WO2017158418A1

WO2017158418A1 - Device for converting a visual image into its corresponding sound image

Info

Publication number: WO2017158418A1
Application number: PCT/IB2017/000255
Authority: WO
Inventors: Enrique Walter ESPINA; Jose Alberto GIOMO
Original assignee: OSTOLAZA, Juan, Isidro
Priority date: 2016-03-16
Filing date: 2017-03-16
Publication date: 2017-09-21
Also published as: AR103950A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for converting a visual image into a sound image, comprising an electronic system for transforming the input video signal into an audio signal, which, when appropriately synchronised, generates a sound image that is equivalent to the input video signal and, using the qualities of the auditory system and the horizontal and vertical scans of the input signal, generates a scan in both the vertical and horizontal audio balances, thereby developing a sound screen from left to right and from top to bottom of the listener, in which the different objects are heard with their characteristic sounds and in their position, as they are seen on the visual screen. This is presented to the listener as though each object emits a characteristic sound from their position, making it possible to locate and recognise same. In order to release the auditory sensation, the device is provided with a movement detector which reduces the general volume when movements are not detected in the image. In order to help the listener to recognise the most common objects, a book has been developed in which the objects are represented in relief with their names in braille to be recognised via touch, in addition, the name of the object is reproduced in audio and a video signal of the corresponding object is introduced on output thereof, connecting this output to the video input according to the invention, the corresponding sound image is generated.

Description

"Visual image converter device to its corresponding sound image"

1- Field of the invention:

The present invention relates to an electronic device that transforms the video signal emitted by a camera or other video device, into an electronic signal that, properly synchronized, generates an equivalent audio signal, which creates a sound screen in which The objects are distributed as in the visual screen, with which it is possible to replace or reinforce the sense of sight in blind people and in all those who wish to improve an audiovisual experience such as a video game.

2- Background of the invention;

It is well known to use sound as a means to locate objects (ecolocaclone), it is also known that to use this method it is necessary to emit a sound first and wait for the echo to locate these objects in space, or, in the best case , that the object (s) emit sound and thus make its location possible, which is achieved using the qualities of our sense of hearing, namely:

Since we have two ears it is easy to determine if the sound originates on our right or left.

By the shape of the auditory pavilion we can also determine if the sound comes from above or below our position.

And with some experience, the volume with which we hear gives us an idea of the distance at which the origin of the sound is (if we hear a horn we can know with certain certainty how far the vehicle is)

- In addition, just as an image captured by the view is very complex, the sound is a complex harmonic mass which results in a characteristic sound that defines each emitting object, this makes them recognizable.

In the prior art of the technique, multiple devices have been developed to help blind people and experience indicates that the simplest are the most effective since they should not develop special skills to use them, such as the simple and effective cane, it has been tried the ecolocaclón, but it presents serious problems in learning since our ear is not prepared to detect the echo information, it has also been tried with sounds that vary its frequency according to the position of the object, this works with isolated objects and already scheduled; Another attempt uses proximity sensors and voice software to indicate to the wearer that there is a nearby object, which is far from replacing the vision in real time.

One of the most recent developments in this area of the technique refers to a device that replaces the image of a figure on the computer with a sound that varies in frequency according to its shape, this indicates to the user, after training, of which object the Image is about.

All these developments depend on special skills that must be learned and therefore are not performed naturally. An advantage of the present invention lies in its audio outputs, arranged to the user's Left and Right and Up and Under the auditory pavilions, this location manages to develop a sound screen before the listener, in which a sound can be located so totally NATURAL to both Left or Right, as Above or Below the listener, in the same way that an image is developed on the screen of a television or monitor. With this advantage, it only remains to transform the video signal into a sound signal, which is achieved by filtering said video signal by removing the synchronization signals and using only the audible frequencies, this is equivalent to taking away the image from definition, but still the The resulting signal retains enough information to precisely define each object, so it can well be said that the sound signal is characteristic of each object, as (since the location, shape and distance of the objects found in the sound are reproduced in sound) Image received

3- Description of the invented device:

The present invention comprises two video inputs, one provides the Image signal to be transformed into a sound signal and the second will serve as a comparison with the first to achieve 3D effect, an electronic system responsible for processing the video signal so that the Output signal contains the necessary information and one or more exciting elements. The assembly of the device can be carried out on different types of support since it is small in size, an example can be seen in Figure A, which will serve as a reference to describe the operation of the present invention. The electronic system responsible for transforming the video signal is described

schematically in figure 1 and its operation will be explained by blocks, each of which is widely known for other applications, so they will not be described individually, only their specific function will be indicated in the present invention.

