Interface para usuários invisuais

Improvement of User Interface for Blind PC Users
Yutaka Shimizu , Masami Shinohara , Hideji Nagaoka , and Yasushige Yonezawa
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University of Electro-Communications, Chofu, Tokyo, Japan [e-mail] 2 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan [e-mail] 3 Tsukuba College of Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan {Nagaoka, Yonezawa}@cs.k.tsukuba-tech.ac.jp

Abstract. An application by which blind users can operate two tactile devices by themselves was developed. Laboratory assessment showed the possibility to transmit certain kinds of non-textual information.

1 Introduction
Building a multi-modal interface is a promising way to improve access to information equipment for the blind. As previously reported, we developed two tactile devices, a tactile mouse and a tactile graphic display. We then developed an application by which blind users can operate the devices by themselves. Here we outlined the application and show the results of assessment using three set tasks.

2 List of Hot-Keys
Users can perform all operations to control the devices by keyboard. The keycommands are grouped into three categories, namely display control, parameter input, and mouse pointer control. Table 1 shows the key assignment.

3 Laboratory Assessment
A schematic illustration of the experimental system is shown in Figure 1.
Tactile Graphic Display Screen Reader
Tactile Mouse

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the experimental system. The tactile device driver converts a bitmap image into a binary form, and sends it to the tactile devices via USB ports.

K. Miesenberger, J. Klaus, W. Zagler (Eds.): ICCHP 2002, LNCS 2398, pp. 540–542, 2002. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002

Improvement of User Interface for Blind PC Users Table 1. List of hotkeys for operating the tactile devices Key operation Tactile mouse Tactile graphic display

541

Command

Display control: