JP6710381B1 - Braille output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a power saving Braille reader. A braille output device includes a cylinder into which a finger can be inserted, a dot member that forms Braille, and is slidable in a radial direction through a wall of the cylinder, and the dot member is directed inward in the radial direction. A push mechanism configured to push, a reset mechanism configured to push the dot member radially outward in response to rotation of the cylinder, and a control configured to control the push mechanism in response to rotation of the cylinder. And a section. [Selection diagram] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a Braille output device.

Patent Document 1 proposes a tactile display that dynamically forms Braille.

US Patent No. 6776619

However, in the braille reading device disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to passively sense the braille output as the cylinder 27 rotates, and it is difficult to read the braille at one's own pace.

The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and an object thereof is to provide a Braille output device that allows a user to actively output Braille.

A main invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a Braille output device, in which a finger can be inserted and a dot slidable in a radial direction through a wall of the cylinder forming the Braille. A member, a pushing mechanism configured to push the dot member toward the radial inner side, and a reset mechanism configured to push the dot member outward in the radial direction according to rotation of the tube, A control unit configured to control the pushing mechanism according to the rotation of the cylinder.

Other problems and solutions to the problems disclosed by the present application will be made clear by the section of the embodiments of the invention and the drawings.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a braille output device that allows a user to actively output braille.

It is a perspective view of the Braille output device 1 concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the Braille output device 1 seen from the direction of the arrow L of FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2. It is a figure explaining the internal structure of the Braille output device 1. It is a perspective view of the dot member 13. It is a side view of the dot member 13. It is a figure which shows the state which has arrange|positioned the dot member 13 in the cylinder 12. It is sectional drawing of the row part of the dot member 13 arrange|positioned at annular shape. It is an enlarged view of the rail 15. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a manner in which the dot member 13 slides on a rail 15. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the control board 16 with which a Braille output device 1 is equipped. It is a figure which shows the flow of the preparation process of a Braille string. It is a figure which shows the flow of a Braille formation process.

<Outline of the invention>
The contents of the embodiments of the present invention will be listed and described. The embodiment of the present invention has the following configuration, for example.
[Item 1]
Braille output device,
A tube into which a finger can be inserted,
A dot member that forms the Braille and is slidable in the radial direction through the wall of the cylinder;
A pushing mechanism configured to push the dot member inward in the radial direction,
A reset mechanism configured to push the dot member outward in the radial direction according to the rotation of the tube,
A control unit configured to control the pushing mechanism according to the rotation of the cylinder,
A Braille output device comprising:
[Item 2]
A braille output device according to item 1,
Further comprising a rail having first and second surfaces on the outside of the cylinder,
The dot member includes a flange on the seat portion,
The rail is
When the flange comes into contact with the first surface and slides, the tip of the dot member is biased so as to project into the inside of the tube,
When the flange abuts against the second surface and slides, the tip of the dot member is configured to be biased so as not to project into the tube.
Braille output device characterized by.
[Item 3]
A braille output device according to item 2,
The end of the rail has an acute angle shape,
Braille output device characterized by.
[Item 4]
A braille output device according to item 1,
The dot member forms a distance between the braille cells between one of the two adjacent dot members and the other of the two adjacent dot members within the cell. Having an eccentric axis to form the distance between the dots,
Braille output device characterized by.

<Outline of device>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a Braille output device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the Braille output device 1 viewed from the direction of the arrow L in FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. An opening 111 is provided in the housing 11 of the Braille output device 1. A notch 112 is provided in the housing 11 at the bottom of the opening 111. The inner surface of the cylinder 12 is exposed at the notch 112. A plurality of holes 121 are formed in the cylinder 12. Eight holes 121 corresponding to the eight points forming the Braille are arranged in the cutout 112. The dot member 13 is arranged in the hole 121. The dot member 13 protruding from the inner surface of the cylinder 12 can form Braille. A finger (not shown) can be inserted into the opening 111. The user can put the finger in the opening 111 and move the Braille output device 1 to the left and right (the direction perpendicular to the arrow L). In response to such movement, the Braille output device 1 forms Braille on the inner surface of the cylinder 12 in the cutout 112, so that the user can feel the Braille with the inserted finger.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the Braille output device 1. The cylinder 12 of the Braille output device 1 can be configured by stacking a plurality of rings 122. The ends of the ring 122 are provided with notches 123 forming half of the hole 121 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The two rings 122 can hold the dot member 13 in the notches 123 facing each other. In this embodiment, the Braille output device 1 includes five rings 122. Therefore, the cylinder 12 is provided with four stages of holes 121 in the finger insertion direction (axial direction), and the dot members 13 arranged in the holes 121 can form four stages of dots. The notch 112 of the housing 11 can be formed so that the two rows of dot members 13 are exposed in the direction perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder 12. Thereby, the Braille output device 1 can form the Braille in two rows and four stages in the cutout portion 112.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the dot member 13, and FIG. 6 is a side view of the dot member 13. The dot member 13 includes a head portion 131, a seat portion 133, and a main body portion 132 therebetween. When the dot member 13 projects into the cylinder 12, the tip 134 of the head 131 touches a finger so that the user can feel Braille.