The Cl camera generates a video signal VI which is connected to the device through the Video E 1 input, this signal is filtered by the block to eliminate non-audible frequencies and synchronization signals, leaving a signal with less definition but still It contains the information that contained the video signal and can be processed as an audlo signal by the preamplifier 6 (stereo) whose output volume is controlled by comparator 2, which uses the Cl video signal to compare it with the signal of C2 (the second camera that connects to Video In 2) and generate an output potential proportional to the displacement between both images, resulting in greater volume at a lower distance between object and observer, resulting in a third dimension effect. Both outputs, Left and Right, (of 6) are controlled by the synchronism block by block3 which is responsible for detecting the horizontal synchronism of the video signal VI and generating a balance scan of 6 from left to right , synchronized with the video signal, which places the sound signal of each object in the same position from left to right that it occupies in the video, this is exemplified in Figure 3. Already separated the signal in Left and Right, both are they process in the same way so we will only describe one of them: prior to the final amplification the signal is again divided into preamps 7 and 8, in upper and lower what is achieved by block 4 that detects the vertical scan signal of the video signal VI and generates a synchronized scan with it in the balance of blocks 7 and 8, which places the audio signal of an object at the same height it occupies in the video, this is exemplified in figure 4, fig. 10 and fig. 11. Finally, the sound signals are duly amplified in accordance with the exciter device chosen, be it speakers, headphones, etc. In addition, the device has a general volume control 13 that can be controlled by the user at will (block 15) and is also controlled by the motion detector (block 14) which decreases the output volume when no movement is detected. in the visual field, this releases the sense of the o (do when there are no changes in the image.

The sound signal is applied to 4 speakers located as follows: two on the left, one above and one below the auditory pavilion and two others on the right in the same position (the support may well be a spectacle pin type as in fig. A in which ly2 cameras, 3 motion detector, 4,5,6 and 7 speakers), each of them is connected to the respective output of our device (eg, upper left speaker connected to upper left output) This gives us the possibility of spatially locating any object while the sound heard defines its particular characteristics. At this point it is good to say that, since the signal is delivered by the converter device, this can be the result of an Image obtained from the Cl camera or any other video signal whether it be television, computer, video game, simulator virtual reality, etc. It is also possible to connect to the video input of the present invention a learning signal from a book, exemplified in fig. B, developed to help the recognition of everyday objects, whose images are made in relief to be recognized by touch and its name in brallle (1 and 3) and reproduced in audio (2) and reproduces the characteristic video of the object, which allows Associate the sound with the object that produces it.

Brief description of figures 2, 3 and 4

In Figure 2 we will use examples of oscillograms of the video signals of both Cl and C2 cameras, which have been simplified for clarity. First, the relative position of the cameras results in two slightly displaced visual fields as shown in fig. 2 a (top view), and an object located far from the observer is depicted, in fig. 2 b the respective oscillograms of the video signal are plotted, in which it can be seen that the displacement between the signals is almost nil, that is, the volume is kept to a minimum; already in fig. 2 c represents an object close to the observer and in fig. 2 d the oscillograms and it can be seen that the marrying is important so that the output signal of the comparator will increase the volume of the preamp 6 which results in an object close to the observer having a larger volume.

