1995 Resna Conference

The Trace Center, as part of the Electronic Curbcuts Program, and in cooperation with Neil Scott of CSLI, Stanford, has initiated a project to investigate the use of infrared technology as a means for individuals with disabilities to access electronic information systems. The Infrared Communication Link Project has the following goals:

  1. To assist in the development of a bi-directional, non-proprietary infrared communication link,

  2. To assist in the development of a "standard" or guidelines, to enable individuals with specialized access devices to locate and interact with a variety of electronic information systems,

  3. To advocate and work closely with product developers and disability communities, to ensure that the guidelines and protocols are incorporated into as wide a variety of mainstream electronic devices as possible.

A series of meetings which coincide with major disability related conferences are being held to gather input, ideas, and feedback from researchers, developers, consumers, etc., regarding the implementation and usage of infrared technology to access electronic information systems. One of the applications of infrared technologies would be to form a "universal access link" on public information systems, kiosks, building directories, ATMs, etc. This infrared link would allow people who are unable to use the standard display and/or controls to operate the public information / transaction system using an assistive device. Individuals who are blind or deaf- blind could have the information displayed on the screen sent out over the infrared link to a personal display system (Braille, voice, etc.). Individuals with severe physical disabilities could use the infrared link to send selection commands to the device from their augmentative communication aid or portable interface system.

The first such meeting was held in conjunction with the California State University Northridge (CSUN) Conference in March, 1995. For a review of the meeting minutes, please retrieve the file "infrmtg1.txt" from the Trace Center server (send email to "listproc@trace.wisc.edu", no heading or signature, in the body of the message type "get publication infrmtg1.txt").

A second meeting was held recently in conjunction with the RESNA 1995 Conference, held in Vancouver, B.C. Comments collected at the RESNA infrared communication link meeting are outlined below.

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Notes from 1995 RESNA infrared communication meeting:

  1. The link must always be looking for a connection (so that the person with a disability can approach a system and have it recognize them without requiring the person to activate the link).

  2. There should be some type of security provided

  3. The link must not interfere with other IR uses.

  4. The link must not be blocked by other IR uses.

  5. The link must be bi-directional.

  6. The link should support talking sign technologies or at a minimum not conflict with them.

Possible Types of Commands in the Infrared Protocol

A key component of the overall protocol will be the commands that are issued back and forth by the assistive technology and the main terminal. A goal is to find the minimum set of commands which would allow full access to the devices. Some suggested commands were:

  1. What are the choices / items at this time? At any point in time, there are a number of items, buttons, etc., that are being displayed. This request would cause a description of the items to be sent to the assistive technology.

  2. Describe the screen / display. This differs from item 1 in that it would provide a physical description of the layout of the screen / display in addition to the listing of the individual items.

  3. Show selection codes next to objects on screen. This command might be used by an individual who can see but not read the screen. It would cause the device to display a number or letter next to each selectable item on the screen. The user could then send that number or letter in to select the item. It would have the same effect as if the individual had chosen the item on the screen with the standard keyboard or any other selection mechanism on the display.

  4. Select item X. This would cause the specified item to be chosen. X might be a number or letter, as discussed in item 3 above, or as presented as a part of item 1 above. It might also be a spelled out version of the name of the object if the objects have clear and unique names.

In attendance:

Barry Romich, PRC
Cliff Kushler, PRC
Anders Widgren, GEWA
Molly Follette Story, Center for Accessible Housing
Peter Baelde, Bloorview Childrens Hospital
Peter Drewes, ???
Marcos Salganicoff, Rehab Robotics Lab, ASEL/A.I. DuPont Inst.
Peter Lindsay, Univ. of Toronto
Geb Verburg, Toronto
Mark Novak, Trace Center
Maureen Kaine-Krolak, Trace Center
Gregg Vanderheiden, Trace Center

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*** A third infrared communication link meeting is currently being planned to coincide with the Closing- the-Gap Conference, in October, 1995. When the exact time and date are confirmed, a notice will be sent out on the irlink-l listserve and other appropriate means.

If you have comments on the above RESNA meeting notes, please share them with the irlink-l listserve group, or you can email or contact myself or Maureen at the Trace Center (608) 262-6966 directly.

Thanks

Maureen Kaine-Krolak
kaine@trace.wisc.edu

Mark Novak
menovak@facstaff.wisc.edu

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