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Braille translator

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For the purposes of this article, the word "inkprint" means text prepared for reading by the eye, whether printed, displayed on a screen, or stored in a computer; "braille" means text prepared for reading by the finger, whether brailled, displayed on an electronic device, or stored in a computer.
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Braille translation software or embedded hardware converts inkprint into braille or braille into inkprint. Usually, someone has inkprint in a word processor file or at an URL and wants braille. The braille could be sent to a
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Some languages use uncontracted braille, where each letter uses a specific braille character. Uncontracted braille requires manipulation of capitalization, emphasis, numbers, and punctuation. Some languages use
39:, there is no language translation. Even in the simplest situation, such as Dutch braille, has complex rules for capitalization, emphasis, punctuation, typographic symbols, and page formatting. 144: 154:
At the first International Workshop on Computerized Braille Production, held in Muenster, Germany, March 1973, many braille-translation projects from around the world were described.
151:) developed DOTSYS III, the first braille translator written in a portable programming language. DOTSYS III was developed for the Atlanta Public Schools as a public domain program. 60:. Another circumstance is that someone has braille in an electronic braille notetaker that they want to produce in inkprint to be shared with someone who does not read braille. 261:
Robert W. Mann, Sc.D., Selected Perspectives on a Quarter Century of Rehabilitation Engineering, Journal of Rehabilitation Research, and Development Vol. 23 No. 4, Pages 1-6
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A braille translator can run on a smartphone, personal computer, network server, or (historically) larger mini-computers or mainframes of larger institutions.
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Computerised Braille Production Proceedings of the First International Workshop in Münster Germany, 1973 edited by R. A. J. Gildea, G. Hubner, H. Werner, 1974
108:. The most difficult part of producing braille is making the decision of when and when not to use contractions. When people make these decisions, it is 148: 139:, while another group created an embossing device which became known as the "M.I.T. Braillemboss.". Eventually, MIT outsourced the software work to 35:(which produces a hard copy of the newly created braille). Typically, each language needs its own braille translator. Despite the use of the word 379: 136: 67:
since the action of the software provides braille for a blind person. Braille translators can be run by people with or without sight.
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An archive of documents on the history of braille, braille translation, and some braille devices is maintained by Duxbury Systems.
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Computer Translation: Grade 2 from Print; Report of American Printing House of the Blind, by Ann Schack, et al., June 1969
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project to automate the production of braille. Robert Mann wrote and supervised software for braille translation called
92:(th)(in)k. The use or non-use of these contractions is related to pronunciation. For example, the "th" sign is used in 1249: 1235: 1205: 344: 1467: 312: 124:
The first practical application of computer translation and production of braille used mainframe computers at the
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Braille Translation System for the IBM 704 by Ann S. Schack and R.T. Mertz, 1961
