WO2005002490A1

WO2005002490A1 - Device for detecting the surroundings of visually impaired individuals

Info

Publication number: WO2005002490A1
Application number: PCT/EP2004/006968
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Leberer
Original assignee: Thomas Leberer
Priority date: 2003-07-02
Filing date: 2004-06-28
Publication date: 2005-01-13
Also published as: DE102004032289A1; EP1686946A1; DE102004032289B4; DE102004032289A9; WO2005002490A8

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for detecting the surroundings of a visually impaired individual comprising: a light source (6) that emits a fanned light beam (7); an image recording device (8) that is located outside of the plane of the light beam fan while being oriented toward the same; a tactile pin strip (10) having a multitude of adjacently arranged tactile pins (12) that can move at different heights relative to the strip, and; a controller that converts the course of the line of the light beam fan striking the surroundings, said course of the line being recorded by the image recording unit, into a corresponding ability of the tactile pins to change heights, whereby the controller controls a number of groups of tactile pins or each individual tactile pin.

Description

Thomas Leberer,

Am Brink 23, 48356 Nordwalde

"Device for Detecting the Environment of Visually Impaired Persons"

The invention relates to a device for detecting the surroundings of a visually impaired person.

Devices for detecting objects are beispiels- ^• known, in the form of cameras. These devices generate pictorial acquisition data, namely in the form of the recorded images, which cannot be evaluated by visually impaired people or can only be evaluated with considerable restrictions.

Furthermore, devices for displaying the surroundings of a visually impaired person in the form of models are known, which are exhibited, for example, in public places and reproduce streets and buildings.

The invention has for its object to provide a device for detecting the surroundings of a visually impaired person, which enables the visually impaired person to get an impression of the environment surrounding this visually impaired person by tactile stimuli.

This object is achieved by a device with the features of claim 1.

In other words, the invention proposes to scan the surroundings with a fan-shaped light beam. This fan of light creates a line on the objects it encounters. This line is distorted depending on the surface design of the objects and their distance, provided that the line is viewed from an angle to the plane in which the light beam is rather runs. The invention therefore furthermore proposes to arrange an image capturing device, for example a camera, at a distance from this plane and to use this image capturing device to capture the course of the reflected light which has been modified from a straight line.

This still visual information is converted into tactile information for the visually impaired person. For this purpose, a stylus bar is provided, which consists of a large number of styli arranged side by side. The visually impaired person can grasp these styli and, due to the different height mobility of the individual pins, recreate the shape of the contour that the reflected light beam, ie the aforementioned distorted line, has.

So the visually impaired person is deliberately given only rough information about the surroundings. This represents an advantageous reduction in the flood of information, compared to the attempt to convey a two-dimensional image to the visually impaired person by means of tactile stimuli, or - similar to the model mentioned at the beginning - a three-dimensional model landscape by means of a correspondingly large number of styli arranged on a tablet produce.

If the visually impaired person moves, for example, along a curb, the proposed device can be used to reliably display the course of this curb as well as masts of road signs or lanterns, hydrants or the like that are in the way, if necessary. Without providing the visually impaired person with a detailed picture of their surroundings, the proposed device enables a rough preliminary orientation, so that, for example, finding a glass placed on a table top is also simplified. The tactile information can be resolved with the greatest possible accuracy by actuating each individual stylus, so that the vertical mobility of the stylus can be optimally adapted to the actual contour of the reflected light. To control the

To facilitate tactile pins, however, can be also provided, in each case together, for example, a plurality of tactile pins in a group and similar to control, with aller- ^'recently results in a correspondingly lower resolution, with WEL rather the gating information the contour of the reflected

Reproduces light.

Provision can advantageously be made to provide electromagnets in the touch bar which influence the vertical mobility of the individual touch pins or the touch pins combined in groups.

Advantageously, it can be provided that the probe pins are spring loaded so that they always in an extended STEL arranged lung, in which they project beyond the actual bar ^'maximum. The styli can be pressed into the bar against the spring action. In connection with electromagnets, the control can provide that a certain depth stop is effected, how far the stylus can be pushed into the bar, or that - even with the same possible depth of insertion - the resistance with which the stylus in can be changed the bar can be pushed in. In both cases, the user can swipe over the stylus and receive tactile information about the environment captured by the light beam fan.

A test circuit can be provided, by means of which the feeler pins are influenced in terms of their vertical mobility, regardless of the actual environment. B. are drawn in against the spring action or are only movable against a high resistance. This allows the user to Check the pins for correct function and prevent dangers ^' which could result from the fact that an actually existing obstacle is not displayed due to a faulty function of one or more styli.

