JPH02134674A - Tactile display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the size, weight, and price of the whole device with simple structure by selecting an optional dot area in each dot area in a state where respective dot areas are deformed almost flatly on the whole and setting a storage shape to a projection shape. CONSTITUTION:Display media 5a-5c are formed in a flat belt shape having a shape memory function which stores a specific shape in the formation and restores the stored shape by heating after deformation. Six hemispherical projection parts 10 which constitute a braille letter in each dot area of six points are formed on the surface at specific intervals when the display media 5a-5c are formed, and the shape is stored. Further, deformation absorption parts 11 are formed on the respective reverse sides of the projection parts 10 as recessed parts which absorb the deformation so as to easily deform deformation 12 when the projection parts 10 are deformed almost flatly to erase the braille pattern. Consequently, a common heating means and a pressure applying means are only provided to as to forming a projection or almost flat surface shape in each dot area selectively, and the device is reduced in size and weight.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a tactile display device that displays and outputs pattern information such as Braille, characters, and graphics in a recognizable manner by touch with a finger.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of tactile display device displays Braille by selectively protruding or recessing display pins arranged corresponding to each point of Braille using a solenoid element, piezo element, etc. Braille display devices are known. In addition, display pins are arranged in a matrix, and 20 pins are arranged using piezo elements.
BACKGROUND ART Devices that display patterns such as letters and figures in vibration patterns by selectively vibrating at a frequency of 0 to 300 Hz have been put into practical use.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional tactile display devices each have the following drawbacks.

First, in the case of a device that uses a solenoid element as the drive source for the display pin and displays by protruding and retracting the pin,
One solenoid element is required for each pin, and the installation space and weight of each solenoid element make the entire device large and heavy. Furthermore, since the solenoid element is continuously energized to hold the pin in the protruding or retracted state, there is a drawback that power consumption is large.

In addition, in the case of a device that uses a piezo element as a drive source for a display bottle to perform display by protruding and retracting the bottle, a high voltage of about 50 to 70 V is required to drive the piezo element, and The piezo element itself also needs to be large in order to ensure the strength to hold the bottle. For this reason, in the case of this device as well, the overall size of the device becomes large and the power consumption also increases.

On the other hand, in a device that displays display pins arranged in a matrix and uses vibration patterns, it is necessary to fix a large number of piezo elements on a printed circuit board at high density at a predetermined angle and at a predetermined interval, and the lead wiring is also dense. The drawback is that a high degree of precision is required during assembly, resulting in high costs. In addition, this device has an undesirable disadvantage in that the user feels the vibrating bottle by touch, which causes numbness in the fingertips and makes the user easily fatigued.

Additionally, this device generates noise due to the vibration of the display bottle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a tactile display device that can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, is small, lightweight, has a simple structure, can be implemented at low cost, is easy to read by touch, and has low noise.

C Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a tactile display device that forms and displays a raised pattern on a substantially flat display surface for recognizing pattern information through finger touch. The entire dot area is made substantially flat by using a display medium which has a memory function of a convex or substantially flat surface for each dot area and stores a convex raised pattern on a substantially flat display surface. A configuration is adopted in which an arbitrary raised pattern is displayed by selecting an arbitrary dot region within each of the dot regions in the deformed state and making the memorized shape convex.

[Function] According to such a configuration, selective convex marking of each dot area for forming a raised pattern (one color) is performed by heating, and erasure of the raised pattern is performed by applying pressure. This is done by deforming a convex shape into a flat shape. A common heating means and pressurizing means may be provided to selectively form a convex or substantially flat surface shape in each dot region.
The device can be configured to be small and lightweight. Furthermore, no noise is generated, which is the case with devices that display vibration patterns.

[Embodiments] Details of embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 shows the overall appearance of a tactile display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This device is configured as a Braille display device, and is connected to a computer (not shown) or an external storage device (not shown) via a connector 3 provided at the end of a case 1 of the device body, and the Braille to be displayed is transmitted from these devices. The data will be manually generated, converted into a Braille raised pattern, and output for display.

In order to display Braille, a large opening 1a is formed on the top surface of the case 1, and a display section 4 is formed inside the opening 1a. In this case, the display section 4 has six dot areas, and display media 5a to 5c are provided for displaying Braille in each of the six dot areas using raised patterns corresponding to Braille.

