Dr. Uclid Herie approached me during the recent U.S./Canada
Conference on Technology to ask if we could produce a braille Fax
machine. Of course I told him we could. Since our discussion in
Baltimore, Dr. Herie has written to me with copies to several
others to express his enthusiasm for the project.
I am appending below the body of a letter which you will understand
without further explanation.
Tim Cranmer
Begin append
November 22, 1993
Uclid Herie, President
Canadian National Institute for the Blind
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dear Dr. Herie:
An item on the R&D Committee agenda scheduled for January 28:30,
1994, deals with the Braille Fax Machine. We will at that time
settle on a plan to make the thing.
Now is the best time to point out the limitations of braille FAX.
The first such machine will be limited to ordinary text; no attempt
will be made to produce tactile graphics. This will change as new
technologies for generating computer aided raised line drawings
comes on line.
We can expect errors in the braille copy of a FAX due to the poor
resolution in today's FAX transmission standards. This industry
will surely improve the visual appearance of FAX printouts in the
years ahead. The quality of the braille copies will improve along
with the visual product.
With these caveats in mind, I am sure that the right combination of
FAX Modem, state-of-the-art OCR software, braille translation
software and braille embosser, can be cobbled together into a
useful braille FAX machine. We will assemble two prototype units;
one for you! After that, we'll have to wait and see.
I am looking forward to working with the Canadian delegation to the
R&D Committee Meeting. Please let me and Dr. Jernigan know of your
plans as they are made.
Sincerely yours,
T. V. (Tim) Cranmer, Chairman
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