The user must of course know which area of his surroundings the device detects, that is to say which "viewing direction" it has. The orientation of the device and the orientation of the detection angle at which the device detects the surroundings can advantageously be conveyed to the user by the fact that the The device is arranged on the arm or on the hand of the user. In this way, the device can be controlled and aligned intuitively by the user. The stylus bar is advantageously arranged adjacent to the fingertips of the user, so that the user can press the buttons by slight finger movements. The other essential components of the device - such as the light source, the image capture device and the

Stylus - be summarized in the form of a glove-like device, so that the device can be easily put on by the user and all essential components are summarized compactly.

The energy source can advantageously be separated from the other aforementioned essential components, for example in the form of an energy pack carried in the form of a backpack or belt. In this way, the rest of the device carried on the arm or on the hand of the user can be designed to be as light as possible, so that the user tired as little as possible when handling the device.

A solar cell can be provided for the energy supply, which, depending on the power requirement of the device, supplies the energy either exclusively or only in addition to to extend the useful life of the energy source otherwise provided, for example the aforementioned energy pack.

A laser can advantageously be used as the light source. Such lasers are lightweight, have small structural

Dimensions on and are commercially available, including the laser control, which widens or swings the light beam into a fan.

A digital camera can preferably be provided as the image capturing device. Such digital cameras are also commercially available, accordingly inexpensive and, moreover, can be supplied with small structural dimensions and low weight.

The image capturing device may differ also configured radar similar to that of the embodiment as a camera and runtime information detect the light beam, so that these runtime information equivalent to the above-described contour ^'evaluated extending the light beam and can be implemented NEN-informa- Tast in the.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below on the basis of the purely schematic representations. It shows

1 shows an object located on a table and gripped by a device according to the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a device in which the essential components are combined like gloves, and

Fig. 3 on a larger scale than Fig. 2 a stylus. In Fig. 1, a table top 1 is shown, on which a cylindrical object 2 is located. Both the table top 1 and the object 2 are illuminated obliquely from above with a light beam fan, a line 3 resulting from the fanning out of the light beam, which is shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. This line runs in a straight line on the table top 1 and is curved on the cylindrical outer surface of the object 2. Due to the height offset between the two rectilinear parts of line 3 and the curved part of line 3, it is also clear that object 2 is further forward than the area of table top 1 where the rest of rectilinear line 3 meets. The curvature of the object 2 is represented by the bend of the curved section of the line 3.

The course of line 3 deviating from a straight line results from the fact that the image acquisition takes place from a different angle than the irradiation of the table top 1 and the object 2 with the light beam. If the viewing plane were in the plane in which the light beam fan runs, a straight line would always be able to be evaluated as reflected light, regardless of the design of the surroundings.

Fig. 2 shows a device 4 according to the invention with a

Glove 5. A light source 6 in the form of a laser is arranged beneath the glove 5, glowing past the thumb, this laser emitting a fan-shaped light beam rather than a linear one. The light beam is indicated by dotted 7; he hits an object 2.

On top of the glove 5, an image capture device 8 is arranged in the form of a digital camera, the image or viewing or detection area lying between two dotted boundary lines 9. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the object 2 lies in the image capture area of the image capture device 8. Due to the height-offset arrangement of the light source 1 and the image capture device 8, that is to say the arrangement of the image capture device 8 outside the plane in which the light beam 7 extends, the results are shown in FIG 1, purely by way of example, illustrated contour profiles of the reflected light lines as a function of the configuration of the detected environment.

2, the light source 6 is arranged below and the image capturing device 8 above the glove 5. In terms of the mode of operation, the reverse arrangement can also be provided, in which the light source 6 is arranged above the image capturing device 8.

The image information on the basis of a line course, which may be similar to line 3 of FIG. 1, for example, is converted into tactile information by a control system which is not apparent from the drawings, this tactile information being provided to the user by means of a tactile pin strip 10 shown in FIG. 2 of the glove 5 are conveyed.

Fig. 3 shows schematically such a stylus 10: It consists of the actual bar 11 and a plurality of styli 12, which are axially movable, i.e. vertically movable relative to the bar 11 and different depths in the bar 11 or through the bar 11 can be pressed.

