Automated addition of accessiblity features to documents

• US 9,268,753 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2011
• Issued: 02/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of Phoenix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Apollo Education Group, Inc.
• Inventors: Hendry, Robert Olson, Jungel, Heidi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chau
• Application Number:
  US13/280,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20130104029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/229, 715/237, 715/239, 715/249, 715255-256
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines

Abstract

A method includes analyzing a first document to identify a first set of one or more tags and responsive to identifying the first set of one or more tags: automatically producing a second document based in part on first set of one or more tags, where the second document includes one or more accessibility features that were not in the first document.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing a first version of a particular document in storage accessible to a server-side machine;

generating, by the server-side machine, an accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document;

wherein the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document has one or more accessibility features, which are not present in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of a particular assistive technology;

storing the accessibility-enabled version in the storage accessible to the server-side machine;

receiving a request, from a client-side machine, for the particular document;

determining, by the server-side machine, whether to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document or the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the first version of the particular document to the client-side machine; and

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the accessibility enabled version of the particular document to the client-side machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document comprises:

identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

automatically replacing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, each instance of each tag of a first set of one or more tags with a corresponding tag of a second set of one or more tags.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

parsing the first version of the particular document to identify a plurality of elements within the first version of the particular document;

generating a data structure that (a) comprises the plurality of elements and (b) represents a relationship between two or more elements of the plurality of elements; and

producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the data structure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data structure comprises a plurality of nodes, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes represents an element within the plurality of elements, and wherein producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

traversing each node in the plurality of nodes within the data structure, wherein traversing a particular node of the plurality of nodes comprises determining a data value for the particular node and a relationship of the particular node to at least one other node in the plurality of nodes.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the data structure is generated using a document object model (DOM) application programming interface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a cascading style sheet for formatting one or more first elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

wherein one or more second elements, in the first version of the particular document, correspond to the one or more first elements in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document; and

wherein the one or more second elements that were not formatted using any cascading style sheet associated with the first version of the particular document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises one or more of:

modifying the first version of the particular document to obtain the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

or creating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document that is separate from the first version of the particular document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document further comprises performing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, one or more of;

modifying at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology;

replacing at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology with a different tag;

adding an identification value or label to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version;

adding a description to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, wherein the description (a) can be interpreted by the particular assistive technology and (b) is not displayed when the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is rendered for display by a browser;

or

reformatting one or more elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using cascading style sheets.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more accessibility features allow a user to navigate between two or more elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using a keyboard; and

the two or more elements could not be navigated using the keyboard in the first version of the particular document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular document is a particular web page associated with a particular web site; and

the method further comprises;

generating accessibility-enabled versions of one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site, and

storing the accessibility-enabled versions of the one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site in the storage accessible to the server-side machine.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by executing instructions that are stored, at least in part, within the first version of the particular document.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by a component of a browser, executing on the client-side machine.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed in response to receiving the request, from the client-side machine, for the particular document.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular document is a web page; and

the one or more accessibility features comprise one or more of;

one or more tags, included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and not included in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of the particular assistive technology with the particular document, or

one or more tags, not included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and included in the first version of the particular document, that should not be presented to a user by the particular assistive technology for the particular document.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular assistive technology is one or more of:

an application that renders the particular document for display;

or an application that interprets the particular document for audio readout.

16. One or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes performance of steps comprising:

storing a first version of a particular document in storage accessible to a server-side machine;

generating, by the server-side machine, an accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document;

wherein the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document has one or more accessibility features, which are not present in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of a particular assistive technology;

storing the accessibility-enabled version in the storage accessible to the server-side machine;

receiving a request, from a client-side machine, for the particular document;

determining, by the server-side machine, whether to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document or the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the first version of the particular document to the client-side machine; and

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the accessibility enabled version of the particular document to the client-side machine.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document comprises:

identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

automatically replacing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, each instance of each tag of a first set of one or more tags with a corresponding tag of a second set of one or more tags.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

parsing the first version of the particular document to identify a plurality of elements within the first version of the particular document;

generating a data structure that (a) comprises the plurality of elements and (b) represents a relationship between two or more elements of the plurality of elements; and

producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the data structure.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the data structure comprises a plurality of nodes, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes represents an element within the plurality of elements, and wherein producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

traversing each node in the plurality of nodes within the data structure, wherein traversing a particular node of the plurality of nodes comprises determining a data value for the particular node and a relationship of the particular node to at least one other node in the plurality of nodes.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media claim 18, wherein the data structure is generated using a document object model (DOM) application programming interface.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause:

generating a cascading style sheet for formatting one or more first elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

wherein one or more second elements, in the first version of the particular document, correspond to the one or more first elements in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document; and

wherein the one or more second elements that were not formatted using any cascading style sheet associated with the first version of the particular document.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises one or more of:

modifying the first version of the particular document to obtain the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

or creating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document that is separate from the first version of the particular document.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein:

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document further comprises performing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, one or more of;

modifying at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology;

replacing at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology with a different tag;

adding an identification value or label to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version;

adding a description to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, wherein the description (a) can be interpreted by the particular assistive technology and (b) is not displayed when the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is rendered for display by a browser;

or

reformatting one or more elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using cascading style sheets.

24. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein:

the one or more accessibility features allow a user to navigate between two or more elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using a keyboard; and

the two or more elements could not be navigated using the keyboard in the first version of the particular document.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein:

the particular document is a particular web page associated with a particular web site; and

the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause;

generating accessibility-enabled versions of one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site, and

storing the accessibility-enabled versions of the one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site in the storage accessible to the server-side machine.

26. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by executing instructions that are stored, at least in part, within the first version of the particular document.

27. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by a component of a browser, executing on the client-side machine.

28. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed in response to receiving the request, from the client-side machine, for the particular document.

29. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein:

the particular document is a web page; and

the one or more accessibility features comprise one or more of;

one or more tags, included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and not included in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of the particular assistive technology with the particular document, or

one or more tags, not included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and included in the first version of the particular document, that should not be presented to a user by the particular assistive technology for the particular document.

30. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 16, wherein the particular assistive technology is one or more of:

an application that renders the particular document for display;

or an application that interprets the particular document for audio readout.

31. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes performance of steps comprising;

storing a first version of a particular document in storage accessible to a server-side machine;

generating, by the server-side machine, an accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document;

wherein the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document has one or more accessibility features, which are not present in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of a particular assistive technology;

storing the accessibility-enabled version in the storage accessible to the server-side machine;

receiving a request, from a client-side machine, for the particular document;

determining, by the server-side machine, whether to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document or the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the first version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the first version of the particular document to the client-side machine; and

responsive to determining to respond to the request with the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, the server-side machine sending the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document to the client-side machine.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the first version of the particular document comprises:

identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

automatically replacing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, each instance of each tag of a first set of one or more tags with a corresponding tag of a second set of one or more tags.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

parsing the first version of the particular document to identify a plurality of elements within the first version of the particular document;

generating a data structure that (a) comprises the plurality of elements and (b) represents a relationship between two or more elements of the plurality of elements; and

producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document based on the data structure.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the data structure comprises a plurality of nodes, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes represents an element within the plurality of elements, and wherein producing the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises:

traversing each node in the plurality of nodes within the data structure, wherein traversing a particular node of the plurality of nodes comprises determining a data value for the particular node and a relationship of the particular node to at least one other node in the plurality of nodes.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the data structure is generated using a document object model (DOM) application programming interface.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause:

generating a cascading style sheet for formatting one or more first elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

wherein one or more second elements, in the first version of the particular document, correspond to the one or more first elements in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document; and

wherein the one or more second elements that were not formatted using any cascading style sheet associated with the first version of the particular document.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises one or more of:

modifying the first version of the particular document to obtain the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document;

or creating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document that is separate from the first version of the particular document.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein:

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document comprises identifying data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document from the first version of the particular document; and

generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document further comprises performing, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, one or more of;

modifying at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology;

replacing at least one tag, in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, that would not properly be interpreted by the particular assistive technology with a different tag;

adding an identification value or label to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version;

adding a description to at least one tag in the data for the accessibility-enabled version, wherein the description (a) can be interpreted by the particular assistive technology and (b) is not displayed when the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is rendered for display by a browser;

or

reformatting one or more elements, in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using cascading style sheets.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the one or more accessibility features allow a user to navigate between two or more elements, in the second accessibility-enabled version of the particular document, using a keyboard; and

the two or more elements could not be navigated using the keyboard in the first version of the particular document.

40. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the particular document is a particular web page associated with a particular web site; and

the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprise instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause;

generating accessibility-enabled versions of one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site, and

storing the accessibility-enabled versions of the one or more other web pages associated with the particular web site in the storage accessible to the server-side machine.

41. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by executing instructions that are stored, at least in part, within the first version of the particular document.

42. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed by a component of a browser, executing on the client-side machine.

43. The system of claim 31, wherein generating the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document is performed in response to receiving the request, from the client-side machine, for the particular document.

44. The system of claim 31, wherein:

the particular document is a web page; and

the one or more accessibility features comprise one or more of;

one or more tags, included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and not included in the first version of the particular document, that facilitate use of the particular assistive technology with the particular document, or

one or more tags, not included in the accessibility-enabled version of the particular document and included in the first version of the particular document, that should not be presented to a user by the particular assistive technology for the particular document.

45. The system of claim 31, wherein the particular assistive technology is one or more of:

an application that renders the particular document for display;

or an application that interprets the particular document for audio readout.