Home

Eye-Pal®

1. Once you have plugged Eye Pal into the USB port of your computer Eye Pal is on Place any printed material at the Eye Pal base and click on the Eye Pal icon on your computer desktop The Eye Pal window appears It displays the document that you placed under the camera Eye Pal s Speech Output Options You can customize Eye Pal software in many different ways When you start Eye Pal for the first time it will work according to the default selection for the customizable features One of these customizable features is Soeech Output By default Eye Pal will read menus dialogs etc It will also tell you when the camera is on or off If you do not want Eye Pal to read menus go to the Application menu by pressing the Alt key then pressing the down arrow four times until you get to Settings then hit Enter The Settings tool bar will be displayed You are on the first Tab box titled General Settings Press the Tab key until you get to Speech output and then press the spacebar to uncheck this if you want Eye Pal to not announce the camera status You may also uncheck the Menus and dialogs if you do not want Eye Pal to read menus and dialogs Click OK There are two more options that can be used on all toolbars message boxes etc 1 Speech output for the current control press shift 2 Stop speech output for the current control press control Plugging in Eye Pal Eye Pal is a portable device that folds to
2. Creating and Managing Zoom Books A Zoom Book is an electronic copy of a book that you can create using Eye Pal Eye Pal allows scanning and saving multi page documents on a computer but also viewing these documents later on any computer where Zoom Office software is installed even if the Eye Pal device is not plugged in While reading a Zoom Book you can use all the same document browsing magnification and formatting capabilities that are available for viewing documents with Eye Pal You can also listen while the book is read to you page by page You can save the whole book as text and use any third party software to read the text file Why Would I Need Zoom Book If there is a book or an article that you are likely to read more then once or if you want to read the book when you are flying across the country or if you have not yet bought your own Eye Pal device and want to save the book in the library and read it at home use the Eye Pal device to save it once and read it conveniently with Eye Pal from then on as many times as you would like anywhere you like by simply opening the saved book or article Eye Pal can be used separately from the Eye Pal device to read the saved Eye Pal documents on your other computers Creating and Managing Zoom Books Have a book or a multi page document handy for scanning and reading with Eye Pal Place your document under the Eye Pal device The Book menu has the following sub menus 1
3. Definition Each Braille display has a different set of buttons and keys The following section describes which keys are used for Eye Pal operations on different Braille displays HandyTech Right Space next line Left Space Previous line S Start camera E Stop camera and process image ALVA BC 640 Smartpad key 1 left key with three horizontal lines Start camera eTouch key 3 right upper key or right thumb key Next braille line Use this key to start reading eTouch key 1 left upper key or left thumb key Previous braille line Smartpad key 0 right key with three vertical lines Stop camera Freedom Scientific PacMate Push left wheel Start camera Push right wheel Stop camera Scroll either wheel scroll through the text Document Management Operations You can gt Save a document as image jpg file gt Load previously saved document gt Save document as text file To save a document as an image Place your document under the Eye Pal device aligning it with the two legs of the document guide You can save document with default name as date time stamp in My Documents EyePal lmages Quick folder using CTRL SHIFT S keystroke The Quick folder will be automatically created when you save your first document by using CTRL SHIFT S keystroke You can also save image in any directory and give it any name by going to the Application menu then down arrow to the Save
4. Image option and press Enter A Save document dialog box will appear Type in the name for your document and click the Save button Document will be saved in the default directory C My Documents EyePal Images You can select another directory in which to save the document To save a document as text To save the document as text the camera must be stopped If you are reading the text the camera is already stopped If you want to save text without reading the document you need to press Space Bar to stop the camera To quickly save text with default name as date time stamp in the default directory My Documents EyePal Temp and immediately display the text file on the screen press Control SHIFT W You can also save text in any directory and give it any name by going to the Application menu and down arrow to Save text then press Enter A Save text dialog box will appear Type in the name for your document and click the Save button Document will be saved in the default directory C My Documents EyePal Texts You can also select another directory in which to save the document To read previously saved document 1 Go to the Application menu and then down arrow to Load Document and press Enter A Load Document dialog box will appear 2 Select the document and click Open The document will appear on the screen 10 3 Click E to start reading You do not need Eye Pal to be plugged in in order to read previously saved documents
