What is Keynoa?
Keynoa is a set of Hardware and Software tools aiming to enhance the Accessibility and Education for the Blind and the Visually Impaired. With the hand wearable Keynoa Rings, the user can read any text in electronic form simply by receiving small vibrations on the fingers, and also write simply by producing finger taps on any surface. With Keynoa App running on a smartphone or a tablet, the user can send and receive messages and emails and access the Internet simply by producing fingers taps and finger slides on the screen.
Based on Keynoa Method, the characters of the text to read are converted to vibrations produced by the finger-rings of Keynoa Rings. The user, feeling the vibrations on the fingers, interprets them, based on Keynoa Method, as characters and is therefore able to read. Also with Keynoa Rings and based on Keynoa Method, the user produces characters, symbols and commands, without keyboard or equivalent, simply by coincidence of finger taps on a surface.
Keynoa App is for the time being deployed on Android devices; tablets or smartphones. It runs in landscape orientation of the device. Keynoa user is guided by text to speech voice announcements, finger vibrations and sounds. Keynoa App constitutes a platform for Accessibility and Education that is being continuously developed and adapted to the real needs of the Blind and the Visually Impaired.
In addition to the text to speech capabilities that it offers, Keynoa App gives also the possibility to present simultaneously the written text and announcements on a refreshable Braille display.
Keynoa Rings hand wearable is particularly useful for deaf blind people as it enables easy and comfortable communication with other people as well as with other devices, leaving the fingers simultaneously free for other activities.With Keynoa Rings they can communicate with anyone through dialogs in form of text. The user receives and reads the text dialog with the help of Keynoa Rings and replies by producing a text also with Keynoa Rings.
Keynoa Technologies will continue to expand and strengthen the tools it offers by regularly updating the existing ones and introducing new ones such as education tools like games to learn to use Keynoa Rings or to learn Braille as well as text editing and mathematics tools.
Keynoa with 5 fingers
To write or read with Keynoa Method when one hand is used:
- use successively the little finger followed again by the little finger for letter “a”
- use successively the little finger followed by the ring finger for letter “b”
- use the little finger followed by the middle finger for “c” etc., then
- use the right ring finger then the right little finger for “f” etc., for more information please click here.
Using Keynoa with one hand
Using the five fingers of one hand,
- tapping the little finger followed tapping again the little finger produce letter “a”. Similarly feeling vibration on the little finger followed by feeling a vibration on again the little finger, the user reads letter “a”
- tapping the little finger followed the ring finger produce letter “b”. Feeling vibration on the little finger followed by a vibration on the ring finger, the user reads letter “b”
- tapping the little finger followed the middle finger produce letter “c”. Feeling the little finger followed by the middle finger, the user reads “c” etc., then
- the little finger followed by the middle finger correspond to letter “c” etc, then
- Tap the finger followed by the little finger for “f” etc.,
- Tap the ring finger followed by the ring finger for “g” etc, then
- the middle finger and the right little finger for “k” etc.
- for “z” simultaneously the little finger and the thumb of the same hand .
With simple and intuitive principle of fingers succession or coincidence you can produce or read any character, symbol or useful command; refer to the following visual representation to achieve
Keynoa on Smartphones: Characters and Symbols
If you tap successively with the indicated fingers or if you feel them vibrating one after the other then you write or read the corresponding character, symbol or command.
Tap simultaneously with the indicated fingers to produce the wanted character, symbol or command.
(Touch the image to enlarge)
Alphabet Characters
Symbols & Commands
Numerical Characters
Mnemonic Summary
Keynoa with 10 fingers
To write or read with Keynoa Method when the two hands are used:
- use simultaneously the left little finger and the right little finger for letter “a”
- use simultaneously the left little finger and the right ring finger for “b”
- use simultaneously the left little finger and the right middle finger for “c” etc., then
- use the left ring finger and the right little finger for “f” etc, for more information please click here.
