We have developed the prototype of a system that recognizes the denomination of the largest U.S.A. currency notes in circulation in Ecuador, aimed at visually impaired people. It is capable of reproducing audio messages that announce the denomination of a banknote in front of a smartphone camera by processing each frame of its continuous filming. This work takes its theoretical basis from the Digital Image Processing (DIP) techniques and primarily from the image recognition method known as Eigenfaces, which is based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) mathematical theory. Tests on two different Nokia smartphones show an accuracy rate of 99.8% and a processing speed of at least 7 frames per second.

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There is no evidence that mathematical semantics cannot be understood due to blindness, the problem is the current access barrier to mathematical resources. In light of this problem, this survey aims at providing visually impaired persons (VIPs), or people close to them, with an overview of the currently available software tools for approaching mathematical content. These can be categorized into (a) tools for accessing mathematical documents (where VIPs are just consumers of content), and (b) tools that allow VIPs to become the creators of mathematical content and even to execute mathematical operations. We also explain the advantages and disadvantages of several key technologies used to interact with mathematics. Moreover, we discuss the necessity of the most common formats and languages behind these tools. Finally, we outline promising paths for future research and development towards blind-friendly mathematical resources. The authors hope that this survey may encourage researchers to engage with the still unsolved challenges of this topic.

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