Development of a Japanese-into-Braille Translating Server
for the Internet (1998)
Background Information
The Braille system, which was invented by Louis Braille in 1825 when he was only 15 years old and improved by him in 1837, is a universally accepted system of writing and reading used by and for people with impaired vision. However, unfortunately, there are not sufficient publications in Japanese for visually impaired people. We think the reason is that it requires a considerable number of people to translate ordinary books into Braille, although there are not enough volunteers to do the translating. Therefore, we have been trying to improve the efficiency of translating the conventional Japanese writing system into Braille with the help of a computer.
The Characteristics of Our System
Taking into consideration the effective use of a computer, we have developed a Braille translating server using the server/client model based on the Internet technology with TCP/IP. Needless to say, this system on the Internet is a pilot version which is open to the public and can be accessed through any WWW browser for free regardless of the operating system of each user's computer. In this system, Braille is expressed in GIF images.
Conclusion
We have succeeded in developing a simple but effective system which can translate Japanese into Braille and to which any computer user can gain access by WWW browser. We are now in the middle of developing a server which can not only translate Japanese into Braille editor format but also send the translation back to each user on an automatic basis.
eBraille Ver. 0.81
Introduction of eBraille system