The display media 5a to 5c are formed into a flat belt shape from a resin or rubber having a shape memory function of memorizing a predetermined shape during molding and restoring the memorized shape by heating after the shape is deformed. The display media 5a to 5c are shown in FIG.
As shown in A) and (B), here, six hemispherical convex portions 10 are used to configure Braille characters for each of the six dot areas.
A plurality of sets are formed at predetermined intervals on the surface of the display media 5a to 5c when the display media 5a to 5c are molded, and their shapes are memorized. Further, on the back side of each of the convex portions 10 in the display media 5a to 5c, the convex portions 10 are deformed into a substantially flat shape as shown by reference numeral 12 in FIG. In order to facilitate deformation when erasing, a deformation absorbing portion 11 is formed as a recess for absorbing deformation.

As shown in FIG. 3, the display media 5a to 5C are configured as endless belts, and are stretched between drive rollers 21 and 21 provided inside the case 1.
It is slidably supported in a substantially flat state on a flat plate-shaped support member 24 provided facing the. The drive rollers 21, 21 are rotated in the direction of the arrow by the drive of a motor (not shown), so that the display media 5a to 5C are fed as shown by the arrow a.

On the other hand, in order to erase the raised pattern of Braille characters formed by the convex portions 10 formed on the surfaces of the display media 5a to 5C, a pair of pressurized erasing rollers 22 and 22 are applied to the display media 5a to 5C within the case 1.
It is rotatably provided so as to sandwich C as shown by arrows c and c'. Then, the pressure erasing rollers 22, 22 come into pressure contact with the display media 5a to 5c, and by applying pressure, the convex portions 10 protruding above the display media 5a to 5c as shown in FIG. 2(B) are deformed into flat shapes as indicated by reference numeral 12 in FIG. 2(C), thereby erasing the raised pattern of Braille.

Next, the media 58 to 5C are applied to the pressure erasing rollers 22, 22.
A heating head 23 for recording and forming a Braille pattern using the convex portions 10 is provided near the downstream side in the feeding direction. The heating head 23 has a plurality of heating elements that are in contact with the surfaces of the media 5a to 5C and separately and selectively heat each of the flattened portions 12 of the convex portions 10 of each medium. Six convex portions 1 of each of the media 5a to 5C that slide on the heating head 23 and pass in front of the heating head 23.
The flattened portion 12 of 0 is selectively heated, and the convex portion 1
By restoring the memory shape of 0, the media 5a to 5c
An arbitrary 6-dot Braille raised pattern can be formed on the surface. The formed pattern is medium 58-5C.
The pattern is moved to the display section 4 by being conveyed, and the user can read the pattern by touch with his or her finger. In the above configuration, one set of the drive rollers 21, 21, the pressure erasing rollers 22, 22, and the heating head 23 are provided for each of the display media 5a to 5C, and a total of three sets are provided.

With the above configuration, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the display media 5a to
After erasing the Braille pattern by applying pressure from the pressure erasing rollers 22 and 22 for each of 5C, the heating head 2
By selectively heating 3, an arbitrary Braille pattern can be sequentially formed and displayed on the display section 4.

By the way, the device of this embodiment has two display modes: a continuous display mode in which any one of the display media 5a to 5C is continuously fed and Braille patterns are displayed in sequence, and a continuous display mode in which the display media 58 to 5C are continuously fed. It is assumed that a static display mode is executed in which the medium is moved so as to display one line corresponding to the full width of the display section 4 for one or all columns, and then stopped to perform display. In order to control this screen display mode, as shown in FIG. An adjustment switch 8 and a number display switch 9 are provided.

The display position selection switches 7a and 7b are used to select which of the three display media 5a to 5C located in the upper, middle, and lower tiers will be displayed, or whether all tiers will be displayed. . As an example of its operation, here, for example, the upward triangular switch 7
It is assumed that by operating a once, the medium to be displayed moves up one level, and by operating the downward triangular switch 7b once, the medium to be displayed moves down by one level. Further, it is assumed that, for example, the full-column display is selected by simultaneously operating the switches 7a and 7b.

In addition, in order to show which stage of media performs display, media 58 to 5C are placed on the right edge of the opening 1a of the case 1 in the figure.
Markers 6a to 6c are provided at positions corresponding to each. The markers 6a to 6c are configured such that, for example, a display pin is driven by a solenoid element to protrude or retract onto the upper surface of the case 1. Markers 6a-6c
The protrusion of any of the bins indicates that display will be performed on the display medium corresponding to that bin.

