ENABLING A VISUALLY IMPAIRED OR BLIND PERSON TO HAVE ACCESS TO INFORMATION PRINTED ON A PHYSICAL DOCUMENT

• US 20150242096A1
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2003
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carro, Fernando Incertis, Trewin, Sharon M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,276,065 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/001 Teaching or communicating with blind persons G09B21/02 - G09B21/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

A method and system for accessing information related to a physical document. An electronic copy of an existing physical document is identified and located. The electronic copy of the physical document is an exact replica of the physical document. A selected part of the physical document is identified and in response, data related to the selected part of the physical document is retrieved from the electronic copy of the physical document. The retrieved data is presented visually to a visually impaired person or orally to a blind person on the user system, which enables the visually impaired person to see or hear, respectively, the retrieved data.

Claims

1. A method for use in a user system, for accessing information related to a physical document, said method comprising:

identifying and locating an electronic copy of an existing physical document, wherein the electronic copy of the physical document is an exact replica of the physical document;

identifying a selected part of the physical document;

in response to said identifying the selected part of the physical document, retrieving, from the electronic copy of the physical document, data related to the selected part of the physical document; and

presenting the retrieved data visually to a visually impaired person or orally to a blind person on the user system, wherein said presenting the retrieved data visually is configured to enable the visually impaired person to see the retrieved data, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data orally is configured to enable the blind person to hear the retrieved data.

2. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

identifying one page or a plurality of pages of the physical document, wherein said identifying the selected part of the physical document comprises identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said identifying the selected part of the identified physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages further comprises pressing the points on a touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under the identified one page or the plurality of pages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said pressing comprises pressing the points with a fingertip or a pen on the touch foil.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the selected part of the physical document comprises a start point on a first page of the physical document and an end point on a second page of the physical document, wherein the first and second pages are different pages of the physical document, and wherein said identifying one page or a plurality of pages of the physical document and said identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of points pressed on the touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under the identified one page or the plurality of pages comprises:

identifying the first page in the physical document;

determining the position of a first point pressed on the touch foil placed and aligned over or under the identified first page, wherein the first point is the start point;

identifying the second page in the physical document;

determining the position of a second point pressed on the touch foil placed and aligned over or under the identified second page of the physical document, wherein the second point is the end point;

identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of the start point and the end point.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting the retrieved data orally to the blind person on the user system, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data orally comprises:

extracting text data from the retrieved data; and

audibly reading, to the blind person on the user system, the extracted data by means of a text-to-speech system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting the retrieved data visually to the visually impaired person on the user system, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data visually comprises:

magnifying the retrieved data on a screen such that the magnified retrieved data can be visually read by the visually impaired person, wherein said magnifying the retrieved data on the screen comprises magnifying on the screen the electronic copy of the selected part of the physical document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting the retrieved data visually to the visually impaired person on the user system, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data visually comprises:

enhancing on a screen the electronic copy of the selected part of the physical document to match a preferred reading view of the visually impaired person.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying the physical document comprises:

reading, by means of a barcode reader, a document identifier printed on the physical document at a predefined position.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting the retrieved data orally to the blind person on the user system, and wherein said retrieving, from the electronic copy of the document, data related to the selected part of the physical document comprises:

identifying and locating information and services associated with the selected part of the physical document;

retrieving the information and services; and

audibly playing the retrieved information and services on the user system, wherein the information associated with the selected part of the physical document comprises a description of graphical data pertaining to an image and related to the selected part of the physical document, and wherein said audibly playing comprises audibly playing the description of the graphical data to the blind person on the user system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting the retrieved data orally to the blind person on the user system, and wherein said identifying and locating an electronic copy of the identified document comprises:

identifying and locating information associated with the physical document;

retrieving the information; and

audibly playing the retrieved information to the blind person on the user system.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein the information associated with the physical document comprises speech instructions related to the physical document;

wherein the speech instructions comprise speech instructions for locating positions of bar codes on pages of the physical document;

wherein said audibly playing comprises audibly playing, to the blind person on the user system, the speech instructions for locating the positions of bar codes on pages of the physical document;

wherein a first bar code of the bar codes enables access to a title of the physical document, a name of an author of the physical document, a date of publication of the physical document, and an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) of the physical document; and

wherein the title, the name, the date, and the ISBN are stored on a server connected to the user system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein either the electronic copy of the physical document is located on the user system or the electronic copy of the physical document is located on one server of a plurality of servers to which the user system is connected via a communication network.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical document comprises Braille indications.

15. A user system, comprising a computer;

and a non-transitory storage device containing instructions which, upon being executed by the computer, implement a method for accessing information related to a physical document, said method comprising;

identifying and locating an electronic copy of an existing physical document, wherein the electronic copy of the physical document is an exact replica of the physical document;

identifying a selected part of the physical document;

in response to said identifying the selected part of the physical document, retrieving, from the electronic copy of the physical document, data related to the selected part of the physical document; and

presenting the retrieved data visually to a visually impaired person or orally to a blind person, wherein said presenting the retrieved data visually is configured to enable the visually impaired person to see the retrieved data, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data orally is configured to enable the blind person to hear the retrieved data.

16. The user system of claim 15, said method further comprising:

identifying one page or a plurality of pages of the physical document, wherein said identifying the selected part of the physical document comprises identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages.

17. The user system of claim 16, wherein said identifying the selected part of the identified physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages further comprises pressing the points on a touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under the identified one page or the plurality of pages.

18. A non-transitory storage device comprising instructions for which, upon being executed by a computer, implement a method for accessing information related to a physical document, said method comprising:

identifying and locating an electronic copy of an existing physical document, wherein the electronic copy of the physical document is an exact replica of the physical document;

identifying a selected part of the physical document;

in response to said identifying the selected part of the physical document, retrieving, from the electronic copy of the physical document, data related to the selected part of the physical document; and

presenting the retrieved data visually to a visually impaired person or orally to a blind person, wherein said presenting the retrieved data visually is configured to enable the visually impaired person to see the retrieved data, and wherein said presenting the retrieved data orally is configured to enable the blind person to hear the retrieved data.

19. The storage device of claim 18, said method further comprising:

identifying one page or a plurality of pages of the physical document, wherein said identifying the selected part of the physical document comprises identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages.

20. The storage device of claim 19, wherein said identifying the selected part of the identified physical document using the position of points on the identified one page or a plurality of pages further comprises pressing the points on a touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under the identified one page or the plurality of pages.