Design and implementation of a portable omnifont reading aid for the blind

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dc.contributor.authorAsimopoulos, Nikosen
dc.contributor.committeechairNadler, Mortonen
dc.contributor.committeememberBesieris, Ioannis M.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGray, Festus Gailen
dc.contributor.committeememberClaus, Richard O.en
dc.contributor.committeememberSmith, Eric P.en
dc.contributor.departmentElectrical Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T21:18:59Zen
dc.date.adate2005-09-16en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T21:18:59Zen
dc.date.issued1990-07-11en
dc.date.rdate2005-09-16en
dc.date.sdate2005-09-16en
dc.description.abstractThe design and implementation of a handheld scanner that can help sight-impaired or even blind users to manually scan and read text is discussed in this dissertation. A thorough investigation of all the elements involved in such a system is presented and optimal solutions are proposed. A unique velocity compensation technique based solely on optical information obtained by the scanning device is discussed and a real time segmentation technique based on topological properties (Quasi-Topological Codes) of connected segments is presented. A skew detection algorithm is discussed that can trace typed and printed text manual1y scanned with skew up to 15 degrees and can guide blind users to properly scan a document. Real time extraction of quasitopological codes for automatic text recognition and the hardware implementation is also discussed in this work. A hierarchical optical character recognition method is proposed which is based on syntactic and metric analysis of the Quasi-Topological Codes and their position in the scanned image. The proposed method can recognize characters stretched to approximately two times their original width or rotated by a few degrees. Finally, an automated iterative learning process is discussed which includes generalization of the recognition logic and dynamic adaptation of the syntactic and metric recognition rules.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.format.extentv, 129 leavesen
dc.format.mediumBTDen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.otheretd-09162005-115042en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09162005-115042/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/39385en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartLD5655.V856_1990.A855.pdfen
dc.relation.isformatofOCLC# 24956815en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectvisual impairmenten
dc.subjectQuasi-Topological Codesen
dc.subjecthandheld scannersen
dc.subject.lccLD5655.V856 1990.A855en
dc.subject.lcshBlindnessen
dc.subject.lcshReading devices for people with disabilitiesen
dc.subject.lcshReading -- Aids and devicesen
dc.titleDesign and implementation of a portable omnifont reading aid for the blinden
dc.typeDissertationen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineElectrical Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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