5. etc We define sections as page elements or parts of the page that can be easily visually separated from the rest of the page For example if the page is a newspaper than each column will be a section If the page has a picture in the middle of the page then the text above the picture is first section and the text below the picture is the second section The key combination Shift E will describe the page layout It will tell 1 How many words are on the page 2 How many sections are on the page 3 How many columns are on the page 4 How many titles are on the page 5 What percentage of the page is text Eye Pal will also tell if the page is up side down This feature helps you to know that you started saving a book from the beginning or from the end Moving To the Next or Previous Word Sentence Section or another Document Eye Pal allows the reader to move around the page in order to read the next or previous word sentence or page To move to the next word press the Control right arrow To move to the previous word press the Control left arrow To move to the next sentence press the down arrow To move to the previous sentence press the up arrow To move to the next section press page down To move to the previous section press page up Refer to the Quick Reference Guide to find the keystrokes on the keypad for the above reading functions To read the new page turn the Eye Pal camera on by pressing the spac
6. you are done with your book for now click the Exit button to close the book Troubleshooting and Useful Tips on Selecting Scanning Options 1 You can save Two pages at once only if there is a wide half an inch white space between the pages If two pages are very close to each other Eye Pal can t distinguish the separate pages In that case hold the book as flat as possible and use the One page at a time option 14 2 When saving just one page at a time via One page at a time option or the Only odd or even pages option make sure that the page you do not intend to save is not fully within the camera view If both pages fully appear on screen consider saving them by using the Save two pages at once option If only a portion of the other page appears on screen Eye Pal will know to ignore it Useful Tips on Saving a Book 1 Place a piece of white paper under the camera and place a book on the paper Then Eye Pal will not try to scan the background as part of your document 2 The book under the camera should be as flat as possible If you are saving a thick book with a lot of pages choose the Auto mode and use both hands to flatten the book 3 When you are saving a book in Auto mode Eye Pal will automatically adjust brightness to the light conditions at that time If you are taking a lot of time saving all of the pages take a break occasionally click Stop Auto Mode and then click Start Auto Mode to allow Eye Pal to readj
7. Create new book 2 Open book 3 Close book 4 Save current book as 5 Save current book as text 11 6 Add pages 7 Delete book s 8 Delete current page Creating a new book You can scan and save any kind of book using Eye Pal small paperback books large books with page size up to 8 5 x11 magazines etc To create a new book go to the Book menu by pressing Alt plus B and then click the Enter key The Create Book dialog will appear Type in the book title and the author s name note You can also enter the Starting page number if it differs from the default value of 1 By default the book will be saved in C Program Files EyePal books You can also click the Browse button and select another directory where you want to save your book Click the Create button The dialog will go away the Add Pages bar will appear instead Choosing how to scan and save a book This bar has three sets of controls a Information about page numbers current and next page numbers The next page number is the number you entered in the previous dialog b Scanning Options c Scanning Mode To navigate between the sets of controls use the Tab key First select one of the three Scanning Options 1 To scan one page at a time Use this option to scan a small number of large pages 2 Toscan only odd or only even pages Use this option to scan a large number of pages of a large book Open the book and place the left
8. Eye Pal Training Guide and User Manual for Blind Users Release 4 0 ABISee Inc 77 Powder Mill Rd Unit 4 Acton MA 01720 www abisee com 800 681 5909 Patent Pending ABISee Inc 1 What is Eye Pal 4 Getting Started Using Eye Pal 4 Eye Pal s Speech Output Options 4 Plugging in Eye Pal 5 How to place a document under the camera 6 Eye Pal is a self learning system 6 Using Eye Pal to Convert Printed Text to Speech 6 Start Reading from the Beginning of the Page 6 Page description 7 Moving To the Next or Previous Word Sentence Section or another Document 7 Reading through columns and tables 7 Changing the Voice Parameters 8 Using Eye Pal to Convert Printed Text to Braille Display 8 Customization Options while using Braille Display 8 Braille Display Keys Definition 9 Document Management Operations 9 To save a document as an image 10 To save a document as text 10 To read previously saved document 10 Creating and Managing Zoom Books 11 Why Would I Need Zoom Book 11 Creating and Managing Zoom Books 11 Creating a new book 12 Choosing how to scan and save a book 12 Adding pages to the new book 13 Troubleshooting and Useful Tips on Selecting Scanning Options 14 Useful Tips on Saving a Book 15 Reading a Saved Book 15 Adding Pages to an Existing Book 16 Deleting a Page in a Book 17 Deleting a Book 17 Closing a Book 18 Saving Book As Text 18 Copying the Book 18 Useful
