Method and system for providing auditory feedback for the visually impaired when defining visual models

• US 7,847,677 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Frederick, Kimberly A., Ryan, Corinne M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Toan N
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCNALLY, KERRI L
• Application Number:
  US11/867,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20090091430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: 340/384.1, 340/384.5, 340/384.7, 715/700, 715/716, 715/727, 715/729
• US Class Current: 340/384.5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 using audible presentation of the information

Abstract

A system for providing auditory feedback to visually impaired users when defining visual models. As the visually impaired user creates a visual model, the system detects when an object is placed in such a way that it overlaps with at least one previously placed object. In response to detection of an overlap, the system causes an auditory warning signal to be produced, indicating to the visually impaired user that object is overlapping a previously placed object. The disclosed system operates to create an invisible object within the user interface to cause a warning to be output, or modifies the object whose placement caused the object overlap to include the overlap warning. The user interface focus is then changed or reset to be on the invisible object or the object that caused the overlap to occur, enabling the user to conveniently fix the overlap condition.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, embodied in at least one computer system, for providing auditory feedback to a visually impaired user when defining a visual model, comprising:

detecting a visual overlap between at least two visual objects in a visual model being created by said user, wherein said detecting said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects includes detecting when a first one of said at least two visual objects is placed by said user such that at least a portion of at least a second one of said at least two visual objects is visually obscured by at least a portion of said first one of said at least two visual objects; and

responsive to said detecting of said overlap, automatically causing a speaker contained in said computer system to output an audible warning indicating detection of said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects, wherein said causing said audible warning includes creating an invisible object within a user interface containing said two visual objects to cause the auditory warning to be output, wherein said invisible object contains a representation of said auditory warning, wherein said invisible object is created in front of said first one of said at least two visual objects within a logical ordering of all visual objects in said visual model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further responsive to said detecting of said overlap, causing a current focus of said user interface to be automatically set to one of said at least two visual objects.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing said current focus of said user interface to be set to one of said at least two visual objects further comprises setting said current focus of said user interface to said first one of said at least two visual objects.

4. The method of claim 3, said creating said audible warning further comprising:

modifying said first one of said at least two visual objects to contain a representation of said auditory warning.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said logical ordering of said visual objects in said visual model is a tab ordering of said visual objects in said visual model enabling said user to traverse said visual objects in said logical order by repeatedly pressing a tab key.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said representation of said auditory warning comprises text within said invisible object, and wherein said causing said audible warning further comprises causing a screen reader program to read said text within said invisible object.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

further responsive to said detecting of said overlap, causing a current focus of said user interface to be automatically set to said invisible object.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

subsequent to said causing said current focus of said user interface to be automatically set to said invisible object, causing said current focus of said face to be automatically set to said first one of said at least two visual objects.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said representation of said auditory warning comprises text within said first one of said at least two visual objects, and wherein said causing said audible warning further comprises causing a screen reader program to read said text within said first one of said at least two visual objects.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting that said user has corrected said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects; and

responsive to said detecting that said user has corrected said visual overlap between said at least two objects, deleting said warning from said first one of said at least two visible objects.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

detecting that said user has corrected said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects; and

responsive to said detecting that said user has corrected said visual overlap between said at least two objects, deleting said invisible object.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further responsive to said detecting of said overlap, displaying a user interface object enabling said user to accept said overlap.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said warning indicates an extent of said overlap.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said warning indicates said extent of said overlap by volume, wherein a louder warning indicates a larger overlap and a softer warning indicates a smaller overlap.

15. A computer system including at least one processor communicably coupled to a program storage memory, said program storage memory having program code stored thereon which, when executed by said at least one processor causes said computer system to provide auditory feedback to a visually impaired user when defining a visual model, comprising:

program code for detecting a visual overlap between at least two visual objects in a visual model being created by said user, wherein said detecting said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects includes detecting when a first one of said at least two visual objects is placed by said user such that at least a portion of at least a second one of said at least two visual objects is visually obscured by at least a portion of said first one of said at least two visual objects; and

program code for, responsive to said detecting of said overlap, automatically causing a speaker contained in said computer system to output an audible warning indicating detection of said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects, wherein said causing said audible warning includes creating an invisible object within a user interface containing said two visual objects to cause the auditory warning to be output, wherein said invisible object contains a representation of said auditory warning, wherein said invisible object is created in front of said first one of said at least two visual objects within a logical ordering of all visual objects in said visual model.

16. A computer program product including a computer readable storage medium, said computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code for providing auditory feedback to a visually impaired user when defining a visual model, said program code comprising:

program code for detecting a visual overlap between at least two visual objects in a visual model being created by said user, wherein said detecting said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects includes detecting when a first one of said at least two visual objects is placed by said user such that at least a portion of at least a second one of said at least two visual objects is visually obscured by at least a portion of said first one of said at least two visual objects; and

program code for, responsive to said detecting of said overlap, automatically causing a speaker to output an audible warning to be output indicating detection of said visual overlap between said at least two visual objects, wherein said causing said audible warning includes creating an invisible object within a user interface containing said two visual objects to cause the auditory warning to be output, wherein said invisible object contains a representation of said auditory warning, wherein said invisible object is created in front of said first one of said at least two visual objects within a logical ordering of all visual objects in said visual model.