Abstract:
An optical blind-guide apparatus for detecting an object is provided. The optical blind-guide apparatus includes an illuminant module illuminating the object to form a reflection light from the object; a sensor sensing the reflection light to generate a digital message; a system module receiving and processing the digital message to obtain a blind-guide information; and an output device coupled with the system module and outputting the blind-guide information.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a blind-guide apparatus, and more particularly to an optical blind-guide apparatus and the method thereof. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Recently, with progress of the technology and high development of the culture, development of everything is toward user friendly and convenient direction. However for the blind, complete blind-guide facilities will contribute largely to convenience of the blind&#39;s action. The method for helping the blind to act without obstacles is not beyond the scope of warning the blind by blind-guide facilities, for example, providing warning voice at traffic lights or in the elevator, or setting up blind-guide bricks on the sidewalk. However, all these blind-guide facilities are not enough and cause inconvenience for the blind. Other methods such as eye cornea surgery and setting up electronic eyes to help the blind rebuild the vision are expensive, and for the present technology, electronic eyes can only let the blind see light-spots and simple geometric figures. Therefore, auxiliary tools of blind-guide become indispensable tools for leading the blind. 
         [0003]    Auxiliary tools use various principles. For example, Taiwan Patent No. 324163 discloses a blind-guide walking stick whose principle is similar to the principle of detecting obstacles when bats fly. First, the blind-guide walking stick emits ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic waves are reflected by obstacles to form reflection waves. The bat senses the time interval between emitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves to estimate the distance between the obstacles and the bat itself, and the blind-guide walking stick can estimate the distance between the object and the blind user. Finally, the blind user is notified of the distance in voice. 
         [0004]    Taiwan Patent Application No. 095127251 discloses an electronic blind-guide device, which uses GPS collocated with the electronic map to tell the blind where he is in voice. Besides, the mentioned electronic blind-guide device can also detect the obstacles around the blind and send out warning, and has the function of recording the environmental image. 
         [0005]    However, the method of detecting obstacles in the prior art is not accurate enough. In order to overcome the drawbacks in the prior art, an optical blind-guide apparatus and the method thereof are provided. The particular design in the present invention not only solves the problems described above, but also is easy to be implemented. Thus, the present invention has the utility for the industry. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an optical blind-guide apparatus which can detect the distance between the obstacles and the blind user, and estimate the sizes of the obstacles more exactly is provided. 
         [0007]    In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an optical blind-guide apparatus for detecting an object is provided. The optical blind-guide apparatus comprises an illuminant module, a sensor, a system module, and an output device. The illuminant module illuminates the object to form a reflection light from the object. The sensor senses the reflection light to generate a digital message. The system module receives and processes the digital message to obtain a blind-guide information. The output device is coupled with the system module and outputs the blind-guide information. 
         [0008]    Preferably, the system module obtains information of a distance between the object and the optical blind-guide apparatus by the digital message and a distance calculation, and the output device provides a user with the information of the distance. 
         [0009]    Preferably, the distance calculation is one selected from a group consisting of a phase method, a time-of-flight method and a triangulation. 
         [0010]    Preferably, the illuminant module generates a beam having various wavelengths and comprises a horizontal cylindrical lens and a vertical cylindrical lens, the horizontal cylindrical lens disperses the beam into a vertical fan-shaped beam, and the vertical cylindrical lens disperses the beam into a horizontal fan-shaped beam. 
         [0011]    Preferably, the reflection light comprises a first part having a first wavelength between 700 and 1200 nm and a second part having a second wavelength different from the first wavelength, and the filter makes the first part pass through and filters out the second part. 
         [0012]    Preferably, the sensor comprises an image sensor, which is one of a CCD and a CMOS image sensors. 
         [0013]    Preferably, the optical blind-guide apparatus further comprises a storage device for saving a data generated from the system module. 
         [0014]    Preferably, the data is a compressed data. 
         [0015]    Preferably, the optical blind-guide apparatus further comprises an interface for coupling the optical blind-guide apparatus to an outside device, and transmitting the data to the outside device via the interface. 