On the other hand, the display speed adjustment switch 8 is a switch for adjusting the moving speed of the display media 5a to 5C for displaying. This switch 8 is constructed as a slide switch, and by moving its knob to the left end in FIG. 1, static display can be performed by setting the moving speed to 0 and stopping the display medium to perform the display as described above. can.

By moving the knob from the left end to the right, the moving speed of the display medium can be adjusted, for example, from 1 character per second to 40 characters per second, depending on the amount of movement.

Next, the display change switch 9 is a switch for updating the display screen to the next screen in the static display mode. The above switches 7a and 7b.

The display operation is controlled according to the operation in 8.9.

Next, the configuration and operation of the control system of the device of this embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the control system of the apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 31 is a control circuit section that performs processing such as operation control of each section of the entire device and data conversion, and a CPU (central processing unit) consisting of a microprocessor element and an RO which stores data such as its control program.
It consists of M (read-only memory), etc. The control circuit section 31 is connected to a host computer (not shown) or an external storage device (not shown) via the human interface section 30 having the aforementioned connector 3, and receives Braille data from these. The manually generated Braille data is stored in RAM (
The data is temporarily stored in a manual data storage circuit 38 consisting of a random access memory (random access memory) or the like.

The control circuit section 31 sequentially reads the print data stored in the storage circuit 38, converts it into display data, and causes the display circuit section 32 to display the data. The display circuit section 32 includes roller drive circuits 33a to 33c, recording circuits 34a to 34c, and marker drive circuits 358 to 35c. The roller drive circuits 33a to 33c each correspond to the display medium 5a in FIG.
Drive rollers 21 provided for each of ~5C,
This is a driver circuit for a motor (not shown) that drives each of the three sets of 21. Further, the recording circuits 34a to 34c are circuits that control the driving of the heating heads 23 provided for the media 5a to 5C, respectively. Further, the marker drive circuits 35a to 35c drive the markers 6a to 6C, respectively.

On the other hand, display position information selected by the display position selection switches 7a and 7b described above is input to the control circuit section 31 via the display position selection circuit 36.

It is assumed that the display position selection circuit 36 generates display position data in response to the operation of devices 7a and 7b composed of counters, logic circuits, etc., and inputs the data to the control circuit section 31.

In addition, the control circuit section 31 includes the display speed adjustment switch 8 mentioned above.
Display speed information (media 5a to 5C) set by the operation of
(moving speed information) is input manually via the display speed adjustment circuit 37. Assuming that the display speed adjustment switch 8 is configured as a variable resistor that variably sets the output voltage, the display speed adjustment circuit 37 converts the output voltage into an A/D converter and inputs the A/D converter to the control circuit section 31. It is constructed as a vessel.

Further, it is assumed that a signal corresponding to the on/off operation of the above-mentioned change display switch 9 is manually input to the control circuit section 31.

The control circuit section 31 controls the display operation according to these inputs. The control is performed as follows according to the control program stored in the ROM constituting the control circuit section 31 in accordance with the procedure shown in FIG.

In the braille pattern display process, the control circuit section 31 first changes the display speed (movement of the display media 58 to 5c) manually inputted from the display speed adjustment circuit 37 according to the operating position of the display speed adjustment switch 8 in step S1 of FIG. It is checked whether static display is specified, that is, whether the display speed is set to 0.

If the display speed is not O and the above-described continuous display is to be performed, steps 32 to S9 are performed. That is, first, in step S2, the display speed is set according to the human power data from the display speed adjustment circuit 37.

Next, in step S3, the display position selection switches 7a and 7b are
The display position is set based on the display position information manually inputted from the display position selection circuit 36 in response to the operation, that is, information on which stage of the media 5a to 5C is used for display.

Next, in step S4, one of the markers 6a to 6C corresponding to the set display position is projected onto the case 1 by driving one of the corresponding marker drive circuits 35a to 35c to indicate the set display position.

Next, in steps 35 to S8, the Braille data pre-entered manually in the human-powered data storage circuit 38 is sequentially read out, converted into display data, and the drive motor of the drive roller 21 and the heating head shown in FIG. 3 are controlled according to the data. 23, and sends it to the roller drive circuits 33a to 33c and recording circuits 34a to 34c of the display circuit section 32.
The Braille pattern is recorded by outputting to a selected one of the Braille patterns. That is, for a selected one of the display media 5a to 5c, the shape of the convex portion 10 is changed by selectively heating each of the flattened portions 12 of the convex portion 10 after erasing by flattening as described above. is selectively restored to form an arbitrary Braille pattern according to the Braille data.

