KR20100127007A - Apparatus and method for guiding a blind person - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus for guiding the visually disabled and a method thereof for easily sensing the altitude difference of a floor side are provided to prevent the safety accident by easily sensing the unexpected altitude difference of the floor side. CONSTITUTION: An apparatus for guiding the visually disabled includes a detection sensor(100), a shoes body(200), and an output unit(300). The detection sensor senses the factor of the unexpected altitude difference of the obstacle located within the constant distance of the progressive direction. The shoes body is built in the detection sensor. The output unit supplies alarming signal to a pedestrian.

Description

Apparatus and method for guiding a blind person}

The present invention relates to a walking guide shoes for the visually impaired, and in particular, it is possible to easily detect obstacles in the direction of travel and the height difference of the bottom surface through the walking guide device attached to the shoes while the visually impaired walking occurs The present invention relates to a pedestrian guide device and a method for visually impaired persons to prevent possible accidents.

Most of the facilities are set up for the convenience of normal people, and because of this, the facilities for the disabled are remarkably lacking, and most of the disabled have to live with a lot of inconvenience in social life.

In particular, most visually impaired people with disabilities can detect obstacles in the direction of walking with guide bars. In this process, sudden obstacles such as obstacles or stairs in the direction of travel cannot be detected, resulting in collisions or falling accidents. Safety accidents such as back often occur.

In order to prevent such safety accidents and to promote the convenience of the visually impaired, induction blocks, braille guides, sound / induction signals, etc. are installed in public facilities or public places. It is becoming.

However, despite the increasing number of facilities for the visually impaired, there is still a very shortage of such facilities. Therefore, the visually-impaired people still have a lot of difficulties in living their social life. More research and development is required for this purpose.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, it is easy to detect the sudden height difference of the obstacle and the floor located in the progress direction in the process of walking the visually impaired safety accident that may occur during walking The purpose of the present invention is to provide a pedestrian guidance device and method for the visually impaired.

Another object of the present invention is to detect the height difference between the obstacle and the floor surface located in the running direction when the visually impaired person wearing a shoe with a security guide device to recognize the wearer by hand or wear additional additional equipment An object of the present invention is to provide a walking guidance device and method for the visually impaired, which can be comfortably provided without any inconvenience.

A feature of the pedestrian guide device for the visually impaired according to the present invention for achieving the above object is an obstacle located within a certain distance of the direction of travel through the time difference of the signal (TOF) reflected by the object arrives And a detection sensor for detecting a risk factor of a sudden height difference on the bottom surface, and at least one groove portion in which the detection sensor is embedded, so that a signal irradiated from the detection sensor inserted into the groove portion is moved to the front and the bottom of the traveling direction. Shoe body that is irradiated and, if the detection of the dangerous element in the detection sensor includes an output for providing a warning signal to the pedestrian according to the danger information during walking.

Preferably, the sensor is a sound wave generating unit for generating and transmitting an ultrasonic wave, a sound wave detection unit for receiving an ultrasonic wave reflected from the ultrasonic wave emitted from the sound wave generator is returned to the object, and the signal transmitted and reflected by the ultrasonic wave Distance calculation unit for calculating the distance by calculating the time of flight (TOF) of the distance, and comparing the distance calculated by the distance calculation unit with a reference value stored in advance in the memory unit to determine whether the risk, and generates a detection signal And a circuit unit including a control unit and a transmission unit for receiving the detection signal generated by the control unit and transmitting the received detection signal to the outside.

Preferably, the reference value includes a first reference value for determining whether or not the risk of the obstacle located in the front, and a second reference value for determining whether the risk of a sudden height difference located in the lower, wherein the first reference value is It is set to the distance within the normal one step movement of an adult when walking, and the second reference value is set to a value larger than the height of the highest value generated between the floor and the shoe during normal walking.

Preferably, the shoe body has a first groove portion for inserting and fixing a first detection sensor for detecting an obstacle located in the front of the traveling direction during walking, and detecting a sudden height difference located in the lower portion of the traveling direction during walking. It includes a second groove for inserting and fixing the second detection sensor, and a protective film for protecting the first detection sensor and the second detection sensor built in the first groove and the second groove from external contaminants and impacts. It features.

