Patent Publication Number: US-2011054773-A1

Title: Electronic Blind-Navigation Device and Electronic Blind-Navigation Cane having the same

Description:
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 098129024, filed on Aug. 28, 2009. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to an electronic blind-navigation technology and, more particularly, to a low-cost electronic blind-navigation device and an electronic blind-navigation cane having the same. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     With the development of technology, more and more electronic devices are widely used in people&#39;s lives. Since the visually impaired people need more help from the society, many manufacturers devote to the development of electronic blind-navigation device so that the visually impaired people can acquire navigation information by the electronic blind-navigation device instead of the traditional blind-navigation device. 
     Generally speaking, the current electronic blind-navigation device employs a voice guided GPS (global positioning system) to provide navigation information to the visually impaired people to guide them to walk to their desired destination. However, since the voice guided GPS is merely sensitive to the positions of people, the voice guided GPS needs to be moved to a predetermined distance to detect the real traveling direction of the visually impaired people. Thus, the visually impaired people rely less on such voice guided GPS to go out. To solve the aforementioned problem, some manufacturers design an electronic blind-navigation device so called an electronic blind-navigation dog. The electronic blind-navigation dog has a built-in navigator for providing navigation information, and a complex high-order processor for processing a variety of complex signals to simulate the behavior of the traditional blind-navigation dog to guide the visually impaired people. Since the electronic blind-navigation dog needs to employ the built-in navigator and the complex high-order processor, the cost of the electronic blind-navigation dog is so much that a common visually impaired people can not afford it. In addition, the weight and the volume of the electronic blind-navigation dog are increased because the integration of system is very complex. Thus, the electronic blind-navigation dog is difficult to be commercialized. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The present invention relates to a low-cost electronic blind-navigation device. 
     The present invention further relates to an electronic blind-navigation cane corresponding to the electronic blind-navigation device. 
     The present invention provides an electronic blind-navigation device suitable for being arranged on a carrier. The electronic blind-navigation device includes an information receiving interface, a guiding interface, a direction detecting device and a processing circuit. The direction detecting device is configured for detecting a direction pointed by the carrier to obtain a pointing direction information. The processing circuit is configured for receiving the pointing direction information and receiving a navigation information supplied from a navigation device through the information receiving interface. The navigation information includes a traveling direction information. The processing circuit is further configured for determining whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions thereof are the same, the processing circuit controls the guiding interface to send out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal. 
     The present invention further provides an electronic blind-navigation cane comprising a walking cane and an electronic blind-navigation device. The electronic blind-navigation device is arranged on the walking cane. The electronic blind-navigation device is configured for detecting a direction pointed by the walking cane to obtain a pointing direction information and for receiving a navigation information supplied from a navigation device. The navigation information includes a traveling direction information. The electronic blind-navigation device is further configured for determining whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions are the same, the electronic blind-navigation device sends out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the guiding interface supplies the touch guiding signal by a needle pointer or a vibrating mode. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the information receiving interface is a wired interface or a wireless interface. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the direction detecting device is an electronic compass, a magnetic compass or a gyroscope. 
     In an exemplary embodiment, the navigation device is a GPS, a mobile phone with a navigation function or a personal digital assistant with a navigation function. In addition, the navigation device is an acoustic control navigation device. 
     In the present invention, the electronic blind-navigation device employs the direction detecting device thereof to detect the direction pointed by the carrier to obtain a pointing direction information. In addition, the said electronic blind-navigation device further employs the processing circuit thereof to determine whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions thereof are the same, the processing circuit controls the guiding interface to send out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal to prompt the visually impaired people a right traveling direction. Thus, the degree of the traveling difficulty of guiding the visually impaired people to their desired destination may be effectively reduced. 
     The electronic blind-navigation device of the present invention employs a traditional navigation device to provide a navigation information that does not include any special built-in navigation devices. Since the processing circuit in the electronic blind-navigation device just needs to process the pointing direction information and the navigation information, and need not process a variety of complex signals, the electronic blind-navigation device does not require any complex high-order processors. Therefore, the cost of the electronic blind-navigation device is low, and most of the visually impaired people can afford it. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an electronic blind-navigation device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an electronic blind-navigation cane in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     First Embodiment 
       FIG. 1  shows an electronic blind-navigation device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 1 , the label  100  represents the said electronic blind-navigation device. The electronic blind-navigation device  100  is suitable for being arranged on a carrier. For example, the electronic blind-navigation device  100  can be arranged on a stick-shaped object. The electronic blind-navigation device  100  comprises an information receiving interface  110 , a guiding interface  120 , a direction detecting device  130  and a processing circuit  140 . 
