U.S. patent application number 09/577307 was filed with the patent office on 2002-01-10 for internet browser facility and method for the visually impaired.
This patent application is currently assigned to HEWLETT -PACKARD COMPANY. Invention is credited to Gupta, Aloke.
Application Number | 20020003469 09/577307 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 24308160 |
Filed Date | 2002-01-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020003469 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Gupta, Aloke |
January 10, 2002 |
Internet browser facility and method for the visually impaired
Abstract
A method of communicating electronic information via a display
device having a matrix of movable tactile elements. The method
includes displaying a representation of a file containing hypertext
links on a first portion of the matrix, and displaying a list of
the hypertext links on a second portion of the matrix. The
representation may include graphical elements and text symbols such
as Braille.
Inventors: |
Gupta, Aloke; (Corvallis,
OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HEWLETT PACKARD COMPANY
P O BOX 272400, 3404 E. HARMONY ROAD
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ADMINISTRATION
FORT COLLINS
CO
80527-2400
US
|
Assignee: |
HEWLETT -PACKARD COMPANY
|
Family ID: |
24308160 |
Appl. No.: |
09/577307 |
Filed: |
May 23, 2000 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/407.1 ;
340/4.11; 340/4.12; 340/407.2; 340/965; 341/22; 341/23 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/2476 20130101;
H04M 1/72445 20210101; G09B 21/005 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
340/407.1 ;
340/407.2; 340/825.19; 340/965; 341/22; 341/23 |
International
Class: |
H04B 003/36 |
Claims
1. A method of communicating electronic information by tactile
means comprising: providing a display device having an matrix of
movable tactile elements; displaying a representation of a file
containing hypertext links on a first portion of the matrix; and
displaying a list of the hypertext links on a second portion of the
matrix.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying a file includes
downloading web content and converting it to a tactile-readable
format.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein converting to a tactile readable
format includes converting text characters to tactile symbols, and
includes representing graphical image content by generating a
corresponding pattern of raised tactile elements.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the list of links
includes sorting the list.
5. The method of claim 1 including displaying in the first portion
of the matrix a representation of a document associated with a
selected hypertext link on the list of hypertext links, in response
to selection of the link by a user.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein displaying a document occurs in
response to sensing an applied force to at least a portion of a set
of raised tactile elements corresponding to the selected hypertext
link.
7. The method of claim 5 including updating the first portion of
the matrix with a list of links from the document associated with
the selected hypertext link.
8. A tactile web browsing device comprising: a display device
having an matrix of movable tactile elements; a first portion of
the matrix operable to display a representation of a file
containing hypertext links; and a second portion of the matrix
operable to display a list of the hypertext links.
9. The device of claim 8 wherein the tactile elements are evenly
spaced apart, such that graphical images are readily displayed.
10. The device of claim 8 including a touch sensor responsive to
pressure on the matrix, and operable to identify the location of a
pressure applied to the matrix.
11. The device of claim 8 including conversion means for converting
a web page to a tactile readable form.
12. The device of claim 8 including link extraction means for
identifying links displayed in the first portion of the matrix, and
for displaying the links in a list form in the second portion of
the matrix.
13. A web browsing method comprising: downloading a file containing
hypertext links; generating a tactile representation of the file;
extracting a list of hypertext links contained in the file; and
generating a tactile representation of the list.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein generating a tactile
representation of the file includes converting a text portion of
the file to a tactile character set.
15. The method of claim 13 wherein generating a tactile
representation of the file includes converting a graphics image in
the file to a tactile pattern corresponding to the image.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein generating a tactile
representation of the list includes sorting the list.
17. The method of claim 13 including displaying in a first portion
of a tactile display screen a representation of a selected file
associated with a selected hypertext link on the list of hypertext
links, in response to selection of the link by a user.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein displaying the representation
occurs in response to sensing an applied force to a representation
of the selected hypertext link.
19. The method of claim 17 including extracting hypertext links
from the selected file, and generating a representation of a list
of the links extracted from the selected file.
20. The method of claim 13 wherein generating a tactile
representation of the file and of the list includes providing a
display device having an evenly spaced matrix of movable tactile
elements.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to reading devices for the visual
impaired, and to methods for displaying electronic files such as
internet web pages.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0002] As the Internet has become an important communication tool,
the visually impaired require display devices that permit Internet
content such as web pages to be displayed. Electro-mechanical
devices have served to translate text into a tactilely readable
format such as the Braille character set, which employs a matrix of
tactile elements for each character, symbol, or word, with each
element either being a flat spot or a raised bump. The standard
Braille character set uses an 8-dot matrix (2 columns of 4 dots),
allowing adequate permutations, with the character matrices spaced
apart on a surface to allow them to be distinguished.
