Tactile overlays for screens

• US 20050030296A1
• Filed: 09/13/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: DeYoung, Dennis C., Meetze, Murray O. Jr., Stohrer, Charles W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,184,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5016 User-machine interface; Display panels; Control console

Abstract

An overlay for use with a display screen, comprising at least one first tactilely readable area, wherein the display screen includes a first feature thereon, wherein the tactilely readable area includes information in a tactilely readable format, and wherein the information identifies a first feature displayed on the screen

Claims

1. An overlay for use with a display screen, comprising at least one first tactilely readable area, wherein the display screen includes a first feature thereon, wherein the tactilely readable area includes information in a tactilely readable format, and wherein the information identifies a first feature displayed on the screen.

2. The overlay of claim 1, wherein the tactilely readable area includes raised protrusions.

3. The overlay of claim 2, wherein the protrusions are Braille characters.

4. The overlay of claim 1, wherein the overlay is light transmissive.

5. The overlay of claim 4, wherein the overlay is substantially transparent.

6. The overlay of claim 1, wherein the overlay further comprises at least one second tactilely readable area corresponding to a feature of a second graphical display on the screen.

7. The overlay of claim 1, wherein the overlay is substantially opaque.

8. The overlay of claim 7, wherein the overlay resembles the display on the screen over which it is placed.

9. The overlay of claim 1, wherein the screen is a touch-sensitive screen and the feature is selectable by touch.

10. The overlay of claim 1, further comprising means for holding the overlay in place over the screen.

11. An overlay for use with a screen, wherein the screen is a touch sensitive screen with a display containing touch selectable features thereon, comprising:

a substantially transparent substrate for placement over the screen, wherein the substrate includes a plurality of areas on the substrate that are distinguishable from each other,

wherein each area includes raised protrusions that correspond to a touch selectable feature of the display located substantially beneath the raised area on the display when the display is placed over the screen.

12. A tactile method for using a device having a touch sensitive screen that has a first display thereon, comprising:

placing a first overlay on the screen, the first overlay corresponding to the first display on the screen and including a first tactilely readable area, the first tactilely readable area including information in a tactilely readable format, the information being specific to a first selectable feature located in the first display on the screen;

determining a location of and information about the first selectable feature on the screen by tactilely reading the first tactilely readable area on the overlay;

selecting the first selectable feature.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first tactilely readable area includes raised protrusions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the protrusions include Braille characters.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the first selectable feature includes pressing the screen at the location of the desired feature.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the second selectable feature includes entering data through a keyboard.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a signal from the device;

removing the first overlay on the screen in response to the signal received;

placing a second overlay on the screen, the second overlay corresponding to a second display on the screen and including a second tactilely readable area, the second tactilely readable area including information in a tactilely readable format, the information being specific to a second selectable feature located in the second display on the screen;

determining a location of and information about the second selectable feature on the screen by tactilely reading the second tactilely readable area on the overlay;

selecting the second selectable feature.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the signal is an audio signal.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the audio signal is a voice instruction.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the signal is a sequence of beeps, where the number of beeps correspond to the second overlay.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the device is at least one of a scanner, a printer, and a copier.

22. A system, comprising:

a device having a touch-sensitive screen;

an overlay for placing over the touch sensitive screen having distinguishable raised portions, wherein the distinguishable raised portions include information in a tactilely readable format, the information being specific to features located on the screen;

a sound generating mechanism for alerting a user when a particular display is on the screen.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the sound generating mechanism is internal of the device.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the sound generating mechanism is external to the device.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the device is at least one of a scanner, a printer, and a copier.

26. A plurality of overlays for use with a screen upon which a plurality of displays may appear, wherein each of the plurality of overlays corresponds to one of the plurality of displays, and wherein each overlay has at least one tactilely readable area, wherein each tactilely readable area includes information specific to a feature of the display corresponding to the overlay, the information being in a tactilely readable format.