Development of Synchronized CUI and GUIfor Universal Design Tactile Graphics
Production System BPLOT3
Mamoru Fujiyoshi1 , Akio Fujiyoshi2 , Akiko Osawa1,Yusuke Kuroda3, and Yuta Sasaki3
1

National Center for University Entrance Examinations, Meguro, Tokyo{fujiyosi,ohsawa}@rd.dnc.ac.jp
2
Ibaraki University, Hitachi, Ibaraki
fujiyosi@mx.ibaraki.ac.jp
3
University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Tokyo{koktoh96,misurneo}@gmail.com

Abstract. Synchronized CUI and GUI are developed for the universal
design tactile graphics production system BPLOT3. BPLOT is the firsttactile graphics production system for the blind that enables the blindto produce tactile graphics by themselves. With the new synchronized
CUI and GUI of BPLOT3, the blind and the sighted can collaboratively
produce tactile graphics. Proofreading of tactile graphics by a blind person is necessary in order to produce elaborate tactile graphics which canbe used in textbooks or questions of entrance examinations. Because ablind person can modify tactile graphics by himself with BPLOT3, itwill be a powerful tool.
Keywords: Blind, Tactile Graphics, Universal Design, User Interface.

1Introduction

In this paper, we introduce synchronized CUI and GUI newly developed for universal design tactile graphics production system BPLOT3. BPLOT is the ﬁrst
tactile graphics production system for the blind that enables the blind to produce tactile graphics by themselves [1,2]. BPLOT produces tactile graphics froma source text ﬁle written in our specially designed plotter control language forBPLOT. Because a source ﬁle for BPLOT is a text ﬁle, it is editable with any
text editors by any person who has learned the plotter control language. Therefore, BPLOT enables not only the sighted but also the blind to produce tactile
graphics by themselves. Since BPLOT can be used only with CUI (CharacterUser Interface) and is not WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), thedevelopment of GUI (Graphical User Interface) was requested. In 2007, GUI for
BPLOT was developed, and BPLOT2 was introduced [1]. With GUI, the usability of BPLOT2 for the sighted was signiﬁcantly improved because a sighted user
does not need a detailed knowledge of the plotter control language. This time,K. Miesenberger et al. (Eds.): ICCHP 2014, Part II, LNCS 8548, pp. 18–25, 2014.
c Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Development of Synchronized CUI and GUI

19Fig. 1. Synchronized CUI and GUI of BPLOT3

a synchronized mechanism between CUI and GUI was developed, and we introduce BPLOT3 (Fig. 1). With the new synchronized CUI and GUI of BPLOT3,
the blind and the sighted can collaboratively produce tactile graphics.
Tactile graphics design applications such as BES [3] and EDEL-plus [4] havesophisticated GUI and enable the sighted to produce tactile graphics easily. However, because of the necessity for mouse operations, the blind cannot use theseapplications by themselves. Tiger Software Suite [5] can create tactile graphicsby translating graphics on computer screen into tactile graphics automatically.
Both the blind and the sighted can use it. However, it is not enough for theblind to produce elaborate tactile graphics for ﬁgures in textbooks or questionsof entrance examinations.
Some other new features are also implemented in BPLOT3.

2Outline of BPLOT3

2.1

The System

BPLOT3 runs on Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8. It works with thebraille printer ESA721 or ESA600G (JTR Corporation). In order to obtain tactile graphics of high quality, we chose ESA721 and ESA600G. They are braillegraphic printers that can produce tactile graphics with very high resolution: 73dpi (dot/inch) for ESA721 and 100 dip for ESA600G. The resolution of ordinary
braille printers is only about 20 dpi. The main program of BPLOT3 is writtenin C++, and the user interface part is written in C#.

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M. Fujiyoshi et al.

