TEXTSKIMMER: A HANDHELD READER FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

THERE IS A GREAT NEED FOR AN ECONOMICAL READING MACHINE FOR USE BY BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE. A UNIQUE DEVICE, INCORPORATING A HANDHELD SCANNER AND ASSOCIATED CHARACTER RECOGNITION LOGIC CAN ALLOW USERS TO INPUT HARDCOPY TEXT TO COMPUTER FILES FOR GENERAL USE AND THE HANDHELD SCANNER IS ROBUST ENOUGH TO BE USED EVEN BY BLIND PERSONS. THIS IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A HIGH SCANNING WINDOW (1 INCH) AND A UNIQUE PATENTED VELOCITY COMPENSATION CIRCUIT. THE HIGH SCANNING WINDOW ALSO ALLOWS AUTOMATIC FORMAT ANALYSIS, NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY OTHER MACHINE CURRENTLY. OTHER PATENTED TECHNIQUES INCORPORATED IN THIS DEVICE ENABLE THE READING OF VERY POOR QUALITY TEXT, AND IT IS INHERENTLY FONT-INSENSITIVE. THE COST OF THE MACHINE IS PROJECTED TO BE LESS THAN $2,000.