Fig. 3 shows the idle state of the stylus 10, in which all styli 12 are extended to the maximum. This idle state can advantageously be maintained without the need for electrical energy, for example by holding the styli 12 spring-loaded in the shown idle position. Depending on the detected contour of the light line, for example as in line 3 in FIG. 1, the individual styli 12 can be lowered to different depths, so that the surfaces of the pins 12 emulate the same contour as line 3 has.

Alternatively, it can be provided that the feeler pins 12 are not underneath. to lower to different depths, but to design their resistance to the indentation to different degrees, so that, for example, the middle styli 12, which would represent the higher, curved region of the line 3, would be set comparatively “hard”, that is to say with a comparatively high resistance to the indentation , whereas the two linear areas of line 3, which are lower and lie within the image acquisition area, would have a lower resistance and the corresponding styli 12 would accordingly be set to "softer".

In both variants, with different depth arrangement of the styli 12 or with different pressure resistance of the

Styli 12 can be influenced in each case by the height mobility of the styli 12 by electromagnets. The corresponding analog signals for controlling the electromagnets are generated by the aforementioned control, which evaluates and converts the signals of the image capturing device 8.

This controller can preferably have a microprocessor, so that it can be designed to be structurally small and lightweight. So it can be put in the glove if necessary

5 are integrated or fastened to the glove 5 and, by means of short signal paths, promote rapid signal processing and an interference-free design of the device 4. However, provision can also be made to provide the control away from the glove 5 in order to reduce the weight and thus to facilitate the handling of the glove 5 for the user.

The energy supply can be separated from the device 4 shown in FIG. 2 in particular when comparatively heavy energy storage devices are used, such as, for example, electric batteries or accumulators, and can be carried more conveniently by the user at another location.

The image capture device 8 can be designed in the form of a commercially available, small, lightweight and inexpensive digital camera. It is relevant that this image capturing device 8 can evaluate the contrasts that are generated with the aid of the light source 6 and that result between the light line and the surroundings. It can therefore be provided, if necessary, to use cameras or similar image capturing devices in particular, which only fulfill comparatively low requirements for proper image reproduction and can accordingly be inexpensive.

A major advantage of the proposed device for the user is that spatial information, or at least 2-dimensional information captured at least as an image, is converted into information that is only one row or one line. To this

In this way, the concentration of the user is not overused with the evaluation of such information. Rather, the device merely provides coarse, quickly processable information that makes it easier for the user to orientate himself in advance in his environment and allows him to grasp the relevant areas of the environment in a more targeted manner, for example with the aids that have also been used up to now by this user, for example manually palpating the environment or palpation using a wand. Compared to such a probe stick, the device has the advantage that it depends on

Design can have a greater range than a Such a white cane, so that there is the earliest possible warning to the Benut _¬ zer especially in dangerous obstacles.

Claims

Mr. Thomas Leberer,

Am Brink 23, 48356 Nordwalde

"Device for Detecting the Environment of Visually Impaired Persons"

Claims:. Device (4) for detecting the surroundings of a visually impaired person, with a light source (6) emitting a fanned out light beam (7), and with an image capturing device (8) which is arranged outside the plane of the light beam fan and aligned with it, and with a Stylus (10), which a variety of ne. has styli (12) arranged next to one another, which can be moved to different heights relative to the bar (11), and with a control system which detects the line profile of the light beam fan striking the surroundings, as detected by the image acquisition device (8), in a corresponding vertical mobility of the styli (12 ), wherein the control controls several groups of styli (12) or each individual stylus (12) is activated.

, Device according to claim 1, characterized in that electromagnets controlled by the control are provided, which influence the position of the individual styli (12) or the stylus groups.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the feeler pins (12) are held in a spring-loaded position relative to the bar (11), the feeler pins (12) being able to be pressed into the bar (11) against the spring action.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized. that electromagnets controlled by the control and influencing the resistance to the indentation are provided.

5. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that electromagnets controlled by the control and influencing the indentation depth are provided.

6. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the stylus strip (10) is arranged in a holder which can be fastened on the arm or on the hand of a user, in such a way that it is adjacent to the user's fingertips.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that the light source (6), the image capture device (8), and the stylus (10) to a glove-like, from

User portable device are summarized.

8. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a separate from the other components such as light source (6), image capture device (8) and stylus (10), but effectively connected to this energy source.

9. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a solar cell for exclusive or supplementary

10. Power supply to the device (4).

11. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a laser as the light source (6).

12. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by an digital camera as an image capturing device (8).

13. Device according to one of claims 1 to 10, ^' characterized. that the image capturing device is designed to record runtime information of the light beam (7).