Modular Evolution
Active Tactile Control (ATC)
Handy Tech
Elektronik GmbH
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Active Tactile Control (ATC)
The Modular Evolution's integrated ATC technology now makes it possible for the
first time to detect the Braille dots that you touch. By evaluating the nature of
individual tactile contacts, your reading position on the Braille line can be determined.
Using various assistant functions that can be customized, your reading position can
be employed to control the screen reader. Depending on your current reading status,
certain actions can be initiated. ATC can recognize four different reading behaviors:
Normal reading: The reading position is moving from left to right.
Fast reading: Reading speed is faster than at a pre-determined rate of
characters per second.
Resting: Detected when one character is touched for longer than a specified
time period.
Reading backwards: The reading position is moving from right to left.
A certain action can be assigned to each of these four behaviors. There are two
customizable modes for the so-called assistant functions. The two modes are
"Reading" and "Learning". The tab "ATC" in the Settings menu of the Handy Tech
Braille system is used to specify what your Modular Evolution and your screen reader
should do when each reading behavior is detected, depending on whether you
selected either Reading or Learning mode.
Under the ATC tab, the check box "Use ATC" allows you to enable or disable the
ATC functionality. There is also a quicker way to do this, by pressing [L + 1 7] or [L +
B1 + B4] (Chord A). By default, this function is unchecked.
The sliding "Sensitivity" control is used to set the sensitivity of the ATC sensors to
match your personal reading style. You can increase or decrease, respectively, the
sensitivity by activating the "right" or "left" cursor key.
The field "Assistant Mode" is used to specify whether you want to take advantage of
the assistant functions for reading or learning Braille. If you have selected one of the
two functions in the combo box, you can use the "Settings" button to determine how
the screen reader should react to your reading behavior. More details on these
settings are provided below in Section 5.1, ATC Assistant for Reading or Learning.
The ATC-monitor enables the text currently being displayed on the Braille line to be
shown in a window corresponding to the size of the Braille line on the monitor, as
well, so that a seeing person is able to follow what is going on on the Braille display.
The Settings button in this field allows you to specify the color used for displaying the
reading position. A different color can be specified for each reading behavior. More
details on these settings are provided below in Section 5.4, ATC-Monitor Settings.
If the check box "Show monitor after start-up" is checked, the ATC-monitor will
automatically start upon the screen reader's start-up. If you want to turn on the ATC-
