Technical Field

The present invention regards a device and a method to help people read information in a foreign language, more specifically it regards an apparatus that converts written information from one language to another in real time.

Background of the invention

Millions of people worldwide travel each year to other countries either for business or for vacation purposes. One of the problems with travels is that ail information usually is printed in the language of the respective country,

If the individual is not able to understand that language, it is difficult to understand not only signs and boards, but also to read newspapers or other forms of printed or written information.

Several solutions are available for automatically converting one language into another. On the internet there are several sites that have a list of languages which they can translate to and from. The problem with these sites is that they are dependent on the internet and that the user has to type, or paste in the information into the page to get it translated. Other solutions is described in e.g . US 2008/0273796 Al where there is shown a camera with the possibility to translate text on a pictures taken by the camera .

Further application US 2009/0198486 Al describes a similar solution to the one mentioned above except that the picture is taken with a camera on a mobile phone.

Application US 2008/0243473 Al describes a system where a user has a pair of spectacles with an incorporated camera that can take a picture of e.g . a signboard and translate the text on the signboard and display it on the spectacles again in order to make it readable for the user. Alternatively the translated text can be played of as an audio segment.

All these solutions are helpful for travelers that do not understand the local language. However all these solutions are made for translating the text on a signboard or similar, which means that they are only suitable to translate a few words or a small sentence at a time. Further they need to use internet to translate the language into another.

Summary of the invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention, as it is stated in the set of claims, to solve the problems mentioned above.

This is done with an apparatus mounted on a pair of spectacles that has the ability to translate text automatically as the user reads a newspaper or other forms of printed information. The image is captured by a camera mounted on the spectacles and the text is translated and shown on a screen mounted in front of the

spectacles.

The text is captured by the camera and translated in real time into the language of choice and can be read on the screen placed in front of the spectacles. The apparatus can be removed from the spectacles after use.

Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 show an embodiment of the present invention where the apparatus is connected to a pair of spectacles.

Figure 2 is an image of a part of the apparatus where the user can choose the origin language and the destination language.

Figure 3 shows the invention in use when reading a book. Figure 4 shows the invention in use when reading a newspaper

Figure 5 shows that the present invention can make use of alternative energy sources in the form of solar cells in order to deliver energy to operate the invention, or to charge a battery.

Figure 6 is a perspective drawing of an alternative embodiment of the present invention, here the upper part of the screen is vertical and the lower part of the screen is horizontal.

Detailed description

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. It is shown a pair of spectacles 100. The apparatus is attached to one of the earpieces 101 of the spectacles 100 using a clip 102. From the clip 102 it is extended a telescopic arm 108 forwards to the front of the spectacles 100. This telescopic arm 108 makes it possible to custom fit the reading distance between the translation apparatus and the spectacles 100 and the distance can be adjusted using e.g . an adjustment screw 103 and a hinged joint 107. This telescopic arm 108 can be adjusted not only in and out but also up and down.

To this telescopic arm 108 there is attached a horizontal screen spanning the width of the spectacles 100. The screen consists of two parts, one lower part 105 and one upper part 104. The lower part 105 is the screen where the translated text, is displayed. The upper part 104 is a protective cover that is hinged to the top of the lower part 105. The upper part 104 can be flipped up and down, The upper part 104 is constructed to protect the lower part 105 when the apparatus is not in use.

On the top of one side of the lower part 105 of the screen, there is attached a camera 106 that has the ability to move along the screen 105. This camera 106 records a specific line of text, sends it via a cable to a computer which translates the text into the chosen language. The computer can be part of the apparatus attached to the spectacles 100 or it can be located on another part of the body. This computer has a database with a set of languages it can translate to and from.

Figure 2 is a display of the control panel 201, on the computer, that lets' the user choose the origin language and the destination language. Further the control panel can start and stop the translation of the text. Further it is possible to adjust the font size and font type from this panel.

Figure 3 shows the present invention in use when reading a book. Here it can be seen that the screen 105 is adjusted in order to fit the individual user. The user places the top of t he screen 105 level with the text that is to be translated .

Thereafter the camera 106 records the text written on the line that is to be translated. The recorded image is than translated and the text is displayed on the screen 105.

The method of using the present invention is to clip on the apparatus to one of the earpieces 108 of the spectacles 100. The user then turns on the apparatus and sets the language to translate from and the language to translate to. Thereafter the user adjusts the height of the screen so that it is in a comfortable reading distance and height. Thereafter the user holds the top of the screen 105 level with the line he or she wants to translate. This is done by adjusting the tilt of the head. The camera 106 than records a specific line, sends it to the computer, which translates it and displays it on the screen 105, When the user has finished reading the line he or she redoes the procedure for the next line and so on until he or she is finished reading.

After the user is finished he or she turns off the apparatus and takes it off the earpiece 108 of the spectacle 100,

Figure 4 shows an example of the present invention where the protective cover 104 of the screen 105 is raised to its upper position. The protective cover 104 is hinged on each end of the top of the screen 105. The protective cover 104 can rotate freeiy up and down . Further it is transparent and protects the screen 105 when it is not in use. The protective cover 104 is transparent in order to make it easier to keep track of which iine the reader is translating . When the protective cover 104 is raised all the way up, a slot 401 is created between the upper end of the screen 105 and the protective cover 104. Through this slot 401 the user can focus on the line of text that he or she wants to translate.

In figure 5 the apparatus is supplied with solar panels 503 in order to supply the apparatus with energy. Here it is shown that a pane! 503 can be located on the back side of the screen. Further it can be added additional panels attached to the earpieces 108 of the spectacles 100. It can be attached by either hanging the panels to the earpieces with hooks 502 or by attaching them with a clamp 501. When the apparatus is not in use it can be stored in a casing .

Further the text that is translated can either be stored in a short term memory and deleted automatically or it can be stored long term at the users' request. Figure 6 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment the upper 602 and lower 601 part of the screen can be unhinged from each other in either end . The upper screen 602 can be lifted in to vertical position. This is in order to scan text written vertically. The text is translated and shown on the lower screen 601 which is placed horizontally.

Further it could be possible to slide the upper screen 602 back and forth on top of the lower screen 601. This is in order to make the lineup of the upper screen 602 compared to the lower screen 601 during translation of text written vertically easier.