Figure 3 shows as an example two .objects (top view), one on the left and one on the right of the observer, in fig.5 the corresponding output signal of the filter 1 and entering the block 6 is shown , in Fig. 6 a the variation of the volume of the Left output is represented and in Fig. 9 the output signal of the Left channel in which the object of the Left is clearly detected and with much less volume than the Right , this signal is reproduced in the Left Ear. Next, fig. 6 b represents the variation of the volume of the Right output and in flg. 8 the corresponding output signal, in which the object of the Right is detected with more volume than that of the Left, this signal is reproduces in the Right Ear. Therefore the Listener detects or could say that He sees an object on the Left and another on the Right. This example, very simple by the way, shows that you can locate the precise place where each object is in the Image.

An example of Vertical scanning is shown in Figure 4 (side view), with which the variation of Volume from the upper part of the auditory pavilion to the lower part occurs, where A is the upper limit B average height and C is the lower limit, this allows us to recognize the vertical development of any object, two examples are presented, an object of medium height and a small one at medium height. The oscillograms of Figures 10 and 11 are examples of upper and lower output signal respectively for Horizontal sweeps at heights hl, h2 and h3 which are representative. In them it can be clearly seen that the upper sweeps (between hl and h2) produce no sound, and that the medium-height object is detected in ^' h2 and its characteristic sound is reproduced both above and below! auditory pavilion, this is interpreted by the listener as a sound coming from that height and as in h3 it is reproduced only below, it is easy to deduce that the object develops from the floor to h2, which indicates the vertical development of said object. For the small object it has to be detected only in h2 which places its characteristic sound at that height.

Claims

1. Visual image to sound image converter device comprising an electronic system to process the incoming video signals in order to obtain the signals of depth, vertical and horizontal synchronism, with which to generate horizontal and vertical sweeps in the output balance of audlo, synchronized with the video sweeps, thus generating a scan from left to right and from top to bottom of the listener with jo that a sound screen is formed in which the speakers reproduce the sounds obtained from the conversion of the video signal and that represent each object on the sound screen, with the same spatial location they occupy on the visual screen. In addition, it filters the video signal to eliminate the synchronism signals V the non-audible frequencies while maintaining the Video Information, although with less definition, leaving an audio signal equivalent to the video signal, resulting in that, as well as the image visual of each object is characteristic, its equivalent sound is also characteristic, which makes them recognizable to the listener

2. Device for converting a visual image to a sound image according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes a video input with a visual field slightly offset from the visual field of the main video, intended to compare the video signals to obtain a volume signal proportional to the displacement between the images, given that the greater the displacement, the less distance between the object and the observer, a depth or 3D effect is achieved.

3. Visual image to sound image converter device according to claim 1. Characterized by the fact that the horizontal synchronization detector block generates a signal that, applied to the stereo preamp balance, produces a scan from left to right of the listener, synchronized with the horizontal scan of the video, resulting in the horizontal development of a sound screen.

4. Visual image to sound image converter device according to claim 1. Characterized by the fact that the vertical synchronization detector block generates a signal that, applied to the balances of the left and right preamps, produces a scan from above to below the listener, synchronized with the vertical scan of the video, resulting in the vertical development of the sound screen.

5. Device for converting a visual image to a sound image according to claim 1. characterized in that it has four duly identified audio outputs, to locate the sound either to the right or left or above or below the listener, creating a type development sound screen, in which the characteristic sounds of the objects of the input image are located.

6. Visual image to sound image converter device according to claim 1. Characterized by the fact that it has a motion detector whose output signal controls the overall output volume, decreasing the volume when no movements are detected in the Image, thus releasing the hearing aid.

7. Visual image to sound image converter device characterized by a physical medium in which the visual image to sound image converter and the input and output devices, cameras, motion detector and speakers are distributed, so that, placed in mode of glasses, the main camera located at the center, generate an image centered with the wearer and the secondary camera, located on ^" the right side, a slightly displaced image to obtain the 3D effect, the speakers are located to the right and left of the wearer and above and below the respective auditory pavilions, this arrangement ensures that the converter device recreates the development of the visual screen in sound.

8. Visual image to sound image converter device comprising a book characterized by the fact that the graphics of the objects are made in relief, their names written in Braille and reproduced in audio and emits a video signal of the corresponding object that, duly connected to the video input of the present invention generates the corresponding sound image.