METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING INTER-APPLICATION ACCESSIBILITY
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Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for providing inter-application accessibility. Embodiments of the present invention provide a framework independent, introspective, extensible technique for describing and interacting with interfaces across application processes, in which an accessibility client dynamically discovers aspects of an element (e.g., a User Interface (UI) element) by asking for its lists of actions and attributes. For example, an accessibility client application can have framework independent access to accessibility server applications written in different frameworks, such as Cocoa, Carbon, Java, or others. Since the lists of attributes and actions are introspected at run time, an accessibility client can be dynamically extensible to handle new attributes and actions that are added to the accessibility server after the accessibility client is made. The accessibility servers have the flexibility to describe any aspect of an interface without limitation; and, the accessibility clients can interact with the accessibility servers (e.g., to perform actions) without a priori information about the interface element.
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Citations
94 Claims
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1-9. -9. (canceled)
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10. A method for a first application process to access a user interface element, the method comprising:
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obtaining, at the first application process, a representation of the user interface element; and retrieving, at the first application process and from a second application process, a list of actions applicable to the user interface element. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16-24. -24. (canceled)
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25. A method to provide accessibility, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a first application process, a request for a list of actions applicable to a user interface element; communicating the request for the list of actions to a second application process; obtaining, at the second application process, the list of actions applicable to the user interface element; and communicating the list of actions from the second application process to the first application process. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32-40. -40. (canceled)
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41. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method for a first application process to access a user interface element, the method comprising:
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obtaining, at the first application process, a representation of the user interface element; and retrieving, at the first application process and from a second application process, a list of actions applicable to the user interface element. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47-55. -55. (canceled)
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56. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method to provide accessibility, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a first application process, a request for a list of actions applicable to a user interface element; communicating the request for the list of actions to a second application process; obtaining, at the second application process, the list of actions applicable to the user interface element; and communicating the list of actions from the second application process to the first application process. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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63-71. -71. (canceled)
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72. A data processing system for a first application process to access a user interface element, the data processing system comprising:
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means for obtaining, at the first application process, a representation of the user interface element; and means for retrieving, at the first application process and from a second application process, a list of actions applicable to the user interface element. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78-86. -86. (canceled)
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87. A data processing system to provide accessibility, the data processing system comprising:
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means for receiving, at a first application process, a request for a list of actions applicable to a user interface element; means for communicating the request for the list of actions to a second application process; means for obtaining, at the second application process, the list of actions applicable to the user interface element; and means for communicating the list of actions from the second application process to the first application process. - View Dependent Claims (88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93)
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94-103. -103. (canceled)
Specification