Assisted media presentation

• US 10,276,148 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2010
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Fleizach, Christopher B., Hudson, Reginald Dean, Seymour, Eric Taylor
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick, Michael N
• Application Number:
  US12/939,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20120116778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,099 Days
• Field of Search: 704271, 704258-269
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/0335 Pitch control

Abstract

Some examples of assisted media representation can be implemented as a system and method that uses screen reader like functionality to speak information presented on a graphical user interface displayed by a media presentation system, including information that is not navigable by a remote control device. Information can be spoken in an order that follows a relative importance of the information based on a characteristic of the information or the location of the information within the graphical user interface. A history of previously spoken information is monitored to avoid speaking information more than once for a given graphical user interface. A different pitch can be used to speak information based on a characteristic of the information. Information that is not navigable by the remote control device can be spoken after time delay. Voice prompts can be provided for a remote-driven virtual keyboard displayed by the media presentation system. The voice prompts can be spoken with different voice pitches.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a graphical user interface to be displayed by a media presentation system;

identifying navigable and non-navigable information presented on the graphical user interface;

converting the navigable and non-navigable information into speech; and

while displaying the graphical user interface including the navigable information and the non-navigable information, determining whether a user input is received;

in accordance with a determination that the user input is received and that the user input selects the navigable information, outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information; and

in accordance with a determination that the user input is not received, outputting the speech corresponding to the non-navigable information after the non-navigable information has been displayed for a time period,

where the method is performed by one or more computer processors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying information that has been spoken and information that has not been spoken; and

outputting speech corresponding to information that has not been spoken.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting speech corresponding to a first portion of information with a first pitch and outputting speech corresponding to a second portion of information with a second pitch that is higher or lower than the first pitch.

4. The method of claim 1, where outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information comprises:

speaking a screen label for the graphical user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from a remote control device; and

responsive to the input, repeating outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information.

6. The method of claim 2, where identifying information that has not been spoken, further comprises:

monitoring a history of information displayed on the graphical user interface that has been spoken; and

determining information that has not been spoken based on the history.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to causing the graphical user interface to be displayed;

displaying a setup graphical user interface on the media presentation system;

determining a length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed; and

upon determining that the length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed exceeds a pre-determined length of time, outputting a voice prompt requesting entry of input from a remote control device to cause the graphical user interface to be displayed.

8. The method of claim 1, where the speech is outputted in a voice pitch that varies based on the information type.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-navigable information cannot be selected.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the non-navigable information cannot be selected by a screen pointer operated by a selection device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigable information can be focused on using a cursor, and wherein the non-navigable information cannot be focused on using a cursor.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the cone or more processors to perform operations comprising;

causing a graphical user interface to be displayed by a media presentation system;

identifying navigable and non-navigable information presented on the graphical user interface;

converting the navigable and non-navigable information into speech; and

while displaying the graphical user interface including the navigable information and the non-navigable information, determining whether a user input is received;

in accordance with a determination that the user input is received and that the user input selects the navigable information, outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information; and

in accordance with a determination that that user input is not received, outputting the speech corresponding to the non-navigable information after the non-navigable information has been displayed for a time period.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

identifying information that has been spoken and information that has not been spoken; and

outputting speech corresponding to information that has not been spoken.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

outputting a first portion of information with a first pitch and a second portion of information with a second pitch that is different than the first pitch.

12. The system of claim 9, where outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information comprises:

speaking a screen label for the graphical user interface.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

receiving input from a remote control device; and

responsive to the input, repeating outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information.

14. The system of claim 10, where identifying information that has not been spoken, further comprises:

monitoring a history of information displayed on the graphical user interface that has been spoken; and

determining information that has not been spoken based on the history.

15. The system of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

displaying a setup graphical user interface on the media presentation system;

determining a length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed and

upon determining that the length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed exceeds a pre-determined length of time, outputting a voice prompt requesting entry of input from a remote control device to cause the graphical user interface to be displayed.

16. The system of claim 9, where the speech is outputted in a voice pitch that varies based on a characteristic of the information.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

cause a graphical user interface to be displayed by a media presentation system;

identify navigable and non-navigable information presented on the graphical user interface;

convert the navigable and non-navigable information into speech; and

while displaying the graphical user interface including the navigable information and the non-navigable information, determine whether a user input is received;

in accordance with a determination that the user input is received and that the user input selects the navigable information, output the speech corresponding to the navigable information; and

in accordance with a determination that the user input is not received, output the speech corresponding to the non-navigable information after the non-navigable information has been displayed for a time period.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

identify information that has been spoken and information that has not been spoken; and

output speech corresponding to information that has not been spoken.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to output speech corresponding to a first portion of information with a first pitch and outputting speech corresponding to a second portion of information with a second pitch that is higher or lower than the first pitch.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information comprises speaking a screen label for the graphical user interface.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receive input from a remote control device; and

responsive to the input, repeat outputting the speech corresponding to the navigable information.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein identifying information that has not been spoken, further comprises:

monitoring a history of information displayed on the graphical user interface that has been spoken; and

determining information that has not been spoken based on the history.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more programs, which, when executed by one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

prior to causing the graphical user interface to be displayed;

display a setup graphical user interface on the media presentation system;

determine a length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed; and

upon determining that the length of time that the setup graphical user interface has been displayed exceeds a pre-determined length of time, output a voice prompt requesting entry of input from a remote control device to cause the graphical user interface to be displayed.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the speech is outputted in a voice pitch that varies based on the information type.