Method and apparatus for presenting non-displayed text in Web pages

• US 20020122053A1
• Filed: 03/01/2001
• Published: 09/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Ramamoorthy, Karthikeyan
• Application Number:
  US09/798,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20020122053A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/729
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/007 using both tactile and audible presentation of the information

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for presenting a Web page to a visually impaired user. The Web page is searched for tags indicating non-displayable text. Non-displayable text associated with the tags is identified. The non-displayable text is presented in a form other than a visual form. This form may be, for example, an audible form, such as speech, or a tactile forum, such as Braille.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for presenting non-displayable information, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a Web page, searching the Web page for a tag indicating a presence of non-displayable information; and

responsive to identifying the tag in the Web page, audibly presenting the non-displayable information associated with the tag.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-displayable information is a set of keywords for use by a search engine.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-displayable information is a description of the Web page.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching step and the presenting step are located in a Web browser.

4. The method of clam 1, wherein the tag is a meta tag.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the meta tag is one of a keyword, a description, or a meta tag property.

7. A method in a data processing system for presenting a Web page to a visually impaired user, the method comprising:

searching the Web page for tags indicating non-displayable text;

identifying non-displayable text associated with the tags; and

selectively presenting non-displayable text in a form other than a visual form.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenting step presents the non-displayable text in an audible format by converting the text to speech.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the presenting step presents the non-displayable text in a tactile form.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the selectively presenting step includes:

identifying non-displayable text corresponding to a search term.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the selectively presenting step includes:

generating a list of keywords associated with meta tags; and

presenting the list of keywords in an audible format.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the searching step, identifying step and the presenting step are located in a Web browser.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the bus system includes a primary bus and a secondary bus.

15. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the processor unit includes a single processor.

16. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the processor unit includes a plurality of processors.

17. The data processing system claim 13, wherein the communications unit is an Ethernet adapter.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the non-displayable information is a set of keywords for use by a search engine.

21. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the non-displayable information is a description of the Web page.

24. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the searching means and the presenting means are located in a Web browser.

13. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus, wherein data is sent and received using the communications unit;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein a set of instructions are located in the memory; and

a processor unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processor unit executes the set of instructions to search a Web page for a tag indicating a presence of non-displayable information in response to receiving a Web page; and

audibly presents the non-displayable information associated with the tag in response to identifying the tag in the Web page.

18. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications unit connected to the bus, wherein data is sent and received using the communications unit;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein a set of instructions are located in the memory; and

a processor unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processor unit executes the set of instructions to search a Web page for tags indicating non-displayable text;

identify non-displayable text associated with the tags; and

selectively present non-displayable text in a form other than a visual form.

19. A data processing system for presenting non-displayable information, the data processing system comprising:

searching means, responsive to receiving a Web page, for searching the Web page for a tag indicating a presence of non-displayable information; and

presenting means, responsive to identifying the tag in the Web page, for audibly presenting the non-displayable information associated with the tag.

22. The data processing system of clam 19, wherein the tag is a meta tag.

23. The data processing system of claim 22, wherein the meta tag is one of a keyword, a description, or a meta tag property.

26. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the presenting means presents the non-displayable text in an audible format by converting the text to speech.

27. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the presenting means presents the non-displayable text in a tactile form.

28. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the presenting means includes:

means for identifying non-displayable text corresponding to a search term.

29. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the presenting means includes:

first means for generating a list of keywords associated with meta tags; and

second means for presenting the list of keywords in an audible format.

30. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the searching means, identifying means, and the presenting means are located in a Web browser.

25. A data processing system for presenting a Web page to a visually impaired user, the data processing system comprising:

searching means for searching the Web page for tags indicating non-displayable text;

identifying means for identifying non-displayable text associated with the tags; and

presenting means for selectively presenting non-displayable text in a form other than a visual form.

31. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for presenting non-displayable information in a data processing system, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to receiving a Web page, for searching the Web page for a tag indicating a presence of non-displayable information; and

second instructions, responsive to identifying the tag in the Web page, for audibly presenting the non-displayable information associated with the tag.

32. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for presenting a Web page in a data processing system to a visually impaired user, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions for searching the Web page for tags indicating non-displayable text;

second instructions for identifying non-displayable text associated with the tags; and

third instructions for selectively presenting non-displayable text in a form other than a visual form.