Did You Know...
...Chester Carlson was a patent agent who tired of having to make multiple copies of patent applications using the only duplication method available at the time: carbon paper. In 1959 he came up with a new copying system and took it to IBM for evaluation. The "experts" at IBM determined potential sales to be only 5,000 units because people wouldn't want to use a bulky machine when they had carbon paper. Carlson's invention was the xerography process, the company founded on the system is Xerox.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180114 | Gesture recognition interface system with vertical display One embodiment of the invention includes a gesture recognition interface system. The system may comprise a substantially vertical surface configured to define a gesture recognition environment based on physical space in a foreground of the substantially vertical sur... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8150107 | Gesture processing with low resolution images with high resolution processing for optical character recognition for a reading machine A portable reading machine that operates in several modes and performs image preprocessing to prior to optical character recognition. The portable reading machine receives a low resolution image and a high resolution image of a scene and processing the low resolutio... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8068644 | System for seeing using auditory feedback The invention is a system whereby a video image can be converted into an audio signal. A portable apparatus is described which allows a visually blind person to hear the images and thus ‘see’. This does not require expensive equipment nor does it require surgery... | 11/29/2011 |
| 7925142 | Apparatus for presenting information and method thereof An information presenting apparatus, based on display status on a screen, estimates text blocks that a user is likely to classify as poor-legibility blocks and is likely to wish to be read aloud. A simple device that allows selecting from the text blocks is provided... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7840033 | Text stitching from multiple images A reading machine has processing for detecting common text between a pair of individual images. The reading machine combines the text from the pair of images into a file or data structure if common text is detected, and determines if incomplete text phrases are pres... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7835545 | System and method for providing a visual language for non-reading sighted persons A method and system for supporting and augmenting a non-reading sighted person's capabilities to interact with her environment using visual language hieroglyphics and computer sensory perception. This invention provides navigational support by displaying orientation... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7627142 | Gesture processing with low resolution images with high resolution processing for optical character recognition for a reading machine A portable reading machine that operates in several modes and performs image preprocessing to prior to optical character recognition. The portable reading machine receives a low resolution image and a high resolution image of a scene and processing the low resolutio... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7437671 | Computer system control with user data via interface and sensor with identifier A method and system for enabling user interaction with computer software running in a computer system. The user is provided with an interface surface containing information relating to the computer software and including coded data indicative of at least one interac... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7412651 | Computer system interface surface with reference points and sensor with identifier A method and system for enabling user interaction with computer software running in a computer system. A user is provided with an interface surface containing information relating to the computer software and including coded data indicative of an identity of the int... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7400748 | Method for assisting visually impaired users of a scanning device A method for assisting a visually impaired person with a document job. The method includes scanning a document that includes at least one sheet, detecting at least one characteristic of the scanned document, and providing a signal identifying the at least one charac... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7325735 | Directed reading mode for portable reading machine A method of operating a reading machine includes receiving an image and receiving an user-initiated command. The reading machine interprets the command to determine the portion of the image to process. ... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7318195 | System and method for integrating tactile language with the visual alphanumeric characters A mapping system that integrates tactile language (specifically level 1 Braille) with the visual alphanumeric alphabet. A unified tacto-visual form of communication and recording is created. Alphanumeric characters present simultaneous direct relationships between t... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7318033 | Method, apparatus and program for recognizing, extracting, and speech synthesizing strings from documents Even when a copying machine with a voice guidance function is used, a problem of wastefully copying wrong documents or documents with missing pages remains unsolved for visually impaired persons. To this end, a document image is read, character strings on the read d... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7310605 | Method and apparatus to transliterate text using a portable device A method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a method in a portable device for transliterating text. An image of the text is generated using a camera function in the portable device. The image is sent with an identification of a source language and a target la... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7304648 | Generating one or more linear blends A method (1005) generates one or more linear blends. Initially, the method has a list of already received one or more fill-paths defining a current linear blend, and a newly received fill-path, where the fill-paths each comprise a single colored parallelogram... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7287984 | System and method for providing a visual language for non-reading sighted persons A method and system for communicating to sighted persons who cannot read a standard alphanumeric text, the informational content of that text includes an alphanumeric text is converted to a machine-readable set of informationally corresponding data, and then scanned... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7284700 | Advanced voting system and method In one embodiment, an advanced voting system includes one or more computing devices operable to receive instructions from a voter to adjust a color of a screen of a computing device. The color adjustment instructions are indicated by the voter's selection of non-ded... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7281208 | Image stitching methods and systems In one embodiment, image data that corresponds to a single image, received through multiple DDI calls, is analyzed and merged or otherwise combined into a single image element. This single image element can then be processed, as by being serialized into XAML, so tha... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7272785 | Data editing for improving readability of a display Provides ability to analyze the readability of an image to be displayed on a screen as a web page, etc., and appropriately modify the image. It includes a rendering section for generating an image by rendering an HTML document; an image processing section for perfor... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7260738 | System and method for splitting an image across multiple computer readable media A software tool and method in which a source image is split into and spans across two or more image pieces having a data structure which fits onto a computer readable medium having an available storage capacity which is smaller than the size of the source image. Als... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7254270 | System and method for bounding and classifying regions within a graphical image A region bounding and classifying system utilizes memory and logic. The memory stores a set of image data that defines a graphical image. The logic is configured to identify a plurality of regions of different data types within the image and to bound each of the plu... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7239747 | Method and system for locating position in printed texts and delivering multimedia information Apparatus and methods are disclosed for processing printed material to provide an index of locations within the printed material that can be associated with external actions such as displaying a graphical image, providing an audio or video output, or providing a mul... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7231066 | System and method for interpretation of visual information In a system (10) and a method for interpreting visual information and transmitting it to a human being through tactile influence of sensorial organs in its body, the system has a sensor module (12) capturing visual information; a control module (14 | 06/12/2007 |
| 7230538 | Apparatus and method for identifying surrounding environment by means of image processing and for outputting the results The present invention relates to an apparatus for identifying surrounding environment by means of image processing, so as to be used by blind people or unmanned vehicles. The said apparatus comprises an input device, which includes at least one CCD or CMOS means for... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7200560 | Portable reading device with display capability A hand held device that captures information with the capability to read only the captured information, display only the captured information, or simultaneously read and display the captured information. The device includes text-to-voice technology, a flat-panel dis... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7174295 | User interface for text to speech conversion An electronic device which includes a user interface having a display for displaying text and a speech synthesiser including a loudspeaker, arranged to convert an input, dependent upon a text, to an audio output representative of a person reading the text. The devic... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7174031 | Methods for using wireless phones having optical capabilities A wireless phone is equipped with a 2D optical sensor, enabling a variety of applications. For example, such a phone may also be provided with a digital watermark decoder, permitting decoding of steganographic data on imaged objects. Movement of a phone may be infer... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7162098 | System and method for increasing temporal and spatial capacity of systems that amplitude quantize data prior to processing A system and method for collecting relatively high resolution amplitude data with a conventional sensing device from a signal source that is sampled at a relatively low characteristic scan resolution, and then generating relatively high scan resolution, relatively l... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7151535 | Contrast adjusting circuitry and video display apparatus using same With the aim of offering a video display technique by which stable and high contrast video images are reproduced, contrast adjusting circuitry is constructed. The contrast adjusting circuitry detects a maximum picture level (MPL) and an average picture level (APL) o... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7148879 | Bioacoustic control system, method and apparatus Bioacoustic sensors and wireless technologies are used for the control of electronic devices, such as a wireless telephones, pagers, music/media players or personal, laptops and personal digital assistant devices (PDA). Such control is implemented with certain syste... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7142724 | Apparatus and method to enhance a contrast using histogram matching An apparatus and method to enhance a contrast includes a first operation part, a second operation part, and a mapping part. The first operation part calculates an average and a standard deviation of an input image. The second operation part calculates an average and... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7107429 | Data access in a processor A data processor comprising: a register memory comprising an array of memory cells, each cell being addressable by means of an instruction specifying a pair of coordinates that identify the cell in the array. ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7050446 | Communication control device and method A communication control device includes a determination circuit for determining whether reception of an asynchronous packet from an IEEE 1394 serial bus is allowed or denied by comparing the sum of the size of the asynchronous packet to be received and the size of p... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7051096 | System and method for providing global self-service financial transaction terminals with worldwide web content, centralized management, and local and remote administration A method and system for providing global self-service transaction terminals or automatic teller machines (ATMs) affords worldwide web content to ATM customers, centralized management for ATM operators, and supports local and remote administration for ATM field servi... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7043618 | System for memory access in a data processor A data processor comprising: a register memory comprising an array of memory cells, each cell being addressable by means of an instruction specifying a pair of coordinates that identify the cell in the array. ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7030845 | Digital enhancement of streaming video and multimedia system Disclosed herein are methods and systems for enhancing digital streaming video. According to the present invention, the pixel resolution of the image frame of a digital streaming video, i.e., the numbers of pixels within said image frame, are artificially amplified ... | 04/18/2006 |
| 7029190 | Braille input device A Braille input device includes eight keys for entering dot information that forms a Braille character. The device further includes a space key and eight function keys, with a separate function key arranged above each dot key. This allows a user to rapidly and accur... | 04/18/2006 |
| 6999066 | System for audible feedback for touch screen displays What is presented is a system and method by which a visually impaired worker could easily and quickly navigate menu options on touch screen displays. An Audible Feedback ON/OFF Switch is provided which turns the audible feedback feature of the present invention on o... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6999046 | System and method for calibrating low vision devices A system and method for calibrating low vision devices is presented. Image processing presents views that include information based upon a user's vision impairment. The user provides feedback corresponding to the views and image processing generates calibration sett... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6970431 | Electronic device, data communication method and data processing method for electronic device When an interruption of a bus reset occurs in accordance with the IEEE1394 standard at the time of turn-on of a power source or the like, whether a loop connection has been made or not is discriminated. If it is determined that the loop connection has been made, “... | 11/29/2005 |
