MULTIPLE-CHARACTER REFRESHABLE BRAILLE X-Y SCANNER

COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE ELECTRONIC BRAILLE OUTPUT DEVICES FORPERSONAL COMPUTER USERS ARE GENERALLY LIMITED TO A SINGLE LINE OF 20 CHARACTERS. SUCH DEVICES ARE OF LIMITED UTILITY IN PROCESSING DOCUMENTS IN WHICH CONTENT IS RELATED TO FORMAT. A FULL-PAGE DISPLAY IS DESIRABLE, AND EFFORTS ARE UNDER WAY TO PRODUCE FULL-PAGE-FORMAT DISPLAYS OF MULTIPLE ROWS AND COLUMNS WHICH PROVIDE INFORMATION COMPARABLE TO THAT ON A VISUAL SCREEN. THESE FULL-PAGE DEVICES CONTAIN MANY MOVING PARTS AND MAY BE RELATIVELY EXPENSIVE TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN. A COMPROMISE DEVICE IS PROPOSED THAT CONTAINS A LINE OF 40 REFRESHABLE BRAILLE CELLS THAT CAN BE MOVED IN THE Y COORDINATE. THE PROPRIOCEPTIVE SENSE OF ARM POSITION IS COMBINED WITH TACTILE SENSE FOR CHARACTER DETECTION. FINGERMOTION ALONG THE DISPLAY WILL PROVIDE TACTILE INPUT SIMILAR TO THAT OF AN EMBOSSED PAGE. THE DISPLAY WILL PROVIDE A "FEEL" SIMILAR TO A TRUE PAGE-FORMAT DISPLAY AT A FRACTION OF THE COST. EXISTING BRAILLE CELLS WILL BE INCORPORATED IN A COMPUTER-INTERFACED PROTOTYPE X-Y DISPLAY FOR TESTING THE CONCEPT. EMPHASIS WILL BE PLACED ON EVALUATION BY QUALIFIED BRAILLE USERS SO THAT A USEFUL PRODUCT WILL EVOLVE FROM THE RESEARCH.