The axis X of the main body 132 is eccentric. Thereby, the tip 134 of the dot member 13 can form different distances between the dot spacing and the cell spacing within the braille cells. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which the dot member 13 is arranged in the cylinder 12. Regarding the distance between the dot member 13(2) and two dot members 13(1) and 13(3) adjacent to the dot member 13(2) in the circumferential direction of the cylinder 12, the tip 134(1) and the tip 134(1) The distance D1 between 134(2) is longer than the distance D2 between the tip 134(2) and the tip 134(3). The distance D1 is a distance defined as a distance between Braille cells. The distance D2 is a distance defined as a distance between dots in a Braille cell. Therefore, the tip 134(2) and the tip 134(3) belong to the same cell, and the tip 134(1) and the tip 134(2) belong to different cells. On the other hand, the distance D3 between the seat portion 133(1) and the seat portion 133(2) is substantially equal to the distance D4 between the seat portion 133(2) and the seat portion 133(3). Therefore, the processing of the mechanism for pushing the dot member 13 can be simplified.

The seat 133 includes a flange 135. As will be described later, the dot member 13 can hold the protruding or retracted state by the flange 135 coming into contact with the rail 14 provided outside the cylinder 12.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the row portion of the dot members 13 arranged in an annular shape. The Braille output device 1 includes an actuator 14 for each row of dot members 13 arranged in an annular shape. The actuator 14 can be, for example, a piezo bending actuator. The actuator 14 is a mechanism that pushes the dot member 13 toward the inside in the radial direction of the cylinder 12. The actuators 14 can be provided on both sides of the cylinder 12. Thus, the Braille output device 1 can form Braille when the user moves the Braille output device 1 to the left or right. The dot member 13 is arranged such that the bottom portion 133 projects from the outer surface of the cylinder 12. The actuator 14 can push the dot member 13 into the cylinder 12. The actuator 14 may be provided at its end with a protrusion 141 oriented from the actuator 14 toward the cylinder 12 so as to contact the dot member 13 when the actuator 14 is bent, for example.

On the lower side of the cylinder 12, rails 15 corresponding to the steps of the dot members 13 arranged in an annular shape are arranged. FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the rail 15. A slit 151 is provided on the rail 15, and a flange 152 is formed on the slit 151. The flange 135 of the bottom 133 of the dot member 13 can be inserted into the slit 151. The flange 135 of the dot member 13 can contact and slide with the flange 152 of the rail 15. The ends 153 and 154 of the flange 152 are tapered. That is, the entrance of the slit 151 is wide. The rail 15 can adjust the position of the dot member 13 by the slit 151.

When the lower surface of the flange 135 of the dot member 13 comes into contact with and slides on the upper surface 155 of the flange 152 of the rail 15, the tip 134 of the dot member 13 projects into the cylinder 12. When the upper surface of the flange 135 of the dot member 13 abuts and slides on the lower surface 156 of the flange 152 of the rail 15, the tip 134 of the dot member 13 is stored in the wall of the cylinder 12. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining how the dot member 13 slides on the rail 15. In FIG. 10, the dot member 13 is assumed to be moving in the direction of arrow R. The Braille output device 1 can actuate the actuator 14 to bend it in the direction of arrow A1, and the protrusion 141 at the tip of the actuator 14 can push the bottom 133 of the dot member 13(1) in the direction of arrow A2. The dot member 13(1) is urged in the direction of arrow A3, whereby the tip 134 of the dot member 13(1) is exposed inside the cylinder 12. The flange 135(1) of the dot member 13(1) urged by the actuator 14 rides over the end portion 153 of the flange 152 of the rail 15. When the bottom surface of the flange 135(2) abuts on the upper surface 155 of the flange 152 of the rail 15 and slides like the dot member 13(2), the dot member 13 is always kept inside the cylinder-12 by the rail 15. Is urged towards. Therefore, Braille dots can be reliably projected into the cylinder 12. Further, in the Braille output device 1 of the present embodiment, when the user's finger contacts the tip 134 of the dot member 13, the actuator 14 does not urge the dot member 13 and the rail 15 urges the dot member 13. doing. Therefore, the rail 15 receives the force of the user's finger, and the actuator 14 does not receive the force. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a failure caused by the finger coming into contact with the dot member 13.