         [0016]    Preferably, the outside device is a communication device. 
         [0017]    In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, an optical blind-guide apparatus is provided. The optical blind-guide apparatus comprises a sensor and a system module. The sensor receives a reflection light from an object to generate a message. The system module receives and processes the message to obtain a blind-guide information. 
         [0018]    Preferably, the optical blind-guide apparatus further comprises a laser beam module for generating a laser beam to illuminate the object and obtain the reflection light, wherein the message is a digital message, and the laser beam module comprises a horizontal cylindrical lens and a vertical cylindrical lens, the horizontal cylindrical lens disperses the laser beam into a vertical fan-shaped laser beam, and the vertical cylindrical lens disperses the laser beam into a horizontal fan-shaped laser beam. 
         [0019]    Preferably, the laser beam module generates the laser beam per a time interval to reduce power consumption of the laser beam module, and the time interval is in a range of 1/15 to 1/60 second. 
         [0020]    Preferably, the optical blind-guide apparatus further comprises an output device coupled to the system module and outputting the blind-guide information, and a storage device for saving a data generated from the system module. 
         [0021]    Preferably, the optical blind-guide apparatus further comprises an interface for coupling the optical blind-guide apparatus to an outside device and transmitting the data to the outside device via the interface. 
         [0022]    In accordance with further another aspect of the present invention, a method for operating an optical blind-guide apparatus is provided. T he method includes steps of (a) receiving a reflection light from an object, (b) converting the reflection light to a message, and (c) obtaining a blind-guide information based on the message. 
         [0023]    Preferably, the step (a) further comprises a sub-step of generating a beam for illuminating the object to form the reflection light. 
         [0024]    Preferably, the beam is an infrared laser beam. 
         [0025]    Preferably, the step (b) further comprises a sub-step of detecting a distance between the object and the optical blind-guide apparatus based on the message and a distance calculation, which is one selected from a group consisting of a phase method, a time-of-flight method and a triangulation. 
         [0026]    Preferably, the method further comprises a step (c) of providing a user with the blind-guide information in a voice. 
         [0027]    The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed descriptions and accompanying drawings, in which: 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0028]      FIG. 1  shows the diagram of the blind-guide system; 
           [0029]      FIG. 2(   a ) shows the diagram of the vertical infrared rays emitted from the optical blind-guide apparatus; 
           [0030]      FIG. 2(   b ) shows the diagram of the horizontal infrared rays emitted from the optical blind-guide apparatus; 
           [0031]      FIG. 3(   a ) shows the diagram of measuring the object&#39;s height by triangulation in the system module; 
           [0032]      FIG. 3(   b ) shows the diagram of detecting the object&#39;s location by triangulation in the system module; 
           [0033]      FIG. 4  shows the diagram of the optical blind-guide apparatus with a strap according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0034]      FIG. 5  shows a user who wears the optical blind-guide apparatus; and 
           [0035]      FIG. 6  shows the diagram of the distance and size calculation of the obstacle by the horizontal line-shaped laser beam in the system module. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0036]    The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purposes of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. 
         [0037]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which shows the diagram of the blind-guide system. The blind-guide system  50  comprises an optical blind-guide apparatus  10 , an object  20 , a communication device  30 , a base station  60 , a telecommunication company  70 , and a service center  80 . The optical blind-guide apparatus  10  is coupled with an outside device  30  which is a communication device. The communication device sends image data Im_Data to the telecommunication company  70  via the base station  60 , and then the telecommunication company  70  sends image data Im_Data to the service center  80 . The optical blind-guide apparatus  10  is used for detecting the object  20 . The optical blind-guide apparatus  10  comprises an illuminant module  115 , an image sensor device  116 , a system module  113 , a compressed chip  110 , an SD memory card  111 , an SDRAM memory  112 , a mini USB interface  114 , and an audio device  103 . The illuminant module  115  comprises two laser-driven circuits  109 , two laser diodes  108 , two collimated lenses  105 , a vertical cylindrical lens  106 , and a horizontal cylindrical lens  104 . The image sensing device  116  comprises a filter turntable  102 , lens  100  and an image sensor  101 . The image sensor  101  could be a CCD or a CMOS image sensor. The filter turntable  102  can chose to filter or not to filter the visible light. Filtering the visible light can reduce quantity of data to facilitate the processing of the system module  113 . The system module  113  could be a single chip, a system on chip, or a built-in system. 
