Accessible Data Visualization Controls via Signal Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for data visualization are inaccessible to users with visual or motor impairments, as they often require cumbersome and inefficient navigation methods, and lack interactive features that allow dynamic modification of visualizations without performing additional searches, which can be resource-intensive.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of accessible controls that allow users to interact with data visualizations using external devices like wireless remotes, enabling real-time updates of multiple visualizations through a graphical user control, such as sliders, and mapping input signals from these devices to perform actions on the GUI, allowing users to modify time intervals and visualize data changes without needing to see the GUI.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional GUI controls are used for data visualization, then the interface is simple in structure, but it becomes inaccessible to users with visual or motor impairments and requires cumbersome navigation methods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces accessibility controls as intermediary elements that mediate between external input devices (like wireless remotes) and the data visualization GUI. These controls include audible indicators that provide feedback to users with visual impairments, and alternative input methods that accommodate motor impairments, thereby improving accessibility without fundamentally changing the core visualization functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the GUI control system into multiple independent components: traditional visual controls, audible feedback indicators, and external device input mappings. This segmentation allows users with different impairments to access specific control modes that suit their needs, improving ease of operation while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular design
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional searches are performed to modify visualizations, then the visualization can be dynamically updated, but it consumes additional computing resources and time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-loading and caching dataset information in memory before it is needed for visualization modifications. When users interact with the visualization to change time intervals or parameters, the system can quickly retrieve and apply modifications using the pre-loaded data, avoiding resource-intensive re-searches and enabling dynamic updates with reduced computing resource consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies dynamics by implementing real-time updating mechanisms that allow visualizations to be modified dynamically without static re-processing. The system maintains data in a flexible in-memory structure that can be quickly filtered and re-rendered based on user interactions, enabling adaptable visualization changes while minimizing the need for repeated full-data searches
3Ease of operation
If users need to see the GUI to interact with it, then precise control is possible, but users with visual impairments cannot effectively use the system
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the visual-mechanical interaction system with an auditory-feedback system. Instead of relying on visual display elements that users with visual impairments cannot perceive, the system incorporates audible indicators that provide equivalent information through sound, allowing these users to interact with and understand the data visualization without needing to see the GUI
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces audible feedback as an intermediary channel that translates visual information into auditory form. This intermediary mechanism bridges the gap between the visualization system and users with visual impairments, providing them with access to the same data insights through a different sensory modality without losing essential information
Data Source
AI summary
A computer system displays a graphical user interface (GUI) that includes data visualizations corresponding to data having timestamps within a time interval. A first type of input signal is mapped to a second type of input signal. The first type of input signal is associated with an input device communicatively coupled to the computer system. The second type of input signal is configured to operate a graphical user control of the GUI. Before mapping, the first type of input signal is configured to perform a function that is different from operation of the graphical user control. After receiving an input signal of the first type, an input signal of the second type is applied to the graphical user control based on the mapping. The time interval is adjusted, and the data visualizations are updated automatically to correspond to updated data having timestamps within the adjusted time interval.