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program that translates electronic text (such as an MS-Word file) into
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Support for wireless braille displays in iOS 5, Apple Accessibility
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Braillestandaard voor algemeen gebruik in het Nederlandse taalgebied
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Documents on Automated Braille Production: An Historical Resource
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published by the Dutch braille authority, retrieved 2/24/2023
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Blista-Brailletec GmbH (German braille production software)
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Software program used to translate text into braille script
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Braille translation software is usually classified as
1576: 31:and sends it to a braille peripheral, such as a 338: 112:; when computers make these decisions, it is 225:Robobraille (server-based braille software) 345: 331: 82:(5 letters) is rendered as 3 characters: 1577: 1482:American Printing House for the Blind 1258:International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) 910:Devanagari (Hindi / Marathi / Nepali) 326: 126:American Printing House for the Blind 56:to produce physical braille or to a 352: 13: 14: 1606: 306: 318:How do Braille Translators work? 131:During the 1960s, there was an 290: 278: 266: 254: 242: 230: 218: 206: 194: 42: 1: 1250:Gardner–Salinas braille codes 1206:Gardner–Salinas braille codes 187: 1461:National Braille Association 1440:Braille Institute of America 1158:Two-cell Chinese (Shuangpin) 7: 1341:Refreshable braille display 1320:Optical braille recognition 917:Bengali (Bangla / Assamese) 449:Chinese (mainland Mandarin) 160: 10: 1611: 1408:Thakur Vishva Narain Singh 273:History of Duxbury Systems 119: 1540: 1491: 1431: 1364: 1274: 1220: 1183: 1144:Mainland Chinese Mandarin 1123: 1104: 1085: 990: 896: 857: 784: 711: 410: 403: 364: 128:of Louisville, Kentucky. 1131:Chinese semi-syllabaries 394:Unicode braille patterns 380:International uniformity 1468:Blindness organizations 1447:Braille Without Borders 1236:Canadian currency marks 858:Egyptian lineage family 785:Russian lineage family 1549:Accessible publishing 1475:Schools for the blind 1454:Japan Braille Library 1243:Computer Braille Code 897:Indian lineage family 275:, retrieved 3/29/2012 110:braille transcription 1313:Mountbatten Brailler 668:(largely reassigned) 451:(largely reassigned) 65:assistive technology 1595:Disability software 1590:Machine translation 1265:Nemeth braille code 1051:(reassigned vowels) 576:(extended to 8-dot) 299:retrieved 3/30/2016 287:retrieved 3/30/2016 263:retrieved 3/30/2016 251:retrieved 3/30/2016 239:retrieved 3/30/2016 227:retrieved 3/29/2012 215:retrieved 3/29/2012 114:braille translation 1585:Braille technology 1299:Braille translator 1276:Braille technology 1252:(science; GS8/GS6) 1221:Symbols in braille 1151:Taiwanese Mandarin 666:Taiwanese Mandarin 147:(now president of 76:contracted braille 21:braille translator 1572: 1571: 1494:tactile alphabets 1422:William Bell Wait 1415:Sabriye Tenberken 1216: 1215: 1081: 1080: 1066:(Japanese vowels) 864:-mediated scripts 791:-mediated scripts 141:Mitre Corporation 58:braille notetaker 1602: 1565: 1558: 1556:Braille literacy 1551: 1533: 1526: 1519: 1512: 1505: 1484: 1477: 1470: 1463: 1456: 1449: 1442: 1424: 1417: 1410: 1403: 1396: 1389: 1382: 1375: 1357: 1350: 1348:Slate and stylus 1343: 1336: 1334:Perkins Brailler 1329: 1322: 1315: 1308: 1301: 1294: 1292:Braille embosser 1287: 1267: 1260: 1253: 1245: 1238: 1231: 1209: 1201: 1194: 1176: 1169: 1160: 1153: 1146: 1139: 1132: 1116: 1113:American Braille 1097: 1094:Algerian Braille 1074: 1067: 1059: 1052: 1044: 1037: 1030: 1023: 1015: 1008: 1001: 983: 975: 968: 961: 954: 947: 940: 933: 926: 919: 912: 889: 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689: 