[0003] To display graphic content, such as icons, symbols, a
cursor, borders, arrows, drawings, and photo images, a tactile
device requires that the tactile elements be evenly and closely
spaced apart. Such devices have been proposed which use a matrix
arranged on a standard Braille 1.5 mm dot pitch, so that Braille
characters are displayed by leaving intervening columns and rows of
dots blank or flat, and so that simple graphic images are displayed
in a dot matrix fashion using all available tactile elements.
[0004] Other systems may be developed having a tactile element
matrix with a finer resolution than the standard Braille dot
spacing, with each dot generated by raising a cluster of tactile
elements, and a number of inactive tactile elements between each
adjacent Braille dot. This would permit a finer resolution for
graphical purposes than provided for by the standard Braille dot
pitch.
[0005] However, these systems are believed to be currently limited
to the simple translation of electronic text (such as may be
received in ASCII format) into strings of tactilely displayed
Braille symbols. Since much of the content of a web page or other
file may be in non-text form, this is not discernable to a visually
impaired user of current Braille display devices. Current systems
lack a means of identifying which words are selectable hypertext
links to other web pages or downloadable content, nor do they
provide a convenient means to locate such links on a page of text
or to select and activate such links. Because the visually impaired
user is unable to find these links "at a glance" in the manner of
sighted users, he or she must serially read through the entire text
to find a link of interest.
[0006] Web browsing often involves proceeding through several
"layers" of pages at a web site to reach the page with the desired
content. For a sighted person, this can be rapid; for the visually
impaired, it can be time consuming to read up to the entire content
of each page to find the desired link to the next page. This delay
is exacerbated by the limited rate at which Braille text may be
read.
[0007] The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior
art by providing a method of communicating electronic information
via a display device having a matrix of movable tactile elements.
The method includes displaying a representation of a file
containing hypertext links on a first portion of the matrix, and
displaying a list of the hypertext links on a second portion of the
matrix. The representation may include graphical elements and text
symbols such as Braille.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tactile interface device
according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a sample tactile screen display of a device
operated according to the embodiment of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0010] FIG. 1 shows a portable computer device 10 having a housing
12 containing a display screen 14 and a keyboard 16. The device is
intended for connection to a computer network such as the Internet
via any means, including a hard-wired connection (not shown) for
use with desktop applications, or a wireless communication link for
portable usage. The device is intended to serve as hardware for
browsing the world wide web, but may be used for other computer or
entertainment tasks, including creating and reading documents.
[0011] The screen 14 is a tactile feedback display capable of
displaying the Braille character set in standard format, and
includes a matrix of individually addressable dot or tactile
elements 20, as shown in FIG. 2. The elements are arranged in an
evenly spaced apart grid, so that each Braille character is spaced
apart from an adjacent character by at least one blank row or
column between the 2-dot by 4-dot individual character fields,
unlike conventional Braille devices that do not provide active dots
between character fields. The use of active dots at all points on
the grid permits the entire display or any portion to be used for
displaying graphic images.
[0012] Each tactile element 20 is switchable between an inactive
position in which the dot is flush with the surrounding surface,
and an active position in which the dot is raised above the
surrounding surface, in the manner of a raised embossed dot on a
Braille-imprinted paper document page. The mechanism for this may
be of any type, including electromechanical actuators,
electromagnetic elements, and switchable dimpled plastic film. The
mechanism may be transparent, to permit a conventional visual flat
panel display to be positioned behind the tactile screen, to aid
sighted users including those assisting the visually impaired, as
well as users with limited visual impairment that may be able to
perceive some visual elements. Thus, a Braille word may be
superimposed over the same word in conventional text. A graphical
image such as an icon, a picture, a line, a cursor, or an arrow may
underlay the raised dots corresponding to the image.