Preferably, the first and second detection sensors are removable from the shoe body.

Preferably, the warning signal provided from the output unit is one of a vibration signal using a vibrator and an acoustic signal using a speaker.

A characteristic of the pedestrian guide method for the visually impaired according to the present invention for achieving the above object is (a) when the visually impaired person starts to walk wearing a shoe with a walking guide device, it is transmitted through the sensor and reflected Calculating a distance by using a time of flight (TOF) of the returned signal, (b) comparing the calculated distance with a pre-stored reference value and checking whether there is a risk; And confirming whether or not the risk of the lower part, respectively, generating a detection signal if it is determined to be dangerous; Recognizing whether or not occurrence.

Preferably, the step (b) is divided into a first reference value for determining whether or not the risk of the obstacle located in the front, and a second reference value for determining whether or not the risk of a sudden height difference located in the lower portion, respectively, in advance in the memory unit. Storing, and confirming a danger by comparing the distance value calculated by the ultrasonic wave transmitted to the object by the ultrasonic wave returned to the object with a first reference value, and the ultrasonic wave transmitted to the lower portion is reflected on the object. The distance value calculated by the ultrasonic wave may be compared with the second reference value to determine whether or not the risk.

Preferably, the step (b) is determined to be dangerous if the value of the calculated distance is larger than the stored reference value, and is determined to be safe if the value of the calculated distance is smaller than the stored reference value.

Walking guide apparatus and method for the visually impaired according to the present invention as described above has the following effects.

First, it is easy to detect obstacles in the direction of travel and sudden height difference on the floor by using the pedestrian guidance device, so that it is possible to identify and cope with the danger in its own direction in advance, thus preventing any safety accidents that may occur during walking. It is effective in preventing.

Second, through the shoes with a walking guide device, the visually impaired person can comfortably receive the guidance of walking without the inconvenience of having to hold or wear additional equipment.

Third, as well as the detection of obstacles located in front of the road can be detected even sudden height difference of the bottom surface located in the direction of travel through the shoes with a walking guide device, it can more effectively prevent safety accidents that can occur during walking. It has an effect.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A preferred embodiment of the walking guidance apparatus and method for the visually impaired according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be embodied in various forms, and only the present embodiments are intended to complete the disclosure of the present invention and to those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of the invention. It is provided to inform you. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various equivalents that may be substituted for them at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be water and variations.

1 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a walking guide apparatus for the visually impaired according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the walking guide device is a hazard during walking such as an obstacle and a sudden height difference between a floor and a floor located within a certain distance in the direction of travel through a time difference of a signal reflected by an object. At least one sensing sensor 100 and a groove portion 210 in which the sensing sensor 100 is built are formed, and a signal irradiated from the sensing sensor 100 inserted into the groove portion 210 travels in a direction of travel. Shoe body 200 is irradiated to the front or bottom of the (i) and the output unit 300 for providing a warning signal to the pedestrian according to the danger information during walking when the risk factor is detected by the sensor 100 It includes. For reference, the predetermined distance is a distance within a typical movement of an adult when walking, preferably 1 m or less.

The sensor 100 may use any sensor that uses a time difference in which an irradiated signal is reflected by an object and arrives, such as an ultrasonic sensor, a position sensing device (PSD) sensor, a charged coupled device (CCD) displacement sensor, and the like. In this case, the detection sensor 100 used in the present invention detects obstacles located within a certain distance in the direction of travel and sudden height difference of the floor surface while walking to prevent safety accidents that may occur while the visually impaired are walking. To do this, very precise detection is not necessary. Therefore, it is desirable to use a relatively low-cost ultrasonic sensor as a sensor because it can reduce the price of the device. In the following description, the detection sensor 100 is limited to an ultrasonic sensor. However, it should be noted that this is for the description of the preferred embodiment and not for the limitation thereof.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, the detection sensor 100 receives a sound wave generator 110 generating and transmitting an ultrasonic wave, and an ultrasonic wave reflected from the sound wave generator 110 and reflected back to an object. A distance calculator 130 for calculating a distance by calculating a time difference between the sound wave detector 120 and a signal that is transmitted and reflected and returned by the ultrasonic wave, and the distance calculator 130 Compares the distance calculated in the memory unit 140 with a reference value stored in advance to check whether there is a risk, and generates a detection signal, and receives the detection signal generated by the control unit 150 and transmits it to the outside And a circuit unit 160 including a transmitter.