Next, in step S9, it is checked whether recording of all braille data stored in the human data storage circuit 38 has been completed, and if not, the braille data is sequentially recorded by repeating the processes from step 35 onwards. , when all data has been recorded, the process returns to step S1.

Through the processing of steps 52 to s9 as described above, any one of the display media 5a to 5c selected according to the operation of the display position selection switches 7a and 7b is continuously displayed at the display speed set by the display speed adjustment switch 8. Braille patterns are displayed on a regular basis.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1 that the display speed setting is 0 and static display is to be performed, the process branches to step S10, and the display position selection circuit 36 manually selects the medium 5a.
~Do you want to display all columns of 5C, or do you want to display any one of them?
Check whether to display columns.

When performing one-level static display, step Sl
1 to S19 are performed. In this case, first step S
In step 11, the display stage is set according to the manual input from the display position selection circuit 36, and then in step S12, one of the markers 6a to 6c corresponding to the set display stage is projected.

Next, in steps 813 to S16, the above-mentioned step 35
- Print data is sequentially recorded in the same manner as in S8. However, in this case, the display is continued until the display of one field corresponding to the width of the display section 4 shown in FIG. 1 is completed according to the determination in step S1, and the display operation is stopped when the display of the field is completed. That is, the movement of the display medium used for display is stopped and static display is performed. Then, in a loop of step 318, the process waits for an instruction to update the display by operating the number display switch 9.

Next, when an instruction to update the display is input, it is checked in step S19 whether or not all of the braille data has been displayed. If not, the process returns to step S13 and the following process is repeated. By reversing the processing in steps S13 to S19, static display is performed line by line in response to the sequential operation of the number display switch 9. And step S19
When the display of all Braille data is completed, the process returns to step s1.

As described above, one stage of static display is performed by the processing of steps Si1 to 519.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S10 is to perform static display of all stages, steps s2o to S27 are performed.

In case 2, first, in step S20, all the markers 6a to 6C are projected to indicate that all stages are to be displayed.

Next, by processing steps S2,1 to S24, a Braille pattern is recorded in the same manner as steps S85 to S8 described above. However, in this case, all of the roller drive circuits 33a to 33c are driven to move all of the display media 5a to 5c, and all of the recording circuits 34a to 34c are driven to move all of the display media 5a to 5c.
Two heating heads 23 are driven simultaneously to simultaneously perform three stages of recording. In this case, the display is continued until the display of each of the three rows is completed as determined in step S25. That is, until the display for one screen is completed.

When the display for one screen is completed, the display operation is stopped and the movement of the media 5a to 5c is stopped to provide static display.

Next, in the loop of step S26, it waits for a manual instruction to update the display by operating the number display switch 9, and when the instruction is made, it is checked in step 327 whether or not the display of all braille data has been completed. If all data has not been displayed, the process returns to step S21 and the following process is repeated.

By repeating this process, static display of all stages is performed one screen at a time. When the display of all data is completed, the process returns to step S1. As described above, steps S21 to S
Static display of all rows is performed by the process of step 27.

Through the control processing as described above, the braille pattern is continuously displayed on any one of the display media 58 to 5c in accordance with the operation of the display speed adjustment switch 8 and the display position selection switches 7a and 7b. A Braille pattern is statically displayed on one or all of the media 58 to 5c. Further, when performing continuous display, the display speed is adjusted by the display speed adjustment switch 8.

The tactile display device (Braille display device) of this embodiment as described above
According to the above, the apparatus is constructed by providing a heating head 23 as a recording means for Braille patterns for each of the display media 5a to 5c, and pressure erasing rollers 22, 22 as means for erasing the Braille patterns. With a simple structure, the entire device can be made small, inexpensive, and inexpensive.

Further, in the device of this embodiment, there is no vertical movement or vibration of the display pins and drive unit as in conventional devices, and a low-noise display device can be realized.

Furthermore, according to the apparatus of this embodiment, the display medium 58 is substantially flat.
The Braille pattern is tactilely read by the tactile sensation of the convex portion 10 on the surface of ~5c, and the tactile sensation is smooth, reducing the numbness and fatigue of the fingertips that would be caused by the conventional tactile sensation of vibration patterns. You can easily read by touch.

In addition, the display speed can be arbitrarily adjusted by the tactile reader, allowing efficient tactile reading and improving the tactile reading speed.

