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A system for generating audible information from a sound track printed on paper by conventional printing techniques, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of closely-spaced parallel sound track segments which are curved in a manual scanning direction and oriented generally transverse the manu

A system for generating audible information from a sound track printed on paper by conventional printing techniques, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of closely-spaced parallel sound track segments which are curved in a manual scanning direction and oriented generally transverse the manual scanning direction. Also provided is an optical scanner adapted to be manually moved along the sound track in the manual scanning direction, the scanner including means for automatically and continuously sequentially scanning the segments longitudinally to produce electrical signals representative of sound information contained in the sound track, and means for converting the electrical signals into audible sound.

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Apparatus for scanning a “folded”sound track of the variable-area type printed on a surface and oriented in a manual scanning direction, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of equal-length sound track segments oriented generally transverse the manual scanning direction and arranged in an or

Apparatus for scanning a “folded”sound track of the variable-area type printed on a surface and oriented in a manual scanning direction, the sound track consisting of a multiplicity of equal-length sound track segments oriented generally transverse the manual scanning direction and arranged in an order to represent sequential portions of a continuous sound track, each of said segments being an arc of a circle of predetermined radius centered on an imaginary line disposed in said manual scanning direction, said scanning apparatus comprising: a housing having a flat bottom adapted to rest on said surface for manual movement over said sound track in the manual scanning direction, said bottom having an aperture therein; means mounted within said housing for directing light through said aperture for illuminating an area of the printed sound track which is under said aperture; means within said housing for performing a periodic scan along the length dimension of said sound track segments, said means comprising a scanning wheel supported for rotation in a plane substantially parallel to said sound track surface and closely adjacent the aperture in the bottom of said housing, said wheel having a plurality of apertures uniformly angularly spaced along a circle having substantially said predetermined radius each supporting a cylindrical lens therein, each said lens for collimating light reflected thereonto from the portion of the sound track which is under and is illuminated through the aperture in the bottom of said housing, means for rotating said scanning wheel, photodetector means supported within said housing for converting light incident thereon to an electrical output signal, a mask supported between said scanning wheel and said photodetector means having formed therein a narrow arcuate light-transmitting window having a radius of curvature substantially equal to said predetermined radius and a length comparable to the length of said segments and to the angular spacing between the apertures in said scanning wheel, said window being aligned with said circle and oriented substantially parallel to said sound track surface so as to transmit light transmitted by the cylindrical lenses in said scanning wheel apertures, each said scanning wheel aperture and associated lens defining a scanning line which traverses said window as said scanning wheel is rotated, and a spherical lens supported between said mask and said photodetector means for focusing onto said photodetector means light transmitted through the window in said mask; and means for converting an output signal from said photodetector means into audible sound.