JP2002202114A - Braille reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a braille reader capable of accurately and quickly reading a braille paper without having adverse influences on the paper. SOLUTION: A sensor head radiates a laser to measure the distance A from a braille boss 18 shown in (1), the distance B from a braille recess 19 shown in (2), and the distance C from a flat 20 shown in (3). X-coordinate and Y- coordinate values of each measuring position are detected to store the distances A, B, C corresponding to the X- and Y-coordinate values on specified areas of a memory. Thus, a horizontal scan process is completed over the entire braille paper to obtain braille paper data composed of the distance A showing the existence of the braille boss 18 with their X-, Y-coordinate values, the distance B showing the existence of the braille recess 19 with their X-, Y- coordinate values, and the distance C showing the existence of the braille flat 20 with their X-, Y-coordinate values, i.e., data of the entire braille paper constitution converted into distances and coordinates.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a Braille reader for reading Braille formed on Braille paper for the blind.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As conventional Braille reading apparatuses, those using an image processing system and those using a direct contact system are known. In image processing type Braille readers, Braille paper is photographed with a CCD camera to capture images,
This image is processed to recognize braille projected on the braille paper. In the direct contact type Braille reader,
A plurality of switches are arranged on a straight line, and Braille paper is sent at a predetermined speed, each switch is brought into contact with the Braille paper, and a Braille projection is detected by turning on or off each switch to recognize Braille.

[0003]

However, in the image processing type Braille reading apparatus, the Braille paper to be read is often read with a fingertip and becomes dirty, or a picture or character (memo) is read. If they are written, erroneous recognition will occur due to these factors, and the reading accuracy will decrease. On the other hand, Braille readers of the direct contact type read Braille by direct contact with Braille paper.Therefore, the Braille paper may be damaged by contact or Braille projections may be worn, and there is a concern that Braille paper may be adversely affected. Will be done.

In addition, in both the image processing system and the direct contact system, when braille is formed on the front and back sides of the braille paper, the braille on the front side and the braille on the back side are separately processed. And cannot be read quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a Braille reading apparatus capable of performing accurate and quick reading without adversely affecting Braille paper. It is the purpose.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided the invention in which the braille paper is horizontally moved on the braille paper on which the braille is formed, and scanned while transmitting a laser beam. A laser distance measuring means for sequentially measuring a distance to the laser beam; and a position acquiring means for sequentially acquiring each measured position of the laser distance measuring means.

That is, since the Braille paper is composed of a flat portion and a Braille convex portion, or a flat portion, a Braille convex portion and a Braille concave portion (a Braille convex portion on the back side), the laser distance measuring means moves on the Braille paper. When scanning horizontally and sequentially measuring the distance to the braille paper, a predetermined distance is measured in the flat part, a distance shorter than the predetermined distance is measured on the braille convex part, and the predetermined distance is measured on the braille concave part. The distance longer than the distance is measured. Therefore, the data indicating the Braille projections formed on the Braille paper and their positions, and further the Braille recesses and their positions are obtained from the distances sequentially measured by the laser distance measurement means and the positions sequentially obtained by the position acquisition means. Can be

Further, the invention according to claim 2 further comprises storage means for storing the distance measured by the laser distance measurement means and the position acquired by the position acquisition means. Therefore, data indicating the Braille protrusions and their positions formed on the Braille paper, as well as the Braille recesses and their positions are stored in the storage means, and the data stored in this storage means is sent to the personal computer,
It becomes possible for the personal computer to recognize the Braille and convert it into another expression format such as characters or voice.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the Braille recognition means for recognizing a Braille projection formed on the Braille paper and its position based on the distance and the position,
In addition. That is, as described above, when the distance to the braille paper is sequentially measured, a predetermined distance is measured on the flat portion, and a shorter distance than the predetermined distance is measured on the braille convex portion. The braille convex portion can be specified by, and by the position of the specified braille convex portion,
It can recognize Braille formed on Braille paper.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the Braille is represented by another expression based on the Braille protrusion recognized by the Braille recognizing means and its position, and conversion data stored in advance. There is further provided conversion means for converting the data into a format. Therefore, the Braille is recognized based on the Braille projections formed on the Braille paper and the data indicating the positions thereof, and is converted into another expression form such as a character or voice.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the Braille reading apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a Braille recognition processing unit 1, a laser distance measurement unit 2, and a paper feed mechanism 3. The Braille recognition processing unit 1 has a CPU 4 to which a storage device 5, a display 6, and a keyboard 7 are connected.

The storage device 5 includes a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The ROM stores a program for causing the CPU 4 to perform a processing operation in accordance with a flowchart described later, a Braille composed of a plurality of convex portions, and a character corresponding to each Braille. Is stored. Also, RA
Data acquired at the time of scanning, which will be described later, is stored in the predetermined area of M.

