Tactile Display With Edge Icons For Software Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current braille displays for visually impaired individuals are limited to text typing and reading, failing to accommodate the use of modern software programs and are not user-friendly for navigating and selecting different applications.
Innovation Solution
A touch screen display with a line of icons along its edge, coupled with a voice transmitter and Braille display, allows users to navigate and select software by finger position, using 'next' and 'previous' columns for scrolling and indentations for finger placement, enabling tactile and auditory feedback for icon identification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional braille displays are used, then text typing and reading functionality is provided, but the ability to use modern software programs is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The touch screen display integrates multiple functions: it serves as both a traditional braille display for text input and a graphical interface for software selection and navigation. The display can present braille characters, icons, and visual feedback simultaneously, allowing users to access both text-based and modern software applications through a unified interface.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional braille displays are used, then text reading is enabled, but the ability to navigate and select different applications is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The display interface is segmented into distinct functional zones: a braille output area for text reading, an icon display area for application selection, and navigation controls for moving between elements. This segmentation allows users to navigate applications through structured visual and tactile cues without overwhelming interface complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces visual icons as intermediaries between the user and software applications. These icons serve as tangible representations of applications, allowing users to select and navigate to different programs through a graphical interface while maintaining compatibility with traditional braille display capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a touch screen with icons is added to provide software selection, then application accessibility is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the traditional braille display functionality with a touch screen interface in a single integrated device. The display combines braille character output, icon presentation, and tactile feedback mechanisms into one unified system, allowing software selection and text reading capabilities to coexist without requiring separate devices.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
Device especially for a display for visually impaired people and display comprising such a device. The invention relates to a device comprising a tactile screen (2), especially for a display (1) for visually impaired people, said screen (2) comprising, on one of the edges (3) thereof, a line of icons (4) that each correspond to a piece of software. The surface of said tactile screen (2) is divided at least into as many columns as icons, and said device comprises means for determining the position of the finger of a user on said tactile screen (2) in order to control the implementation of the software corresponding to the determined position of the user's finger.