[0013] The display screen may also include a touch sensor operable
to detect pressure from a user's finger on a particular part of the
screen. The touch sensor may be a film behind a flexible tactile
transducer film, or may be a thin film in front of the tactile
elements, with sufficient flexibility and compliance that it dies
not impair the tactile perception of the screen. The touch sensor
may also be a film layer of the tactile surface itself, or may
include touch sensitive elements interspersed adjacent the tactile
dot elements so that neither the touch sensor nor tactile display
elements overlay the other. Other touch screens may use grids of
interruptible beams, capacitive discharge sensors, and conductive
grids sensing a circuit made across nearby nodes. Similarly, the
visual display may include picture elements in the form of
switchable emitters or reflectors adjacent to each tactile element,
aiding a partially sighted user to identify the locations on the
screen where tactile readable elements are raised.
[0014] FIG. 2 shows a sample display screen in detail. The screen
includes three main portions: A content frame 22, an index frame
24, and a button frame 26. The content frame displays a
Braille-translated version of a web page or other document. All
text from the original downloaded file is translated to Braille,
and graphic images are selectively simplified and converted to a
dot matrix image of suitable scale on the screen. A text title 30
identifies the web page contents; a text block 32 is displayed in
Braille. A number of images and symbols are displayed in the
content frame, including a cursor arrow or icon 34, a small line
drawing 36 (showing a star shape in the example), and a larger
image rendering 40 (showing a pine tree).
[0015] Like typical web page text content, the text block includes
several hypertext links 42, 44, 46, 50, each corresponding to a
different web address, and leading to a different web page. On
conventional visually displayed web pages the links may be in text
form, either listing the actual URL or web address, or including
other words (e.g. "click here for more information"). Links may
conventionally be tied to an icon, image, or region of the screen,
which if clicked with a user's cursor will cause the web browsing
software to connect to an associated site. However, with tactile
displays, a detailed image is unlikely to convey to the user
adequate information about the link. Therefore, the link is
preferably indicated by a Braille text string identifying the
link.
[0016] Because the links are often dispersed amongst the other
words of text on the content frame, there is no way for the user
relying on touch to quickly locate and identify the links. All the
text must be read to ensure that all links are located. Therefore,
the system software extracts all active links in the displayed
page, and lists them in the index frame. In the illustrated
example, the four links are listed in the order they are found in
the text. The user may select other sort modes, such as segregating
links by class (e.g. those pointing to other pages at the current
site, to other sites, to commercial advertisements, and essential
index links such as "search site", "contact us", "what's new", and
the like, often found in a separate page frame or at the bottom of
each page.
[0017] Using pressure- or presence-sensing transducers, the device
may detect a user's finger hovering over a link, and offer
additional information about the link before actually connecting to
the associated site or page. This information may be provided by an
audible voice synthesizer, or by creating a temporary Braille text
box containing the descriptive text adjacent to the touched link,
in the manner of a drop down menu used in a graphical user
interface. The matrix tactile elements may be the pressure sensors,
with the signal-to-motion transducers operating in reverse from the
display function, such that a pressure generates a signal.
[0018] When a link is selected or clicked by application of a
deliberate pressure, or by other input such as tapping the link
with a given force profile or pattern (e.g. a double tap,) the
system software retrieves the page associated with the clicked
link, converts it to the tactile format, and displays it in the
content frame by raising the appropriate tactile elements or dots.
The system also extracts the hypertext link information from the
retrieved page, and lists the included links in the index
frame.
[0019] The index frame includes several symbols 52 corresponding to
the common browsing commands of "back", "stop", and "forward."
These may be used in the conventional manner, or may be used in a
way more useful to visually impaired users to access a
chronological history of pages visited, as opposed to the
conventional approach that does not permit the back command to
bring the user into a deeper level page reached via a parent page
from which the user accesses a different deeper level page (i.e.
the user may only back upward in the hierarchy to the first page
visited.) The preferred embodiment permits the user to "back" in
sequence through all pages visited, even if going "back" takes the
user to a lower level, or in a conceptually retrograde
direction.
[0020] The button frame 26 includes buttons 54 in the form of
Braille text labels identifying their functions. Buttons may serve
to select the type of information displayed in the index frame 24,
such as "list", which indicates the current preferred status in
which hyperlinks are listed; "search", which displays a search
utility; "favorites", which lists book-marked favorite web pages;
"home", and "help", which have conventional usage. Other buttons
may open features for controlling software settings, and operations
such as printing and saving of files.
[0021] All frames are bordered and divided from each other by boxes
or lines 60 formed by raised dots in straight single rows. These
lines formed from the matrix of tactile elements permit the user to
know which frame is being read, and to ensure that information in
different frames is not confused.
[0022] While the above is discussed in terms of preferred and
alternative embodiments, the invention is not intended to be so
limited.
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