Display Accessibility Audio Routing With Automatic Volume Attenuation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing information handling systems face challenges in meeting accessibility requirements for visually impaired users, particularly in managing onscreen display menu items audibly, which increases inventory complexity and costs without universal benefit.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that interfaces a display with a separate accessibility device through a cable, using a scalar to present onscreen display menu items audibly and adjust volume levels to ensure accessibility compliance, reducing the need for integrated accessibility features in all displays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If accessibility functionality is included in every display, then accessibility requirements are met, but manufacturing cost increases and inventory complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The accessibility functionality is segmented from the display device itself and placed in a separate peripheral device. The display scalar detects accessibility devices and routes audio output separately, allowing the display to remain simple while the peripheral handles accessibility functions. This resolves the contradiction by eliminating the need to include accessibility features in every display, reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The accessibility peripheral device serves multiple functions: it provides text-to-speech conversion for display menu items, handles audio output for accessibility purposes, and can work with various display types regardless of whether they have built-in speakers. This universal solution meets accessibility requirements across different display configurations without increasing display manufacturing complexity.
2Reliability
If accessibility functionality is included in every display, then accessibility requirements are met, but inventory management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
By separating accessibility functionality into a standalone peripheral device, the display manufacturer no longer needs to manage different display variants with or without accessibility features. All displays can use the same simple design, and accessibility is added through the separate peripheral, dramatically simplifying inventory management while maintaining compliance.
3Device complexity
If display speakers are used for accessibility output, then no separate accessibility device is needed, but accessibility audio may be obscured by other audio output
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts audio routing based on detected conditions. When an accessibility device is detected, the scalar dynamically routes audio output to that device instead of the display speakers, ensuring clear accessibility audio. The system adapts its behavior based on the presence and type of connected devices, resolving the contradiction between hardware simplicity and audio clarity.
Solution Approach 2:
The accessibility peripheral device acts as an intermediary between the display scalar and the audio output. It receives audio signals from the scalar and processes them specifically for accessibility purposes, ensuring that accessibility audio is clearly transmitted without being mixed with or obscured by other audio output from display speakers.
Data Source
AI summary
An accessibility device interfaces with a display through a cable to accept display onscreen menu items for presentation as speech from the accessibility device. For instance, a scalar of the display detects an interface with an external accessibility device and an end user interaction with an onscreen display and, in response, commands onscreen items as audible sounds presented at a speaker of the accessibility device. When the display has integrated display speakers, the scalar adjusts any audible sounds presented by the display speakers to help ensure that the onscreen display menu items are presented with sufficient volume to be heard, such as by lower the volume or turning off the audible sounds presented from the display speakers.