Note that in the above configuration, three display media 5a to 5C are provided,
Although the display unit 4 has three levels of display, it goes without saying that the number of media can be increased to provide a multi-level display. Alternatively, the number of display stages may be reduced to one, and the number of characters displayed may be one or several characters. In this case, the entire device can be significantly downsized.

Second Embodiment Next, FIG. 6 shows the overall appearance of a tactile display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This device forms and displays raised patterns such as figures, symbols, or characters in dot matrix patterns. In FIG. 6, parts common or equivalent to those in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment are given common or similar symbols, and explanations of the common parts will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the display medium 5 is 1
It is said to be wide-ranging. The structure of the display medium 5 is as shown in FIGS. 7(A) to 7(C), and hemispherical convex portions 10 are formed in a matrix shape as dots on the surface of the display medium 5 during molding of the display medium 5. The shape is memorized.

The diameter of the convex portions 10 is, for example, approximately 1 mm, and the pitch between adjacent convex portions 10 is approximately 2 mm.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7(C), the deformation absorbing portion 11 is an elongated rectangular concave portion [formed in common with two adjacent convex portions 10] as a difference from the first embodiment.

With such a structure of the display medium 5, the entire convex part 10 is pressed and flattened to erase the display pattern, as in the case of the first embodiment, and then the convex part 10 is changed according to the data of the display pattern. It is assumed that each of the flattened portions is selectively heated to recover its memorized shape, and an arbitrary raised pattern is displayed as a dot matrix pattern. When flattening the convex portion 10, the structure of the deformation absorbing portion 11 described above allows the flattening to be performed efficiently and satisfactorily.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, reference numeral 40a is shown in FIG.

A display movement switch 40b is provided, and this switch 4
It is assumed that the display medium 5 can be moved in both the directions of arrows a and a' by operating 0a and 40b. By operating the switches 40a and 40b to move the display, this device can continuously provide one screen of display approximately twice the size of the opening 4. In this case, by moving the display little by little, the tactile reader can tactilely sense the connection relationships between characters, figures, symbols, etc. Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, a display change switch 9 is provided as in the first embodiment, and the display is updated in accordance with the operation of this switch 9.

With the above configuration, raised patterns such as arbitrary characters, figures, or symbols can be displayed.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides a tactile display device that forms and displays a raised pattern on a substantially flat display surface for recognizing pattern information through finger touch, Using a display medium in which each dot area has a memory function of a convex or substantially flat surface and a convex raised pattern is memorized on a substantially flat display surface, each of the dot areas as a whole is transformed into a substantially flat surface. We have adopted a configuration in which an arbitrary raised pattern is displayed by selecting an arbitrary dot region within each of the dot regions and making the memorized shape convex from the state, so it is easy! ! - The overall device can be made compact, lightweight, and inexpensive with a simple structure, and excellent effects can be obtained, such as being able to reduce noise, making it possible to perform tactile reading easily and efficiently, and improving tactile reading speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of a Braille display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2A is a top view in an initial state showing the structure of the display medium in FIG. 1; Figure (B) is the second
Figure 2 (C) is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A'' in Figure (A);
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the Braille pattern recording and erasing section of the same device, Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the entire control system of the device, and Figure 5 is the control by the control circuit section in Figure 4. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the overall appearance of the tactile display device according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 7 (A
), (B), and (C) are a top view, a sectional view, and a bottom view showing the structure of the display medium in FIG. 6, respectively. 1... Case 2... Power switch 3...
・Connector 4...Display section 5.5a-5c...
- Display media 6a to 6C... Markers 7a, 7b... Display position selection switch 8... Display speed adjustment switch 9... Display change switch 10... Convex portion 21... Drive roller 22.
... Pressure erasing roller 23 ... Heating head 31 ... Control circuit section 32 ...
...Display circuit sections 34a to 34c...Recording circuit 36...Display position selection circuit 37...Display speed adjustment circuit -1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A tactile display device that forms and displays a raised pattern on a substantially flat display surface for recognizing pattern information by touch with a finger, and each dot area has a memory function of a convex or substantially flat surface. Then, using a display medium in which a convex raised pattern is stored on a substantially flat display surface, an arbitrary dot area is selected and stored within each dot area from a state in which the entire each dot area is deformed into a substantially flat state. A tactile display device characterized by displaying an arbitrary raised pattern by having a convex shape.