Plotter Control Language

The plotter control language of BPLOT is like a computer programming language which consists of plotter control commands. The plotter control commands
were mainly imported from ones formerly used to control vector-graphics printing devices. Each command consists of a command name and parameters. Basicﬁgures such as a circle and a straight line can be described by a single command.
For example, the horizontal axis, the vertical axis and the sine curve in Fig. 1
are described by the following three commands in the plotter control language.
xaxis x0 x1 unit pic pitch
yaxis y0 y1 unit pic pitch
sin x0 x1 y0 y1 a b px py pitch
xaxis and yaxis are command names to draw a horizontal axis and a verticalaxis, respectively. The parameters x0 and x1 (y0 and y1) specify the range of anaxis, unit means the intervals of divisions, pic indicates the length of divisions,and pitch sets the pitch of a dotted line. Likewise, sin is a command name todraw a sine curve. The parameters x0, x1, y0 and y1 specify the domain andthe range of a curve, a, b, px and py indicate the parameters of a sine curvey = a sin(b(x − px)) + py, and pitch sets the pitch of a dotted line.
We can magnify and reduce the output tactile graphics with the same senseof touch because dotted lines are drawn with the same pitch. The pitch a dottedline is speciﬁed in the parameter of a command.
The detail of the plotter control language is described in [1].
2.3

New Features of BPLOT3

Synchronized CUI and GUI. The new synchronized CUI and GUI ofBPLOT3 enables the collaboration between the blind and the sighted in production of tactile graphics. A screen shot of the synchronized CUI and GUI
is shown in Fig. 1. On the desktop, there are a text editor window, a canvas
window and a message window. When a user edits a text, the change will bereﬂected on the canvas window. Similarly, when graphics on the canvas window
is manipulated, the result will be reﬂected on the text editor window.
Tablet Input for the Blind. BPLOT3 supports tablet input for the blind.
When a tablet device is connected to a PC, we can draw a picture directlyon the canvas window of BPLOT3. See Fig. 2. This feature is very important
for the blind. By typing a shortcut key on the keyboard instead of clicking anicon on the canvas window, a blind user can change the drawing method. Whenthe tablet is touched with a stylus pen, coordinates are inputted, and both thecanvas window and the text editor window reﬂect the input. With this feature,a blind user can input a picture by tracing a draft version of tactile graphics onthe tablet. A sample of a traced picture inputted by a blind user is shown inFig. 3. The character ‘i’ consists of connected straight line segments, while theother characters are drawn as connected spline curves.

Development of Synchronized CUI and GUI

21Fig. 2. Tablet Input for the Blind

Presenting a Draft Picture as a Background Picture. On the canvas
window, a draft picture can be presented as a background picture. A sighted
user can easily trace the draft picture. A draft picture can be made with adigital camera or an image scanner.
This function enables the digitization of a large amount of tactile graphics
produced in the past. These digitized tactile graphics can be modiﬁed and reused.

3

Practical Evaluation

3.1

Usability Check by a Blind Person

In order to check whether BPLOT3 can easily be used by the blind, we askeda blind person to use BPLOT3. This person is an instructor working for a sales
and support company of computers and software for the blind. The followings
are the results:
1. BPLOT3 can be installed on Windows 7 by the blind person by himself withsome screen readers on Windows.
2. Text commands can be inputted on the text editor window.
3. Text ﬁles can be loaded to the text editor window, and the contents can beread easily.
4. Tactile graphics can be printed out with a braille printer.
5. Online help can be used. However, the person pointed out that a manual isdesired in addition to online help.

22M. Fujiyoshi et al.

Fig. 3. A Sample of Traced Picture

3.2

Production of Tactile Graphics with the Tablet Input Function
for the Blind

The usability of the table input function for the blind was checked by producing
tactile graphics of the logo of ICCHP shown in Fig. 3. The followings are thesteps to produce tactile graphics with this function.
1. Make a draft version of tactile graphics using heat sensitive capsule paper(PIAF).
2. Place the draft on a tablet device connected to a PC. See Fig. 2.
3. Type a shortcut key on the keyboard to select a drawing method and trace
the draft by touching some points with a stylus pen. To trace the character‘i’, “connected straight line segments” was selected as a drawing method
and corners of the rectangles were touched. To indicate the last point of aﬁgure, it was double-tapped. To trace the other characters, “connected splinecurves” was selected as a drawing method and some points on the characters
were sequentially touched.
4. Modify tactile graphics on the text editor window. The circle enclosing thecharacter ’i’ was ﬁrst traced as connected spline curves, and then it wasreplaced by a circle drawing command after calculating the radius and thecoordinates of the center.
3.3