9. Tips 18 Quick Reference Guide 20 General Keystrokes 20 Reading Keyboard Keystrokes 20 ZoomBook Keyboard Commands 20 ZoomBook Menu Accelerator Keys 20 What is Eye Pal Eye Pal is an electronic scanner that aids blind computer users to read printed material Eye Pal connects to your PC or laptop through the USB 2 0 port no extra batteries or power packs required Eye Pal is a portable camera that scans and the software program that runs on your computer Since it folds easily and weighs about 1 pound it fits in your laptop bag and is easy to carry Eye Pal can be used to listen to the text to speech voice of your choice to read books magazines newspapers documents medicine bottle labels and anything else that has printed text or to read on a Braille display of your choice Eye Pal is very easy to use the user places a printed document under Eye Pal camera and presses the E key In a few seconds Eye Pal will start reading the text from the beginning of the page There are no buttons on the device everything is done from the computer keyboard Eye Pal reads text documents aloud using sophisticated natural language speech synthesizers No third party software installation required it s already included Eye Pal allows the user to create books by capturing multiple pages under one name without destroying the books Getting Started Using Eye Pal For installation instructions refer to the Eye Pal Installation Guide
10. cument and click the Add button or press A on the keyboard d Save as many pages as you need by repeating the previous step e If you are saving a lot of pages you can always take a break and continue saving pages later 2 If you are in the Auto mode a Click the Start Auto Mode Button note that button will automatically changed to Stop Auto Mode So when you finish saving pages you need only to click enter because the cursor is already in the right place b Place the open book under the camera keep it still using both hands In ten to fifteen seconds you will hear the shutter sound this pages has been scanned and saved c Turn the page keep it still and in two to three seconds you will hear the same sound d Continue turning pages and saving them e When you are done saving pages or need a break click the Stop Auto Mode button just click Enter and remove the book from under the camera When you are done saving pages click the Done button click the Down Arrow and Enter Once you have clicked the Done button the Add Pages book bar will disappear and the Read Mode book bar will appear Note You can add more pages to this book later Read Adding Pages to an Existing Book section of the manual for more details The Read Mode book bar allows you to easily read your saved book via convenient navigation buttons For more information on reading your book with Read Mode book bar read the Reading a Saved Book topic below If
11. e bar Eye Pal will tell you that the camera is now on Place the new page at the Eye Pal base and press the E key Reading through columns and tables By default Eye Pal analyzes the text identifies columns and reads the first column then the second and so on If you feel that information in columns is connected press Control T and Eye Pal will read through the columns For example if the first column contains names of products and the second column contain prices of these products it will make sense to read through these two columns This feature is not yet perfect If the page layout is complex there is no way to tell Eye Pal in what order to read different sections For example if the page has 4 7 columns and you need to read through 3 left columns first and then read the fourth column from top to bottom you will have to browse through the page more than once Changing the Voice Parameters You can change the voice parameters by going to the Application menu then to the Settings option then to the Voice Tab Press the Tab key to test different voices select one you like and click on the Apply button You can also change the speed by clicking the shift Q keys or F9 to make it faster or the shift Z keys or F8 to make it slower You can also change the speed by going to the Application menu then to Settings and then to the Voice Tab where you can use the slide bar on the Speed setting to speed up or slow down the spe
