JPS6358392A - Character/graphic reader - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a means for enabling visually impaired people to recognize optical information such as characters and figures, and in particular to a means for enabling visually impaired people to recognize optical information such as characters and figures. This invention relates to a character/figure reading device that makes it possible to recognize geometric shapes by correlating positions and pitches of sounds.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in order for visually impaired people to read documents, etc., a string of characters read by an automatic character reader (OCR) is converted into a string of sounds, and combined with a speech synthesis system that generates speech. It was possible to achieve this by

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, this means is large-scale, increases cost, and is difficult to carry. Another drawback was that the graphics could not be read.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides an optical sensor that has a thin strip-shaped field of view and detects optical information in a partial field of view obtained by dividing the field of view into a plurality of parts along the length direction; a control unit that includes a plurality of oscillators that oscillate electrical signals of different audible sounds corresponding to individual partial fields of view of the sensor, and controls the output of the electrical signal of each audible sound based on optical information detected by the optical sensor; The device is equipped with a speaker that generates audible sound in response to an electrical signal output from the device.

(Function) The character/figure reading device according to the present invention scans a document while being held at an angle nearly perpendicular to the length direction of a strip-shaped field of view. At this time, information on the document is detected as optical information by optical sensors provided in each partial field of view. This optical information is transmitted to the 0N10FF electrical signal output of an oscillator that generates different audible sounds provided corresponding to each optical sensor.
Alternatively, it is converted into a degree of intensity and output from a speaker as a change in pitch.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the relationship between an optical sensor 1, which is a component of the device of the present invention, and a field of view in which optical information is to be detected. Here, the narrow strip-shaped field of view 4 is formed by arranging the partial fields of view 5 in a line.

FIG. 2 shows an example of reading a document using the device of the present invention, in which the head portion 6 of the optical sensor 1 is held at an angle close to perpendicular to the length direction of the strip-shaped field of view 4 and scans the document. Ru. At this time, the information on the document is often written in dark colors (especially black) on a light background (especially white), so the output of the optical sensor 1 on a light background will be large depending on the form of the characters/figures. , the output of the optical sensor 1 for the form part of characters/figures becomes small. In this example, the information on the document extracted as the optical information of each partial field of view 5 is generated by processing the electrical signal output of the optical sensor 1 in a signal processing circuit (see FIG. 4) and producing an audible sound with a pitch change. is output from the speaker 3 as follows.

In the signal processing circuit 2 shown in FIG. 4, audible sound is oscillated by an oscillator array 2a composed of a plurality of oscillators, and sent to an analog switch array 2d. The individual audible tones oscillated by the oscillator array 2a are musical tones with slightly different pitches. This means that the human ear is 1
One musical tone is recognized as one sound, and different musical tones are recognized as different sounds, but when the frequency of one is an integral multiple of the other, it becomes difficult to distinguish between the two.

Furthermore, it is desirable that the fundamental frequency of the audible sound used is within the minimum prime number of 2.
Further, the order of the partial fields of view 5 along the length direction of the band-shaped field of view 4 of the optical sensor 1 and the pitch of the audible sound generated by the oscillator array 2a corresponding to each partial field of view 5 have a pitch difference of a certain ratio. It is composed of That is, partial field of view 5
An audible sound with a constant pitch difference is output from one end to the other end. Of course, the oscillator array 2a does not have to have a constant ratio as long as it has a monotonically increasing or decreasing pitch relationship from one end of the partial field of view 5 to the other end. It is also possible to generate (turn on) an audible sound corresponding to the detected light intensity, or to generate (turn on) only an audible sound corresponding to the partial field of view 5 where the detected light intensity is weaker than a predetermined reference value. It is desirable that an audible sound is generated (turned on) in response to the partial field of view 5 where a color is detected.
This is to reduce the number of sounds that are emitted and make them easier to identify, as the dark colored parts are often narrower in terms of area.

Figure 3 shows how the audible sound is generated when the device of this example is scanned along the character "A", and is turned on in the partial field of view 5 where the character part, that is, a dark color, is detected, and turned off in other parts. ing.

The optical sensor 1 consists of a lens 1a and a photodiode array 1b. The light intensity information detected by each cell constituting the photodiode array 1b is input to the signal processing circuit 2, where it is amplified by the amplifier array 2b, and then discriminated by the discriminator array 2C. This signal is used to control the analog switch array 2d. The outputs of analog switch array 2d are combined into one and input to amplifier 2e. The output of the amplifier 2e drives the speaker 3 to generate an audible sound that changes in pitch depending on the information on the document.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the signal processing circuit 2'.

In FIG. 5, the optical sensor 1' includes a lens l a / and a COD (Charge Coupled Device).
e) consists of 1 b'. The serial output periodically sent from the CCD 1b' is sent to the amplifier 2b'.
and via a discriminator 20' to a computer system 2a' controlled by a microprocessor. This is done logically by 2a'.

The output of one channel that logically adds these audible sounds is:
The signal is converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter 2f, drives the speaker 3' through the amplifier 2e/, and generates an audible sound with a pitch change according to the information on the document.

In addition, although the plurality of partial fields of view 5 described above are configured discontinuously (discretely) and the pitch changes are also configured at a constant ratio, the partial fields of view 5 may be configured continuously and the pitch changes may also be continuous. .

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, a device with a simple configuration for visually impaired people to recognize images such as characters and figures is realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between an optical sensor that is a part of the device of the present invention and its field of view, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing how the optical sensor scans a document to read characters.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the pitch of an audible sound corresponding to each partial field of view on the vertical axis, and the transition of time on the horizontal axis. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of another embodiment. 1... Optical sensor 2.2'... Signal processing circuit (control section) 3.3'...
Speaker 4...Striped field of view 5...Partial field of view Figure 7 Figure 3 Timetable Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An optical sensor having a thin strip-shaped field of view and detecting optical information in a partial field of view divided into a plurality of parts along the length direction, and each partial field of view of the optical sensor. a control section that includes a plurality of oscillators that oscillate electrical signals of different audible sounds corresponding to different audible sounds, and controls the electrical signal output of each audible sound based on optical information detected by the optical sensor; A character/figure reading device comprising a speaker that receives a signal and generates an audible sound. 2) The individual audible tones oscillated by the oscillator are musical tones with slightly different pitches, and the order of the partial fields of view along the length direction of the band-shaped field of the optical sensor, and the order of the partial fields of view corresponding to each partial field of view. 2. The character/figure reading device according to claim 1, wherein the pitches of the audible sounds generated by the oscillator monotonically correspond to each other. 3) The character set forth in claim 1, wherein the oscillator outputs only an audible electric signal corresponding to a partial field of view in which the detected light intensity is weaker than a reference value within the partial field of view of the optical sensor.・Graphic reading device. 4) The character/figure reading device according to claim 1, wherein the oscillator outputs an audible electrical signal output larger as the detected light intensity in the partial field of view of the optical sensor is weaker.