Using Keynoa with two hands
Using the ten fingers of the two hands:
- tapping the left little finger and the right little finger produce letter “a”. Similarly feeling vibrations simultaneously on the left little finger and the right little finger, the user reads letter “a”
- tapping the left little finger and the right ring finger produce “b”. Feeling vibrations simultaneously on the left little finger and the right ring finger, the user reads “b”
- the left little finger and the right middle finger produce letter “c”. Feeling simultaneously the left little finger and the right middle finger, the user reads “c” etc, then
- the left ring finger and the right little finger for “f”
- the left ring finger and the right ring finger for “g” etc., then
- the left middle finger and the right little finger for “k” etc.
- for “z” simultaneously the little finger and the thumb of the right hand.
Keynoa with ten fingers: Characters and Symbols
If you tap simultaneously with the indicated fingers or if you feel them vibrating simultaneously then you write or read the corresponding character, symbol or command.
(Touch the image to enlarge)
Alphabet Characters
Symbols & Commands
Numerical Characters
Mnemonic Summary
First
Hand Writing
Then
Keyboard Writing
Next
Keynoa Writing
Keynoa the Accessibility and Education Tools
Keynoa Technologies offer the hand wearable device, Keynoa Rings, as well as a software platform Keynoa App . These tools are specifically designed for Visually Impaired individuals implementing an innovative method of reading and writing, enabling a natural access to modern ICTs and the Internet, and enhancing the education possibilities for the children and the adults. In addition to offering an innovative simple and intuitive manner of reading and writing, Keynoa is an interface to different technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications and the Internet. This include for the moment sending messages by email, SMS or WhatsApp, translating text between different languages, making searches on Google and YouTube and soon other features like text editing, spelling and grammar correction, Google search, etc. Keynoa is also developing a set of education tools and tutorials (more details will come later).
For writing with Keynoa Method, symbols and commands are produced, without keyboard or equivalent; by simple coincidence of finger taps on a surface, the user can produce:
- alphabet characters in minuscule or majuscule in any language,
- numerical characters and symbols,
- punctuation signs,
- other characters and symbols and
- execute useful text editing commands.
With Keynoa App running on a smartphone or a tablet, the user can select the desired option from a list of frequently used functions with simple finger slides and finger flings or taps. The user keeps a finger on the device screen to enter the options selection mode then slides the finger to scroll over the list of choices then flings the finger or taps with another finger to select the wanted option. While writing text or selecting options, the user is guided by feedback effects consisting of text to speech, sounds, finger vibrations and/or simultaneous presentation of the concerned text on a refreshable Braille display. The user has at all times the possibility to go back to listen or read the entered text and characters.
Keynoa App
You will receive Keynoa App in the form of an APK file. In your Android Smartphone or tablet click on the APK file to install it, you may be asked to allow the installation before you can open and run it.
Please note that for Keynoa to run properly, the user need to allow it to access to a number of functions of the used device such as contact list, the emails etc.
Please note that this does not mean that the Keynoa will collect sensitive personal information at all; as stated in its Privacy Policy, Keynoa does not transmit nor collect anything the user types nor any personal information.
Quick tutorial
Keynoa App recognises automatically whether it is running on a tablet or on a smartphone. In case of a tablet it expects you to use one hand or both hands and one hand only for a smartphone. The first time you use it, Keynoa will notify you that the fingers positions references on the view are not yet set.
You are then invited to “Tap with 5 or 10 Fingers Simultaneously” for tablets and “Tap with 5 Fingers Simultaneously” for smartphones. Tap then with all 10 or 5 fingers so that they all touch the screen briefly and at the same time. Do it in a comfortable and relaxed manner make sure all fingers are inside Keynoa view frame. When you do so, Keynoa notifies you that you are ready to start writing using it.
Keynoa Rings is a comfortable hand wearable with five soft rubber rings placed on each finger and a controller placed on the back of the hand. Using Keynoa App interface based on Keynoa sliding finger options, the user connects Keynoa Rings to the smartphone or the tablet via Bluetooth wireless connection. The user selects the text to read, then the fingers receive successively the vibrations corresponding to each character or symbol of the text. The user can sit back with the fingers immobile or do something else with the fingers while reading the text via fingers vibrations produced by Keynoa Rings.
