Patent Application
20220007835
This invention is related to the field of visual aid systems, more specifically to the field of portable visual aid systems as well as mechanical visual aid systems
Large writing boards have been a staple of classrooms, workplaces, and colleges for numerous decades, and have evolved vastly throughout history from chalkboards to whiteboards to electronic writing boards. There has been evolution in the sense of its portability, as there are many writing boards in the market that can be physically moved around a room as well as having height adjustments. What these current boards lack, however, is an automated height adjustment component to ease the process of writing. There are countless individuals in the world suffering with physical disabilities that may hinder their work performance, especially for individuals who constantly need to write on writing boards for their own benefits or for others. These individuals, such as teachers, professors, scientists, and mathematicians, with physical disabilities may have a hard time reaching higher parts of a writing board without having to manually readjust their position or the board's position. With a board that can continually shift upwards, classroom, lecture, and meeting functions can be improved as raising the board upwards can help individuals located further away from the board see content clear from obstructions. Current solutions to this issue include portable writing boards with manual adjustable heights, and cameras of a smaller writing surface that stream to a projector, but these manual adjustments can be time consuming, and sitting behind a desk with a writing surface may hinder the connection and emphasis the individual wants to convey. Disabled individuals may also need assistance to readjust a manually adjustable board, which creates an avoidable hassle with the following invention.
Patent WO2013012152A1 is similar to this application as it details a kiosk with a height adjustment function to automatically accommodate for different heighted individuals, however the present invention continually shifts upwards so that the user will only write in one vertical location for a session, rather than accommodating for a single height per session and staying at that given position as patent WO2013012152A1 seeks to accomplish. This key difference allows for a divergence of application between the present apparatus and patent WO2013012152A1.
The base (1), is the main support structure for the assembly, the left vertical side (3) is located on the left edge of the base, and the right vertical side (2) is located on the right edge of the base, and these edge elements serve as additional supports to the board's structure.
The writing surface (12) is able to mechanically move upwards and downwards through the use of two linear actuators (9); attached to opposite sides of the base (1) of the assembly and directly next to each of the vertical sides. The use of these linear actuators allows for the board to move vertically with precision and timeliness. The bulk of each actuators' components is attached to the base (1) of the board structure, while the rod end of the actuators that physically move are attached to a horizontal rod (10) that affixes to the backboard (11) of the writing surface through the use of a horizontal mounting bracket (18). The backboard (11), located behind the writing surface (12), reinforces the board's structure and has a horizontal mounting bracket (17) complimentary to the horizontal mounting bracket affixed to the lift assembly. The mounts allow for the timely interchangeability of writing surface type, from whiteboard to blackboard to electronic board.
The writing surface (12) has a marker containment surface (14) attached directly below to allow for convenient storage of writing utensils, and directly behind the surface is a pressure sensitive matrix (13) to detect when and where a writing utensil is being used. The information from this sensor is directly transmitted to the main computer of the board via the USB port (19), located on the left vertical side (3) of the assembly. The said touchscreen system in combination with machine learning software that learns over time the user's natural writing pattern, natural writing pauses, spacing between characters, and writing size allows the apparatus to learn to shift upwards automatically when the user either writes to the opposite vertical edge of the writing board or when an abnormally long pause for the individual is detected. The amount of vertical upward shift is determined by the user's writing size and shifts upward so that the user can write a next line of words at the same vertical location with comfortable spacing from the previous line. If this feature is disabled through the settings menu, along with other interactive interfaces through the touchscreen (4), the user can manually shift the board upwards with the upward shift button (5), downwards with the downward shift button (6), or lock the surface's position in place with the lock button (7).
The apparatus is cordless in the sense that it does not require to be plugged into a wall outlet to be used, instead drawing electricity from a rechargeable power supply (15) located in the base of the assembly. This power supply drives power to the pressure sensitive matrix, the linear actuators that move the board vertically, the touchscreen interface and buttons located on the left side of the assembly, and the main computer. If the power supply is low on charge, it may be charged through a charging port (16) located on the rear, and the board function is not compromised with a charger plugged in. Keeping the apparatus battery powered instead of having to be plugged into a wall outlet allows the board to be easily moveable throughout a room, and the wheels (8) on the bottom of the assembly further enhance the apparatus's portability.
