting or designed to be fixed on a wall, an interface with a user, comprising at least two separate interface zones, a printer housed in the structure, designed to print items of content available to the user, an electronic unit housed in the structure, designed to execute a program and to act automatically on the printer in response to a selective press on one of the interface zones in order to print an item of content, the program determining the item of content to be printed, without the user selecting final content that will be printed and without the user knowing final content that will be printed, with the content to be printed depending on the interface zone on which the press is performed.

2. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the program furthermore determines at least one of a number and a code that is incremented upon each new selective press on one of the interface zones, irrespective of the zone, the incremented at least one of number and code being printed in addition to the item of content.

3. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the items of content to be printed being at least one of texts and images.

4. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 3, the items of content including at least one of literary texts which includes at least one of poems, novels and extracts from fictional works, and illustrated texts.

5. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, the interface being a touchscreen with at least two separate tactile zones, or being made up of separate pushbutton-type buttons mounted in a wall of the structure.

6. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, presses offset in time on one and the same interface zone generating printed items of content that are on the same theme, from the same literary category, of the same literary quality or from the same genre including at least one of a novel, a poem, an extract from a fictional work, or an illustrated text.

7. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, presses offset in time on one and the same interface zone generating printed items of content that are different but of the same determined length.

8. The interactive terminal as claimed in claim 1, the memory of the electronic unit incorporating a number of at least one hundred different items of content to be printed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(1) Other advantages and features of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the detailed description of exemplary implementations of the invention, given by way of non-limiting illustration and with reference to the following figures, in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example of an interactive terminal according to the invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of another example of an interactive terminal according to the invention.

(2) In one advantageous application, the interactive terminals 1 according to the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, make it possible to randomly print short literary texts in the form of poems.

(3) As illustrated in FIG. 1, the interactive terminal 1 according to the invention comprises firstly a self-supporting structure comprising a frame 10 fixed above a base 11.

(4) A panel 12 may be fixed above the structure 10, to inform the potential users of the presence of the interactive terminal. The panel may be made luminous in particular by light-emitting diodes, in order to make the terminal more visible. This may be advantageous in a public place where individuals are not aware of the presence of the terminal.

(5) The interactive terminal 1 illustrated comprises three pushbuttons 13, 14, 15 mounted in the horizontal wall of the frame 10. A different duration is written above each of the buttons. In the example illustrated, 1 minute is written above the button 13, 3 minutes above the button 14, and 5 minutes above the button 15.

(6) Inside the frame 10 are housed a printer and an electronic unit, preferably comprising a computer with a memory connected electrically on the one hand to the pushbuttons 13, 14, 15 or to the interface zones and on the other hand to the printer.

(7) The printer is designed to print items of content available to the user, said items of content exiting the interactive terminal 1 via a slot 16 formed for this purpose in the vertical envelope of the frame 10.

(8) According to the invention, the electronic unit is designed to execute a program and to act automatically on the printer in response to a selective press on a pushbutton 13, 14 or 15 in order to print a poem, the program randomly determining the poem to be printed depending on the pushbutton 13, 14 or 15 on which the press is performed.

(9) Thus, for example, a user wishing to read a poem of a duration substantially equal to one minute will press on the button 13. The interactive terminal 1 then randomly delivers to said user a printed poem of this duration and that is initially unknown to the user, this poem being stored among a set of poems of the same reading duration in the memory.

(10) The poems that require a reading of around three and five minutes are printed and delivered in response to a press on the button 14 and on the button 15, respectively.

(11) The random determination of the poem to be printed for a user makes it possible for one and the same user who presses twice successively on one and the same button 13, 14, or 15 not to obtain one and the same poem.

(12) According to one advantageous variant, the program of the computer furthermore determines a number and/or a code that are/is incremented upon each new selective press on one of the buttons 13 to 15, irrespective of the zone, the incremented number and/or code being printed in addition to the content.

(13) The interactive terminal 1 may thus be used to manage a queue at one or more counters.

(14) Instead of providing a self-supporting structure with a frame 10 fixed to a base 11 as shown in FIG. 1, a printer and a computer of smaller dimensions may be provided and integrated into a housing 10 as shown in FIG. 2.

(15) The interactive terminal 1 thus shown in FIG. 2 is more easily portable than that shown in FIG. 1 and may be used for more temporary uses.

(16) The invention is not limited to the examples that have just been described; it is possible in particular to combine features of the examples illustrated with one another in variants that are not illustrated.

(17) Other variants and improvements of the invention may be realized without departing from the scope of the invention.

(18) Thus, if the zones for interfacing with the user are pushbuttons in the examples illustrated, the interface may also be a touchscreen with clearly separated interface zones.

(19) It goes without saying that it is possible to provide more interactive zones than three pushbuttons 13, 14, 15 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

(20) The applications envisioned for the interactive terminal 1 according to the invention are numerous.

(21) First of all with regard to the content, it is possible to provide, instead of poems of different reading durations, it is possible to provide other literary texts, such as extracts from fictional works or illustrated extracts, such as cartoon extracts.

(22) Instead of different reading durations, it may be provided that the selective choice by pressing on the interface zones relates to different content categories.

(23) For example, a press on a given interface zone, such as on one of the buttons 13 to 15, may generate a delivery of a printed poem, a press on another interface zone may generate a cartoon extract, and a press on yet another interface zone may generate a mathematical problem.