Refreshable braille display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10573199-B2
Application number	US-201715440600-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2017
Priority date	Feb 23, 2017
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

A refreshable Braille display device includes a housing having a surface containing a set of tactile markers thereon; a carriage in cooperation with the housing, the carriage having a surface containing a tactile marker thereon and a series of individual refreshable Braille cells positioned above the tactile marker for tactile reading by a user; and a moving mechanism for moving the carriage relative to the housing such that the tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the tactile markers in the set of tactile markers on the surface of the housing.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A refreshable Braille display device comprising:
(a) a housing comprising a surface containing a set of first tactile markers thereon;
(b) a carriage in cooperation with the housing, the carriage having a surface containing a second tactile marker thereon and a series of individual refreshable Braille cells positioned above the second tactile marker for tactile reading by a user; and
(c) a moving mechanism for moving the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing;
wherein the refreshable Braille display device is configured to receive a signal from at least one processor representing an instruction to the moving mechanism associated with positioning the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing and wherein the signal initiates the moving mechanism to move the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of tactile markers on the surface of the housing based on a level of indentation for the series of individual refreshable Braille cells.

2. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the set of first tactile markers are in parallel.

3. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the set of first tactile markers comprises from about 10 to about 80 tactile markers.

4. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the set of first tactile markers are in a raised position relative to the surface of the housing and the second tactile marker is in a raised position relative to the surface of the carriage.

5. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises a linear array of one or more rows of adjacent individual refreshable Braille cells, each Braille cell comprising a plurality of electromechanically controlled pins, each pin being selectively raisable and lowerable in response to electrical commands originating from a processing unit.

6. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises from about 10 to about 80 Braille cells.

7. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises from about 60 to about 80 Braille cells.

8. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 5 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises from about 10 to about 80 Braille cells.

9. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , wherein the moving mechanism comprises a motor and a gear.

10. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 9 , wherein the motor is an electric motor and the gear is a worm gear.

11. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , which is in wired communication with a computer.

12. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , which is in wireless communication with a computer.

13. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , which is a portable refreshable Braille display device.

14. The refreshable Braille display device of claim 1 , which is a portable single-unit refreshable Braille display device.

15. A method, comprising the step of:
operating a refreshable Braille display device comprising:
(a) a housing comprising a surface containing a set of first tactile markers thereon;
(b) a carriage in cooperation with the housing, the carriage having a surface containing a second tactile marker thereon and a series of individual refreshable Braille cells positioned above the second tactile marker for tactile reading by a user; and
(c) a moving mechanism for moving the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing;
wherein the operating step is implemented via at least one processor operatively coupled to the refreshable Braille display device, and
wherein the operating step comprises receiving a signal from the at least one processor representing an instruction to the moving mechanism associated with positioning the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing and wherein the signal initiates the moving mechanism to move the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of tactile markers on the surface of the housing based on a level of indentation for the series of individual refreshable Braille cells.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises a linear array of one or more rows of adjacent individual refreshable Braille cells, each Braille cell including a plurality of electromechanically controlled pins, each pin being selectively raisable and lowerable in response to the signal originating from the processing unit.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the refreshable Braille display device is a portable refreshable Braille display device.

18. A computer program product comprising a processor-readable storage medium having encoded therein executable code of one or more software programs, wherein the one or more software programs when executed by the one or more processors implement step of:
sending a signal from the processor to a refreshable Braille display device comprising:
(a) a housing comprising a surface containing a set of first tactile markers thereon;
(b) a carriage in cooperation with the housing, the carriage having a surface containing a second tactile marker thereon and a series of individual refreshable Braille cells positioned above the second tactile marker for tactile reading by a user; and
(c) a moving mechanism for moving the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing,

wherein the signal represents an instruction to the moving mechanism associated with positioning the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage with one of the first tactile markers in the set of first tactile markers on the surface of the housing and wherein the signal initiates the moving mechanism to move the carriage relative to the housing such that the second tactile marker on the surface of the carriage is aligned with one of the first tactile markers in the set of tactile markers on the surface of the housing based on a level of indentation for the series of individual refreshable Braille cells.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the series of individual refreshable Braille cells comprises a linear array of one or more rows of adjacent individual refreshable Braille cells, each Braille cell including a plurality of electromechanically controlled pins, each pin being selectively raisable and lowerable in response to the signal originating from the processor.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the refreshable Braille display device is

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Abebe Ermyas
• Bonti Alessio
• Eberbach Adam
• Ilfrich Peter
• Waywood Nicholas I

Classifications

• G09B21/004 Primary

  Details of particular tactile cells, e.g. electro-mechanical or mechanical layout · CPC title

• G09B21/001

  Teaching or communicating with blind persons (G09B21/02 - G09B21/06 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0202

  Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device · CPC title

• G09B21/005

  Details of specially-adapted software to access information, e.g. to browse through hyperlinked information · CPC title

• B41J3/32

  for printing in Braille or with keyboards specially adapted for use by blind or disabled persons · CPC title