685: 682: 678: 675: 671: 667: 663: 660: 656: 653: 652:South African 649: 646: 642: 639: 635: 632: 628: 625: 621: 618: 614: 611: 607: 604: 600: 597: 593: 590: 586: 583: 579: 575: 574:Luxembourgish 571: 568: 564: 561: 557: 554: 550: 547: 543: 540: 536: 533: 529: 526: 522: 519: 515: 512: 508: 505: 501: 498: 494: 491: 487: 484: 480: 476: 472: 468: 465: 461: 458: 454: 450: 446: 443: 439: 436: 432: 429: 425: 422: 418: 417: 415: 413: 409: 406: 402: 395: 391: 388: 387:ASCII braille 384: 381: 377: 374: 370: 369: 367: 363: 355: 348: 343: 341: 336: 334: 329: 328: 325: 319: 316: 314: 311: 310: 298: 293: 286: 281: 274: 269: 262: 257: 250: 245: 238: 233: 226: 221: 214: 209: 202: 197: 193: 183: 180: 178: 175: 173: 170: 168: 165: 164: 158: 155: 152: 150: 146: 142: 138: 134: 129: 127: 117: 115: 111: 107: 103: 99: 95: 81: 77: 71: 68: 66: 61: 59: 55: 49: 40: 38: 34: 30: 26: 22: 1298: 1064:Thai and Lao 741:Scandinavian 373:1829 braille 365:Braille cell 292: 280: 268: 256: 244: 232: 220: 208: 196: 156: 153: 130: 123: 113: 109: 106:chemotherapy 105: 104:in the word 101: 97: 93: 79: 72: 69: 62: 50: 46: 36: 20: 18: 1563:RoboBraille 1387:Róża Czacka 1327:Perforation 1124:Independent 1022:(Bhutanese) 757:Greenlandic 428:Azerbaijani 43:Description 1579:Categories 1115:(obsolete) 1096:(obsolete) 888:(Pakistan) 799:Belarusian 681:Vietnamese 624:Portuguese 610:Philippine 567:Lithuanian 188:References 96:, but not 37:translator 1531:Vibratese 1510:Moon type 1503:Decapoint 1184:Eight-dot 1137:Cantonese 1086:Reordered 1049:Inuktitut 938:Malayalam 848:Ukrainian 827:Mongolian 806:Bulgarian 769:Norwegian 734:Icelandic 525:Hungarian 483:Esperanto 435:Cantonese 1167:Japanese 1028:Georgian 1020:Dzongkha 1006:Armenian 924:Gujarati 789:Cyrillic 720:Estonian 695:Yugoslav 631:Romanian 603:Nigerian 518:Hawaiian 504:Ghanaian 421:Albanian 161:See also 25:software 1072:Tibetan 1013:Burmese 999:Amharic 982:(India) 959:Sinhala 952:Punjabi 931:Kannada 879:Persian 834:Russian 774:Swedish 752:Finnish 727:Faroese 702:Zambian 674:Turkish 659:Spanish 582:Maltese 560:Latvian 553:Italian 532:Iñupiaq 511:Guarani 471:English 442:Catalan 359:⠃⠗⠁⠊⠇⠇⠑ 354:Braille 120:History 98:pothole 29:braille 1492:Other 1365:People 1355:Braigo 1174:Korean 1042:Hebrew 973:Telugu 872:Arabic 862:Arabic 820:Kyrgyz 813:Kazakh 747:Danish 645:Slovak 638:Samoan 617:Polish 596:Navajo 497:German 490:French 357:  172:E-book 137:DOTSYS 102:mother 1208:(GS8) 1199:Kanji 1057:Khmer 1035:Greek 966:Tamil 899:i.e. 860:i.e. 841:Tatar 787:i.e. 688:Welsh 589:Māori 546:Irish 464:Dutch 457:Czech 94:think 80:think 23:is a 980:Urdu 945:Odia 886:Urdu 167:Book 539:IPA 133:MIT 1581:: 116:. 19:A 477:) 473:( 346:e 339:t 332:v 90:⠅ 87:⠢ 84:⠹

Index

software
braille
braille embosser
braille embosser
braille notetaker
assistive technology
contracted braille
American Printing House for the Blind
MIT
DOTSYS
Mitre Corporation
Joseph Sullivan
Duxbury Systems
Book
E-book
Braille e-book
Perkins Brailler
Braillestandaard voor algemeen gebruik in het Nederlandse taalgebied
Support for wireless braille displays in iOS 5, Apple Accessibility
Robobraille (server-based braille software)
Braille Translation System for the IBM 704 by Ann S. Schack and R.T. Mertz, 1961
Computer Translation: Grade 2 from Print; Report of American Printing House of the Blind, by Ann Schack, et al., June 1969
Robert W. Mann, Sc.D., Selected Perspectives on a Quarter Century of Rehabilitation Engineering, Journal of Rehabilitation Research, and Development Vol. 23 No. 4, Pages 1-6
History of Duxbury Systems
Computerised Braille Production Proceedings of the First International Workshop in Münster Germany, 1973 edited by R. A. J. Gildea, G. Hubner, H. Werner, 1974
Documents on Automated Braille Production: An Historical Resource
Blista-Brailletec GmbH (German braille production software)
How do Braille Translators work?
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