Vision Without Sight: Exploring the Environment with a Portable Camera

看不见的视觉：用便携式相机探索环境 项目摘要 随着计算机视觉目标识别算法在精度和速度上的提高，计算机变得 功能更强大、更紧凑，在便携设备上实现这样的算法正变得越来越实用 支持拍照功能的手机等设备。这种“移动视觉”方法使视力正常的用户能够 只需抓拍照片并等待即可识别环境中的对象、标志、地点和其他要素 对象识别分析结果的几秒钟。这种方法对盲人或 视障(VI)用户，他们可能没有其他方法识别符合以下条件的重要功能 不能被非视觉线索察觉的。然而，为了使该方法对虚拟仪器用户具有实用性，交互 必须适当地促进用户和使用相机的环境之间的联系。例如，由于 用户可能事先不知道将相机指向期望的目标的方向，他或她必须是 能够左右摇动摄像头来搜索它，并在检测到它时快速接收反馈。 根据过去PI和他的合作者在虚拟仪器用户的物体识别系统方面的经验，我们 建议研究使用移动视觉技术来探索环境中的特征，具体而言 研究发现这些特征的过程，并获得针对它们的指导。我们的Main 目标是调查这些技术的用户为加快勘探而采取的策略 按照这些策略处理、设计和测试最有效的用户界面，并评估 并对这些技术的效率进行基准测试。其结果将是一套最低设计标准， 将指定系统性能参数、用户界面功能和操作策略 对于VI用户的任何移动视觉对象识别系统来说都是必要的。

Vision without Sight: Exploring the Environment with a Portable Camera Project Summary As computer vision object recognition algorithms improve in accuracy and speed, and computers become more powerful and compact, it is becoming increasingly practical to implement such algorithms on portable devices such as camera-enabled cell phones. This "mobile vision" approach allows normally sighted users to identify objects, signs, places and other features in the environment simply by snapping a photo and waiting a few seconds for the results of the object recognition analysis. The approach holds great promise for blind or visually impaired (VI) users, who may have no other means of identifying important features that are undetectable by non-visual cues. However, in order for the approach to be practical for VI users, the interaction between the user and the environment using the camera must be properly facilitated. For instance, since the user may not know in advance which direction to point the camera towards a desired target, he or she must be able to pan the camera left and right to search for it, and receive rapid feedback whenever it is detected. Drawing on past experience of the PI and his colaborators on object recognition systems for VI users, we propose to study the use of mobile vision technologies for exploring features in the environment, specificaly examining the process of discovering these features and obtaining guidance towards them. Our main objectives are to investigate the strategies adopted by users of these technologies to expedite the exploration process, devise and test maximally effective user interfaces consistent with these strategies, and to assess and benchmark the efficiency of the technologies. The result will be a set of minimum design standards that will specify the system performance parameters, the user interface functionality and the operational strategies necessary for any mobile vision object recognition system for VI users.