Virtual Container Regions for Touch Screen Accessibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Visually impaired users face difficulties navigating touch screen devices, especially when displays are large or contain clustered information, making it hard to locate specific items without visual feedback.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of virtual container regions and virtually enlarged item boundaries on touch screen devices allows users to navigate and select items more easily by defining physical regions on the interface and providing accessible feedback, enabling users to move between items and containers using touch inputs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the display size is increased, then the device provides more screen real estate, but visually impaired users have greater difficulty locating specific items on the screen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display screen into multiple container regions, each representing a logical group or section. This segmentation allows visually impaired users to navigate to specific containers rather than searching the entire large screen, effectively managing the large display area through hierarchical organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces container regions as intermediary elements between the user and the actual content items. These containers serve as navigational anchors that provide context and structure, allowing users to locate items more efficiently by first navigating to the relevant container region before accessing specific items within it.
2Quantity of substance
If information is clustered together on the screen, then more content can be displayed in limited space, but users have difficulty locating the needed information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments clustered information into distinct container regions, each representing a logical group or category. This segmentation maintains the high information density on screen while providing users with navigational structure, allowing them to jump to specific containers rather than searching through all clustered content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different navigational properties to different container regions based on their content type and importance. Each container can have customized navigational characteristics, allowing users to efficiently locate information in specific regions while maintaining overall information clustering for space efficiency.
3Reliability
If users manually explore the screen to locate items, then they can find what they need, but it takes excessive time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary organization of content into container regions before user interaction. This pre-structuring allows users to directly navigate to relevant containers using semantic cues rather than manually exploring the screen, significantly reducing search time while maintaining reliable item location.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides feedback mechanisms that inform users about container regions and their contents during navigation. This feedback helps users make informed decisions about which containers to explore, reducing unnecessary screen exploration time while ensuring reliable item location through guided navigation.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for increasing accessibility of touch-screen devices are disclosed. In one aspect, container regions on a touch-sensitive user interface of a touch screen device are defined. A touch event corresponding to a location on the user interface is received, and it is determined that the location corresponds to a particular container region. When another touch event is received, content is determined according to a context of the particular container region. The content is then presented. In another aspect, data specifying locations of user interface items on a user interface is received. The data is modified to enlarge an area for a particular item. A touch input event corresponding to a particular location on the user interface is received. It is determined that the location is within the enlarged area for the item, and input is provided to an application indicating that the item was selected.