Viewscope for the blind

Claim 2

Scene analysis apparatus for establishing tactile sensory perception by a surface of the human body, comprising, a housing adapted to be carried upon the head, an aperture in said housing giving access for light rays to a space within said housing, a rotating scanning member having a plurality of reflective focusing devices disposed about the periphery of said member, said devices comprising surfaces of a body of revolution having their generating axes equiangularly spaced about said rotational axis and intersecting said axis and being inclined thereto at progressively different angles, means to rotate said member about a normally upright axis in saiD housing at an adjustable rate, a light receptor disposed in the focal range of said focusing devices for receiving light values from scene coordinates in predetermined sequence, amplifier means responsive to said light receptor signals, a plurality of tactile sensory transducer elements corresponding in number to said scene coordinates and adapted for wear against said body surface for skin tactile sense response to said transducers, and, means to actuate said transducer elements in correspondance with the predetermined sequence in which the scene coordinates are scanned, comprising distributor means connected to said amplifier.

Claim 3

Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said focusing devices comprise like concave mirrors and wherein the points of intersection of said generating axes with respective focusing surfaces lie in plane normal to said rotational axis.

Claim 4

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said apparatus comprises head gear adapted to be worn as a crown with the rotational axis in the upright position when the head is in normally erect attitude, and said aperture opens forwardly ahead of the user when being worn.

Claim 5

Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said transducers are arranged for effecting tactile response over the forehead and temple areas of the head.

Claim 6

Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the lateral arc subtended by the scene at said rotational axis within the aperture limits corresponds approximately with the lateral arc subtended at said rotational axis when extended with respect to the array of transducer elements.

Claim 7

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the light receptor is carried to one side of said plane, and said apparatus includes positioning means for selectively moving said receptor through the range of focal positions corresponding to near and distant object images, and said positioning means includes range estimation means arranged for tactile interpretation.

Claim 8

Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein said head gear includes a pad having apertures, transducer elements retractably insertably received in said apertures, and said means to actuate said elements comprises distributor means carried by said scanning member effective to sequentially connect said elements with said amplifier means.

Claim 9

Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said transducer elements comprise moving plunger means reciprocable along respective aperture axes, biasing means displacing said plunger means into withdrawn position when said amplifier output is not connected to said element and electromagnetic means effective to actuate said plunger means to extended tactile stimulating position when said amplifier output is connected thereto.

Claim 10

Apparatus for use by a sight-impaired person for establishing image discrimination of objects in a scene having a predetermined directional relationship to the person, comprising, a support structure adapted to the carried in fitted relation to the body, said structure including a housing, an aperture in said housing opening in said predetermined direction and defining the margins of said scene, rotating scan means in said housing adapted to scan the scene in transverse strips, comprising a plurality of angularly-related mirrors each having a point focus disposed for rotation about an axis of revolution oriented at right angles to said predetermined direction, means to rotate said scan means at an adjustable rotational speed, Light receptor means adjustably located in the focal range of said mirrors for receiving elemental image areas swept over said receptor means, said receptor having amplifying means selectably controllable to provide an output related to light input, a multiplicity of electrically-actuateable tactile-response transducer elements arrayed as ranks and files and distributed over a generally-rectangular sensitive skin area of the body, said transducer elements having individual contact means disposed in fixed sectoral relation In said housing about said axis, and, distributor means carried by said rotating scan means effective to apply said amplified outputs to respective tactile transducers in correlation with the imaging of the corresponding elemental scene areas at said receptor by way of said contact means.

Claim 11

Apparatus for use by a sight-impaired person for establishing image discrimination of objects in a scene having a predetermined directional relationship to the person, comprising, a support structure adapted to the carried in fitted relation to the body, said structure including a housing, an aperture in said housing opening in said predetermined direction and defining the margins of said scene, rotating scan means in said housing adapted to scan the scene in transverse strips, comprising a plurality of angularly-related mirrors each having a point focus disposed for rotation about an axis of revolution oriented at right angles to said predetermined direction, means to rotate said scan means at an adjustable rotational speed, Light receptor means adjustably located in the focal range of said mirrors for receiving elemental image areas swept over said receptor means, said receptor having amplifying means selectably controllable to provide an output related to light input, a multiplicity of electrically-actuateable tactile-response transducer elements arrayed as ranks and files and distributed over a generally-rectangular sensitive skin area of the body, said transducer elements having individual contact means disposed in fixed sectoral relation In said housing about said axis, and, distributor means carried by said rotating scan means effective to apply said amplified outputs to respective tactile transducers in correlation with the imaging of the corresponding elemental scene areas at said receptor by way of said contact means.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the direction is forward and near the horizontal plane, and said axis of rotation is upright.

Claim 13

The apparatus claimed in claim 10 wherein said support structure is head band including extensions adapted to carry said array of tactile transducers arranged over the forehead and temple area, and said rotational axis is generally centered in the head.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said rotating scan means comprises an array of integral concave mirrors formed as depressions in a cylindrical shell body, and said distributor means comprises a conducting brush arranged to make connection in turn with said individual contact means.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said means to rotate said scan means comprises an electric motor mounted on said support structure within said housing, and further comprises rheostat means for varying the motor current to vary the speed of rotation.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the amplifying means provides alternative dark-response and light-response output signals when said receptor is illuminated.

Claim 17

Apparatus for use by a sight-impaired person to establish touch-image personal orientation with respect to objects throughout a zone having predetermined lateral angular span and a predetermined vertical angular span including a foreground, comprising the combination of : a head support structure; a multiplicity of tactile response transducer elements distributed in rank and file pattern over the forehead area and having a lateral extent equivalent to the said predeter mined lateral angular span with respect to an upright axis in the head of the person; an aperture in said support structure opening forwardly of said axis and having a generally rectangular outline and subtending at said axis a scene having a corresponding lateral angular span; a light receptor within said structure; moving imaging means adapted for sequentially exciting said receptor with light received through said aperture from successive elemental areas of said scene and reflected by said moving imaging means; and means effective to selectably energize corresponding tactile response transducer elements according to the relative light intensity detected, whereby to provide a rank by rank touch response stimulus of corresponding elements of the forehead area, in representation of a righted camera obscura image of the scene.

Claim 18

Apparatus for use by a sight-impaired person to establish touch-image personal orientation with respect to objects throughout a zone having predetermined lateral angular span and a predetermined vertical angular span including a foreground, comprising the combination of : a head support structure; a multiplicity of tactile response transducer elements distributed in rank and file pattern over the forehead area and having a lateral extent equivalent to the said predeter mined lateral angular span with respect to an upright axis in the head of the person; an aperture in said support structure opening forwardly of said axis and having a generally rectangular outline and subtending at said axis a scene having a corresponding lateral angular span; a light receptor within said structure; moving imaging means adapted for sequentially exciting said receptor with light received through said aperture from successive elemental areas of said scene and reflected by said moving imaging means; and means effective to selectably energize corresponding tactile response transducer elements according to the relative light intensity detected, whereby to provide a rank by rank touch response stimulus of corresponding elements of the forehead area, in representation of a righted camera obscura image of the scene.