Systems, Methods, And Software For Providing Wayfinding Orientation And Wayfinding Data To Blind Travelers

摘要

To support the independence and mobility of blind pedestrians, the present inventors devised, among other things, free systems, methods, and software for providing narrative blind-ready wayfinding information. One exemplary system receives user input identifying a starting landmark and ending landmark in a particular selected geographic region, such as a city, university campus, government building, shopping mall, or airport. The system then searches a database for the corresponding narrative wayfinding instructions, and outputs them in the form of text or audio to guide a blind pedestrian from the starting landmark to the ending landmark. In the exemplary system, blind users select the geographic region as well as the starting and ending landmark from a voice-driven telephonic menu system and receive audible wayfinding instruction via mobile telephone. In some embodiments, the system also provides access to voice-driven restaurant menus.

主权项

1. A blind traveler navigational data system having a server, the server comprising:
means for receiving information identifying first and second landmarks from a set of predefined landmarks within a predefined geographic region; means, responsive to the identified first and second landmarks, for accessing and retrieving from a database, blind-ready wayfinding instructions to for guiding a blind or visually impaired traveler from the first identified landmark to the second identified landmark; and means for outputting the retrieved blind-ready wayfinding instructions to a blind or visually impaired user.