WO2016182419A1

WO2016182419A1 - Transversely perforated for plate controlling the movement of objects

Info

Publication number: WO2016182419A1
Application number: PCT/MX2015/000128
Authority: WO
Inventors: Norberto VELÁZQUEZ NIÑO
Original assignee: Uprobots, S. De R. L. De C.V.
Priority date: 2015-05-08
Filing date: 2015-09-22
Publication date: 2016-11-17
Also published as: MX2015005820A

Abstract

Disclosed is a transversely perforated plate for controlling the movement of objects supported on said plate, which is formed from: a laminar body (1) made of a material that allows an electronic circuit design to be printed; at least one transverse perforation (2) provided in the laminar body; a part (4) which is sensitive to expansion and secured on the edges of the transverse perforation (2); a microcontroller (6) provided on one of the faces of the laminar body (1); and a printed circuit board matrix (5) designed on the face of the laminar body on which the microcontroller (6) is located, to interconnect the part (4) that is sensitive to expansion with the microcontroller (6). The invention further relates to a Braille device comprising a perforated plate such as that proposed in the present invention.

Description

TRANSVERSALLY PERFORATED PLATE, TO CONTROL THE

OBJECT MOVEMENT

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a perforated plate to control the movement of objects that are supported by said perforated plate. Where the perforations of the plate are equipped with a piece made of a material sensitive to expansion by means of an electric current. This plate can be used in a braille device, to control the up / down movement of the pins of said braille device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Some disadvantages of current Braille texts are that they take up more space than texts in ink. For example, the transcription of a page in ink to the braille system triples its extension. A book like Don Quixote can occupy 14 volumes of about 200 pages each. A textbook of a secondary school student can occupy more than 6 volumes. This causes several problems: transport and storage of books, organization of notes, etc.

To solve this aspect, two formulas were devised: a) interpoint writing: that is, write on both sides of the sheet, because the points on one side coincide with the spaces between the points on the other. This is so easy and evident in ink, in braille it is necessary to have a special printer. In this way, the volume of the sheets is reduced by half, although it makes reading braille difficult for a person who reads it by sight. b) Stenography (or abbreviated writing): A series of rules that serve to abbreviate some final syllables and endings. The purpose is to increase Reading speed and reduce space. It also has its own signs. For example: in stenography, "what" is written "q". In Spanish, stenography is not widely used, however, in French and English, it is very common. It is also called grade II braille.

Another drawback is that as you read a Braille text, the points are degraded, so depending on the use and treatment we give you, the points may wear out to the detriment of readability and reading speed. For this reason, it is convenient to store books vertically, avoiding stacking them on top of each other.

As for the slowest speed of braille with respect to reading in ink, we can say that a good reader in ink reaches 300 or 350 words per min. However, the average speed of good Braille readers is, with exceptions, about 150 or 200 words per min. This is a clear disadvantage.

Indeed, the analytical character associated with the characteristics of tactile perception makes the reading speed decrease considerably when reading in Braille. However, there are some studies that argue that the slowest speed in braille is due to the lack of adequate techniques and didactics and that globalization is possible and, therefore, to significantly increase speed.

To compensate for this lower speed, devices such as the spoken book are used, which allows the blind person to access the printed texts through special recordings with which a speed similar to that obtained by reading in sight is achieved. There are many textbooks of letter subjects that are recorded, instead of transcribing to Braille.

Patent document US7497687 describes a device for displaying Braille points, comprising: a base in which a series of receiving holes are formed in the upper surface and a coating layer, the which is formed on the upper surface of the base; a number of recognition pins housed in the receiving holes, where the pins move up and down; and have a metal plate, attached to the lower end of each recognition pin; a guide shaft is installed below the bottom surface of the base that has the receiving holes for moving the recognition pin up and down, and a part of a head installed on the guide shaft; and has a support part, said support part has electronic pins, which can selectively drive the recognition pins by an electrical signal and a magnetic body attached to one side of the same part of the head.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2 of said document US7497687, the braille dot display device has a series of receiving holes in the upper surface of a base body, a braille pin is installed in the receiving hole for move up and down, an electromagnet that has coils is installed at the upper end of the receiving hole for the purpose of projecting the upper end of the pin by using electromagnetic energy, a current is supplied to the electromagnet coils, through a power supply, and a cover is installed on the upper surface of the base body; and the braille pin is provided to present movement up and down, by the action of the energy transmitted to the coils; the coils energize the electromagnet and it provides movement to the braille pin; and the braille pin being elevated represents information in letters in relief to the user, through the use of a computer.

