A DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA FOR LOW-VISION AIDS

A PROTOTYPE OF A NEW TYPE OF CAMERA WILL BE CONSTRUCTED FOR USE IN COMPUTER-BASED LOW-VISION AIDS. THE CAMERA WILL BE CAPABLE OF CLEARLY IMAGING BOOKS AND CURVED OBJECTS WITH NO PATIENT ADJUSTMENT REQUIRED FOR FOCUS, ILLUMINATION, OR CONTRAST. IMAGES WILL BE DIGITALLY ENHANCED IN BOTH LOW RESOLUTION REAL-TIME MODE AND HIGHER RESOLUTION CAPTURE MODE. THESE CAPABILITIES WILL ENABLE THE DIGITAL CAMERA TO REPLACE BOTH TELEVISION CAMERAS AND IMAGE SCANNERS IN ELECTRONIC MAGNIFIER AND READING MACHINES APPLICATIONS, COMBINING THE ADVANTAGES OF CCTV-LIKE OVERHEAD VIEWING AND REAL-TIME IMAGING WITH THE ACCURACY AND RESOLUTION OF DIGITAL SCANNERS, AT COST COMPARABLE TO EXISTING LOW-END COMMERCIAL SCANNERS AND IN A TRANSPORTABLE PACKAGE.