KR101715184B1

KR101715184B1 - Belt type direction guide apparatus for a person who is visually impaired and control method therefor

Info

Publication number: KR101715184B1
Application number: KR1020150166344A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 손재혁
Original assignee: 주식회사 디엠에스
Priority date: 2015-11-26
Filing date: 2015-11-26
Publication date: 2017-03-13

Abstract

A belt-type direction guide device according to the present invention includes: a short-range communication module forming a path of short-range communication with a smart terminal; multiple vibrators disposed at a strap wound around a users waist; a control device selectively driving the multiple vibrators in accordance with a drive command for some of the multiple vibrators sent from the smart terminal through the short-range communication module; and a rechargeable battery and a charging circuit supplying drive power to the short-range communication module, the multiple vibrators, and the control device or charging the short-range communication module, the multiple vibrators, and the control device with charging power provided from the outside. The short-range communication module, the control device, the rechargeable battery, and the charging circuit are provided at a buckle constituting a belt. The multiple vibrators are provided at the strap connected to the buckle.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a belt-type direction guiding device for a visually impaired person and a control method thereof,

The present invention relates to a wearable device that interlocks with a smart terminal, and more particularly, to a wearable device that can assist direction of a visually impaired person by providing a user of a smart terminal with directional guidance information about the front, back, To a belt-shaped direction guiding apparatus and a control method thereof.

Since 2012, when smartphones were introduced, smartphones will begin to spread exponentially, surpassing the PC penetration rate by 4.5% in 2014, and the gap between PC supply and smartphone penetration should reach 16.5% in 2018 Mobile Trend Forecast _ KT Economic Research Institute). The number of smartphone users in Korea reaches 40 million, and global smartphone users are approaching 3.7 billion as shown in Fig.

With the rapid spread of smartphones, the smartphone base market has undergone rapid changes from the PC-based Internet browser and Internet service market to the smartphone-based market from 2012 to 2015. In addition to the importance of personal information leakage, Which is rapidly growing.

In addition, the APP market has created a paradigm for games, shopping, restaurants, SNS, and healthcare. In addition, PC peripheral devices such as scanners, printers, card readers, 3D scanners and smart phones are becoming smaller and lighter.

In addition, smart phones that are easy to carry have brought the IoT market and the wearable market into full swing, including control services for the smart home sector. In particular, the wearable market is growing more and more according to the needs of customers such as health, leisure, convenience, and amusement, while creating high added value as a device that always connects the user with the network. FIG. 2 shows a trend of the market size of each wearable device.

This wearable device will be described in more detail. Market researcher ABI Research is continuing to grow with the explosive growth of the smartphone market, with the expectation that the wearable market will grow to $ 10 billion by 2018.

Major wearable devices that maximize interoperability with the above smartphones are smart watches, and major companies such as Apple, Sony, Samsung, and LG are participating. Except smart watch, efficient devices such as ideas and designs of SMEs are exhibited Trend.

In the case of Google Glass, various information such as directions could be guided through glass, but side effects such as dizziness and vomiting are also reported.

As described above, various wearable devices have been proposed and commercialized in the past, but in the past, efforts have been made to provide differentiated services to smartphone users.

Korean Patent Publication No. 1020150116207 Korean Patent Publication No. 1020150077708 Korean Patent Publication No. 1020150110299 Korean Patent Publication No. 1020150062630

The present invention provides a belt-shaped direction guiding apparatus and a control method thereof, which can provide a visually impaired person's direction indicating guidance service by providing a user of a smart terminal with directional guidance information about the front, back, It is for that purpose.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a belt-type direction guiding device which can prevent the smart terminal from being lost by outputting an alarm when the distance between the smart terminal and the belt-type direction guiding device is greater than a predetermined distance, Method.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a belt-type direction guiding device and a control method thereof, which can solve the charging problem of a smart terminal by providing an external battery function of the smart terminal through a waist belt.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a belt-type direction guiding device comprising: a short range communication module for forming a short distance communication path with a smart terminal; A plurality of vibrators mounted on a strap surrounding the waist of the user; A controller for selectively driving the plurality of vibrators according to a drive command for a part of the plurality of vibrators from the smart terminal through the short-range communication module; And a rechargeable battery and a charging circuit for supplying driving power to the short range communication module, a plurality of vibrators and a control device, or charging the rechargeable battery by supplying charging power from the outside, and the short range communication module, And the plurality of vibrators are provided on a strap connected to the buckle.

The present invention provides the user of the smart terminal with direction information about the front, rear, left and right through the belt on the waist as a vibration, thereby providing the direction indication service for the visually impaired.

Further, according to the present invention, when the distance between the smart terminal and the belt-type directional guide device is greater than a predetermined distance, an alarm is outputted to prevent the smart terminal from being lost.

In addition, the present invention provides an external battery function of the smart terminal through a waist belt, thereby solving the charging problem of the smart terminal.