In another embodiment of the device of US7497687, it comprises a coating layer that is formed on the upper surface having the receiving holes, where the coating layer is attached by means of an adhesive to the upper part of the base; A metal plate is mounted on the lower end of the recognition pin that moves in the receiving hole up and down. A ring is formed in the circumference of the recognition pin and the recognition pin can be firmly housed in the receiving hole of the base. A guide shaft is installed in the lower part of the base that has the receiving holes to receive and move up and down to the recognition pins; a part of a head installed on the gluttony axis moves from right to left and from left to right on the guide axis. The head part has a support part made of non-magnetic material and which has an electronic pin therein, and the electronic pin selectively protrudes by an electrical signal. A magnetic body is attached to one side of the support part that has the electronic pin therein to move the recognition pin in the receiving hole down. The reference number is a recess formed on the inside surface of the receiving hole in the base part. As the ring of the recognition pin engages the recess, it prevents the recognition pin from moving down completely due to the action of the magnetic body.

Currently, the use of piezoelectric materials, in braille device components, is well known, since they are used in braille device plates, but are arranged longitudinally and a strip of piezoelectric material is placed at the base of each pin, in such a way that when the power is applied to the tip of the piezo strip, the pin is raised and raised (S. Mad Saad, F. Razaly, MZ Md Zain, M. Hussein, MS Yaacob, AR Musa, and Y. Abdullah. June 2010. Development of piezoelectric braille cell control system using microcontroller unit (MCU) Issue 6, Volume 9. pp: 379-388. This requires a lot of space, so the braille devices built today are very thick and with few pins.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention has as its object a transversely perforated plate to control the movement of objects that are supported on said perforated plate. The present invention also aims at a braille device, which comprises a plate that controls the movement of objects that are supported on said plate. The additional features and advantages of the present invention are more clearly understood by the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, given by means of a merely illustrative example, but not limited to, with reference to the attached figures, in which: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a plate of the present invention, where one of the uses thereof is illustrated, which is a plate with piezoelectric cells for controlling the movement of braille pins.

Figure 2 is an explosive perspective view of the components of a braille device, comprising the plate of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a conventional perspective view of the previous figure, where the braille device elements are in an assembled condition.

Figure 4 is a conventional perspective view of the braille device, where a sectional section is seen to see the assembly in detail.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the braille device.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the braille device in an initial position of its use.

Figure 7 is a conventional perspective view of the braille device in a position where all the pins protrude from the device, by means of gravity.

Figure 8 is a conventional perspective view of the braille device, where the pins are still in the position of the previous figure, and a user presses a button for selecting the pins to be fixed. Figure 9 is a conventional perspective view of the braille device, in a normal position, where the selected pins are those that protrude from the braille device to be detected by a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the first instance, the present invention relates to a plate with perforations that control the movement of objects that are housed within the perforations. For this, said plate is made up of a laminar body (1), made of a material that allows it to print an electronic circuit design, such as an electronic card.

The laminar body (1) comprises, at least, a transverse perforation (2), in which a part (4) made of a material sensitive to expansion by an electric current is inserted inside. Where said part (4) is preferred to have the shape and dimensions of the transverse perforation (2), such that it can be placed concentrically and does not obstruct the central part of the perforation. For example, this piece (4) can be a ring, ring, ring, clamp, bow, and / or the like. The material sensitive to dilation by an electric comment can be selected from the following group: piezoelectric materials, memory metals, quartz, rubidium, seignette salt, ceramics, piezoelectric ceramics, technical ceramics, their combinations among them, to name a few examples.

