- From: Leonard R. Kasday <kasday@acm.org>
- Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 15:14:05 -0400
- To: www-voice@w3.org
This is notification that a patent was issued last week that includes (among other things) a way to scan a web page via audio. Basically, the web page is parsed into "elements" which may be HTML elements such as titles, etc. or heuristically selected parts of text, e.g. the first sentence of each paragraph. Each element assigned a value, which might be thought of as "importance" or "salience". The user sets a threshold value. Then, when the user scans a page, everything above that threshold is read, and everything below the threshold is replaced with a babbling sound suggestive of a tape recorder played at high speed, with additional sounds giving an idea of what is being skipped (e.g. "bings" for links, snippets of skipped material). For example, on one setting the user might hear the first and second level headings, plus the first two sentences of each paragraph, interspersed with babble, and punctuated by occasional "bings" representing the skipped text and links. The user can change the threshold at any point to change the level of detail heard, or simply read everything from that point. This is just a partial, informal description. The full text and images are online Kasday, LR, Aug. 22, 2000, Patent 6,108,629, Method and apparatus for voice interaction over a network using an information flow controller You can full text and images at the US patent office site http://patents.uspto.gov/access/search-bool.html Or IBM's patent server http://www.patents.ibm.com/ search on year 2000, inventor kasday Notes: - This system would provide one way to address the Web Accessibility Initiatiative (WAI) User Agent Guideline 7, Provide Navigation Mechanisms http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/WD-UAAG10-20000818/#gl-navigation . It would work best on pages being properly marked up in accordance with the WAI content guidelines http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/ , The heuristics could be used in accessibility "filter" tools being considered by the WAI evaluation and repair tools group http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ - I happen to be the inventor, but have no financial interest in this patent as the rights were assigned to the comany where I was employed at that time, AT&T. (So it could have been me or AT&T to post this email... I chatted with Lorrie Cranor, AT&T's W3C rep, and we decided I'd be the one). - I'm posting this on the voice browser list and will point to it from the patent issue and web accessibility lists. Please try to keep all discussion on the voice browser list to avoid scattering the discussion. Len -- Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D. Institute on Disabilities/UAP and Dept. of Electrical Engineering at Temple University (215) 204-2247 (voice) (800) 750-7428 (TTY) http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday mailto:kasday@acm.org The WAVE web page accessibility evaluation assistant: http://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/piat/wave/
Received on Thursday, 31 August 2000 15:12:12 UTC