Method and apparatus for interacting with a visually displayed document on a screen reader
First Claim
1. A method of interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the method comprising:
- (a) selecting a switching modality from a plurality of switching modalities, the switching modality determining the manner in which one or more switches are used to make a selection;
(b) using the selected switching modality, stepping through at least some of the grammatical units in an ordered manner by a user physically activating one or more switches associated with the GUI, each activation stepping through one grammatical unit; and
(c) reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is stepped through, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken.
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Abstract
User interaction of a visually displayed document is provided via a graphical user interface (GUI). The document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units. An input device modality is selected from a plurality of input device modalities which determines the type of input device in which a user interacts with to make a selection. One or more grammatical units of the document are then selected using the selected type of input device. Each grammatical unit that is selected is read aloud to the user by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine. The text of the grammatical unit is thereby automatically spoken. Furthermore, a switching modality is selected from a plurality of switching modalities. The switching modality determines the manner in which one or more switches are used to make a selection. Using the selected switching modality, a user steps through at least some of the grammatical units in an ordered manner by physically activating one or more switches associated with the GUI. Each activation steps through one grammatical unit. Each grammatical unit that is stepped through is read aloud by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, thereby causing the text of the grammatical unit to be automatically spoken.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method of interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the method comprising:
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(a) selecting a switching modality from a plurality of switching modalities, the switching modality determining the manner in which one or more switches are used to make a selection;
(b) using the selected switching modality, stepping through at least some of the grammatical units in an ordered manner by a user physically activating one or more switches associated with the GUI, each activation stepping through one grammatical unit; and
(c) reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is stepped through, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An article of manufacture for interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
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(a) selecting a switching modality from a plurality of switching modalities, the switching modality determining the manner in which one or more switches are used to make a selection;
(b) using the selected switching modality, stepping through at least some of the grammatical units in an ordered manner by a user physically activating one or more switches associated with the GUI, each activation stepping through one grammatical unit; and
(c) reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is stepped through, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the apparatus comprising:
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(a) means for selecting a switching modality from a plurality of switching modalities, the switching modality determining the manner in which one or more switches are used to make a selection;
(b) means for stepping through at least some of the grammatical units in an ordered manner by a user physically activating one or more switches associated with the GUI, each activation stepping through one grammatical unit, wherein the selected switching modality is used by the means for stepping; and
(c) means for reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is stepped through, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the method comprising:
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(a) selecting an input device modality from a plurality of input device modalities which determines the type of input device in which a user interacts with to make a selection;
(b) using the selected type of input device, selecting one or more grammatical units of the document; and
(c) reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is selected, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 43)
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35. An article of manufacture for interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
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(a) selecting an input device modality from a plurality of input device modalities which determines the type of input device in which a user interacts with to make a selection;
(b) using the selected type of input device, selecting one or more grammatical units of the document; and
(c) reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is selected, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 44)
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39. An apparatus for interacting with a visually displayed document via a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the document includes, and is parsed into, a plurality of text-based grammatical units, the method comprising:
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(a) means for selecting an input device modality from a plurality of input device modalities which determines the type of input device in which a user interacts with to make a selection;
(b) means for selecting one or more grammatical units of the document using the selected type of input device; and
(c) means for reading aloud to the user each grammatical unit that is selected, each grammatical unit being read by loading the grammatical unit into a text-to-speech engine, the text of the grammatical unit thereby being automatically spoken. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 45)
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Specification