A printed circuit matrix (5), interconnects the pieces (4), whereby said matrix is designed in the laminar body (1) in a strategic way to connect each of the pieces (4) to a microcontroller (6) ), which is placed in the laminar body (1) to feed the entire printed circuit matrix (5) with electrical energy, which in turn provides electrical power to the parts (4) for dilating, which it causes a reduction in the diameter of the transverse perforation (2) and when the electrical energy is stopped providing, the pieces (4) return to their initial state, and the perforation (2) recovers its initial diameter With this expansion the position of an object (7) can be fixed, or in other words, the movement of an object (7) that is housed or passed through the perforation (2) can be controlled individually. depending on the position of the plate of the present invention, the combination: perforation (2) and piezoelectric part (4), will control the movement or upward / downward, or right / left, movement of the object (7). So this piece performs the function of an actuator or valve that controls the movement of an object. It should be noted that the dilation of the piece sensitive to dilation (4), can be very sensitive or very noticeable; for example from a few micrometers or more, as desired.

The object (7) can be any object configured to be housed or pass freely through the perforation (2); whereby said object (7) must preferably have the same configuration, shape and dimensions, so that it can be housed inside the perforation (2), but can move freely; however, said object (7) must have a thickness such that when the expansion-sensitive piece (4) dilates, it presses the object (7) sufficiently that it truncates its movement. This object can be a pin used in a braille device, where said pin has a stop (8) that can be a circular projection, which is located 1/3 of the length of the pin.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the annular projection (8) can be continuous or discontinuous, so that its configuration may be that which allows it to serve as a stop for said braille pin (7).

Within the uses of the perforated plate, of the present invention, it is in a braille device, to name an example, as shown in the attached figures. Therefore, said braille device falls within the scope of the present invention. To form a braiile device, using the plate of the present invention, a pin (7) is placed vertically in each perforation (2) that already has an expansion-sensitive piece (4) embedded; where the longer end (2/3) of the pin (7), taking as a reference the circular projection (8), is introduced into said perforation (2), being supported by the circular projection (8) on the piece sensitive to the dilation (8).

In the lower part of the plate of the present invention a lower cover (9) is placed, which is provided with cavities (10), where the lower end of a pin (7) protruding from the perforations is housed in each cavity. (2) of the laminar body (1).

In the upper part of the plate in question, a spacer plate (11) is placed, which has perforations (12) where the upper part of the pin (7) and its circular projection (8) are housed, therefore, the perforations (12) of the spacer plate (11) have diameters that allow the drcular projection (8) to be accommodated and the pin (7) has free upward / downward movement. The thickness of this spacer plate (11) should be enough to completely cover the pins (7) when they are in a relaxed position.

An upper cover (13) is placed on the spacer plate (11), which has perforations (14) where only the upper tip of the pin is allowed out, but without leaving the drcular projection (8), in such a way that said upper cover (13) serves as a safe to prevent the pins from detaching from the braiile device.

A sensor button (15) is provided to select which perfbradons (2) of the plate in question, their dilatation-sensitive part (4) will be dilated. Therefore, said sensor button (15) communicates with the microcontroller (6), by conventional means, so that said microcontroller (6) sends electrical current to the parts (4) to be dilated. The way to place the sensor button (15) on the braiile device is in a way that facilitates its maneuverability by a user (16). For example, one embodiment of the invention is that said button (15) can be placed on the top or outer face of the top cover (13).

It should be noted that said device may be connected to an electronic device (not shown) that provides the reading information to be encoded, for example, a computer, tablet, cell phone, etc.

The way in which the braille device described above works is as follows:

The device without any application of electrical energy (Figure 6), is placed with the upper cover (13) facing down, so that the upper tip of all the pins (7) protrude through the perforations (14) of the upper cover (13 ), by means of the force of gravity, see Figure 7.

Then proceed to press the sensor button (15), which already has the instruction of which perforations (2) to expand (Figure 8). Then the braille device is turned so that the upper cover is facing up (Figure 9), so that the pins that were pressed by the actuator parts (4) are fixed and their upper tips are exposed protruding from the perforations (14) of the top cover (13).

In this way, the letters of interest are expressed in each braille cell (3), to form a reading frame, for users who need these braille devices.

With the methods known so far, it is intended to generate movement on the pins by means of some type of actuator, whether pneumatic, hydraulic, electromagnetic, piezoelectric or memory metal. While with the present invention, it is sufficient to generate a dilation of some micrometers, approximately 12 μ, per oppressor ring (4) of each pin (7), to free or restrict the free movement of the pin (7). In addition, to update the braille page, simply apply an external force to the pins, such as the force of gravity, with which you can move up and / or down the pin stroke (7). With this it is possible to concentrate a large number of pins in a small space and allow the creation of a fully upgradeable Braille blade quickly.

For example, in a normal braille sheet, of the present invention, we have 30 lines of words and 28 letters for each line, and considering that in each braille cell there are 8 pins (7), we have that in a braille sheet there are 6720 pins braille. With this you can create a fully updateable Braille page, where the pins move 0.7 mm upward and / or downward. Now with respect to the horizontal space, if we extrapolate the above, to a conventional braille, as long as said conventional braille had 6720 pins, it would be necessary to have a space of 4.7 m; while with the present invention, a horizontal space of 8 cm is required. This allows a large number of pins to be concentrated in a small space.

As you can see, with this it is possible that in a small space such as in a Braille matrix thousands of pins can be placed that can be electronically controlled to update to a full page of Braille text; which to date has not been possible to achieve.

As it may be noted, this description and figures used to describe the details of the present invention are merely illustrative of some of the embodiments of the invention. As such description and figures, should not be considered as a limitation for the invention; whereby all those modalities not referred to in this description, and which are within the spirit of the present invention, fall within the scope of protection of such invention. Example

The present example is an embodiment of the present invention, applied to a braille device, which is explained according to the included figures.

A bakelite sheet (1) was transverse perforated (2) in an array arrangement, where we will call such groups as braille cells (3); the number of transverse perforations (2) per braille cell (3) was 8, but this number of perforations can be variable, as desired. The arrangement of such perforations (2) is in pairs, as arranged in a conventional braille cell. In this example the number of cells (3) was 5, but the plate can be useful from a single braille cell (3).

In each transverse perforation (2) a ring (4) made of a piezoelectric material was inserted.

A printed circuit matrix (5) was designed in the bakelite piece (1) strategically to connect to each of the piezoelectric rings (4).

A microcontroller (6) was added in the laminar body (1), to power the entire printed circuit matrix (5), which in turn provides electrical power to the piezoelectric rings (4) to dilate them, with which results in a reduction in the diameter of the rings (4) and when the electrical energy is stopped providing, said rings (4) return to their initial state. In other words, in this way the opening and closing of the piezoelectric rings (4) is controlled individually, so that these rings function as actuators.

A braille-type pin (7) was inserted into each piezoelectric ring (4), where said pin (7) has an annular projection (8) located at its top, at a position of 1/3, with respect to the length of said pin (7); from said annular projection (8), the pin is divided into two sections, a long one that is approximately 2/3 and a short 1/3, according to the length of said pin (7).

The way to place the pin (7) on the plate with cells, of the present invention, is as illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 4; where the long section of the pin (7), taking as reference the annular projection (8), is introduced in the perforation of the piezoelectric ring (4), which is already inserted in the transverse perforation (2). So that the annular projection (8) is on the edge of the piezoelectric ring, so that the function of said annular projection (8) is to serve as a stop for the pin (7).

The function of the piezoelectric rings (4), is to serve as an oppressor of the braille type pins (7), which is achieved by dilating the body of the rings (4) when a current of electrical energy is applied, of such that with this dilation, the diameter of the rings (4) is reduced, by pressing the tip of the pins (7) that are inside the perforations of said rings (4), stopping the up / down sliding of the pins ( 7) and thus fixing a firm position of the pin (7), while the expansion of the piezoelectric rings (4) lasts; such that the pins are in an exposed position.

In the lower part of the plate of the present invention a lower cover (9) was provided, which is provided with cavities (10), where in each cavity (10) the lower end of a pin (7) that protrudes is housed. of the perforations (2) of the laminar body (1).

On the top of the plate in question, a spacer plate was placed

(11), which has perforations (12) where the upper part of the pin (7) and its circular projection (8) are housed, therefore, the perforations of the spacer plate

(12) have diameters that allow the circular projection (8) to be accommodated and the pin (7) to have free upward / downward movement. The thickness of this spacer plate (11) was enough to completely cover the pins (7) when they are in a relaxed position. An upper cover (13) was placed on the spacer plate (11), which has perforations (14) where only the upper tip of the pin (7) is allowed out, but without leaving the circular projection (8), such that said top cover (13) serves as a safe to prevent pins from detaching from the braille device.