12. ech rate On the same Voice Tab you can choose your favorite voice Using Eye Pal to Convert Printed Text to Braille Display Eye Pal can be used to read printed text on Braille display At the time of writing this manual you can use 3 Braille displays Handy Tech Alva BC 640 and Freedom Scientifics PacMate Please check our website to find out when more Braille displays will be added From the Braille display you will be able to start or stop the camera and find out the status of camera and of the text processing operation On all Braille displays left two Braille cells are designated for status Status codes are CS Camera started PR Processing R Text is ready LO Camera s LED on LF Camera s LED off TN Text not found Customization Options while using Braille Display You can change two parameters that define how you use Braille display by going to the Application menu then to the Settings option then to the Braille Tab The first parameter is Two Left Braille Cells are used to display status The default is that the box is checked To turn this feature off uncheck the box The second parameter is Do Not Break the Words If this box is not checked than all Braille cells are used while displaying the text so to read the last word you may need to move to the next 40 characters If the box is checked the last word will not be displayed if it does not fit to the line Braille Display Keys
13. eck box on the Voice Tab of the Settings Window Check if page is upside down The default value is checked You can uncheck it if you are sure that you place the document under the camera in a correct way 4 Eye Pal will inform you when any message box is shown on the screen You need to press the shift key to hear the text of the message 19 Quick Reference Guide General Keystrokes Speech output for the current control press shift Stop speech output for the current control press control Save image press control and the S key Stop processing document while you hear the beeping sound press esc Reading Keyboard Keystrokes To Start stop camera press space bar To Start reading press the E key To Pause or Resume voice press the X key To Jump to the next or previous character press right or left arrow To Jump to the next or previous word press control and right or left arrow To Jump to the next or previous sentence press up or down arrow To Jump to the next or previous section press control and up or down arrow Reading Keypad Keystrokes To Start stop camera press insert delete To Start reading press insert 2 To Pause or Resume voice press insert 1 To Jump to the next or previous character press 6 or 4 To Jump to the next or previous word press insert 6 or insert 5 To Jump to the next or previous sentence press 2 or 8 To Jump to the
14. g a Page in a Book section adjust the book and save the same pages again The error sound will also be heard if one of the two pages is blank Note The default selection is Scan one page at a time Second select the scanning mode the next set of controls You have two choices 1 Manual Mode In this mode you press the A key or click the Add button to scan and save the page 2 Auto Mode In this mode you have to click the Start Auto Mode button only once to start scanning saving pages Then simply turn the pages The Eye Pal camera with motion detection will save each page as soon as the page image stays still for a few seconds it will wait while you turn the pages Auto Mode allows you to use both hands to hold the pages in place since you don t have to operate keyboard to push the Add button Note The default selection is Manual Adding pages to the new book Now you ve chosen how to scan save the book and are ready to start adding pages 1 If you are in the Manual mode S3 a Put the first page of your document under the Eye Pal camera it should appear on screen b Click the Add A button Use your hands to keep the book flat In a second you will hear a shutter sound The page is now saved and the Current page field should display 1 while the Next page number should display 2 if you are saving one page at a time or 3 if you are saving two pages at a time or even odd pages c Put the next page of your do
15. n is disabled if no book is selected as soon as you click any book in the list the Open button will become enabled and clickable The Open Book dialog box disappears The Read Mode book bar appears at the top of the screen the first page of the chosen document is displayed on screen as well The Read Mode book bar has the Previous and Next buttons along with the Go to page field and Go button to jump to a page out of order The Read Mode book bar also has the Current Page field which displays the number of the page currently being viewed Eye Pal will tell you the current page number 4 You need to rotate the first two pages to make them properly oriented Eye Pal will rotate the rest of the pages automatically This will make start reading much faster 5 Click the E key to start reading the page 6 Click the Next button or letter N on the keyboard to go to the next page of your document or click the Previous or letter P button on the keyboard to go to the previous page or put in a page number out of sequence and click the Go button to jump to that page 7 When you are done browsing the book click the Exit button Note When the cursor is on the Current Page or Go To Page field and you are moving from page to page using Previous P or Next N buttons you will hear N or P instead of the Next or Previous To avoid this use TAB to move the cursor Adding Pages to an Existing Book I
