Reading software for mathematical document  ChattyInfty

How to use

[Switching of input mode]

Texts mode or Mathematics mode

If you want to switch the mode during input, follow one of the procedures shown below:
(a) Select "Text mode (T)" or "Math mode(M)" in [Format] menu.
(b) Press the space key while holding the Ctrl key down; then, Modes can be changed alternately.

This short-cut key is in the default setting; this setting can be changed by the Option in the [Setting] menu.

If you want to change the mode of characters already input, select the range, and Perform "Text mode (T)" or "Math mode(M)" command in the [Format] menu.

TeX mode or Texts mode

ChattyInfty provides "TeX Mode" in both of "quasi-WYSIWYG mode" and "LaTeX source editing mode" so that you can use other symbols not available in ChattyInfty and many other convenient commands of LaTeX such as \section, \subsection, \label, \begin{figure}, \begin{enumerate}, etc.
By selecting "TeX Mode" from the [Format] menu, you get into "TeX Mode".
Then, keyboard input strings are not converted automatically even if they include \ sign; They are displayed as strings of TeX commands.
The characters input in "TeX Mode" in Text area is displayed in red(default). The characters input in "TeX mode" in Math area is displayed in brown(default).

[How to input with keyboard]

When starting ChattyInfty, it is in the "Text (input) mode".
In this mode, you can write or edit literary texts with the keyboard.
In order to input math expressions, at first, you need to change the mode.
Pressing Ctrl + Space key switches it to the "Math (input) mode".
These two modes can be switched alternately with the same key stroke.
All the manners explained below require that ChattyInfty is in the Math mode.

(1)Superscript and Subscript

In the Math mode, you can easily write power/superscript.
For instance, a manner to input x squared is as follows:
(a) Input the base letter, x.
(b) Press the up arrow key; then, the cursor moves to the superscript position. ChattyInfty says "power".
(c) Input 2 and press Enter key. The cursor is back to the base line.

(2)Special characters

Mathematical characters that are not on the keyboard can be input from the Context menu that pops up by pressing the Application key. As you probably know, pressing the Application key on the keyboard corresponds to a right click of the mouse.

If you hoped to Perform operations shown below with the aid of speech output only, you would need to use a screen reader such as JAWS along with ChattyInfty.

For instance, a manner to input a Greek letter, alpha is as follows:
(a) Press the Application key to open the Context menu. ChattyInfty says "Context menu".
(b) Press the down arrow key several times to find an item, "Character, Symbol".
(c) Press the right arrow key to move to the submenu; then, ChattyInfty says "Greek".
(d) Press the right arrow key to move to the entry list of the Greek letters.
(e) Select alpha and press Enter key.

The first group of Greek letters is capital. If you chose "Detailed Reading mode", ChattyInfty would say "Cap alpha" for the capital letter.

(3)Math Syntax

Besides the superscript and the subscript, there are many special notations in mathematics. We call them "Mathematical syntaxes". They can be also input from the Context menu.
A manner to input a fraction, one over two is as follows:
(a) Press the Application key to open the Context menu. ChattyInfty says "Context menu".
(b) Press the down arrow key several times to find an item, "Formulas".
(c) Press the right arrow key to move to the submenu; then, ChattyInfty says "Frac".
(d) Press Enter key; then a blank fraction is input at the original position of cursor. The cursor moves to its numerator position automatically. ChattyInfty says "Numerator".
(e) Input 1 and press the right arrow key to move the cursor to the denominator position. ChattyInfty says "Denominator".
(f) Input 2 and press the right arrow key then the cursor gets out of the fraction. It will be located at the next position to the fraction on the base line.

Pressing Enter key also moves the cursor to the denominator position or outside of the fraction; however, no messages will be output at that time.

Using the Context menu, you can write a variety of other special notations in mathematics.

[How to Input from Math OCR]

Using ChattyInfty, visually disabled persons can access printed scientific documents including math expressions. In order to use this function, you need to install our math OCR system named "InftyReader" or "InftyReaderPlus". Since they recognize not only special characters but also mathematical notations and import the results into ChattyInfty, you can access or edit them with speech output.

(1) How to Recognize

Here, we show the simplest way to recognize scientific documents by InftyReader.
(a) Prepare a scanned image file in either TIFF, GIF or PNG format.
(b) Select it on My Computer window and press the Application key to open the Context menu. At that time, ChattyInfty does not need to be opened.
(c) Press the down arrow key several times to find an item, "Recognize with Infty System".
(d) Press Enter key; then, the recognition runs without any additional operations.
(e) After the recognition completes, ChattyInfty will be opened automatically, and the result will be displayed on its main window.

(2) How to Use the Sheet View window

When the recognized result is displayed on the main frame of ChattyInfty, the "Sheet View window" pops up to show the original page image. Since the original scanned image that exactly corresponds to an area around the cursor position is displayed, sighted persons can easily check errors of the recognition.
It is remarkable that information on the Sheet View window is also available for visually disabled persons. By pressing F4 key, the focus moves to the Sheet View window. If you had a certain sophisticated tactile-graphic tool such as View Plus embossers, you could output the image directly from this window as tactile graphics. So, even if you were totally blind, you could correct recognition errors for yourself with the tactile graphics! Incidentally, the focus will be back to the main window when you move the cursor with arrow keys.

Printing the Sheet View window is supposed to be done from the own File menu of this special window.

There is more detail in the manual attached ChattyInfty.