Dear list, First off, brltty currently has API for dealing with multi-row braille displays. Is this tested yet? Within the coming decade I hope to build a multi-row open source braille display and I hope that within 5 to 7 years the software will not hold me up.
I apologize if this is mis-use of the list, however, I would like to describe here how I plan to accomplish my task. My main reason for writing this email is to fulfill the condition of disclosure in order to prevent patentability. That is, if I talk about my idea publicly then the idea can no longer be patented, which is good. How will the pneumatic braille system work? If you place a ball in a straw, and blow through the straw, then the ball moves. If you then feel the straw, the straw squishes, and you can feel where the ball is. If you use two small straws, you can blow braille letters into the straw, by blowing multiple balls into the straw. You can refresh such a display, by blowing the balls through the straws. It is important that the diameter of the balls be similar to the internal diameter of the straw, That way the air will not flow around the ball but push the ball in a way which is precisely related to the amount of air blown into the straw. If you were to have a large number of such straws lined up in a sheet, then you could display multiple lines of braille text and/or images. If you use a flexible tubing rather than straws, you can arrange the tubing into an S curve, and then you only have to have one pump which blows air through the system. If you use a peristaltic pump, to push air through your tubes then the air will flow at a constant rate. You can use a variety of mechanisms for inserting the balls into the tube. For example, you can use standard 1mm stainless steel ball bearings as your balls, and you can use electromagnetic coils to push the ball bearings into the tube. If you wish the ball material to be the same as the tube material, then you can use plastic balls. In that case, you would use a gear to push the balls into the tube, or any form of linear actuator, or a second pneumatic pump, or a wheel, or a phase change system, or static electricity (either holding or pushing), or a system which changes the surface tension of a fluid, or a laser system, or a thermonuclear reactor etc. Rather than using tubes, however, you could use a sheet of corrigated laminated material similar to cardboard. This sheet could be made of paper or plastic, or any other suitable material. In this case, it would be nice if the sheet was removable from the display. This would reqire sealing the holes, so what air pressure would hold the balls in place. Then you could use multiple sheets, take a sheet to read later, or have a sheet with lists of email messages or menu items for reference while at the computer. The holes at the edge of the sheeting may be sealed using a variety of mechanisms. I would break down these methods into two main subcategories. You can sqeeze the tube ends or you can plug them. There is a wide variety of ways you could sqeeze the ends; you could have a flexible plastic(or other material) extrusion that would be propped open and snap closed, or you could us a spring system. In order to plug the holes; you could have individual plugs; a sliding sheet with holes in it such that in one possition the airways were open and in one possition closed, or you could have a detachable single long plug etc. I haven't yet developed this system very far, but as I am currently working on another Braille system which is further along which uses self moving keys on a chorded keyboard to allow you to both read and write, I wanted to get this one off my chest so that I know no one can patent it. Tim
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