The laser distance measuring unit 2 has a head moving mechanism 9 and an amplifier unit 10 both connected to the CPU 4, and a sensor head 11 connected to the amplifier unit 10. The sensor head 11 is a known method to which triangulation is applied, and is configured by a combination of a semiconductor laser and a light position detecting element (PSD).
Then, the light of the semiconductor laser is condensed through the light projecting lens and irradiated on the measurement object, and a part of the light beam diffusely reflected from the object forms a spot on the light position detecting element through the light receiving lens. It is configured. Therefore, the position connecting the spots on the light position detecting element changes according to the distance between the sensor head 11 and the target, and the distance to the target is detected based on the change in the position connecting the spots.
A signal indicating the detected distance is input to the CPU 4 via the amplifier unit 10 and the A / D converter 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, a housing 12 for accommodating the sensor head 11 is provided with a head feed shaft 13 laid horizontally in an apparatus main body (not shown).
Movably supported. When the head moving mechanism 9 operates, the housing 12 is reciprocally driven in the head moving direction X which is a horizontal direction along the head feed shaft 13. It is arranged so that the laser transmitting unit and the receiving unit face downward. In addition,
An X coordinate value, which is position data of the sensor head 11 in the head moving direction X, is determined by the CPU 4 that controls a pulse motor and the like included in the head moving mechanism 9.

The paper feed mechanism 3 is, as shown in FIG.
It has a pair of upper shafts 14 and lower shafts 15 extending in parallel with the head feed shaft 13.
Each end of the shafts 14 and 15 has a roller 1
4a, 14b, 15a, and 15b are fixed. Then, both shafts 1 are driven via a drive source (not shown) and a speed reduction mechanism.
The Braille paper 4, which has been narrowed between the rollers 14a, 14b, 15a, and 15b, respectively, is rotated in the paper feed direction Y, which is a direction orthogonal to the head moving direction X, by rotating the rollers 4 and 15 in a predetermined direction. It is configured to be driven.
The Y coordinate value, which is position data of the sensor head 11 in the paper feed direction Y, is determined by the CPU 4 that controls a pulse motor and the like included in the paper feed mechanism 3.

The Braille paper 16 has a front side Braille 17a and a back side Braille 1 on its front side 16a and back side 16b, respectively.
7b (see FIG. 3). This braille paper 16
Are three projections in the vertical direction and two projections in the horizontal direction formed by hitting a paper of a predetermined size (for example, B5 size) from the opposite side using a braille typewriter or the like, for a total of six projections. 18. Further, a character code is formed depending on where in the predetermined frame these six convex portions 18 are located.

That is, the front side Braille 17a is constituted by a plurality of projections 18 projecting toward the front side 16a by hitting from the back side 16b side of the Braille paper 16, and the back side Braille 17b
By hitting from the surface 16a side of the braille paper 16,
It is composed of a plurality of protrusions protruding toward the back surface 16b.
Therefore, when the braille paper 16 is viewed from the front surface 16a side, the front side braille 17a is represented by the convex portion 18 as shown by "〇" in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the back side braille 17b is represented by "●". As shown in FIG.

The sensor head 11 in the proper setting state (the state shown in FIG. 2) in which the Braille paper 16 is sandwiched between the rollers 14a, 14b, 15a, 15b of the paper feed mechanism 3.
(See distance C in FIG. 5C) is known and stored in the storage device 5 in advance.

In this embodiment having the above-described configuration, the end of the Braille paper 16 is connected to the rollers 14a,
When the proper set state sandwiched between 14b, 15a, and 15b is formed, the CPU 4 starts control according to the program and according to the flowchart shown in FIG. . That is, first, a horizontal scanning process is executed (step S1), and the head moving mechanism 9 is operated to move the laser distance measuring unit 2 from one end to the other end of the Braille paper 16 in the head moving direction X.

In the meantime, the laser L is transmitted from the sensor head 11, and the distance A to the Braille projection 18 shown in FIG. 5A, the distance B to the Braille recess 19 shown in FIG. The distance C to the flat portion 20 shown in (3) is measured. Further, the X coordinate value of each measurement position is detected based on the operation amount of the head moving mechanism 9, and the Y coordinate value of each measurement position is detected based on the operation amount of the paper feed mechanism 3.
The distances A, B, and C are stored in the storage device 5 in correspondence with the coordinate values.
In a predetermined area.

Next, it is determined whether or not the horizontal scanning process for one line in the head moving direction X has been completed based on the operation amount of the head moving mechanism 9 (step S).
2) When the horizontal scanning process for one line is completed, the Braille paper 1 is further determined based on the operation amount of the paper feed mechanism 3.
Then, it is determined whether or not the horizontal scanning process has been completed for all the pages of FIG. 6 (step S3). If the result of this determination is that horizontal scanning has not been completed for the entire paper surface, the paper feed mechanism 3 is operated to drive the Braille paper 16 in the minute amount paper feed direction Y (step S4), and from step S1. Is repeated.

Therefore, until the horizontal scanning process is completed for the entire surface of the Braille paper 16, steps S1 to S
4 is repeated, so that a distance A indicating the existence of the Braille projection 18 and its X,
The Y coordinate value, the distance B indicating the existence of the Braille recess 19 and its X,
Y coordinate value, distance C indicating presence of flat portion 20, and its X and Y
Braille paper data consisting of coordinate values, that is, data obtained by converting the entire configuration of the Braille paper 16 shown in FIG. 2 into distances and coordinates is stored.

