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Abstract

Abstract: DESCRIPTION: This is a revised proposal to further develop and evaluate a display-reader for blind users, a device that reads a loud the LED and LCD displays found on many electronic appliances and instruments. Such a display-reader would be indispensable to a great number of blind persons, as more and more ordinary devices has such displays (ovens, washers, coffee makers, fax machines, telephones, VCRs, thermostats). The key challenges are in developing the machine vision algorithms to read a broad range of displays, investigating the human factors and hardware engineering issues that go into image acquisition and useful audio or other output, and incorporating these findings into a practical display-reader. The device will have two embodiments: variants of the current prototype, based on a portable PC or palmtop computer and a consumer CCD camera; ad a completely self-contained hand-held version. The hardware for the latter will be developed based on one of the new, high-speed digital signal processor chips. Criteria for a successful prototype are: 1)speed: one second to read a display, 2)accuracy: 98 percent of display outputs read correctly in trials wit blind subjects, and 3)ease of use: handling, user-interface, battery life, and other subjective measures obtained through blind user feedback during trials. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Not Available

Thesaurus Terms:
biomedical equipment development, blind aid, image enhancement, image processing, information display
charge coupled device camera, personal computer, portable biomedical equipment
bioimaging /biomedical imaging, clinical research, human subject, medical rehabilitation related tag

Institution:	BLINDSIGHT CORPORATION
	45-A FAYERWEATHER ST
	CAMBRIDGE, MA 02138
Fiscal Year:	2002
Department:
Project Start:	30-SEP-1997
Project End:	31-AUG-2003
ICD:	NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
IRG:	ZRG1