Tactile 3D Videoconference Display for Accessible Image Perception
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collaboration tools do not assist visually-impaired individuals in understanding and interacting with visual images or objects during videoconferences, limiting their perception of videoconference content.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that converts 2D images and objects into tactile 3D renderings on a braille screen, accompanied by a braille description, using automated recognition and identification technologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If text-to-speech software is used to convert text to spoken words, then accessibility for visually impaired users is improved, but the ability to perceive visual images and objects remains lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the auditory channel (text-to-speech) with a tactile channel by converting 2D images into 3D tactile representations. The system uses image processing algorithms to extract visual information and transforms it into physical forms that can be perceived through touch, thereby substituting the limitation of auditory-only access with tactile perception capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional text or image representation to three-dimensional tactile objects. By converting 2D images into 3D rendered forms that protrude from a display surface, the system adds a spatial dimension that enables visually impaired users to perceive shape, form, and structural information through touch, thus overcoming the dimensional limitation of traditional text-to-speech approaches.
2Ease of operation
If existing text-based communication tools are used, then ease of communication for visually impaired users is improved, but interaction with visual content during videoconference is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal communication interface that serves multiple functions: it displays text messages, converts text to speech, and simultaneously generates 3D tactile representations of visual content. This multi-functional system allows visually impaired users to access both textual communication and visual image information through a single integrated platform, thereby enhancing versatility while maintaining communication ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary system that acts as a bridge between visual content and visually impaired users. This intermediary consists of image processing algorithms and 3D rendering engines that translate visual information into tactile forms, enabling users to interact with visual content during videoconferences without requiring visual perception capabilities.
3Loss of information
If 2D images are displayed on screen during videoconference, then visual information is transmitted, but visually impaired users cannot perceive the images
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a tactile copy of the 2D image by generating a 3D rendered representation that replicates the visual information in a physical form. The system extracts key visual features from the 2D image and reproduces them as tactile structures, allowing users to perceive the essential information about the image content through touch rather than sight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of information transmission from optical (visual) to tactile. By converting image data into physical forms with varying heights, shapes, and textures, the system transforms the perception mechanism required by the user, enabling image understanding through changes in the physical state of the displayed information.
Data Source
AI summary
A conferencing system and method detects one or more two-dimensional (2D) images in presented 2D data and/or objects shown during a videoconference and renders them on a participant's three-dimensional (3D) tactile screen. The system includes a conferencing server that is in communication with one or more participant devices. An image recognition engine is in communication with the conferencing server and identifies the one or more 2D images. An imaging processor is in communication with the image recognition engine, and may be in communication with a camera that recognizes objects shown during the videoconference. The imaging processor creates a 3D rendering of the 2D images and/or the objects and directly or indirectly sends them to the participant's 3D tactile screen.