Personalization of user accessibility options

• US 20060139312A1
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Subramanian, Ramkumar, Sinclair, Robert E. II, Reid, Paul, Winser, Michael Edward Dulac, Perkins, Gilma Annuska
• Granted Patent: US 7,554,522 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04801 Cursor retrieval aid, i.e. visual aspect modification, blinking, colour changes, enlargement or other visual cues, for helping user do find the cursor in graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

A computing environment can dynamically respond to user preferences and personal abilities by enabling computer users to configure their computing experience by implicitly gathering information about the users'"'"' needs. The system can detect users'"'"' issues during the natural course of interaction with the system and offer to make adjustments to make their tasks simpler and more enjoyable. The system can allow for the configuration of settings that can impact users'"'"' abilities to receive important information from the system or provide input to the system.

Claims

1. A method for personalizing user accessibility options, comprising:

monitoring interaction of a computer user with at least one device, wherein the electronic device is electronically coupled with a computer system;

inferring accessibility information about a computer user by way of the monitoring; and

configuring at least one accessibility setting within the computer system based on the accessibility information.

2. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the at least one accessibility setting comprises adjusting visual settings.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the at least one accessibility setting comprises adjusting audio settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the at least one accessibility setting comprises adjusting input settings.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the at least one accessibility setting comprises adjusting cognitive settings.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein adjusting visual settings comprises changing at least one setting from the group consisting of resolution, color, font size, font weight, cursor size, cursor blink rate, animation settings, transparency, and alarm notifications.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting audio settings comprises changing at least one setting from the group consisting of volume, sound schemes, TTS settings, captions, and text equivalents for audio notifications.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein adjusting input settings comprises changing at least one setting from the group consisting of typing assistance, specialized input devices, pointer assistance, input hints, and timeout intervals.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein adjusting cognitive settings comprises changing at least one setting from the group consisting of toolbar auto-hiding, customizable menus, replacement of UI elements, glomming, and grouping.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one accessibility setting comprises at least one system-wide setting.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring comprises actively detecting at least one accessibility issue that arose during the interaction.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuring comprises presenting to the user at least one recommendation regarding an accessibility setting that can be changed to address the at least one accessibility issue that arose during the interaction.

14. An adaptive computing environment, comprising:

a computer system with which a user interacts;

a monitoring service that tracks user behavior during interaction of the user with the computer system; and

a personalization wizard, wherein the personalization wizard configures accessibility settings based on information from the monitoring service.

15. The adaptive computing environment of claim 14, wherein the personalization wizard notifies the user of at least accessibility setting that can be changed based on the information from the monitoring service.

16. The adaptive computing environment of claim 14, further comprising a user profile, wherein the user profile is based at least in part on the information from the monitoring service.

17. The adaptive computing environment of claim 16, wherein the user profile can be modified by the computer system, modified by the user, saved to a file, and transported inside and outside of the computer system.

18. One or more computer-readable media having encoded thereon a data structure comprising a computer user profile, the computer user profile comprising:

a plurality of data representing at least one visual setting corresponding to a computer user; and

a plurality of data representing at least one audio setting corresponding to the computer user;

wherein at least one setting is inferred via monitoring user interaction with a computer system.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the computer user profile further comprising:

a plurality of data representing at least one input setting corresponding to the computer user.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the computer user profile further comprising:

a plurality of data representing at least one cognitive setting corresponding to the computer user.