16. n order to add pages to an existing book 1 Open the book of interest via Book menu gt Open Book menu item 2 Once the Read Mode book bar will appear go to Book menu and select the Add Pages menu item 16 3 The Add Pages book bar will appear replacing the Read Mode book bar 4 Place the page you want to scan under the camera set its page number and press Add or letter A on the keyboard You can also use Auto save mode and or save two pages at a time Read Creating a new book section for details 5 Repeat step 4 for as many pages as you need 6 When you finish adding new pages click the Done button If you were saving pages in Auto mode click the Stop Auto Mode button first and then click the Done button The Add Pages book bar will disappear and the Read Mode book bar will appear again Deleting a Page in a Book In order to delete a page in a book 1 Open the book of interest by going to the Book menu and clicking the Open Book menu item The Read Mode book bar will appear 2 Navigate to the page that you want to delete by putting the page number into the Go to page number field and pressing Go 3 Go to the Book menu and click the Delete This Page menu item 4 You will be asked to confirm your instruction Click yes 5 The page will be deleted the display will automatically move to the next page or to the previous page if the deleted page was the last page of the document If it was the only
17. next or previous section press control 2 or control 8 ZoomBook Keyboard Commands To Add a page while saving a book press the A key To go to the Next page press the N key To go to the Previous page press the P key ZoomBook Menu Accelerator Keys ALT B is an accelerator for the Book sub menu To go to Book Menu to Create a new book press the B key To Open Book press the O key To Delete Book press the D key To Close book press the L key To Save current book as press the V key To Save current book as text press the A key To Add pages press the G key To Delete this page press the T key 20 21
18. or right page under the camera If a portion of the second page also appears under the camera Eye Pal will ignore it While scanning the book this way you do not need to move the book until you scan all odd pages Once you are finished scanning odd pages do the same for even pages a Turn the book 180 degrees Be sure that the even pages are now under the camera The fact that the pages appear upside down does 12 not matter You will be able to rotate the images before you start reading the book b Change the Next Page Number to the first even page number You need to go to the previous set of controls c Start saving even pages When you finished scanning even pages click the Done button Eye Pal will sort and keep all pages in the right order automatically 3 To scan two pages at once Use this option to scan small size books If you place the open book under the camera and both pages are inside the Eye Pal legs you can save both pages at once While using this option book orientation is important always put the book in the landscape format and align the edges of the book with Eye Pal base When you scan two pages at once both pages will be saved with their respective numbers When you read the pages saved this way you will view each page separately If Zoom Book failed to separate two pages it will be indicated by error sound and will save both pages as one page In this case you can delete that page Read Deletin
19. r reading the first page of the book Eye Pal will teach itself about this book and each page will be read faster and faster After reading first 3 5 pages it will take Eye Pal 1 2 seconds to read the next page Using Eye Pal to Convert Printed Text to Speech Place any document under the Eye Pal camera and click on the Eye Pal icon on your computer desktop press the Control key plus the M key to go to your desktop then press the Z key until you hear Eye Pal and click on the icon The image of the document appears on the screen immediately Start Reading from the Beginning of the Page To start reading from the beginning of the page place the page under the camera press the E key You will hear the shutter sound as soon as the image is scanned Than you will hear the beeping sound for a few seconds and than the voice reading the document To stop the voice please press the E key again To pause press the X key To resume the voice press the X key again If there is no text on the page you will hear Text not found If you hear the beeping sound for more than 10 15 seconds press the Esc Escape key The reason for long beeping sound is that the page has graphics with patterns that Eye Pal is trying to interpret as letters and to convert to text To start reading a new document place it under the camera restart the camera press a space bar and press the E key Page description A page may have text pictures graphics
