I had an idea today that might already be out there, since it seemed simple and fairly inexpensive.

The concept is to use digital magnification as a portable reading aid.  Imagine a small hand held device that is nothing but an LCD screen on top (could range from tablet size down to a few inches in size depending on model) with a camera  (inexpensive video) on the other side along with possibly a small light.  A person would move this screen over the top of what they want to read and it could enlarge almost any usable magnification.

Controls might be:

• Wheel dial on the side for amount of magnification
• Button to turn on/off built in light
• Button to take a snapshot image
• Possibly a wheel dial to select stored snapshots if allowed more than one

This simple device could be used by those with poor vision virtually anywhere.  Additionally, with the snapshot button, a person could click take a picture of what they need to read then go somewhere else more comfortable to actual do the reading.  An example would reading the serial number on an appliance, you could click a snapshot when you had it enlarged and have that snapshot ready when you were one the phone talking to support.

With the low price of video/still digital camera technology, a small handheld unit should be able to be produced for under $100 and be able to fit in a purse.

Of course, this does not have to be just handheld, it could be a book reading tool in a fixed format along with possibly a tablet size version that can be held by both hands to read.  The nice part is that if it uses a video chip, it is like a window to what you want to see directly on the other side of your magnifier!

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Note: The ideas posted by me are simply ideas that I have come up with over the years.  They may or may not already exist and possibly used for years, but I am unaware of their existence. If you are interested in any of them, you need to do research first to make sure they are not already in use.

IF ANYONE MAKES A PROFIT on any of these ideas, it would be nice to have a simple 5% kickback of those profits :)

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