System and method for improving the navigation of complex visualizations for the visually impaired

• US 7,765,496 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bernstein, Howard B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Distefano; Gregory A
• Application Number:
  US11/618,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20080163123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• Field of Search: 715/853, 715/865, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/865
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/008 using visual presentation of the information for the partially sighted

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for improving the navigation of complex visualizations on a computer display for the visually impaired persons to toggle between objects or nodes. An object or node may be a square, a circle or other object which a display screen may show. The objects or nodes have characteristics which may include a name which indicates the name of the node, a direction which indicates the direction of the next node to progress to (along an arc), priority which indicates the priority that the node has with respect to other nodes, properties which indicates the certain properties of the node, and operation which indicates the operation to be performed. The system has a user indicator for indicating to the visually impaired user the characteristics of the objects or nodes which are connected by arcs. The node or object characteristics are informed to the user by the indicator to allow the user to toggle from one node to the other along the arc route. The system has a control center which has a receiver for receiving the toggle commands and node characteristics from each node. The toggle command moves a selector (which selects which object is being acted upon—sometimes, for visually unimpaired people, the selected object is shown in bold or a distinct color) to the next node according to the characteristics. The receiver also passes the node characteristics to a parser. The parser parses the node characteristics and passes it on to the director for determining the next step. The director examines the characteristics, such as name, direction, properties, and operations, and indicates to the user the characteristics of the node—generally by audible means but not so limited. This allows the visually impaired user to ascertain where he/she on the display. This is generally done by way of an audible device but could be accomplished in other ways.

Claims

1. A method for improving navigation of complex visualizations for the visually impaired in a system having a display for illustrating nodes, each node having characteristics, the system having a plurality of toggle switches for receiving toggle commands from a user for toggling between the characteristics of each node and for selecting at least one of the characteristics, the method comprising:

obtaining the characteristics of the nodes, the characteristics including, for each node;

any incoming arcs to the node from other nodes;

any outgoing arcs from the node to other nodes;

any properties of the node; and

any operations of the node;

navigating to a selected one of the nodes using at least one of the toggle switches;

verbally indicating to the user information regarding the selected node, the information comprising;

a name of the selected node;

a description of at least one of the properties of the selected node;

a description of at least one of the operations of the selected node;

a description of at least one of the incoming arcs to the selected node, and a description of at least one of the outgoing arcs from the selected node;

receiving toggle commands from the toggle switches to toggle between the characteristics of the selected node and to select one of the characteristics of the selected node;

verbally indicating to the user the selected characteristic; and

receiving a toggle command from the toggle switches to act upon the selected characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting a property for changing by navigating to one of the nodes using the toggle switches and changing the property.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the toggle switches comprise a left cursor key and a right cursor key, the method further comprising navigating between nodes using the left cursor key and the right cursor key.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the nodes comprises a group of incoming arcs or a group of outgoing arcs, the method further comprising:

giving focus to the group of incoming arcs or the group of outgoing arcs using a left cursor key and a right cursor key, respectively.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the toggle switches further comprise an up cursor key and a down cursor key, the method further comprising:

navigating between the arcs in the group of arcs having focus using the up cursor key and the down cursor key.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the toggle switches comprise a left cursor key, a left cursor key, an up cursor key, and a down cursor key.

7. The method claim 1, wherein the toggle switches further comprise an up cursor key and a down cursor key, the method further comprising:

navigating between a group of the properties of the selected node and a group of the operations of the selected node using the up cursor key and the down cursor key.

8. The method claim 7, wherein the toggle switches further comprise a left cursor key and a right cursor key, the method further comprising:

navigating between the properties in the group of the properties of the selected node using the left cursor key and the right cursor key; and

navigating between the operations in the group of the operations of the selected node using the left cursor key and the right cursor key.