FIG. 1 is a graph showing an increase in the number of smartphone users. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in market size of a wearable device. FIG.
3 is an overall block diagram of a belt-type directional guide device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a structural view of a belt-type directional guide device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
5 and 6 are schematic views of a vibrator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a control process of a belt-type directional guide device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
8 and 9 are views illustrating a driving state of a belt-type direction guiding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention can provide a guidance service to a user of a smart phone by providing direction information about the front, rear, left, and right sides of the smart terminal to the user of the smart terminal through the belt on the waist, and in particular, It can be usefully applied to the direction indication guidance service for the visually impaired person in cooperation with the direction indicating assist device.

Further, according to the present invention, when the distance between the smart terminal and the belt-shaped direction guiding device is larger than a predetermined distance, an alarm is output to prevent the smart terminal from being lost.

The belt-type direction guiding apparatus and the control method thereof according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

An overall configuration including a belt-type directional guide device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and a smart terminal for controlling the same will be described with reference to FIG.

The belt-type directional guide device 100 includes a control device 102, a charging circuit 104, a rechargeable battery 106, a Bluetooth communication module 108, and first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116.

The control device 102 communicates with the smart terminal 200 through the Bluetooth communication module 108 and controls the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 And outputs an alarm signal for driving the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 to prevent the smart terminal 200 from being lost.

The charging circuit 104 may be connected to an external power source to charge the rechargeable battery 106 by an external power source or may be connected to an external device such as the smart terminal 200 to charge the rechargeable battery 106 And outputs it to an external device to be operated as an external battery.

The Bluetooth communication module 108 is responsible for communication between the control device 102 and the smart terminal 200 which is an external device. At this time, the Bluetooth communication module 108 is preferable to a wearable device with low power by the Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) method.

The first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 are installed on the respective portions of the belt-type directional guide device 100 and are selectively driven by the control of the control device 102 to guide the direction, And outputs an alarm. 8, it is possible to output the vibration signal according to the azimuth with respect to the four directions (the various directions with reference to FIG. 9) in accordance with the combination of on / off of the first to fourth vibrators Direction setting is possible. Further, even if the whole is driven, the directions of the vibrations of the first to fourth vibrators can be adjusted to guide the directions. In addition to the first to fourth vibrators, it is possible to maximize the effect of direction guidance together with the blind direction instruction assistance device such as audio.

At this time, the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 are preferably motor control systems using PWM (Pluse Width Modulation). That is, the duty cycle of the pulse width (the ratio of "H" and "L" of the pulse width) changes according to the magnitude of the input signal (DC level) A motor is connected to the collector of the transistor as a DC motor and the level of the input signal is changed so that the vibration intensity of each vibrator is relatively easily controlled by the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 can do. In addition, since the transistor repeats the on / off saturation switching only, it is possible to control the vibration while consuming almost no power consumption except for the switching loss, so that it is suitable for the present invention as a wearable type of low power.

The smart terminal 200 is provided with an application program for guiding a belt-type direction, and the application program determines a traveling direction of a user using map information such as a Google map, 4 directional guidance apparatus 100 to selectively drive some of the four vibrators 110 to 116. The belt- When the communication with the belt-type directional guide apparatus 100 is canceled, the application program of the smart terminal 200 outputs an alarm sound or the like through an unshown audio output device to prevent the smart terminal 200 from being lost do.

4 showing an example of the installation of the belt-type direction guiding device 100, the belt-type direction guiding device 100 has a belt shape and is composed of a buckle part 300 and a strap 302 . The charging device 104, the rechargeable battery 106 and the Bluetooth communication module 108 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention are installed in the buckle part 300. In the strap 302, To the fourth vibrators 110 to 116 are mounted.

Particularly, the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 are configured such that their mounting positions can be varied so that they can be positioned in front, rear, left, and right when the user wears the belt.

The structure of the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 will be further described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG.

The vibrator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may have a buckle shape so that its mounting position can be varied in the strap 302 constituting the belt.

5 shows a structure of a buckle-type vibrator, which includes a coin type vibration module 400, a hexahedral inner housing 402 housing the vibration module 400, and an inner housing 402 Attached to the upper and lower portions of the inner housing 402 to move the inner housing 402 along the first and second holes 414 and 416 formed in the outer housing 412 A stopper 408 for limiting or releasing movement of the first and second rollers 404 and 406 and a power cable 410 for supplying driving power to the vibration module 400 ). That is, the vibration module 400 has a two-stage cover (not shown) which is sealed to the inner housing 402 or coupled to the belt structure of the outer housing 412 because there is a high risk of damage to the device, such as contamination or damage, It is possible to protect it from human activity, moisture infiltration such as sweat or rain. In addition, it is preferable that the power cable 410 is made flexible in consideration of the user's activity, and a flexible type is also used so that the power source (battery) can be implemented in the belt mounting direction.