In the cylinder 12, a reset mechanism (not shown) that biases the dot member 13 in the storage direction is provided. The reset mechanism can be, for example, a rod arranged in the cylinder 12 parallel to the axis. When the dot member 13 urged in the storage direction by the reset mechanism (not shown) is not urged by the actuator 14, the flange 135 of the dot member 13 enters the inside of the slit 151 and the flange 135 of the dot member 13 is pushed. The upper surface of the rail 15 contacts the lower surface 156 of the flange 152 of the rail 15 and slides. The curvature of the lower surface 156 of the flange 152 is larger (smaller in diameter) than the curvature of the upper surface 155. As a result, the dot member 13 is urged outward in the radial direction of the cylinder 12, and the dot member 13 does not form Braille dots.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the control board 16 included in the Braille output device 1. The control board 16 can include a wireless communication module 161, a microcontroller 162, a USB port 163, a power management module 164, and an I/O port 165. The wireless communication module 161 can accept input values and pulses 171 from various sensors. The wireless communication module 161 may be a braille string (a bit string indicating the presence or absence of a dot in Braille) or a character string from a user's terminal (for example, a computer such as a smartphone or a personal computer) using Bluetooth (registered trademark) or the like. .) and the cursor position. The wireless communication module 161 can also receive a pulse used to detect the rotation of the cylinder 12. The wireless communication module 161 can also output the state of buttons, the state of devices, images taken by the camera, and the like. The microcontroller 162 can perform various controls by executing a program. The power management module 164 can be connected to the battery 173 and can control the DC power supply 174. An image from the camera 172 is provided to the I/O port 165. The microcontroller 162 can control the BJT amplifier 175 via the I/O port 165 to operate the actuator 14.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a flow of a process for creating a braille string. The microcontroller 162 analyzes the high FPS image captured by the camera 172, identifies the line of text (S201), and extracts the text character string by OCR from the low FPS image captured by the camera 172 (S202). .. The microcontroller 162 can merge the extracted text with the read text (S203) and create a dot row by referencing the text, for example, a lookup table (S204). As described above, the bit string for Braille can be created from the image (moving image) taken by the camera 172.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the flow of the Braille forming process. The microcontroller 162 receives the dot row and the cursor position (S221). In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the dot string created by the braille string creating process is used, but the microcontroller 162 may accept the dot string from the user's terminal, for example. The microcontroller 162 records the dot row, the length of the dot row, and the cursor position in the device memory (S222). The microcontroller 162 detects the movement of the Braille output device 1 (rotation of the cylinder 12) (S223). Since the rotation of the cylinder 12 is detected by using a general process, the details of the process are omitted here. When the moving direction is right (S224: YES), the microcontroller 162 controls the right actuator 14 according to four points from the cursor position of the dot row (S225). The microcontroller 16 operates the actuator 14 when it indicates that the dot member 13 projects (for example, 1), and does not operate the actuator 14 when it indicates that the dot member 13 stores (for example, 0). You can On the other hand, when the moving direction is to the left (S224: NO), the microcontroller 16 reduces the cursor position by 4 (S226), and controls the left actuator 14 according to four points from the dot position cursor position. (S227). The microcontroller 16 can now advance the cursor position by 4. In this way, the Braille output device 1 can operate the actuator 14 according to the accepted dot row, control the protrusion and storage of the dot member 13, and control the formation of Braille.

Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above embodiment is for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not for limiting and interpreting the present invention. The present invention can be modified and improved without departing from the spirit thereof, and the present invention also includes equivalents thereof.

For example, in the present embodiment, 8-dot braille is assumed, but it can be applied to 6-dot braille. In that case, one ring 122 can be reduced, and the annular row of dot members 13 can be reduced by one stage.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the braille output device 1 can be moved to either the left or the right, but it may be moved only to the right or left according to the description direction of the text. In that case, the number of actuators 14 can be halved.

1 Braille Output Device 11 Housing 111 Opening 112 Cutout 12 Cylinder 121 Hole 122 Ring 123 Cutout 13 Dot Member 131 Head 132 Body Part 133 Seat 134 134 Tip 135 Flange 14 Actuator 141 Projection 15 Rail 151 Slit 152 Flange 153 end part 154 end part 155 upper surface 156 lower surface 16 control board 161 wireless communication module 162 microcontroller 163 USB port 164 power management module 165 I/O port 172 camera 173 battery 174 DC power supply 175 BJT amplifier

Claims (3)

Braille output device,
A tube into which a finger can be inserted,
A dot member that forms the Braille and is slidable in the radial direction through the wall of the cylinder;
A pushing mechanism configured to push the dot member inward in the radial direction,
A reset mechanism configured to push the dot member outward in the radial direction according to the rotation of the tube,
A control unit configured to control the pushing mechanism according to the rotation of the cylinder,
Equipped with
The dot member forms a distance between the braille cells between one of the two adjacent dot members and the other of the two adjacent dot members within the cell. Braille output device according to claim Rukoto that having a eccentric shaft to form a distance between the dots. The braille output device according to claim 1,
Further comprising a rail having first and second surfaces on the outside of the cylinder,
The dot member includes a flange on the seat portion,
The rail is
When the flange comes into contact with the first surface and slides, the tip of the dot member is biased so as to project into the inside of the tube,
When the flange abuts against the second surface and slides, the tip of the dot member is configured to be biased so as not to project into the tube.
Braille output device characterized by. The braille output device according to claim 2,
The end of the rail has an acute angle shape,
Braille output device characterized by.

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