Method for accessing interactive multimedia information or services from Braille documents

• US 7,316,566 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2002
• Issued: 01/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carro, Fernando Incertis
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzuto; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): FRISBY, KESHA
• Application Number:
  US10/468,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20040091842A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,153 Days
• Field of Search: 434112-117, 400/109, 715500-509
• US Class Current: 434/113
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/001 Teaching or communicating with blind persons G09B21/02 - G09B21/06 take precedence

Abstract

System and method to enable blind people to detect and access hyperlinks within Braille documents. A proximity sensing foil placed under a Braille page senses the position of a reader'"'"'s fingertips and provides coordinates of the sensed position. A workstation computes the distance between the sensed position and the predefined positions hyperlinks the page is known to contain, which are initially stored in a hyperlink table. When the user'"'"'s fingertips are positioned over a hyperlink, the computed distance is less than a threshold value, in which case an acoustic signal alerts the user that a hyperlink is present. The user may then access the hyperlink.

Claims

1. A method for use in a user system of creating hyperlinks for accessing information or services from a Braille document comprising one or a plurality of pages, comprising the steps of:

providing a hyperlink table that does not include a physical position on any page of the Braille document and does not include a hyperlink;

after said providing the hyperlink table, identifying and selecting one or a plurality of pages;

for each selected page of the Braille document, detecting by means of a proximity sensed foil placed and aligned under the page, items touched by user on the surface of the page;

for each touched item on the page, determining the physical position of said touched item on the page by means of the proximity sense foil;

after and responsive to said determining the physical position, storing in the hyperlink table;

an identification of said touched item based on the physical position on the proximity sense foil of said touched item;

a hyperlink from said touched item to information, or both said information and said service; and

the physical position of said touched item.

2. A method for creating hyperlinks, said method comprising:

assigning a document identifier that identifies the Braille document comprising one or a plurality of pages, wherein the document identifier is a bar code;

engraving the document identifier in the Braille document;

providing a hyperlink table that does not include a physical position on any page of the Braille document, does not comprise any spatial coordinates on a proximity sensing foil, and does not comprise any hyperlink, wherein the hyperlink table is stored in a remote server that is remote from the user system, wherein the user system and the remote server are connected to a communication network such that the communication network is disposed between the user system and the remote server, wherein the remote system is accessed remotely by a user who is interactively using the Braille document in the user system, wherein the hyperlink table has a header, a plurality of columns, and a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of columns comprises an item identification column, a hyperlink column, and a physical position column;

after said providing the hyperlink table, storing in the header of the hyperlink table;

the document identifier that identifies the Braille document, a title of the Braille document, at least one author of the Braille document, an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) pertaining to the Braille document, and a date associated with the Braille document;

after said storing in the header of the hyperlink table, detecting an item of text touched by a user, said item of text being located on a page of a Braille document, said detecting being accomplished through use of the proximity sensing foil aligned under the page while the item is being touched by the user;

determining spatial coordinates on the proximity sensing foil of the detected item through use of the proximity sensing foil;

determining an identification of the touched item based on the determined spatial coordinates;

specifying, based on said identification, a hyperlink to a destination address from which information pertaining to the touched item may be accessed, wherein the destination address is an address of the remote server, wherein the communication network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network, wherein the server is a web server, wherein the address of the remote server is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), and wherein the information is a web page of a website at the URL;

after and responsive to both said determining an identification and said specifying a hyperlink, storing in a row of the plurality of rows of the hyperlink table;

in the item identification column of the hyperlink table, the identification of the touched item;

in the hyperlink column of the hyperlink table, the hyperlink; and

in the physical position column of the hyperlink table, the determined spatial coordinates.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Braille document is selected from the group consisting of a textbook, a technical book, and a commercial catalog.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the Braille document comprises a non-conductive material.