         [0038]    The image sensing device  116  receives a first vertical infrared reflection FOV 1  and a second vertical infrared reflection FOV 2 . When the object  20  is at Q point, the image sensing device  116  receives a first reflection reft 1 , and when the object  20  moves to A point, the image sensing device  116  receives a second reflection reft 2 . The image sensing device  116  generates a digital message D_Signal in response to the first vertical infrared reflection FOV 1 , the second vertical infrared reflection FOV 2 , the first reflection reft 1  and the second reflection reft 2 . The system module  113  receives the digital message D_Signal, and uses the digital message D_Signal and a triangulation to obtain a first distance D 1  and/or a second distance D 2  between the object  20  and the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 , and/or obtain the size of the object  20 . The audio device  103  is coupled with the system module  113 , and the system module  113  enables the audio device  103  to remind the user of road condition in voice. 
         [0039]    Please refer to  FIG. 2(   a ), which shows the diagram of the vertical infrared rays emitted from the optical blind-guide apparatus. The laser-driven circuit  109  is coupled with the laser diode  108 , and enables the laser diode  108  to emit the infrared laser beam  1050 . Then, the infrared laser beam  1050  passes through the horizontal cylindrical lens  104  to form a vertical infrared ray  1040 . Please refer to  FIG. 2(   b ), which shows the diagram of the horizontal infrared rays emitted from the optical blind-guide apparatus. The laser-driven circuit  109  is coupled with the laser diode  108 , and enables the laser diode  108  to emit infrared laser beam  1050 . Then, the infrared laser beam  1050  passes through the vertical cylindrical lens  106  to form a horizontal infrared ray  1060 . 
         [0040]    The illuminant module  115  emits the infrared laser beam  1050  per a time interval to reduce power consumption thereof, wherein the time interval is in a range of 1/15 to 1/60 second. The wavelength of the infrared laser beam  1050  is 700 to 1200 nm, and the wavelength of the infrared laser beam  1050  emitted from the laser diode  108  is 808 nm, but they are not limited to the mentioned ranges. As long as the light can be reflected back after contacting the object  20  and then received by the image sensing device  116 , it can serve as the light to be emitted. 
         [0041]    Please refer to  FIG. 3(   a ), which shows the diagram of measuring the object&#39;s height by triangulation in the system module. As long as the height and width of the object  20  can be obtained, the size thereof can be estimated. Firstly, how to calculate the height of the object  20  is described, and the width of the object  20  is calculated by the same way. Following is a preferred embodiment of measuring the size of the object  20 . Take measuring the height of the object  20  by the vertical infrared ray  1040  as the example. In  FIG. 1 , the range formed by the first vertical infrared reflection FOV 1  and the second vertical infrared reflection FOV 2  covers the height of the object  20 , as shown in  FIG. 3(   a ). 
         [0042]    in  FIG. 3(   a ), R represents the distance from the central point L of the filter turntable  102  to the central point M of the horizontal cylindrical  104 , the first distance D 1  represents the distance from M point in the horizontal cylindrical lens  104  to Q point at which the object  20  is, and f represents the distance from the central point L of the lens  100  to J point in the image sensor  101 . The bottom of the object  20  locates at Q point, and forms image at I point in the image sensor  101 . The top of the object  20  locates at P point, and forms image at K 1  point in the image sensor  101 . 
         [0043]    In  FIG. 3(   a ), X represents the distance from I point to J point, and Y represents the distance from I point to K 1  point. The line formed by J point and L point is perpendicular to that formed by J point and I point, and the line formed by N point and P point is perpendicular to that formed by N point and L point. Two similar groups of perpendicular triangles can be seen in  FIG. 3(   a ). The first group includes perpendicular triangles I-J-L and L-M-Q, and the second group includes perpendicular triangles K 1 -J-L and L-N-P. The first distance D 1  can be obtained by sensing X, and the height Z of the object  20  can be obtained by sensing X and Y. X can be obtained by sensing the location of the second vertical infrared reflection FOV 2  in the image sensor  101  via the image sensor  101 , and Y can be obtained by sensing the location of the first vertical infrared reflection FOV 1  in the image sensor  101  via the image sensor  101 . 
