Dialogic style RF guidance system for a visually handicapped person and its control method

• US 6,097,305 A
• Filed: 01/15/1997
• Issued: 08/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kookmin University, Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp.
• Original Assignee: Kookmin University, Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp.
• Inventors: Kim, Jeong-gi, Oh, Ha-ryeong, Jo, Hong-gu, Im, Jae-bong
• Primary Examiner(s): ZIMMERMAN, BRIAN A
• Application Number:
  US08/782,308
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.19, 340/825.49, 340/825.54, 340/539, 340/825.69, 340/665, 341/176
• US Class Current: 340/4.13
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/001 Teaching or communicating with blind persons G09B21/02 - G09B21/06 take precedence

Abstract

The dialogic style RF guidance system comprises multiple stationary base-sets established at the destination and the hand-held apparatus carried along by the visually handicapped people. This provides safe and efficient guidance to visually handicapped people in reaching their destinations, and more conveniently communicates with the base-set and simultaneously receives the message from the base-set through the microphones or external speakers.

Claims

1. An interactive RF guidance system comprising:

a) a plurality of stationary base-sets established at a road crossing to perform functions requested by hand-held apparatus; and

b) a plurality of hand-held apparatuses capable of being carried along by visually handicapped people to transmit messages to said base-sets and receive responses from them;

(a) said base-set comprising;

a microprocessor which controls overall operation of the base-set;

an antenna which transmits to and receives messages from the hand-held apparatus;

an RF module which comprises a duplexer that duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that interference is avoided when using the same antenna for both transmitting and receiving and a receiver that processes an MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal received from the hand-held apparatus through the antenna and duplexer to output that signal onto an MSK input amplifier, and a transmitter that modulates a voice signal that has been synthesized by a voice synthesizer chip under control of the microprocessor on demand of the hand-held apparatus and transmits that modulated signal to the hand-held apparatus through the duplexer and the antenna;

said MSK input amplifier which amplifies the MSK input signal generated from the RF module receiver to output that signal into the microprocessor;

said voice synthesizer chip which synthesizes a voice signal using the information produced by the microprocessor, to transfer the signal onto other base-sets or to output that signal through an internal speaker according to demand received from the hand-held apparatus;

a voice amplifier which amplifies the signal generated from the voice synthesizer chip and outputs that voice to a speaker;

a battery;

an ID setting switch which has multiple rotary switches and a 3-state buffer in order to set a building'"'"'s own ID; and

a relay and connector which control an external signal lamp according to the demand of the hand-held apparatus; and

(b) wherein said hand-held apparatus comprises;

a keypad, by which a user requests the microprocessor to execute functions and having multiple numeric keys and function keys to request execution of wished functions;

a microprocessor, which executes functions requested by the keypad and controls overall operation of said apparatus;

an antenna, which transmits and receives signals;

an RF module, which processes and outputs signals to transmit through the antenna, and processes and outputs a voice signal received through a voice amplifier;

said voice amplifier, which amplifies the received voice signal, to output that signal onto an earphone under control of the microprocessor;

a battery, which supplies power to the apparatus;

a low voltage sensor, which senses low level voltage produced when voltage supplied by the battery drops under a proper level and outputs that data onto the microprocessor;

an impact sensor which senses the shock generated when the apparatus falls down to the ground and outputs that data to the microprocessor; and

a buzzer and an LED (Light Emission Diode), which notify replacement time of the battery or apprise the user that the apparatus has fallen down to the ground in addition to mentioned compositions.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said antenna is a loop antenna for full duplex having two different resonance frequencies.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said RF module of the hand-held apparatus, comprises:

(a) said transmitter, which performs necessary processing in order to transmit the MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal produced by the microprocessor;

(b) said duplexer, which duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that the interference can be avoided when using the same antenna for both transmission and reception purposes; and

(c) said receiver which processes the received signal from the base-sets to make sound come through voice amplifier,

said voice amplifier amplifies the low level signal produced by the receiver; and

said duplexer comprises a low pass filter and band pass filter in order to reject a high frequency signal, and said low pass filter is connected to the receiver of the RF module and the band pass filter to the transmitter.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said transmitter comprises:

(a) A PLL (Phase Locked Loop) IC which compares the phase of signal produced from a VCO to that of a reference signal using information provided by the microprocessor to output that signal onto a loop filter;

(b) said loop filter which outputs the signal onto the VCO rejecting the high frequency signal produced when the output of the PLL IC varies abruptly;

(c) said VCO whose frequency is controlled by the output signal frequency of the PLL IC;

(d) a driving amplifier which amplifies the signal to a specific level; and

(e) a power amplifier which amplifies that output signal of driving amplifier to a desired level high enough to be transmitted.

5. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said receiver comprises:

(a) an LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) which amplifies only desired signals excluding noise from output signals of the low pass filter in the duplexer circuit;

(b) a SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter which band-passes the output signal of the LNA;

(c) a local oscillator which is composed of oscillator generating signals of high frequency sufficient to generate desired IF (Intermediate Frequency) signals and a buffering amplifier stabilizing the generated signals;

(d) a first mixer which produces desired IF signals by mixing outputs of the SAW filter and buffering amplifier;

(e) an IF filter which band-passes only the IF signal from the mixer output;

(f) an IF amplifier which amplifies the IF signal filtered by the IF filter;

(g) a local oscillator which generates fixed frequency signals to acquire desired frequency voice signals;

(h) a second mixer, being a component of an IF IC which generates the desired voice signal by mixing the signal generated from the local oscillator and the signal amplified by the IF amplifier;

(i) a voice signal filter which passes only the desired frequency signal from output of the second mixer; and

(j) a demodulator, being a component of the IF IC, which generates an output signal to the voice amplifier by demodulating the output of the voice signal filter.

6. An interactive RF guidance system comprising:

a) a plurality of stationary base-sets established at a bus to perform functions requested by hand-held apparatus; and

b) a plurality of hand-held apparatuses capable of being carried along by visually handicapped people to transmit messages to said base-sets and receive responses from them;

(a) said base-set comprising;

a microprocessor which controls overall operation of the base-set;

an antenna which transmits to and receives messages from the hand-held apparatus;

an RF module which comprises a duplexer that duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that interference is avoided when using the same antenna for both transmitting and receiving and a receiver that processes an MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal received from the hand-held apparatus through the antenna and duplexer to output that signal onto the MSK input amp, and a transmitter that modulates the voice signal that has been synthesized by the voice synthesizer chip under control of the microprocessor on demand of the hand-held apparatus and transmits that modulated signal to the hand-held apparatus through the duplexer and the antenna;

said MSK input amplifier which amplifies the MSK input signal generated from the RF module receiver to output that signal into the microprocessor;

said voice synthesizer chip which synthesizes a voice signal using information produced by the microprocessor, to transfer the signal onto other base-sets or to output that signal through an internal speaker according to demand received from the hand-held apparatus;

a voice amplifier which amplifies the signal generated from the voice synthesizer chip and outputs that voice to a speaker;

a battery;

an ID setting switch which has multiple rotary switches and a 3-state buffer in order to set a building'"'"'s own ID; and

a connector which is used in interfacing with a bus driver for providing a bus stop sound generating signal to the microprocessor in response to a request from the hand-held apparatus; and

(b) wherein said hand-held apparatus comprises;

a keypad, by which a user requests a microprocessor to execute functions and having multiple numeric keys and function keys to request execution of wished functions;

the microprocessor, which executes functions requested by the keypad and controls overall operation of said apparatus;

an antenna, which transmits and receives signals;

an RF module, which processes and outputs signals to transmit through the antenna, and processes and outputs voice signals received through a voice amplifier;

said voice amplifier, which amplifies the received voice signal to output that signal onto an earphone under control of the microprocessor;

a battery, which supplies power to the apparatus;

a low voltage sensor, which senses low level voltage produced when voltage supplied by the battery drops under a proper level and outputs that data onto the microprocessor;

an impact sensor which senses the shock generated when the apparatus falls down to the ground and outputs that data to the microprocessor; and

a buzzer and a LED (Light Emission Diode), which notify replacement time of the battery or apprise the user that the apparatus has fallen down to the ground in addition to mentioned compositions.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said antenna is a loop antenna for full duplex having two different resonance frequencies.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said RF module of the hand-held apparatus comprises:

(a) said transmitter, which performs necessary processing in order to transmit the MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal produced by the microprocessor;

(b) said duplexer, which duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that the interference can be avoided when using the same antenna for both transmission and reception purposes; and

(c) said receiver which processes the received signal from the base-sets to make sound come through voice amplifier;

said voice amplifier amplifies the low level signal produced by the receiver; and

said duplexer comprising a low pass filter and band pass filter in order to reject a high frequency signal, and said low pass filter is connected to the receiver of an RF module and the band pass filter to the transmitter.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said transmitter comprises:

(a) a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) IC which compares the phase of signal produced from a VCO to that of a reference signal using the information provided by the microprocessor to output that signal onto a loop filter;

(b) said loop filter which outputs the signal onto the VCO rejecting the high frequency signal produced when the output of the PLL IC varies abruptly;

(c) said VCO whose frequency is controlled by the output signal frequency of the PLL IC;

(d) a driving amplifier which amplifies the signal to a specific level; and

(e) a power amplifier which amplifies that output signal of the driving amplifier to a desired level high enough to be transmitted.

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said receiver comprises:

(a) an LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) which amplifies only desired signals excluding noise from output signals of the low pass filter in the duplexer circuit;

(b) A SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter which band-passes the output signal of the LNA;

(c) a local oscillator which is composed of oscillator generating signals of high frequency sufficient to generate desired IF (Intermediate Frequency) signals and buffering amplifier stabilizing the generated signals;

(d) a first mixer which produces a desired IF signal by mixing outputs of the SAW filter and buffering amplifier;

(e) an IF filter which band-passes only the IF signal from the mixer output;

(f) an IF amplifier which amplifies IF signal filtered by the IF filter;

(g) a local oscillator which generates fixed frequency signals to acquire desired frequency voice signals;

(h) a second mixer, being a component of an IF IC, which generates the desired voice signal by mixing the signal generated from the local oscillator and the signal amplified by the IF amplifier;

(i) a voice signal filter which passes only the desired frequency signal from output of the second mixer; and

(j) a demodulator, being a component of the IF IC, which generates output signal to the voice amplifier by demodulating the output of the voice signal filter.

