Journal of Microcomputer Applications最新文献

This paper describes an application of the TMS320C30 Evaluation Module (EVM) in the generation of three-dimensional (3-D) scenes in real-time. It also discusses how complex structures which are commonly used in the generation of 3-D scenes should be passed from a main program in C to TMS320C30 assembly language subroutines; and describes in detail the layout of relevant memory maps. Finally, there is a discussion of various approaches for passing parameters from one assembly language subroutine to another, which is very important in real-time applications.

During the past few years the mobility of blind and partially sighted persons has been significantly improved, but an information gap still remains because a great deal of information cannot be conveyed through tactile or simple acoustical means. This paper describes IRIS, an infrared system for transmitting data and orientation information in a language-independent way to blind users who thereby have access, e.g. to traffic lights, bus line indicators on public transport systems, street names at crossings and orientation information inside public buildings.

Children use drawing as a primary means of communicating. Not all children have this ability and, therefore, do not benefit from the drawing and use of symbols. This seems to be a major deterrent to their communicating with other people. However, autistic children and, perhaps, other intellectually handicapped children sometimes have seemingly inherent skills that we find difficult to understand and even more difficult to develop. And yet, just as deaf children benefit from the use of hearing aids, autistic children—who seem to have an inherent ability in mathematics but often not the use of symbols to benefit from it—can use microcomputers as a means of gaining satisfaction from it and, perhaps, communicating with and, hence, integrating into the society of which they are not normally an integral part. However, software development, to date, has aimed at satisfying the needs of non-autistic people. If software is to be developed to enable autistic people to join the human tribe, it will have to be artificially intelligent. It will have to respond to them in the way that we respond to one another with one major exception. It must not be illogical. Further, it will need to be available in microcomputer-run form.

In the past, many Braille documents were produced manually on paper, and were reproduced for readers by using methods involving vacuum forming of plastic sheets. However, for some years there has been an increasing trend to use computers for entering, editing and printing Braille documents using special purpose software and printers. This paper describes some work which has been undertaken to optically read the Braille information from old paper copies, and particularly those which have become ‘tired’ and difficult to copy, into the computer so that they can be electronically stored and reproduced. Of specific interest are the techniques of using twin shadows (stereoumbral), i.e. subtracting two pictures of the Braille under different illumination conditions, to overcome the problems of background texture by segmenting this unwanted noise from the important relief information. Initial results for single sided Braille have been found to be promising, and the extension of this approach into the recognition of double sided Braille is discussed.

This survey is written by the developers of BraiLab, a talking computer family. The authors present an overview of computers and aids based on micro-processing systems used by blind people in Hungary in the past decade. The paper discusses various devices in use in Hungary in the past decade, and the impact of these devices on the education, work and everyday life of visually impaired individuals. Finally, the authors identify some of the tasks looming on the horizon.