Braille Display Device And Method Of Constructing Same

• US 20140242555A1
• Filed: 03/03/2014
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Freedom Scientific Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Freedom Scientific Incorporated
• Inventors: Murphy, Patrick, Conard, Todd, Tunkis, Waldemar H., Goldenberg, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,424,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/113
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/003 using tactile presentation of the information, e.g. Braille displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/004 Details of particular tactile cells, e.g. electro-mechanical or mechanical layout
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49155 Manufacturing circuit on or in base

Abstract

Disclosed is a Braille display device. The device supports an array of individual Braille cells with corresponding tactile pins. The pins can be selectively lifted by way of reeds to generate Braille characters that can be felt by the user. The Braille characters can correspond to visible characters, such as characters on a computer screen. The display is refreshable to allow for the sequential display of lines, paragraphs, or pages. In accordance with the disclosure, the Braille cells are constructed in a manner that minimizes manufacturing costs and that also permits the size of the display to be greatly reduced.

Claims

1. A refreshable Braille display, the display including a series of individual Braille cells for displaying text, the display comprising:

a housing having forward and rearward extents, the housing also having an interior, an upper cover, and a lower tray, the upper cover having apertures for receiving keys and buttons;

a series of cursor routing buttons 28, each cursor routing button associated with and located proximate to each corresponding Braille cell, the cursor routing buttons operable for at least one of moving a cursor and selecting text;

a pair of rocker keys 34, each rocker key operable for scrolling up and down through the text being displayed, the display being programmable by a user for varying at least one of a scroll rate and a sensitivity of the rocker keys;

a pair of push buttons 36, each push button being a toggle control for determining whether the rocker keys scroll through at least one of lines, paragraphs, and pages of text; and

a pair of panning buttons 48 for panning left or right one display width.

2. A refreshable Braille display, the display including a series of individual Braille cells for displaying text, the display comprising:

a housing having forward and rearward extents, the housing also having an interior, an upper cover, and a lower tray, the upper cover having apertures for receiving keys and buttons; and

a series of cursor routing buttons 28 disposed in the housing, each cursor routing button associated with and located proximate to each corresponding Braille cell.

3. The Braille display as described in claim 2, the cursor routing buttons operable for at least one of moving a cursor and selecting text.

4. The Braille display as described in claim 2 further comprising a pair of rocker keys 34 disposed in the housing, each rocker key operable for scrolling up and down through the text being displayed.

5. The Braille display as described in claim 4, the display being programmable by a user for varying at least one of a scroll rate and a sensitivity of the rocker keys.

6. The Braille display as described in claim 2 further comprising a pair of push buttons 36, each push button being a toggle control for determining whether the rocker keys 34 scroll through at least one of lines, paragraphs, and pages of text.

7. The Braille display as described in claim 2 further comprising a pair of panning buttons 48 disposed in the housing for panning left or right.

8. The Braille display as described in claim 7, wherein the panning left or right is by at least one display width.

9. The Braille display as described in claim 2, wherein the display is in wired communication with a computer.

10. The Braille display as described in claim 2, wherein the display is in wireless communication with a computer.

11. A modular Braille display mounting block, the mounting block comprising:

a housing with an array of apertures;

a plurality of tactile pins positioned within the apertures, the pins arranged in rows according to their respective lengths, each pin including a rounded upper extent and a collar disposed along its length; and

a plate secured to the housing, the plate including apertures sized to accommodate the upper extent of the pins but that are narrower than the collars, wherein the plate retains the pins during an inversion of the block.

12. The mounting block as described in claim 11, wherein the array of apertures is organized into four cells.

13. The mounting block as described in claim 12, wherein each cell comprises eight apertures.

14. The mounting block as described in claim 13, wherein the eight apertures are arranged in two rows, each row comprising four apertures.

15. The mounting block as described in claim 11, wherein the array of apertures is organized into six cells.

16. The mounting block as described in claim 15, wherein each cell comprises twelve apertures.

17. The mounting block as described in claim 16, wherein the twelve apertures are arranged in two rows, each row comprising six apertures.

18. The mounting block as described in claim 11, wherein the plate is secured to the housing by a snap-fit connection.

19. The mounting block as described in claim 11, wherein the tactile pins each include a series of fins formed along their length.

20. The mounting block as described in claim 19, wherein the fins are formed between the upper extent and the collar of each tactile pin.