Web accessibility service apparatus and method

• US 6,922,726 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2001
• Issued: 07/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Basson, Sara H., Kanevsky, Dimitri, Raman, Thiruvilwamalai V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Osman, Ramy M
• Application Number:
  US09/816,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20020138616A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/228, 709/236, 709/229, 709/203, 709/205, 709/232, 709/217, 709/218, 709/225, 709/246, 705/2, 705/3, 705/39, 704/274
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A web accessibility service apparatus and method is provided. The web accessibility service apparatus and method provides accessibility tools to disabled users on a per-use basis. The provider of the accessibility tool is paid for each use of the accessibility tool to access content on the data network. The revenue may be obtained from content suppliers as consideration to the accessibility tool provider for providing another customer that otherwise may not have had access to their content. In this way, the accessibility tool is provided to the user at no cost, yet the provider of the accessibility tool is compensated for each use of their accessibility tool.

Claims

1. A method of providing access to content, comprising:

receiving a request for content from a client device, wherein the request includes an identifier of an accessibility tool that is necessary for compensating for a disability of a user of the client device, and wherein the request is directed to a first content provider that provides first content;

determining an accessibility tool to be used in providing the content to the user of the client device based on the identifier of the accessibility tool;

redirecting the request for content to a second content provider that provides second content based on the determined accessibility tool, wherein the second content is the same as the first content but the second content is formatted for use with the determined accessibility tool;

retrieving the second content from the second content provider;

processing the second content using the accessibility tool to produce processed content; and

outputting the processed content to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a supplier of the accessibility tool; and

determining an amount of funds to be transferred to the supplier of the accessibility tool.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining an amount of funds includes calculating a percentage of an amount of funds generated by the first content provider based on the request for content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessibility tool is one of a plug-in device to a web browser application, an applet, and an accessibility tool on a server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessibility tool is one or more of automatic speech recognition, a screen reader, and an intelligent agent.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing an indicator of at least one of a supplier of the requested content, the requested content, the accessibility tool, and the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if a supplier of the accessibility tool is to be paid for use of the accessibility tool;

and

transferring funds to the supplier of the accessibility tool if the supplier is to be paid for use of the accessibility tool.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising calculating an amount of the funds to be transferred to the supplier based on contractual terms agreed to by the supplier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the contractual terms are retrieved from an agreement database.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the accessibility tool includes an identifier of a user, and wherein determining the accessibility tool includes looking-up the identifier of the user in a registered user directory.

11. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for providing access to content, comprising:

first instructions for receiving a request for content from a client device, wherein the request includes an identifier of an accessibility tool that is necessary for compensating for a disability of a user of the client device, and wherein the request is directed to a first content provider that provides first content;

second instructions for determining an accessibility tool to be used in providing the content to the user of the client device based on the identifier of the accessibility tool;

third instructions for redirecting the request for content to a second content provider that provides second content based on the determined accessibility tool, wherein the second content is the same as the first content but the second content is formatted for use with the determined accessibility tool;

fourth instructions for retrieving the second content from the second content provider;

fifth instructions for processing the second content using the accessibility tool to produce processed content; and

sixth instructions for outputting the processed content to the client device.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

seventh instructions for identifying a supplier of the accessibility tool; and

eighth instructions for determining an amount of funds to be transferred to the supplier of the accessibility tool.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the eighth instructions for determining an amount of funds include instructions for calculating a percentage of an amount of funds generated by a source of the requested content based on the request for content.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the accessibility tool is one of a plug-in device to a web browser application, an applet, and an accessibility tool on a server.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the accessibility tool is one or more of automatic speech recognition, a screen reader, and an intelligent agent.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising seventh instructions for storing an indicator of at least one of a supplier of the requested content, the requested content, the accessibility tool, and the user.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

seventh instructions for determining if a supplier of the accessibility tool is to be paid for use of the accessibility tool; and

eighth instructions for transferring funds to the supplier of the accessibility tool if the supplier is to be paid for use of the accessibility tool.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising ninth instructions for calculating an amount of the funds to be transferred to the supplier based on contractual terms agreed to by the supplier.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the identifier of the accessibility tool includes an identifier of the user, and wherein the second instructions for determining the accessibility tool include instructions for looking-up the identifier of the user in a registered user directory.

19. The computer program product wherein the contractual terms are retrieved from an agreement database.

21. An apparatus for providing access to content, comprising:

a controller;

a tracking device coupled to the controller; and

a payment device coupled to the tracking device, wherein the controller;

receives a request for content from a client device, the request including an identifier of an accessibility tool that is necessary for compensating for a disability of a user of the client device and being directed to a first content provider that provides first content,

determines one or more accessibility tools to be used in providing content to the user of the client device based on the identifier of the accessibility tool,

redirects the request for content to a second content provider that provides second content based on the determined accessibility tool, wherein the second content is the same as the first content but the second content is formatted for use with the determined accessibility tool,

retrieves the second content from the second content provider,

processes the second content using the accessibility tool to produce processed content, and

outputs the processed content to the client device, wherein the tracking device stores tracking information regarding the content provided to the user, the one or more accessibility tools used, and one or more suppliers of the one or more accessibility tools, and wherein the payment device transfers funds to the one or more suppliers based on the tracking information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the payment device determines an amount of funds to be transferred to the one or more suppliers.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the payment device determines an amount of funds to be transferred by calculating a percentage of an amount of funds generated by the first content provider based on the request for content.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the payment device determines if a supplier of the one or more suppliers is to be paid for use of a corresponding accessibility tool.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the payment device identifies an amount of funds to transfer to the supplier by calculating an amount of the funds to be transferred to the supplier based on contractual terms agreed to by the supplier.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the contractual terms are retrieved from an agreement database.

27. The apparatus program product of claim 21, wherein the identifier of the accessibility tool includes an identifier of the client device, and wherein the processor determines the one or more accessibility tools by looking-up the identifier of the client device in a registered user directory.

28. An apparatus for providing access to content, comprising:

means for receiving a request for content from a client device, wherein the request includes an identifier of an accessibility tool that is necessary for compensating for a disability of a user of the client device, and wherein the request is directed to a first content provider that provides first content;

means for determining an accessibility tool to be used in providing the content to the user of the client device based on the identifier of the accessibility tool;

means for redirecting the request for content to a second content provider that provides second content based on the determined accessibility tool, wherein the second content is the same as the first content but the second content is formatted for use with the determined accessibility tool;

means for retrieving the second content from the second content provider;

means for processing the second content using the accessibility tool to produce processed content; and

means for outputting the processed content to the client device.