11. An interactive RF guidance system comprising:

a) a plurality of stationary base-sets established at a bus stop to perform functions requested by hand-held apparatus; and

b) a plurality of hand-held apparatuses capable of being carried along by visually handicapped people to transmit messages to said base-sets and receive responses from them;

(a) said base-set comprising;

a microprocessor which controls overall operation of the base-set;

an antenna which transmits to and receives messages from the hand-held apparatus;

an RF module which comprises a duplexer that duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that the interference is avoided when using the same antenna for both of transmitting and receiving and a receiver that processes an MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal received from the hand-held apparatus through the antenna and duplexer to output that signal onto an MSK input amplifier, and a transmitter that modulates a voice signal that has been synthesized by the voice synthesizer chip under control of the microprocessor on demand of the hand-held apparatus and transmits that modulated signal to the hand-held apparatus through the duplexer and the antenna;

said MSK input amplifier which amplifies the MSK input signal generated from the RF module receiver to output that signal into the microprocessor;

said voice synthesizer chip which synthesizes the voice signal using the information produced by the microprocessor, to transfer the signal onto other base-sets or to output that signal through an internal speaker according to demand received from the hand-held apparatus;

a voice amplifier which amplifies the signal generated from the voice synthesizer chip and outputs that voice to a speaker;

a battery;

an ID setting switch which has multiple rotary switches and a 3-state buffer in order to set a building'"'"'s own ID; and

a transmitter at the RF module for a bus call; and

(b) wherein said hand-held apparatus comprises;

a keypad, by which a user requests the microprocessor to execute functions and having multiple numeric keys and function keys to request execution of wished functions;

a microprocessor, which executes functions requested by the keypad and controls overall operation of said apparatus;

an antenna, which transmits and receives signals;

an RF module, which processes and outputs signals to transmit through the antenna, and processes and outputs a voice signal received through a voice amplifier;

said voice amplifier, which amplifies the received voice signal to output that signal onto an earphone under control of the microprocessor;

a battery, which supplies power to the apparatus;

a low voltage sensor, which senses low level voltage produced when voltage supplied by the battery drops under a proper level and outputs that data onto the microprocessor;

an impact sensor which senses the shock generated when the apparatus falls down to the ground and outputs that data to the microprocessor; and

a buzzer and a LED (Light Emission Diode), which notify replacement time of the battery or apprise the user that the apparatus has fallen down to the ground in addition to mentioned compositions.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said antenna is a loop antenna for full duplex having two different resonance frequencies.

13. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said RF module of the hand-held apparatus comprises:

(a) said transmitter, which performs necessary processing in order to transmit the MSK (Minimum Shift Keying) signal produced by microprocessor;

(b) said duplexer, which duplexes the transmission signal and the received signal so that the interference can be avoided when using the same antenna for both transmission and reception purposes; and

(c) said receiver which processes the received signal from base-sets to make the sound come through voice amplifier;

said voice amplifier amplifies the low level signal produced by the receiver; and

said duplexer comprising a low pass filter and band pass filter in order to reject a high frequency signal, and said low pass filter is connected to the receiver of the RF module and the band pass filter to the transmitter.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said transmitter comprises:

(a) A PLL (Phase Locked Loop) IC which compares the phase of signal produced from a VCO to that of a reference signal using the information provided by the microprocessor to output that signal onto a loop filter;

(b) said loop filter which outputs the signal onto the VCO rejecting the high frequency signal produced when the output of the PLL IC varies abruptly;

(c) said VCO whose frequency is controlled by the output signal frequency of PLL IC;

(d) a driving amplifier which amplifies the signal to a specific level; and

(e) a power amplifier which amplifies that output signal of driving amplifier to a desired level high enough to be transmitted.

15. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said receiver comprising:

(a) an LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) which amplifies only desired signals excluding noise from output signals of the low pass filter in the duplexer circuit;

(b) A SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter which band-passes the output signal of the LNA;

(c) a local oscillator which is composed of oscillator generating signals of high frequency sufficient to generate desired IF (Intermediate Frequency) signals and a buffering amplifier stabilizing the generated signals;

(d) a first mixer which produces a desired IF signal by mixing outputs of the SAW filter and buffering amplifier;

(e) an IF filter which band-passes only the IF signal from the mixer output;

(f) an IF amplifier which amplifies IF signal filtered by the IF filter;

(g) a local oscillator which generates a fixed frequency signal to acquire desired frequency voice signal;

(h) a second mixer, being a component of an IF IC, which generates the desired voice signal by mixing the signal generated from the local oscillator and the signal amplified by the IF amplifier;

(i) a voice signal filter which passes only the desired frequency signal from output of the second mixer; and

(j) a demodulator, being a component of the IF IC, which generates output signal to the voice amplifier by demodulating the output of the voice signal filter.