At this time, the reference value preset in the memory unit 140 is divided into a first reference value for determining whether the risk of the obstacle located in the front and a second reference value for determining the risk of the sudden height difference located in the lower portion. Stored. The first reference value is set to a predetermined distance (1 m) predefined as a distance in the normal step of the adult's movement when walking, and the second reference value is a maximum value generated between the floor and the shoes during normal walking ( Since it should be defined as a value larger than the height of about 15cm), it is set to a value between 20cm ~ 30cm. For reference, since the first and second reference values differ from person to person, the first and second reference values may be changed.

And the shoe body 200, as shown in Figure 3, the first groove portion 210a for inserting and fixing the first detection sensor (100a) for detecting the obstacle located on the front surface within a certain distance of the running direction during walking and A second groove 210b for inserting and fixing a second detection sensor 100b for detecting a sudden height difference located at a lower portion within a predetermined distance of the traveling direction while walking, and the first groove 210a and the first groove 2 is a shoe including a protective film 220 for protecting the first sensor 100a and the second sensor 100b embedded in the groove 210b from external contaminants and impacts. At this time, the protective film 220 is preferably formed of a material in order to facilitate the transmission and reception of the ultrasonic wave irradiated from the sensor. In addition, the first detection sensor 100a and the second detection sensor 100b may be detachably formed from the shoe body 200 by providing a detachable means.

The output unit 300 is attached to the shoe body 200, a means for providing a warning signal to the pedestrian when a dangerous element is detected from the sensor 100, the warning signal provided at this time using a vibrator It is a vibration signal or an acoustic signal using a speaker. The sound signal may be a sound signal that simply notifies a warning, such as a 'beep' sound, or may be a voice signal containing specific contents according to dangerous information such as 'there is a downhill ahead'.

The operation of the pedestrian guide device for the visually impaired according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals as FIGS. 1 to 3 refer to the same members performing the same functions.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a walking guide apparatus for the visually impaired according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the visually impaired person starts to walk wearing shoes with a walking guide device, the ultrasonic waves generated by the sound wave generator 100 in the sensor 100 may be moved forward and downward in the direction of travel. Each sound is transmitted, and the sound wave detector 120 receives the ultrasonic waves reflected by the sound wave generator 100 and reflected by the object (S10).

The distance is calculated by the distance calculator 130 using the time difference of the signal transmitted and reflected (TOF) (S20), and the calculated distance is previously stored in the memory 140 with the reference value. Compare the risk is checked (S30). At this time, if the calculated distance value is larger than the stored reference value, it is determined to be dangerous, and if the calculated distance value is smaller than the stored reference value, it is determined to be safe.

The reference value is divided into a first reference value for determining the risk of the obstacle located in the front and a second reference value for determining the risk of the sudden height difference located in the lower portion is stored in advance in the memory unit 140, respectively. . And the distance value calculated by the ultrasonic wave reflected back to the object reflected back to the object is compared with the first reference value to determine whether the risk, and the ultrasonic wave sent downward reflected on the object is calculated through the ultrasonic wave The distance value is compared with the second reference value to confirm the danger.

As a result of checking whether the risks of the front and the lower portion, respectively, as determined as dangerous, the controller 150 generates a detection signal and transmits it to the circuit unit 160, the circuit unit 160 transmits to the outside through the transmitter (S40) ).

The detection signal transmitted as described above is output from the output unit 300 by sound or vibration to recognize the presence of obstacles in front of the visually impaired person as well as the occurrence of a sudden height difference on the floor (S50). At this time, in order to distinguish a case where an obstacle is detected in front and a case where a sudden height difference of the bottom surface is detected, the sound or vibration output from the output unit 300 is different from the time maintained or the number of occurrences. Make a distinction.

Through this process, the visually impaired person can easily detect the presence of obstacles in the front and sudden height difference on the floor, so as to identify and cope with the danger in his direction in advance. It can be prevented.

