A portable print reading device includes a high resolution digital camera to which the following additional functions have been added:

• image centering by tactile or sound information, obtained from the analysis or real time video signals provided by the camera sensor,
• optical recognition of the characters contained in an image,
• conversion of recognized text into synthetic speech,
• conversion of recognized text into Braille,
• positioning of the reading cursor anywhere inside documents recognized and temporarily stored in the reading device memory: beginning of a page, a paragraph, a line, word search, etc.,
• processing of raw images provided by the camera to allow the transfer of whole images or selected image parts to a tactile graphic array, to allow blind users to apprehend graphic elements of such an image, and
• control of the camera functions by electrical signals provided by the recognition of commands spoken by the user.