P2RD FAQ

The questions listed below are real questions, actually asked by potential customers - many of them Optacon users - in messages sent to our email boxes.

List of questions numbered from 1 to 18.

Question 1:
What is the advantage of the reading machine over a similar system which can be assembled from standard technologies such as: a computer, scanner/page reader, reading software, speech driver, etc..? Most people already have a scanner, speech access, and some have Braille devices.

Answer:
Here is an excerpt from a letter of support written by the National Federation of the Blind:

"I am writing .. to tell you about the strong support of the National Federation of the Blind for research projects which seek to develop hand-held reading systems that will permit a blind person to aim a camera at the printed page and verbalize the text on that page using software and synthetic speech incorporated into the camera. Currently, the only print reading systems available to the blind are those which use table-top scanners connected to personal computers running some rather elaborate optical character recognition and text-to-speech software. While they have proven to be of tremendous value to the blind people who use them, these systems have one severe disadvantage--that is, they are not portable.

A Florida Corporation, C.A.Technology Inc., has received funding to conduct research in this important area. Its President, Oleg Tretiakoff has promoted and patented the concept of using a high resolution digital camera as the basis for a hand-held reading machine for the blind."

Question 2:
How large is each component and how much it weighs?

Answer:
Camera unit: about 5 x 3 x 2.5 inches, 15 oz
Can be hand held and carried using its neck-shoulder strap.

Two remote control units are available:
The first one is the Fujitsu Lifebook P1120 notebook measuring about 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches, and weighing about 2 pounds.
The second one, more expensive, is the OQO 01 pocket computer measuring about 4.9 by 3.4 by 0.9 inches and weighing about 14 ounces.

Question 3:
Can a user operate the device on batteries?

Answer:
Rechargeable, replaceable battery packs located inside the camera and the control unit.
AC adapters to recharge the battery packs, even while operating the devices.

Question 4:
Do I still have to connect the device to a computer with its own software?

Answer:
No. All software is running on processors located inside the camera and the portable or pocket computer used as remote control unit.

Question 5:
I work with scanners and am very disappointed at their accuracy of converting text.

Answer:
For any OCR recognition algorithm to work well, it needs a high quality image to begin with. Otherwise: garbage in, garbage out. This means that, for a given font size a specific minimal resolution (dots or pixels per inch) is required from the input device. The smaller the font size, the higher the resolution must be. Otherwise, the amount of information provided to the OCR software is insufficient to allow its algorithms to work properly.
When these conditions are met, today's best OCR engines error rate is well below one per cent, as shown by recent PC Magazine tests
This is why the P2RD uses a digital camera with a sensor resolution of at least 4 millions pixels, the optical (lens) resolution being even higher.

Question 6:
What languages are supported by the recognition engine?

Answer:
More than one hundred languages. The basic unit will come with one language chosen when ordering. Additional languages are available as options. The resulting text files can be converted to Braille when the corresponding language is supported by conversion software, and then sent to an external Braille display.

Question 7:
Is there a capability for handwriting recognition?

Answer:
Yes, for "hand print" in more than thirty languages. Available as options.

Question 8:
What languages are supported by the speech engine?

Answer:
English, Spanish, French and German as of October 2004. More are in the works. The basic unit will come with one language chosen when ordering. Additional languages are available as options.

Question 9:
Will this device allow reading of a computer monitor?

Answer:
Yes. An accessory, like a small tripod, will be needed to hold the camera steady in front of the monitor, due to the exposure time used to compensate for screen flicker.

Question 10:
Can I read a newspaper with this device?

Answer:
Yes, provided that you adjust the field of view to the font size to keep an adequate resolution. See answer to question 5.

Question 11:
Can I use this device to view a picture?

Answer:
The camera is a digital photographic camera which can take and store numerically the color picture of any object. At this time, optical shape recognition is in its infancy. Therefore, a speech description of shapes found in an image is not available.

When the Tactile Graphic Array will become available, the user will be able to choose the fraction of the image displayed by the tactile array, and to move the corresponding window anywhere across the picture, while guiding the motion by touch reading of the tactile array.

Question 12:
Can I use this device to view graphs on a computer screen?

Answer:
See answers to questions 11 and 9.

Question 13:
Is it possible to read labels on different-shaped containers like round medicine bottles, cereal boxes, or other packaging that has print information?

Answer:
Yes. Our experiments have shown that one can obtain a sharp picture of about one sixth of the cylindrical surface of a cylindrical object, if the camera axis is properly centered on the object.
The use of the Copy Stand is recommended for this task.

An accessory is in the works to extend the camera field of view for cylindrical objects.

Question 14:
I am very interested in this product but hesitate to purchase something I don't really know will work

Answer:
The basic camera unit and the control unit are off the shelf models provided by well known manufacturers. OCR, synthetic speech and text to Braille conversion software added to the device have also been developed by well known software vendors.

Question 15:
What (if any) is your upgrade policy?

Answer:
Software upgrades and options will be provided at a special price whenever they become available.

Question 16:
Is the Braille display a standard one or is it built into the prototype?

Answer:
It is possible to connect the device to an external Braille display via a standard USB communication port.

When the Tactile Graphic Array now under development becomes available, it will be added to the control unit as an option. Upgrade of older models will be possible. This Tactile Array, will carry dots equally spaced in rows and columns and will be able to display both Braille and graphics.

Question 17:
How many cells does the future tactile array have?
How many tactile actuators? What is the resolution?

Answer:
The tactile array to be built into the device control unit will measure at least 3.2 x 2.4 inches, with a standard dot spacing, providing at least 32 x 24 = 768 dots, each with its own actuator.

Question 18:
Is there a money back guarantee?

Answer:
The camera and the control units are third party "off the shelf" hardware. The warranty terms are set by their manufacturers. At this time (October 2004) these manufacturers do not provide money back guarantee. They will accept to exchange a defective item within about one month after the purchase. After that, they will, at their option, either repair or exchange the device under their own warranty terms.

The copy stand and the book reader warranties are provided by C.A.Technology under the same terms.

No returns are accepted for software.

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If you have questions, comments or suggestions, email us at p2rd@catechnology.net