A sensor button (15) was provided on the upper face of the upper cover (13), in order to select to which perforations (2) of the plate in question, its expansion-sensitive part (4) will be dilated. Therefore, said sensor button (15) communicates with the microcontroller (6), wirelessly, so that said microprocessor (6) sends electrical current to the parts (4) to be dilated.

The braille device was connected to a tablet, to receive the information of the reading of interest.

Claims

1. A transversely perforated plate, to control the movement of objects supported by said perforated plate, where said perforated plate is characterized in that it comprises: i) a laminar body (1) made of a material that allows it to print a circuit design electronic;

ii) at least one transverse perforation (2) is provided in the laminar body;

iii) an expansion-sensitive part (4) is fixed at the edges of the transverse perforation (2), allowing the passage or accommodation of an object;

iv) a microcontroller (6) is provided on one of the faces of the laminar body (1); Y

A printed circuit matrix (5) is dispersed on the face of the laminar body, where the micro-controller (6) is located, to interconnect the expansion-sensitive part (4) with the microcontroller (6).

2. The plate of the preceding claim, wherein the laminar body (1) is made of bakelite.

3. The plate according to claim 1, wherein the number of perforations is from 6 to 8.

4. The plate according to the preceding claim, wherein the number of perforations is 8.

5. The plate according to claims 3 and 4, wherein the perforations form at least one braille type cell (3).

6. The plate of the preceding claim, characterized in that it comprises at least one row or row of braille cells (3).

7. The plate according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the expansion-sensitive part is made of a material sensitive to expansion by means of an electric current.

8. The plate of the preceding claim, wherein the expansion-sensitive material is selected from the following group: piezoelectric materials, memory metals, quartz, rubidium, sekjnette salt, ceramics, piezoelectric ceramics, technical ceramics, and combinations thereof.

9. The plate according to any of claims 7 and 8, wherein said expansion-sensitive piece is a ring, ring, ring, clamp, and / or arch.

10. The plate, as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the dilation of the piece sensitive to dilation, is from microns.

11. The plate of the preceding claim, wherein the dilation is 12 microns.

12. A braille device, characterized in that it comprises: i) a transversely perforated plate, for controlling the movement of objects that are supported on said perforated plate, in accordance with any of the preceding claims; ii) a braille pin (7), with a stop (8) is housed in each of the perforations (2) of the perforated plate, the thickness of which is such that when the expansion-sensitive part (4) is dilated, press said pin (7) enough to truncate its movement; iii) a lower cover (9), in the lower part of the perforated plate, where said lower cover (9) is provided with transverse cavities (10), so that each cavity accommodates the lower tip of the long end (2/3) coming out of the perforations of the perforated plate;

iv) a spacer plate (11) is placed on the upper face of the perforated plate, where the spacer plate has transverse perforations (12) whose dimensions are sufficient to accommodate the upper part of the pin (7) with its stop (8), allowing an upward movement downward to the pin;

v) an upper cover (13) is placed on the spacer plate (11), whose perforations (14) allow only the upper tip of the pin to exit, but without leaving the stop (8); Y

vi) a sensor button (15) to select to which perforations of the perforated plate its expansion-sensitive parts will be dilated (4), whereby said sensor button (15) communicates with conventional means with the microcontroller (6) , which sends electric current to the pieces (4) to be dilated.

13. The device of the preceding claim, wherein said pin has a stop (8) located 1/3 of the length of the pin, and where its longer end (2/3) is introduced into the perforation of the pre-perforated plate, being supported by the stop (8) on the piece sensitive to expansion (4).

14. The braille device of the preceding claim, wherein the stop (8) is a continuous or discontinuous circular projection.

15. The device according to claim 12, wherein the thickness of the spacer plate (11) is sufficient to completely cover the pins (7) when they are in a relaxed position.

16. The braille device according to claim 12, wherein the sensor button (15) is located on the upper or outer face of the upper cover (13).

17. The device according to any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the upward / downward displacement of the pins (7) is about 0.7 mm.