28 January 2008

KNFB Helping the Blind to Read Again
With a Nokia N82

We are mostly using our megapixel beast for taking the photos what is indeed their main purpose but have you ever think about adding a more functionality to the Camera part? Using it on a bit different way?

Nokia certainly did and they have filled patent about using the camera as one of the most important parts of the innovative virtual keyboard system.

Just after Nokia, knfb Reading Technology has announce the latest breakthrough in mobile phone camera usage. They have developed software which places the functionality of a reading machine into a Symbian Smartphones.

The Mobile Reader products can be activated and ready to use with the touch of a single button on the phone. The user takes a photo of the print to be read and the character recognition software in conjunction with high quality text-to-speech will read the contents of the document aloud. At the same time, it can display the print on the phone’s built-in screen and highlight each word as it is spoken.

In addition, with the use of a screen reader, the user can access the other functions of the phone device including making and receiving phone calls, personal information management such as contacts, calendar, etc. Also contains ability to run accessible GPS programs, access to Adobe PDF files, voice recorder, music player and much more.

"The knfbREADER Mobile will allow the blind unprecedented access to the printed word, affording a level of flexibility and capability never before available," said Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, in a statement. "No other device in the history of technology has provided such portability and quick access to print materials.

The NFB promotes equal opportunity for the blind, and this Reader will make blind people dramatically more independent. The result will be better performance at work, at school, at home, and everywhere else we go. This Reader will substantially improve the quality of life for the growing number of blind people and people who are losing vision, including seniors."

The Nokia phone itself costs about $500 or so. However, the software itself costs a whopping $1,595 -- in all, still a lower cost than the previous solution, and one that fits into a much slimmer form factor, as NFB spokesman Chris Danielsen noted.

"I think we're going to see really robust sales of this new one," Danielsen said in a phone interview. "The original wasn't pocket sized; it could only be placed in a briefcase. But I also think that it's going to be the functionality of the cell phone that's going to make a significant difference for early adopters."

• Reads most printed documents, from letters and memos to pages in a book
• Reads address labels and package information and instructions
• Easily recognizes U.S. currency
• Displays each sentence visually and highlights each word as it is read
• Stores thousands of pages using easily obtainable flash memory
• Transfers text files to and from computers or Braille note takers
• Adjusts reading speed to suit user’s preference.

• Operating system - Symbian S60, 3rd Ed, FP1
• Supported phone models - Nokia N82
• Supported languages - US English or UK English
• On phone free flash storage - 50 Mb required
• Flash card storage - up to 500 images per GB
• Memory - 40 Mb free RAM required
• Camera - 5 megapixel, autofocus with xenon flash required

• Training page
• Polarizers for camera and flash

• Includes printed and on-device help files. Braille available by request.

• One year from date of software activation.

• Accessibility software (Talks or MobileSpeak)
• GPS Software
• Phone cases

• Reading modes for books, articles and labels; bills and memos.
• US printed currency recognition (knfbReader only)
• Synchronized text highlighting with output speech
• Text navigation by sentence, word, character.
• User self-training page for taking pictures
• Viewfinder for live field of view
• Field of view analysis (knfbReader only)
• Import/export TXT files
• Automatic or manual saving of documents and image files
• Automatic screen rotation for portrait and landscape reading
• Save settings to and from memory card

More:
http://www.knfbreader.com/