5. A method for accessing information pertaining to content located in a Braille document, said method comprising:

providing a hyperlink table that comprises a header, a plurality of columns, and a plurality of rows, wherein the header comprises a document identifier that identifies the Braille document, a title of the Braille document, at least one author of the Braille document, an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) pertaining to the Braille document, and a date associated with the Braille document, wherein the reference identifier is a bar code, wherein the plurality of columns comprises an item identification column, a hyperlink column, and a physical position column, wherein for each item of a plurality of items of text corresponds to a different row of the plurality of rows, wherein each different row pertaining to an item of text comprises;

an identification the item on a page of the Braille document in the identification column, a hyperlink in the hyperlink column such that the hyperlink is associated with the item on the page such that the hyperlink is a link to an associated destination address of a remote server from which information pertaining to each item may be accessed, and an indicated position in the position column of each item on a proximity sensing foil, wherein the hyperlink table is stored in the remote server, wherein the remote server is remote from a user system, wherein the user system and the remote server are connected to a communication network such that the communication network is disposed between the user system and the remote server, wherein the communication network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network, wherein the server is a web server, wherein the address of the remote server is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), and wherein the,

information is a web page of a website at the URL, wherein the remote system is accessed remotely by a user who is interactively using the Braille document in the user system;

receiving the reference identifier that identifies the Braille document and a page identifier from the user who is interactively using the Braille document in the user system, wherein the page identifier identifies a selected page in the Braille document;

detecting a position of a fingertip of the user on the selected page of the Braille document, said detecting using the proximity sensing foil aligned under the page;

ascertaining that the fingertip on the selected page at the detected position is less than a predetermined minimum distance from the indicated position of an existing item of text of the plurality of items of text in the hyperlink table;

alerting the user in response to said ascertaining, wherein said alerting comprises generating a signal that is indicative of the detected position such that the generated signal is proportional to X/Y coordinates of the detected position;

after said alerting and responsive to said ascertaining, detecting a selection by the user of the item of text;

responsive to said detecting the selection by the user, identifying an existing hyperlink in the hyperlink table such that the existing hyperlink is associated with the existing item of text;

retrieving, from the destination address associated with the hyperlink in the hyperlink table with the existing hyperlink, the information pertaining to the existing item of text; and

displaying, the retrieved information on the user system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the Braille document is selected from the group consisting of a textbook, a technical book, and a commercial catalog.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the Braille document comprises a non-conductive material.

8. A method for use in a user system of creating hyperlinks for accessing information or services from a Braille document comprising one or a plurality of pages, comprising the steps of:

assigning a document identifier that identifies the Braille document, wherein the document identifier is a reference number or a bar code;

engraving in the Braille document, the document identifier that identifies the Braille document;

providing a hyperlink table that does not include a physical position on any page of the Braille document and does not include a hyperlink, wherein the hyperlink table is stored in a remote server that is remote from the user system, wherein the user system and the remote server are connected to a communication network such that the communication network is disposed between the user system and the remote server, wherein the remote system is accessed remotely by a user who is interactively using the Braille document in the user system, wherein the hyperlink table has a header, a plurality of columns, and a plurality of rows, and wherein the plurality of columns comprises an item identification column, a hyperlink column, and a physical position column;

after said providing the hyperlink table, storing in the header of the hyperlink table;

the document identifier that identifies the Braille document, a title of the Braille document, at least one author of the Braille document, an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) pertaining to the Braille document, and a date associated with the Braille document;

after said storing in the header of the hyperlink table, identifying and selecting, by the user, one or a plurality of pages of the Braille document;

for each selected page of the Braille document, detecting by means of a proximity sensed foil placed and aligned under the page, items touched by the user on the surface of the page;

for each touched item on the page, detennining the physical position of said touched item on the page by means of the proximity sense foil;

after and responsive to said determining the physical position, storing in a row of the plurality of rows of the hyperlink table;

in the item identification column of the hyperlink table, an identification of said touched item based on the physical position on the proximity sense foil of said touched item;

in the hyperlink column of the hyperlink table, a hyperlink from said touched item to infonnation, service, or both said information and said service; and

in the physical position column of the hyperlink table, the physical position of said touched item.