Such a vibrator is configured such that the inner housing 402 housing the vibration module 400 is moved in the left and right directions along the first and second holes 414 and 416 formed in the outer housing 412 by the first and second rollers 404 and 406 So that the strap that is inserted between the inner housing 402 and the outer housing 412 is moved. Thereby allowing the vibrator to be moved on the strap. This makes it possible to adjust the position of each person according to growth and waist size.

&Lt; Second Structure of Vibrator >

The vibrator according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may have a hexahedral shape in which the mounting position of the vibrator may vary in the strap 302 constituting the belt.

6 shows a structure of a vibrator in the form of a hexahedron. To this end, the strap 302 is provided with a lead bar 600 for traveling.

The vibrator includes a coin type vibration module 500, a hexahedral housing 502 housing the vibration module 500, and a housing 502, which is provided in the housing 502 and is connected to the lead bar 600, First and second lead bar connection holes 504 and 506 for allowing the first and second lead bar connection holes 504 and 506 to move along the first and second lead bar connection holes 504 and 506, .

Now, a control method for the belt-type directional guide apparatus constructed as described above will be described in detail with reference to Figs. 7 to 9. Fig.

The smart terminal 200 and the belt-type directional guide device 100 form a communication path through Bluetooth pairing (operation 600). The process of forming a communication path through the Bluetooth pairing is a well-known technique, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The smart terminal 200 generates control information for direction guidance and transmits the control information to the belt-type direction guiding apparatus 100 when the smart terminal 200 requests navigation for a pedestrian or participation in a game. Here, the control information for the direction guidance is information for selectively driving the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 indicating the front, back, left, and right directions.

The belt-type directional guide device 100 selectively drives the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 according to the control information for guiding the direction (Step 608).

The operation of the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. The first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 indicating the front, rear, left, and right directions are selectively driven to guide the user do. In FIG. 8, the vibrator indicated by red is selectively driven.

As described above, while the smart terminal 200 and the belt-type directional guide device 100 are paired with each other to guide the direction, the distance between the smart terminal 200 and the belt-type directional guide device 100 When the Bluetooth pairing is released beyond the Bluetooth pairing distance, the smart terminal 200 and the belt-type directional guide 100 output an alarm to guide the loss of the smart terminal 200. Here, the alarm of the smart terminal 200 may be an alarm sound or a vibration output, and the alarm of the belt-type direction guiding device 100 may be a vibration output of the first to fourth vibrators 110 to 116 .

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention described above, four vibrators are provided corresponding to the front, rear, left and right sides, but the number of the vibrators is adjustable. FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which three vibrators are provided to guide the direction, and a larger number of vibrators may be provided for more detailed direction guidance, which is obvious to a person skilled in the art by the present invention.

100: Belt type direction guiding device
102: Control device
104: Charging circuit
106: Rechargeable battery
108: Bluetooth communication module
110 to 116: first to fourth vibrators

Claims

In the belt-type direction guiding device,
A short distance communication module forming a short distance communication path with the smart terminal;
A strap surrounding the waist of the user,
A plurality of rollers disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the inner housing, a stopper for limiting or releasing movement of the rollers, and holes for allowing the rollers to be inserted and moved, A plurality of vibrators having an outer housing provided on the upper and lower surfaces thereof;
A controller for selectively driving the plurality of vibrators according to a drive command for a part of the plurality of vibrators from the smart terminal through the short-range communication module; And
And a charging circuit and a charging circuit for supplying driving power to the near field communication module, a plurality of vibrators and a control device,
Wherein the near field communication module, the control device, the rechargeable battery, and the charging circuit are provided in a buckle constituting a belt, the plurality of vibrators are provided in a strap connected to the buckle,
Wherein the vibrator is moved in the strap as the rollers of the inner housing move in the holes of the outer housing while the strap is sandwiched between the inner housing and the outer housing.

In the belt-type direction guiding device,
A short distance communication module forming a short distance communication path with the smart terminal;
A strap surrounding the waist of the user,
A plurality of lead bar connecting holes formed in the housing of the hexahedron and connected to the lead bar so as to move along the lead bar and to restrict movement of the lead bar connecting holes; A plurality of vibrators constituted by control switches for releasing or releasing the vibrator;
A controller for selectively driving the plurality of vibrators according to a drive command for a part of the plurality of vibrators from the smart terminal through the short-range communication module; And
And a charging circuit and a charging circuit for supplying driving power to the near field communication module, a plurality of vibrators and a control device,
Wherein the near field communication module, the control device, the rechargeable battery, and the charging circuit are provided in a buckle constituting a belt, the plurality of vibrators are provided in a strap connected to the buckle,
Wherein the straps are formed with lead bars connected to the lead bar connecting holes to be moved.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the rechargeable battery and the charging circuit provide the recharged power to the external device when the external device is connected.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the control device drives all of the plurality of vibrators and outputs an alarm when the communication path through the short-range communication module is released.

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