Keynoa sliding finger options
Using a smartphone or a tablet screen, Keynoa App offers various useful functionalities including for the moment ability to send and receive messages by email, SMS or WhatsApp, to make text translation using Google translation, to make searches on Google, to search on YouTube for a video and then play it. Keynoa will continue to expand and strengthen the set of features it offers by regularly updating the existing ones and introducing new ones such as education tools like games to learn Braille as well as text editing and mathematics tools.
These options are presented in form of scrolling menus called “sliding fingers menus”. The menus’ options are the same on tablets or on smartphones. There are two main sliding fingers menus. Some of the choices of the menus lead to other sliding menus called sliding fingers submenus.
To invoke the first main menu the user touches and keeps one finger on the screen of the device until the device vibrates shortly, then to scroll on the menu choices the finger slides to the left or to the right horizontally on the device screen maintained in landscape orientation. While sliding the finger, the text to speech voice announces the different menu choices. Go to the left and right edges of the screen to discover all the choices.
There are two ways to select a menu choice, when the sliding finger reaches the wanted menu choice the user immobilises the finger on the choice and then either
1. fling the same finger swiftly toward the bottom of the screen or
2. tap once the screen with another finger. The selected choice is then announced by the device voice or by fingers vibrations produced by Keynoa Rings. Lift all the fingers before starting another operation.
There are also two ways to return to the previous choice, while sliding a finger to scroll over the current menu choices the user immobilises the finger on any one of the choices and then either
1. fling the same finger swiftly toward the top of the screen or
2. selects the Return choice on the current menu.
When selecting a choice from a large list of elements, the list is split in several pages, each page containing a preset number of elements (for example 30 elements). To move from one page to the other the user flings the sliding finger swiftly to the right to move to the next page and to the left to move to the previous page.
Main menu
The main menu is the default menu, it contains the following choices:
- Settings: Main menu, Braille, Keynoa Rings, Gmail Account, Language
- Phone: Make a phone call
- WhatsApp: Send or consult WhatsApp messages
- SMS: Send or consult SMS messages
- Email: Prepare, send or consult Emails
- Google: Make a search on Google
- Youtube: Make a search on Youtube
- Translate: Translate a text to different language
Setting menu
The Settings menu contains the following choices:
- Main menu: Return to main Menu
- Braille: Device connection and setup
- Keynoa Rings: Device connection and setup
- Gmail Account: Enter user’s Gmail account
- Language: Select a language for Keynoa App text and voice
Keynoa is compatible with Braille
The text produced using Keynoa on a Smartphone or tablet can be read simultaneously on a refreshable Braille display. The advantage being, the user can select the text read on the Braille display.
The current version of Keynoa is compatible with the Orbit reader 20 developed by Orbit Research.
Granting access to Keynoa on the used smartphone or tablet
For Keynoa App to run properly, the user needs to allow it to access on the used device the following functions:
- Read and write contacts,
- Receive, read, and send SMS messages,
- Access the Internet,
- Make phone calls,
- Make the device vibrate,
This does not mean that the Keynoa will collect sensitive personal information at all; as stated in its Privacy Policy, Keynoa does not transmit nor collect anything the user types nor any personal information.
To send emails it is necessary for the user to have an Gmail account. In Keynoa App, the user needs to enter this Gmail address and the associated Password from the Settings Menu.
Keynoa Privacy Policy
Your privacy is of great concern to Keynoa Technologies team.
Collection of Personal Information
Keynoa DOES NOT COLLECT ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION OR ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU TYPE using this app. When you allow full access for Keynoa, you may be warned that the can be used to “transmit anything you type, including things you have previously typed with this keyboard.” This is the standard warning message for all third-party input methods, however, Keynoa does not collect any personal information or transmit such information to a server or third party.
Disclosure of Personal Information
As Keynoa does not collect any personal information, your personal information is safe will not be disclosed to any third party.
Data Storage
Keynoa data (settings parameters) are stored on your device locally and do not contain any personal information.
Allow Full Access
Keynoa needs you to turn “Allow full access” on in order for it to appear on the screen. Keynoa will only display the text you write and no text or personal information will be stored.
Policy Changes
Any changes to this policy will be posted to an update of the App. You are advised to regularly view our most recent privacy policy