Patent Application
20050015255
The present invention relates to paper processing devices and systems, and more particularly to systems for helping disabled people use those devices.
During recent decades, the federal government has encouraged and required both government and private sector employers to enhance accessibility for the disabled. Various inventions have been directed toward this goal, and further progress may be made to meet the federal mandate.
Recent advances have been made in providing disabled access to paper processing products. One approach is to design disabled access to the product. However, this approach has the potential to add cost to the product, and, in fact, may be impractical in the case of original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) parts or products, which are produced by one company to be marketed under another company's brand.
Another approach to provide disabled access to paper processing products is to add assistive devices to the product. These may range from a Braille label kit to an added personal computer (PC) with a touch screen, voice input, and output that controls the machine and provides an alternative “multi-media” user interface. These assistive technologies approaches have the advantage of not adding cost to the basic product, and instead the assistive devices are marketed as an additional product.
The assistive technologies approach was taken in the Universal Access (UA) photocopier of Eghtesadi et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,682). Eghtesadi invented a universal access photocopier system that allows handicapped people (i.e., individuals with disabilities) to control and use handicapped people (i.e., individuals with disabilities) to control and use office photocopiers, by coupling an interface to a diagnostic communication port on the photocopier. The user may use voice, a special keyboard, or a touch screen, or any combination of those three means, to operate the photocopier.
Eghtesadi does not involve any live assistance for the disabled user, and, therefore, only users with certain types of disabilities will be able to successfully utilize the invention of Eghtesadi. Moreover, by its nature, the system of Eghtesadi is limited to photocopiers rather than more general paper processing devices and systems.
In the automotive arts, an “OnStar” service is known to provide the latest information and assistance by pressing an OnStar button that connects a user to an OnStar Center where trained, knowledgeable, live advisors are ready to help. For example, see Nixon et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,482 for “Providing mobile application services with download of speaker independent voice model”) However, this “OnStar” service is not adapted for various disabilities, and has not been applied to paper processing devices and systems.
The current invention is a PC-based module capable of providing two-way conferencing with video capability, including remote control capability between the equipment user and a central service bureau. This PC module may be part of a more comprehensive assistive device such as a UA photocopier or UA mailing machine, or it may stand alone. Additionally, the present invention can be retrofitted to specific machines so that hardware devices at the user's location can be controlled locally by the user or remotely through the videoconferencing PC via standard communication protocols such as RS-232 or TCP.IP. Assistive hardware devices could be used to raise and lower a work surface, to adjust a feeder angle, to adjust a separator knob, to adjust a sideguide, et cetera.
According to the method of the present invention, a person obtains live assistance in using a paper processing machine. The assistance is provided by a service bureau that is remote from the person. The service bureau receives a call for help, and checks a user profile of the person. The service bureau also checks an equipment profile of the person. Then the service bureau provides interactive assistance to the person, based at least partly upon the user profile and the equipment profile. The user profile will indicate any disabilities that the user may have, such as visual impairment, tremor in the hands, or cognitive problem. An empty user profile signifies that the person at the user end has no relevant disabilities, but even for such a person, the user profile may contain other types of information such as the level of support purchased by that person from the service bureau. In contrast, the equipment profile will typically indicate what types and models of paper processing equipment the person has available at the user end.
The system of the present invention comprises a user terminal at the person's location, and an operator terminal at the remote service bureau. The operator terminal is responsive to a call for help from the user terminal, the operator terminal having capacity to access the user profile and the equipment profile. The operator terminal also has capacity to provide interactive assistance to the user terminal based at least partly upon the user profile and the equipment profile.
The user terminal of the present invention comprises a communication port for receiving interactive assistance from the remote service bureau. The user terminal also comprises a video camera port for obtaining a video image for transmission from the communication port to the remote service bureau. The interactive assistance is based at least partly upon a user profile of the person, and upon information about the paper processing machine in an equipment profile of the person, and also based upon the video image.
The present invention also encompasses computer software embodied in computer-readable media encoded with a data structure for operating the user terminal of the present invention. This computer software may be available separately in the form of a compact disk, floppy disk, or as a download from the service bureau via the Internet.
According to a best mode embodiment of the present invention, when a disabled user needs help with paper processing devices or systems, a button press or a voice command will establish communications with a central service bureau. For example, the central service bureau could be located at, and staffed by, the manufacturer or vendor of the paper processing devices and/or systems.
This link from the user to the central service bureau can be via dial-up, or via broadband connection to the Internet. Specific user profiles are maintained at the central service bureau so that the central service bureau operator is immediately aware of the type of equipment on site, and is also aware of user information such as specific abilities and disabilities. The specific user profiles also ensure that the call for help is routed to an appropriate operator at the central service bureau. The user profile can be sent with the call for help, instead of being maintained at the central service bureau, or both methods could be used.
The following potential scenarios can be realized, among many others, using the present invention. In a first scenario, a blind user attempting to send out a pre-addressed package with a Universal Access Mailing Machine (UAMS) needs to know the destination ZIP code to obtain postage rates, and the central service bureau operator will remotely read the necessary information displayed by the blind user and look up the ZIP code. In a second scenario, a central service bureau operator could read the ZIP code from the package label to the user and could set the meter to the correct postage remotely. In a third scenario, the central service bureau operator could remotely order the meter to produce a tape if desired.
This invention would not be just for blind people. A user with a movement impairment (such as a tremor) would need interactive help reconfiguring a mailing machine to go from printing thin airmail envelopes to printing large items. A trained central service bureau remote operator could help in making thickness and sideguide adjustments for the user.
Also, a user with cognitive impairment might find the rules for sending certified mail difficult to comprehend. A central service bureau operator could explain the rules and, using the video link, insure that the United States Postal Service (USPS) form has been properly filled out. Even a user without any disabilities could benefit from the present invention, because operation of paper processing equipment can sometimes be confusing, especially when complicated forms must be filled out.
As seen in the method 100 depicted in the flow chart of
As seen in
The user terminal 205 uploads a video image signal 235 to the operator, the signal having been derived from a video camera 240 that has a connection 245 to the user terminal. Also, the user terminal establishes a data uplink to the operator, having a magnitude indicative of at least one status of a paper processing machine 250 with which the user terminal exchanges signals 255. Based upon the call for help 210, the video image signal 235, the data uplink 250, the user profile 225, and the equipment profile 230, the operator is able to provide interactive assistance 260 to help the disabled person to operate the paper processing machine. This interactive assistance may merely consist of helping the disabled person to prepare to use the machine by filling out a form that is then processed by the machine 250, or it can consist of instructing the disabled person how to use the machine, or the interactive assistance 260 can include a control signal that is passed by the user terminal 205 to the paper processing machine 250 via the signals 255, so that the operator can remotely adjust or operate the machine 250.
The user terminal 205 is shown in somewhat more detail in
According to these illustrative embodiments of the present invention, the interactive assistance provided to the disabled person at the user end is customized in response to an indication in the user profile 225 of at least one user disability. For example, if the user profile indicates that the person is deaf, then an operator may be selected who can read sign language. If the user profile indicates that the disabled person is mentally disabled, then the interactive assistance may be provided slowly. Although the user profile 225 and the equipment profile 230 have been shown in
Various changes may be made in the above illustrative embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. The invention disclosed herein can be implemented by a variety of combinations of hardware and software, and those skilled in the art will understand that those implementations are derivable from the invention as disclosed herein.
