[accessibleimage] Re: [ENN] Tool lets blind people 'touch' graphics

Virtual 3D
This is interesting stuff Kaye, very smart very far ahead of me but let's
hope it comes to something - with so much money surely something good will
come out of it.
Nearer to home for you,  Professor Jack Loomis at the University of
California, Santa Barbara was an early researcher into Virtual Reality
(early nineties) and its possibilities along with other 3D and vibro-tactile
aids for the blind and the visually impaired. I don't know whether Jack is
still covering that sort of work. He, together with Professor Reg Golledge
(blind) of UCSB have been doing many years of research and development of
satellite linked navigation systems and shape recognition of built
environments and way finding. They also work with Professor Makino of the
University of Niigata in Japan whose Laboratory has been developing voice
linked 3D barcode systems and a range of mobility aids using telephony at
one level or another.
I would be happy to put accessible image list users in touch with these
workers.

Tactile audio publications including video
I am adding more material to the tactileaudio web site publications page and
have located a video film, made in 1988, shown at a Conference in London
attended by one of the inventors in the US patent application - it shows
prototype use by blind people of high resolution touch pads , in this case
an Edmark pad, being used as the touch surface. Another two minute grab is
from NHK News Japan 1992 clearly showing the system in use at a JETRO
exhibition of many aids. Sorry to raise the spectre of the patent
application but their paragraphs [0007] and [0016] get into some trouble as
a result of these images. They are to be submitted to US PO.

Patent application is not a private matter
The Patent application protest is not a private matter between me and a New
York company - it is a very serious and public issue that could have long
term consequences for blind people and delivery of new technology to them -
because the Patent aims only to restrict. Of itself that is not a problem,
if the product is novel and has no 'prior art' - in the case of TTT and its
application that is simply not so.

By all means make it but ...
Let me reiterate my position as clearly stated to Mr. Landau of Touch
Graphics. I would happily license (AT NO COST if necessary) my intellectual
property rights for their use, if in turn the NY company advertises in a
truthful manner not claiming novelty and acknowledges, in EVERYsale unit the
list of functions that will have been licensed. How can that be a problem
unless their sole purpose is to restrict trade. I cannot find a single
substantial novelty in their entire application  - ipso -  Blind people get
another choice - they have a right to that. The Patent application can be
supplied as pdf to anyone interested who knows our long-standing tactile
audio work - that Touch Graphics carefully claim to 'admire' - seems like
it!

Don Parkes

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ktravnicek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 8:52 AM
Subject: [accessibleimage] [ENN] Tool lets blind people 'touch' graphics


> Kaye Travnicek <ktravnicek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> has sent the following story to
you from ElectricNews.net.
>
> The story is available from
http://www.electricnews.net/news.html?code=9374943
>
> Tool lets blind people 'touch' graphics
> Friday, September 12 2003
> by Anthony Quinn
>
> A new type of computer interface, partly developed in Ireland, is to
enable blind
> people feel and hear 3D graphic environments.
>
> The technology is being developed as part of an EU funded research project
called
> GRAB (Computer Graphics Access for Blind people), and its end goal is to
create
> workspaces that will let blind and visually impaired people navigate
virtual 3D
> environments. The technology could, eventually, allow users to "feel" a
virtual
> street map or pie chart or play a 3D game -- all examples of tools already
> developed as part of the project.
>
>
> Two of the six partner organisations that developed the breakthrough
device are
> based in Ireland. The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) is
a user
> organisation that has been testing the software and hardware components.
>
> "The GRAB project is very exciting," said John Wood of the NCBI. "One of
the
> most practical uses which we have been testing is with charts and graphs.
These
> are not usually accessible to blind or visually impaired people.
Spreadsheet
> information can now be translated into 3D, so a user can feel a pie-chart
or
> graph."
>
>
> Dublin-based Haptica, meanwhile, is a GRAB project exploitation partner
that is
> currently examining the commercial aspects of the project. A spokesperson
for the
> company told ElectricNews.Net that the device is in its prototype phase
and it is
> not known when it will be commercially available. The product may first be
sold
> to public authorities so that it can be placed at people's disposal in
libraries
> and other public venues.
>
> The device itself, including the software it runs on, is called the Haptic
&
> Audio Virtual Environment (HAVE) and it consists of two mechanical arms
that are
> attached to the user's fingers on each hand over a large flat surface such
as a
> desktop.
>
> Here's how the arms work: a shape or object is loaded onto a computer
which
> relays this information to the HAVE arms so that they are aware of the
dimensions
> of the virtual object. If the object were a one-foot cube, for example,
the user
> would only be able to move his fingers to the edges of the invisible cube,
with
> the HAVE arms preventing any further movement.
>
> Importantly, elastic material like cotton or rubber can be simulated, with
the
> HAVE arms offering more resistance as the virtual object is compressed.
Even
> textures and bumps, or characteristics like stickiness and smoothness, can
be
> simulated using the technology. If the user has failed to explore all of
the
> virtual workspace, the interface will take control and guide them towards
any
> remaining surfaces or objects.
>
>
> Depending on the application, users can receive audio feedback to provide
> information about virtual objects, and information about their actual
position
> within the environment. The technology can be controlled using verbal and
> keyboard commands and can zoom in and out to explore objects whose size is
too
> big or small.
>
>
> The EU-funded EUR1.38 million GRAB project has brought together
researchers and
> experts from Ireland, Spain, UK, Italy and Germany. It is thought that the
> technology can be used for applications in disparate fields such as
architecture,
> art, aeronautics and medicine.
>
>

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