Main menu:
- How does it work ?
Once Top-Braille is turned on, you just need to grab it, like a computer mouse, and to lay it flat on the text you want to read. Once the camera part is laying flat on the page and Top-Braille positioned on the first Character of the first line to be read, you just need to move it from left to right so that Top-Braille tells you vocally or in Braille the characters that are read. Once all the characters of the word are read, the word is vocally announced through the voice synthesis.
- Is Top-Braille easy to use?
Yes, provided one is ready to go through a training and practise phase. Usually, a 2 hour cession is enough to understand the subtleties of the device and of the navigation system. Once the navigation is well understood, the user may focus on reading texts.
- Is a connection to a computer required to use Top-Braille?
Top-Braille is fully autonomous; it includes its own Li-Ion battery that provides a reading autonomy of 6 hours (loading in approximately 1 hour).
However, a USB cable allows the connection of Top-Braille to a computer in order to manage the texts that are loaded in its memory: mails, messages…
Finally, it also allows the upgrade of the software embedded in Top-Braille.
- How long does it take to get Top-Braille started?
It does not take long; however about 15 seconds are required for Top-Braille to automatically activate all the software elements to get Top-Braille started.
- I am not used to reading with electronic Braille cells!
A set of homework will help you to quickly get familiar with its use and to switching from one letter to the next one.
- How can I find where the text is?
Top-Braille being positioned on the top of the page to be read, you only need to move Top-Braille towards the bottom of the page so that it can immediately recognize where there is text. The navigation system will tell you that there is text under the camera, by sending vibrations in the Braille matrix and also sending sound signals. You only have to quickly scan through the page from the top to the bottom 2 or 3 times across the width to have a "view" of the composition of the page.
- How does the navigation information work?
The integrated navigation system guides the user through sounds and Braille matrix signals in order to adjust the positioning of Top-Braille on the line of the text:
- Low tone sound or lower dot remaining steady in the upper position: Top-Braille is too high; you need to shift it slightly downwards,
- High tone signal and upper dot remaining steady in the upper position: Top-Braille is too low; you need to shift it slightly upwards,
- Low tone sound or lower dot intermittently in the upper position: Top-Braille is tilted to the right, (clockwise); you need to turn it slightly to the left or anticlockwise
- Higher tone sound or upper dot intermittently in the upper position: Top-Braille is tilted to the left (anticlockwise); you need to turn it slightly to the right or clockwise.
- How does the flow of characters appear?
When Top-Braille is located on a character, it appears on the 6 dots Braille cell. The motion of Top-Braille will make this character disappear to let the next character appear. This is similar to the motion of the finger on a Braille printed page.
- If I move too fast over characters, what is happening?
Top-Braille can also read backwards, which allows the user to come back on the characters that have been skipped.
- With Top-Braille, can I directly read word by word?
A word being composed of letters, they must all be read before announcing the word. This way, the user can read the letters of the word, one by one, in Braille before the word is read at the end.
- Can I turn off the voice synthesis?
Yes, you can. People that have a good command of Braille like reading in the Braille only mode. You can turn off the voice synthesis just by pressing a function button.
- How does the Top-Braille colour recognition operate?
You only have to press Top-Braille on the object or piece of clothing you want to know the colour of, and to press the colour function button; after just a few seconds Top-Braille will give you the identified colour in Braille, and also announced vocally.
The colour recognition output uses 11 basic colours that can be coupled together, for instance red-orange and complemented by the tone dark or light.
- Can Top-Braille read on a computer screen?
No it can't: that is due to definition and brightness reasons that make character recognition difficult. However, it is possible to link Top-Braille to the computer with the USB cable and to transfer the text into the Top-Braille memory in order to read it.
- What is the use of the USB plug of Top-Braille?
It allows a connection between Top-Braille and a computer using a USB cable in order:
- To update the embedded software by downloading the updated version from Vision SAS
- To transfer texts (mails, messages...) from the computer to Top-Braille in order to read these documents at any time and in any location
- To manage texts stored in the Top-Braille memory: to add, cancel, modify, sort...
- What is the memory capacity of Top-Braille?
32 mega-bytes, which represents around 1 000 pages of text.
- Why did it take 3 years to develop Top-Braille?
On the market no element was available for integration in Top-Braille. Therefore VisionSAS had to develop and customise each component of Top-Braille: camera, Braille piezoelectric cell… and all the pieces of software of the system: OCR, navigation system, voice synthesis…
- Where can I try Top-Braille?
At our premises, at our distributors shops, during each major specialized show or exhibition. We also make presentations of our devices at the premises of associations (AVH, GIAA…)