     The direction detection device  130  is configured for detecting a direction pointed by the carrier to obtain a pointing direction information. The processing circuit  140  is electrically connected to the information receiving interface  110 , the guiding interface  120  and the direction detecting device  130 . The processing circuit  140  is configured for receiving the pointing direction information from the direction detection device  130  and for receiving a navigation information supplied by the navigation device  150  through the information receiving interface  110 . Wherein, the navigation information includes a traveling routes information and a traveling direction information. In addition, the processing circuit  140  is further configured for determining whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions thereof are the same, the processing circuit  140  controls the guiding interface  120  to send out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal. For example, the guiding interface  120  may include a needle pointer, a vibrating device and a loudspeaker, so the guiding interface  120  can employ the needle pointer or the vibrating device to provide a touch guiding signal or employ the loudspeaker to generate a voice as a voice guiding signal. 
     In the embodiment, the information receiving interface  110  can be implemented by a wired interface or a wireless interface. The direction detection device  130  can be implemented by an electronic compass, a magnetic compass or a gyroscope. In addition, the navigation device  150  can be a GPS, a mobile phone with a navigation function or a PDA (personal digital assistant) with a navigation function. Preferably, the navigation device  150  can be implemented by an acoustic control navigation device, so that the visually impaired people may conveniently input commands to the navigation device  150 . For example, the visually impaired people may input a desired destination to the navigation device  150  by using voice, so as to enable the navigation device  150  to feedback a corresponding operating indication and a corresponding navigation information. 
     Thus, when the visually impaired people wiggle the carrier (such as a stick-shaped object) to the left and right, the direction detecting device  130  of the electronic blind-navigation device  100  detects the direction pointed by the carrier along the wiggle of the carrier instantly, and the direction detecting device  130  generates a corresponding pointing direction information to be processed by the processing circuit  140 . If the processing circuit  140  determines the two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information of the navigation information are the same, the processing circuit  140  controls the guiding interface  120  to send out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal to prompt the visually impaired people that the direction pointed by the carrier is the traveling direction supplied by the navigation information. Thus, the visually impaired people may move on according to the direction pointed by the carrier and need not worry about disorientation. 
     Further, the processing circuit  140  may determine whether the traveling direction of the visually impaired people have yawed according to the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information. When the traveling direction of the visually impaired people have yawed, the processing circuit  140  controls the guiding interface  120  to send out a direction yawing alarm to notify the visually impaired people. Certainly, the processing circuit  140  can also determine whether the visually impaired people are at an intersection (such as a crossroad or a T-crossing) according to the traveling routes information and the traveling direction information of the above navigation information and the pointing direction information. When the visually impaired people are at an intersection, the processing circuit  140  controls the guiding interface  120  to send an alarm to the visually impaired people. 
     Second Embodiment 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an electronic blind-navigation cane in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the electronic blind-navigation cane  200  includes a walking cane  210  and an electronic blind-navigation device  220  of the present invention. The electronic blind-navigation device  220  is arranged on the walking cane  210  for detecting the direction pointed by the walking cane  210  to obtain a pointing direction information. The electronic blind-navigation device  220  is also configured for receiving a navigation information supplied by a navigation device. The navigation information includes a traveling direction information. The electronic blind-navigation device  220  is further configured for determining whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions thereof are the same, the electronic blind-navigation device  220  sends out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal. 
     To sum up, the electronic blind-navigation device of the present invention employs the direction detecting device thereof to detect the direction pointed by the carrier to obtain a pointing direction information. In addition, the said electronic blind-navigation device further employs the processing circuit thereof to determine whether two directions supplied by the pointing direction information and the traveling direction information are the same. When the two directions thereof are the same, the processing circuit controls the guiding interface to send out at least one of a touch guiding signal and a voice guiding signal to prompt the visually impaired people a right traveling direction. Thus, the degree of the traveling difficulty of guiding the visually impaired people to their desired destination can be effectively reduced. 
     The electronic blind-navigation device of the present invention employs a traditional navigation device to provide a navigation information and does not have any special built-in navigation devices. Since the processing circuit in the electronic blind-navigation device just needs to process the pointing direction information and the navigation information and need not process a variety of complex signals, the electronic blind-navigation device does not require any complex high-order processors. Therefore, the cost of the electronic blind-navigation device is low, and most of the visually impaired people can afford it. 
     The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including configurations ways of the recessed portions and materials and/or designs of the attaching structures. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.