         [0044]    The method of calculating the first distance D 1  is described as follows. Because the perpendicular triangle I-J-L is similar to the perpendicular triangle L-M-Q, a first equation X/f=R/D 1  can be obtained therefrom. As R and f are known constants and X is a known sensing value, the first distance D 1 =(R*f)*(1/X) can be obtained from the first equation. 
         [0045]    The method of calculating the height Z of the object  20  is described as follows. Because the perpendicular triangle K 1 -J-L is similar to the perpendicular triangle L-N-P, a second equation (X−Y)/f=(R−Z)/D 1  can be obtained therefrom. As the first distance D 1  has been calculated by the first equation, D 1 =(R*f)*(1/X), the second equation is substituted by the first distance D 1  and simplified, so that the height Z of the object  20  is obtained as R*(Y/X). 
         [0046]    Please refer to  FIG. 3(   b ), which shows the diagram of detecting the object&#39;s location by triangulation in the system module. In  FIG. 3(   b ), reft 1  represents the first reflection, reft 2  represents the second reflection, R represents the distance from the central point L of the lens  100  to the central point M of the horizontal cylindrical lens  104 , the first distance D 1  represents the distance from M point in the horizontal cylindrical lens  104  to Q point at which the object  20  is, the second distance D 2  represents the distance from M point in the horizontal cylindrical lens  104  to A point at which the object  20  is, and f represents the distance from the central point L of the lens  100  to J point in the image sensor  101 . The object  20  locates at Q point, and forms image at I point in the image sensor  101 . The object  20  moves to A point, and forms image at K 2  point in the image sensor  101 . 
         [0047]    In  FIG. 3(   b ), X 1  represents the distance from I point to J point, and X 2  represents the distance from I point to K 2  point. X 1  is the same as X in  FIG. 3(   a ). The line formed by J point and L point is perpendicular to that formed by J point and I point. Two similar groups of perpendicular triangles can be seen in  FIG. 3(   b ). The first group includes perpendicular triangles I-J-L and L-M-Q, and the second group includes perpendicular triangles K 2 -J-L and L-M-A. The first distance D 1  can be obtained by sensing X 1 , and the second distance D 2  can be obtained by sensing X 1  and X 2 . X 1  can be obtained by sensing the location of the first reflection reft 1  in the image sensor  101  via the image sensor  101 , and X 2  can be obtained by sensing the location of the second reflection reft 2  in the image sensor  101  via the image sensor  101 . 
         [0048]    The method of calculating the first distance D 1  is described as follows. Because the perpendicular triangle I-J-L is similar to the perpendicular triangle L-M-Q, a third equation X 1 /f=R/D 1  can be obtained therefrom. As R and f are known constants and X 1  is a known sensing value, the first distance D 1 =(R*f)*(1/X 1 ) can be obtained from the third equation. 
         [0049]    The method of calculating the second distance D 2  is described as follows. Because the perpendicular triangle K 2 -J-L is similar to the perpendicular triangle L-M-A, a forth equation (X 1 −X 2 )/f=R/D 2  can be obtained therefrom. As R and f are known constants and X 1  and X 2  are known sensing values, the second distance D 2 =(R*f)*(X 1 −X 2 ) can be obtained from the forth equation. 
         [0050]    The time when the object  20  moves from Q point to A point is equal to the time when the object  20  forms image from I point to K 2  point, which can be estimated by the system module  113 . Thus, the speed that the object  20  moves from Q point to A point can be obtained. 