Although the technical spirit of the present invention described above has been described in detail in a preferred embodiment, it should be noted that the above-described embodiment is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that various embodiments are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

1 is a block diagram for explaining the structure of the walking guidance device for the visually impaired according to an embodiment of the present invention

2 is a configuration diagram showing in detail the structure of the sensor of Figure 1

3 is a configuration diagram showing in detail the structure of the shoe body of Figure 1

4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a walking guide apparatus for the visually impaired according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

100: detection sensor 110: sound wave generator

120: sound wave detection unit 130: distance calculation unit

140: memory unit 150: control unit

160: circuit part 200: shoe body

210: groove portion 220: protective film

300: output unit

Claims (11)

A detection sensor that detects dangers of obstacles located within a certain distance in the direction of travel and sudden height difference on the bottom surface through a time of flight (TOF) reflected by an object; At least one groove portion in which the detection sensor is built-in is formed, the shoe body irradiated to the front and the bottom of the direction of the signal irradiated from the detection sensor inserted into the groove portion; And an output unit configured to provide a warning signal to a pedestrian according to danger information during walking when the dangerous element is detected by the detection sensor. The method of claim 1, The walk guide device for the visually impaired, wherein the predetermined distance is 1 m or less. The method of claim 1, The sensing sensor is a walking guidance device for the visually impaired, characterized in that at least one of an ultrasonic sensor, a Position Sensing Device (PSD) sensor, a Charged Coupled Device (CCD) displacement sensor. The method of claim 1, wherein the detection sensor A sound wave generator for generating and transmitting ultrasonic waves; A sound wave detection unit for receiving the ultrasonic waves reflected from the sound wave generator and reflected back to an object; A distance calculator configured to calculate a distance by calculating a time difference of the signal from which the ultrasound is transmitted and reflected and returned; A controller for comparing a distance calculated by the distance calculator with a reference value pre-stored in a memory unit to determine whether a danger is generated and generating a detection signal; And a circuit unit including a transmitter configured to receive the detection signal generated by the controller and transmit the detected signal to the outside. The method of claim 4, wherein the reference value is A first reference value for determining whether the obstacle located at the front is dangerous; It includes a second reference value for determining whether the risk of a sudden height difference located at the bottom, In this case, the first reference value is set to a distance within the normal one step movement of the adult during walking, and the second reference value is set to a value larger than the height of the highest value generated between the floor and the shoe during normal walking. Walking guidance device for the visually impaired, characterized in that. According to claim 1, wherein the shoe body A first groove part for inserting and fixing a first detection sensor for detecting an obstacle located in front of the traveling direction while walking; A second groove part for inserting and fixing a second detection sensor for detecting a sudden height difference located at a lower part of the traveling direction while walking; And a protective film for protecting the first and second detection sensors embedded in the first and second grooves from external contaminants and impacts. The method of claim 6, The first sensor and the second sensor is walking guidance device for the visually impaired, characterized in that detachable from the shoe body. The method of claim 1, The warning signal provided by the output unit is a walking guidance device for the visually impaired, characterized in that any one of a vibration signal using a vibrator and an acoustic signal using a speaker. (a) when the visually impaired person starts walking by wearing shoes with a walking guide device, calculating a distance using a time of flight (TOF) of a signal transmitted and reflected through a sensor; , (b) comparing the calculated distance with a pre-stored reference value to determine whether there is a risk; (c) generating a detection signal when it is determined that the danger is determined as the risk of the front and the lower parts, respectively; (d) pedestrian guide method for the visually impaired, comprising the step of recognizing the presence or absence of obstacles in front of the front or the height difference of the floor surface by the sound or vibration through the generated detection signal. The method of claim 9, wherein step (b) A first reference value for determining whether the obstacle located on the front is dangerous and a second reference value for determining whether a sudden difference in height is located below is stored in advance in the memory unit; Comparing the distance value calculated by the ultrasonic waves transmitted to the object by the ultrasonic waves reflected back to the object and confirming the danger by comparing with a first reference value; And a distance value calculated through the ultrasonic waves reflected back to the object by the ultrasonic waves transmitted to the lower portion is compared with a second reference value to determine whether there is a danger. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein step (b) If the calculated distance value is greater than the stored reference value is determined to be dangerous, If the calculated distance value is less than the stored reference value is determined to walk safe guidance method for the visually impaired.

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