Claims
- 1. A system for generating audible information from indicia printed on a paper comprising:
- a sound track oriented on said paper in a manual scanning direction, said track consisting of a multiplicity of elongated parallel sound track segments of the variable area-type printed on said paper in closely spaced arrangement, the segments being oriented in a direction which is generally transverse the manual scanning direction, said segments being arranged in an order which represents sequential portions of the complete sound information contained in said track, adjacent segments having a substantial degree of waveform redundancy;
- an optical scanner adapted to be manually scanned over said track in the manual scanning direction, the scanner including automatic means for continuously scanning the segments longitudinally to produce electrical signals representative of audio information; and
- means for converting said electrical signals into audible sounds.
- 2. The system as defined by claim 1 wherein said sound track is printed on said paper in ink.
- 3. The system as defined by claim 1 wherein the width of said scan is sufficiently wide to overlap successive segments during said scan.
- 4. A manual scanning apparatus for scanning a sound track oriented on a paper in a manual scanning direction, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of elongated parallel sound track segments printed on said paper in closely spaced arrangement, the segments being oriented in a direction which is generally transverse the manual scanning direction, comprising:
- a housing having a generally flat bottom portion adapted to rest on said paper over said track;
- an elongated scanning window in said bottom portion, said window having a length comparable to the length of said segments and adapted for orientation substantially parallel the segments;
- means for performing a periodic longitudinal scan along the scanning window, said means comprising a rotating mechanism having a plurality of teeth which successively mask a portion of the track segments visible through said scanning window;
- photodetector means for detecting the amount of light reflected from the area beneath the scanning window; and
- means for converting the photodetector output into an audible sound.
- 5. The apparatus as defined by claim 4 wherein said teeth have a partial reflectivity of light, said reflectivity being substantially equal to the average reflected light level visible through the area of said scanning windown.
- 6. A manual scanning apparatus for scanning a sound track oriented on a paper in a manual scanning direction, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of elongated parallel sound track segments printed on said paper in closely spaced arrangement, the segments being oriented in a direction which is generally transverse the manual scanning direction, comprising:
- a housing having a generally flat bottom portion adapted to rest on said paper over said track;
- an elongated scanning window in said bottom portion, said window having a length comparable to the length of said segments and adapted for orientation substantially parallel the segments;
- means for performing a periodic longitudinal scan along the scanning window, said means comprising a rotating mechanism having a plurality of apertures which successively expose a portion of the track segments visible through said scanning window;
- photodetector means for detecting the amount of light reflected from the area beneath the scanning window; and
- means for converting the photodetector output into an audible sound.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 322,774, filed Jan. 11, 1973, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
322774 |
Jan 1973 |
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