System and method to enable blind people to have access to information printed on a physical document

• US 9,165,478 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2004
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carro, Fernando Incertis, Trewin, Sharon M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Theriault, Steven B.
• Application Number:
  US10/826,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20050022108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,205 Days
• Field of Search: 715/702, 715/865
• 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 use in a user 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. One or more pages of the physical document are identified. A selected part of the physical document is identified using the position of points on the identified one or more pages of the physical document 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 an existing physical document;

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

identifying one page or a plurality of pages of said physical document;

identifying a selected part of the physical document using the position of points on said identified one page or a plurality of pages;

in response to said identifying the selected part of the physical document using the position of points on said identified one page or a plurality of pages, retrieving, from the electronic copy of the physical document, data related to the selected part of the physical document;

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying a part of the identified physical document using the position of points on said identified one page or a plurality of pages further comprises pressing said points on a touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under said identified one page or a plurality of pages.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said pressing comprises pressing said points with a fingertip or a pen on a touch foil.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said physical document and said one page or a plurality of pages in said physical document are selected by a user.

5. The method of claim 1, 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 said physical document and identifying a selected part of the physical document using the position of points pressed on a touch foil successively placed and aligned over or under said identified one page or a plurality of pages consists of:

identifying the first page in said physical document;

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

identifying the second page in said 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 said document, said second point being 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 said retrieved data orally to the blind person on the user system, and wherein said presenting said retrieved data orally comprises:

extracting text data from said data;

converting said text data into data that can be audibly read.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said converting said text data into data that can be electronically read comprises:

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

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

9. The method of claim 8, 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.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting said 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.

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

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

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said identifying one page or a plurality of pages consists of said identifying one page, and wherein said identifying one page in said physical document comprises:

reading, by means of a barcode reader, a page identifier printed on said one page at a predefined position.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting said 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 said information and services; and

audibly playing said information and services on the user system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said 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 said description of said graphical data to the blind person on the user system.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises presenting said 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 said information; and

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

16. The method of claim 15,

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, said speech instructions for locating said positions of bar codes on pages of the physical document;

wherein a first bar code of said 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 said title, said name, said date, and said ISBN are stored on a server connected to the user system.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said user system is connected to a communication network comprising plurality of servers, and wherein the electronic copy of the physical document is located on one server of said plurality of servers.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic copy of the physical document is located on the user system.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said user system is connected to a communication network comprising a plurality of servers, wherein information and services associated with said physical document are located on each server of said plurality of servers, wherein the information comprises said data related to the selected part of the physical document, and wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting to a given server of the plurality of servers a document identification code that identifies the electronic copy of the physical document and at least one page identification code that identifies the one page or a plurality of pages of the physical document.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic copy of the physical document and information and services associated with said physical document are located on the user system.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said physical document comprises Braille indications.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the method does not comprise using an electronic reading machine based on a page scanner, and wherein the method does not comprise using optical character recognition (OCR).

23. A user system comprising:

a computer; and

a non-transitory storage device containing instructions which, upon being executed by the computer, carry out the method of claim 1.

24. A system comprising:

said user system of claim 23 connected to a communication network;

a touch foil to be placed over or under a page of a physical document for;

detecting a pressure exercised over one or a plurality of point of its surface; and

determining the coordinates of said one or plurality of points; and

a connection between said touch foil and the user system.

25. The system of claim 24, said system further comprising a bar code reader connected to said user system for reading bar codes on the physical document.

26. A non-transitory storage device comprising instructions which, upon being executed by a computer, carry out the method of claim 1.