         [0051]    Methods of optical distance calculation include the time-of-flight method, the phase method and the triangulation. The time-of-flight method uses the time difference between the emitted light and the reflection to calculate the distance between the observer and the obstacle, and is quite useful for far distance calculation. The phase method uses the phase difference between the emitted light and the reflection to calculate the distance between the observer and the obstacle, and is quite useful for short distance calculation. The above-mentioned methods of optical distance calculation are prior arts, so they will not be described in detail here. 
         [0052]    In  FIG. 1 , the image sensing device  116  has the functions of converting the light signal to the electronic signal and converting the analog electronic signal to the digital electronic signal (A/D conversion). The image sensor  101  converts the light signal to the digital message D_Signal after sensing the light signal. The system module  113  uses the digital message D_Signal and triangulation to obtain the distance between the object  20  and the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 , and enables the audio device  103  to remind the user of road condition in voice. For example, in  FIG. 3(   b ), when the object  20  is near or distant from the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 , the system  113  can obtain the first distance D 1  and/or the second distance D 2 , and enable the audio device  103  to send out speech sounds to notify the user of the distance between the object  20  and the user. 
         [0053]    In general conditions, the above-mentioned method can achieve the goal of guiding the user. However, when exceptional conditions are met, the user can choose to notify service personnel for assistance. At this time, the filter turntable  102  can choose not to filter the visible light, and the digital message D_Signal is compressed by the compression chip  110  to form the image data Im_Data, which can be saved in the SD memory card  111  and/or sent to external devices. For example, the external device can be a  3 G communication device  30  which preferably can send the voice and image data. In  FIG. 1 , the image data Im_Data are sent to the communication device  30  through the mini USB interface  114 , and then the communication device  30  sends the image data to the service center  80  through the base station  60  and the telecommunication company  70 . This enables the service center  80  to oversee the image of the environment at which the user locates immediately, and guide the user based thereon. 
         [0054]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which shows the diagram of the optical blind-guide apparatus with a strap according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The optical blind-guide apparatus with a strap  40  includes the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 , a fixing strap  401  and an adjusting apparatus  402 . The adjusting apparatus  402  can adjust the angle of the optical blind-guide apparatus  10  to be upward or downward to enable the horizontal infrared  1060  and/or the vertical infrared  1040  to scan obstacles of different heights and/or different distances. 
         [0055]    Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which shows a user who wears the optical blind-guide apparatus. The user can put the optical blind-guide apparatus  10  before his chest or forehead, adjust the height of the strap according to his demand, and use the fixing strap  401  to bind tightly to help fixing. Hence, the obstacles can be detected when the user walks forward. 
         [0056]    Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which shows the diagram of distance calculation by the horizontal line-shaped laser beam in the system module. After a horizontal line-shaped laser beam  601  is illuminated on a dummy, the originally continuous horizontal line-shaped laser beam  601  appearing not continuous at the join of the dummy and the background can be observed. This condition is because the distance between the background and the observer is different from that between the dummy and the observer. The principle and distance calculation of this condition have been illustrated in  FIGS. 3(   a ) and  3 ( b ). 
         [0057]    Generally speaking, the operation method of the optical blind-guide apparatus includes the following steps. Firstly, the illuminant module  115  provides at least one infrared laser beam  1050 . Secondly, the object  20  reflects the at least one infrared laser beam  1050  to form a reflection, which is the first vertical infrared reflection FOV 1 , the second vertical infrared reflection FOV 2 , the first reflection reft 1  and the second reflection reft 2 . Thirdly, the image sensor  101  senses the reflection and converts it to a digital message D_Signal. Fourthly, the system module  113  uses the digital message D_Signal and triangulation to obtain the distance between the object  20  and the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 . Fifthly, the system module  113  enables the audio device  103  to notify the user in voice according to the distance between the object  20  and the optical blind-guide apparatus  10 . 
         [0058]    In exceptional conditions, the operation method of the optical blind-guide apparatus  10  includes the following steps. Firstly, the optical blind-guide apparatus  10  provides a real-time image. Secondly, the optical blind-guide apparatus  10  uses the mini USB interface  114  to send the real-time image to the communication device  30 . Thirdly, according to the real-time image, the service personnel instruct the user through the communication device  30 . 
         [0059]    While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.