When the horizontal scanning process has been completed for the entire surface of the braille paper 16, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S5 to execute the braille recognition process. On this occasion,
The distances A, B, and C are measured for each of the irregularities of the Braille, and the Braille is recognized based on the difference between the convex or concave portion of the Braille and the flat portion around it. That is, the distances A, B, C
Has a relationship of A <C <B, the portion having the shortest distance from the relationship is the convex portion 18, the portion having the next shortest distance is the flat portion 20, and the portion having the longest distance is the concave portion 19.
Can be determined.

Therefore, in this step S5, the convex portion 18 and the concave portion 19 and the positions thereof are recognized based on the data stored in the predetermined area of the storage device 5 by using this determination method or another determination method.

Next, a collation / conversion process is performed, and each projection 1
By comparing the position 8 with the Braille-character conversion data stored in the storage device 5 in advance, the Braille on the surface 16a side composed of the six convex portions 18 is converted into character data (step). S6). Further, by comparing the position of each concave portion 19 with the Braille-character conversion data, the Braille on the back surface 16b side composed of the six concave portions 19 is converted into character data. At this time, since the position of each concave portion 19 is data in which the convex portion projecting to the rear surface 16b side is recognized from the front surface 16a side, the position data of the concave portion 19 is inverted to the state recognized from the rear surface side, and collation is performed. I do.

If the collation and conversion of the braille on the front surface 16a and the collation and conversion of the braille on the back surface 16b are completed by the processing in step S6, the next step S6 is performed.
At 7, a conversion result output process is executed, and the conversion results are sequentially output to the display 6. As a result, the display device 6 displays the Braille paper 1
6, a character string corresponding to Braille formed on the front surface 16a side and a character string corresponding to Braille formed on the back surface 16b side are displayed. Therefore, by visually recognizing the displayed character string, it becomes possible for a sighted person to understand a sentence based on the braille projecting from the braille paper 16.

In the present embodiment, as shown in steps S5 to S7, based on the data obtained by completing the horizontal scanning processing on the entire surface of the braille paper 16, the braille recognition processing, the collation and conversion are performed. All processing and conversion result output processing are performed on the Braille reader side. However, the data obtained by completing the horizontal scanning of the entire surface is sent to the personal computer 20 shown in FIG.
By executing steps S5 to S7 on the 0 side, the change result may be printed out by the printer 21. This makes it possible to simplify the processing content of the Braille reader, and to perform conversion and output using a general-purpose personal computer 20 or printer 21.

The Braille conversion expression format is not limited to the character expression by the display 6 or the printer 21, but may be expressed by voice.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the Braille paper is scanned while moving horizontally, the distance to the Braille paper is sequentially measured by the laser, and the measured positions are sequentially acquired. Therefore, even when the Braille paper is dirty, when pictures or characters (memos) are written, or when the Braille paper is distorted, the data indicating Braille with high accuracy is not affected by these. Can be obtained, and the Braille paper is not damaged, and the Braille projections are not worn, so that adverse effects on the Braille paper can be avoided. In addition, the measured distance and the acquired position provide not only the braille projections constituting the braille on the front side of the braille paper, but also data indicating the braille recesses constituting the braille on the back side thereof. Only by scanning from one side of
Braille on both sides can be read, and rapid Braille can be read.

Further, since the storage means for storing the measured distance and the acquired position is provided, the data stored in this storage means is sent to the personal computer so that the personal computer recognizes the braille. Can be converted into other expression formats such as characters or voice.

Further, since the Braille projection formed on the Braille paper and its position are recognized based on the distance and the position, the Braille can be accurately formed without adversely affecting the Braille paper. Can be detected.

Further, since the Braille is converted into another expression form based on the recognized Braille protrusion and its position and the conversion data stored in advance, the Braille is not adversely affected. It is possible to convert Braille into characters or voice with high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a laser distance measuring unit and a paper feeding mechanism according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of Braille.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a distance measurement state of a Braille convex portion, a Braille concave portion, and a flat portion by a laser distance measuring unit.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing another device used for conversion output.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Braille recognition processing unit 2 Laser distance measurement unit 3 Paper feed mechanism 4 CPU 5 Storage device 16 Braille paper 16a Front surface 16b Back surface 18 Braille projection 19 Braille recess

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser distance measuring means for transmitting and scanning a laser while horizontally moving on a Braille paper on which Braille is formed, and sequentially measuring a distance to the Braille paper, and measuring each of the laser distance measuring means. A Braille reading device comprising: a position acquisition unit that sequentially acquires positions. 2. The Braille reader according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores the distance measured by the laser distance measurement unit and the position acquired by the position acquisition unit. . 3. A Braille recognizing means for recognizing a Braille protrusion formed on the Braille paper and its position based on the distance and the position, further comprising: Braille recognition means. Braille reader. 4. A conversion means for converting the Braille into another expression form based on the Braille protrusion and its position recognized by the Braille recognition means and conversion data stored in advance. 4. A Braille reader according to claim 3, wherein: