ADDING ACCESSIBILITY PROPERTIES TO A SOFTWARE APPLICATION

• US 20180032232A1
• Filed: 09/20/2016
• Published: 02/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: SHARMA, Sundip
• Granted Patent: US 11,045,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 4/00 Methods or devices enabling patients or disabled persons to operate an apparatus or a device not forming part of the body operating or control means for prostheses A61F2/48, A61F2/68
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for automatically adding accessibility properties to an application. One embodiment includes a method for adding accessibility. The method includes, for at least a first interface control provided by a first software application, the first interface control including a set of one or more accessibility properties: determining a control type of a plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the first interface control, and associating the control type with the set of accessibility properties of the first interface control. The method further includes matching at least a second interface control provided by a second software application to one of the plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the second interface control, the second interface control not including accessibility properties. The method further includes adding accessibility properties to the second interface control based on accessibility properties of the matched control type.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically adding accessibility properties to a software application, the method comprising:

for at least a first interface control provided by a first software application, wherein the first interface control includes a set of one or more accessibility properties;

determining a control type of a plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the first interface control, and

associating the control type with the set of accessibility properties of the first interface control;

matching at least a second interface control provided by a second software application to one of the plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the second interface control, wherein the second interface control does not include accessibility properties; and

adding accessibility properties to the second interface control based on accessibility properties of the matched control type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessibility properties comprise one or more of a textual description of a control, a textual description of an action associated with a control, and a name of a control.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a button, a check box, a list box, a text box, a dialog box, and a picture box.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a plurality of types of buttons, a plurality of types of check boxes, a plurality of types of list boxes, a plurality of types of text boxes, a plurality of types of dialog boxes, and a plurality of types of picture boxes.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a class, a color, a caption, a size, and a font.

6. The method of claim 1, where the first software application and the second software application are the same software application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of control types are determined based on machine learning techniques that classify controls based on one or more attributes of the controls.

8. A computing device for automatically adding accessibility properties to a software application, the computing device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to;

for at least a first interface control provided by a first software application, wherein the first interface control includes a set of one or more accessibility properties;

determine a control type of a plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the first interface control, and

associate the control type with the set of accessibility properties of the first interface control;

match at least a second interface control provided by a second software application to one of the plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the second interface control, wherein the second interface control does not include accessibility properties; and

add accessibility properties to the second interface control based on accessibility properties of the matched control type.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein accessibility properties comprise one or more of a textual description of a control, a textual description of an action associated with a control, and a name of a control.

10. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a button, a check box, a list box, a text box, a dialog box, and a picture box.

11. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a plurality of types of buttons, a plurality of types of check boxes, a plurality of types of list boxes, a plurality of types of text boxes, a plurality of types of dialog boxes, and a plurality of types of picture boxes.

12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the one or more attributes comprise at least one of a class, a color, a caption, a size, and a font.

13. The computing device of claim 8, where the first software application and the second software application are the same software application.

14. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the plurality of control types are determined based on machine learning techniques that classify controls based on one or more attributes of the controls.

15. A computing device for automatically adding accessibility properties to a software application, the computing device comprising:

for at least a first interface control provided by a first software application, wherein the first interface control includes a set of one or more accessibility properties;

means for determining a control type of a plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the first interface control, and

means for associating the control type with the set of accessibility properties of the first interface control;

means for matching at least a second interface control provided by a second software application to one of the plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the second interface control, wherein the second interface control does not include accessibility properties; and

means for adding accessibility properties to the second interface control based on accessibility properties of the matched control type.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein accessibility properties comprise one or more of a textual description of a control, a textual description of an action associated with a control, and a name of a control.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a button, a check box, a list box, a text box, a dialog box, and a picture box.

18. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform a method for automatically adding accessibility properties to a software application, the method comprising:

for at least a first interface control provided by a first software application, wherein the first interface control includes a set of one or more accessibility properties;

determining a control type of a plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the first interface control, and

associating the control type with the set of accessibility properties of the first interface control;

matching at least a second interface control provided by a second software application to one of the plurality of control types based on one or more attributes of the second interface control, wherein the second interface control does not include accessibility properties; and

adding accessibility properties to the second interface control based on accessibility properties of the matched control type.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein accessibility properties comprise one or more of a textual description of a control, a textual description of an action associated with a control, and a name of a control.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of control types comprises one or more of a button, a check box, a list box, a text box, a dialog box, and a picture box.