20. remaining page of the document the screen will go black and a message will appear informing you that the book you have open no longer has any saved pages Deleting a Book In order to delete a book 1 Go to the Book menu and click the Delete Book menu item 2 The Delete Book dialog box will appear Select the book that you wish to delete and click the Delete button You cannot delete the open book 3 You can use the Browse button to select another directory 4 The dialog gets dismissed and the selected book is deleted 17 Note You can delete more than one book at the same time by selecting many books in the dialog press the Ctrl key while making the selection with the mouse button to select more that one item in the list Closing a Book When you are done reading and working with your book you need to close it In order to close the book you can click the Exit button or go to the Book menu and click the Close Book menu item The book will be closed and the book bar dismissed You can now open a different book to read or create a new one Saving Book As Text After you have scanned the book you can convert the whole book to one text file Go to the Book menu and use the Save Current Book As Text menu item to save the book as text file The text file will be created in the same directory as the scanned book will have the same name and txt extension Depending on the power of your computer it could take appro
21. take minimum space in your laptop bag Unfold Eye Pal in the following order 1 Move the camera housed in the square plastic box until it locks against the stand you will hear the click 2 Unfold the 2 legs until they click These are horizontal legs that should stay on your desk 3 To make Eye Pal even more stable lock each leg manually by rotating the levers located on each of the two legs 4 Plug the USB connector into the USB port of your PC or laptop since Eye Pal runs off your computer s power there is no separate power supply or extra battery packs Once you have plugged Eye Pal into your computer Eye Pal will announce Camera on Eye Pal is now ready to read or scan your books How to place a document under the camera Eye Pal has two horizontal legs the longer leg is 11 and a half inches long while the shorter leg is 8 inches long These two legs create a corner guide to assist the user in properly aligning documents to be scanned Eye Pal captures and saves the whole 11 and a half inches by 8 inch page When you are placing your document under the camera try to make it as flat as possible and align it with the legs Orientation of the document doesn t matter Eye Pal also allows you to read previously saved pages and books Eye Pal is a self learning system When you start using Eye Pal to read a certain kind of document or books it could take a few extra seconds to hear the voice or to show Braille But afte
22. ust brightness according to the illumination of your room as it may have changed 4 When you are saving a lot of pages in Auto mode and notice that you have to wait longer to hear the sound that the page has been saved it could be due to one of three reasons a Camera detects some motion wind unstable hands etc b Camera missed a motion when you flip the page or c Eye Pal turned the camera off because the conditions have changed for example somebody turned the lights in the room on or off It is OK You can always restart the camera and click the Start Auto Mode button again _ Reading a Saved Book In order to browse through the saved pages of your document 1 Click Alt B to go to the Book menu and select Open Book 2 The Open Book dialog will appear This dialog will show the books in the default folder C My Documents EyePal Books If you want to open the book that was saved in another folder use the Browse button to select desired folder The location of the selected folder will be displayed in the Book location field The list of books in this folder will be displayed on the screen Note Make sure you select the folder that contains all your books and not the folder that bears the name of a specific book 15 In that folder you might find the folder which bears the name of the specific book do not select it 3 Select the book you would like to view and click the Open button Note The Open butto
23. ximately from 3 to 6 seconds to save each page So for 200 pages the process may take from 10 to 20 minutes Eye Pal will tell you the number of the page it is currently saving Copying the Book The fastest way to initially save the book is to save it on the hard drive After you have scanned your book you can use the Save Current Book As menu item to copy the book onto a CD or a memory key 1 Go to the Book menu and click the Save Current Book As menu item 2 Use the Browse button to select the drive and or folder where you want to copy the book 3 Enter the New Name for the book 4 Click the Save button It takes a few seconds to save the book You may view and read the copy you made using Eye Pal software on any IBM compatible computer Useful Tips 1 If you are working with more than one windows application at a time Eye Pal window may loose focus You know that it lost focus if you try for example to turn camera on or off by pressing the space bar and nothing 18 happens Click the mouse anywhere on the screen to bring focus to Eye Pal application 2 There is a check box on the General tab of the Settings window Use arrow keys to simulate X Y table The default is unchecked The unchecked option allows you to use arrow keys while reading the text to move to the next word sentence etc If you noticed that arrow keys do not behave properly for reading please check this setting 3 There is a ch

Eye-Pal®

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents

Eye-Pal&reg;

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents

Eye-Pal®