Example of Practical Use

It was evidentially proved that only blind persons can produce tactile graphics
of a one-year amount of the graphs and ﬁgures in the questions of the National
Center Test for University Admissions of all subjects (mathematics, English
language, Japanese language, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, world
history, Japanese history, geography, contemporary sociology, and politics andeconomy).

Development of Synchronized CUI and GUI

23(2)
(1)

(3)

(4)

Fig. 4. (1) Venn Diagrams in Mathematics, (2) Electrolysis in Chemistry, (3) A Cylinder and Pistons with a Spring in Physics, and (4) A Map of Europe in World History

First, a draft version of tactile graphics of original ﬁgures was made using heatsensitive capsule paper by a sighted person. From the draft version, a blind person produced tactile ﬁgures with BPLOT3. The tactile graphics were proofread
by a pair of another blind person and a sighted person. In accordance with theresult of proofreading, the blind person modiﬁed the tactile ﬁgures. This proofreading and modiﬁcation process was continued three times with diﬀerent pairsof proofreaders.
Some examples of tactile ﬁgures used in the National Center Test for University Admissions are shown in Fig. 4.

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4M. Fujiyoshi et al.

Conclusion

Synchronized CUI and GUI were newly developed for the universal design tactile graphics production system BPLOT3. With the new synchronized CUI andGUI, BPLOT3 enables the blind and the sighted to produce tactile graphics collaboratively. Since proofreading of tactile graphics by a blind person is necessary
in order to produce elaborate tactile graphics which can be used in textbooks
or questions of entrance examinations, a system which enables a blind person toproofread and modify tactile graphics by himself was strongly demanded. With
the new synchronized CUI and GUI of BPLOT3, a blind person can edit tactile
graphics on the text editor window, and a sighted person can check the modiﬁed tactile graphics on the canvas window, repeatedly. We think that BPLOT3
reduce the cost of production of tactile graphics. In addition, we expect thatBPLOT3 will expand employment opportunities for the blind in education andtactile graphics production business.
Actually, BPLOT3 has been used by the blind to produce all tactile graphicsof braille format tests for the National Admission Test for Law Schools andsome tactile graphics for the National Center Test for University Admissions inJapan. Fig. 4 shows examples of tactile ﬁgures used in the National Center Test
for University Admissions in the past.
Since detailed modiﬁcation of tactile graphics is possible with BPLOT3 byadjusting numerical values in parameters of plotter control commands and thefunctions of the latest braille graphic printers can be fully used, we think thatBPLOT3 can make tactile graphics with the best quality on paper.
Recently, the development of tactile graphics displays for a PC is remarkable[6,7]. GUI is useful not only for the sighted but also for the blind. We want tooﬀer GUI to the blind so that they can make use of a tactile graphics display
with BPLOT in the near future.

References
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2. Fujiyoshi, M., Kaneko, T., Fujiyoshi, A., Oouchi, S., Yamazawa, K., Ikegami, Y.,
Watanabe, Y., Teshima, Y.: Development of Tactile Graphics Production Software
for Three-Dimensional Projections. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.,
Karshmer, A. (eds.) ICCHP 2010, Part II. LNCS, vol. 6180, pp. 541–547. Springer,Heidelberg (2010)
3. BES, http://www.ttools.co.jp/product/eyes/BES/ (in Japanese)
4. EDEL-plus, http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~ EDEL-plus/ (in Japanese)Development of Synchronized CUI and GUI

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5. Tiger Software Suite, VIEWPLUS,
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K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W.L., Karshmer, A.I. (eds.) ICCHP 2006. LNCS, vol. 4061,
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