Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Jarnail Chudge

Matthew Robin Farmer

Michael James Belfield Parker

Robert John Wilcox

Bradley Neville Cotier

Simon Middlemiss

Stuart McCarthy

Amos Miller

Tinisha Rocca

Catalin Nicolae Doroftei

Andrei Stefan Ermilov

Hani Nabil Chaaban

Helen Day

Joanna Mabbitt

Fred Warren

Oscar James Francis Salandin

William A S Buxton

Michael Tsikkos

A method of and system for presentencing a user interface for the visually impaired is carried by dividing a user interface area of a user interface into a plurality of sections, mapping a different audible tone to each one of the plurality of sections, associating each one of the plurality of sections with a category, displaying a pane in one section of the plurality of sections, the pane having information about the category associated with the one section, receiving a first touch gesture on the pane, outputting a first audio signal having an audible tone mapped to the section, and depending on a type of the first touch gesture, outputting speech data for at least some of the information, the some of the information depending on a duration and a direction of the first touch gesture.

Techniques to present a user interface for the visually impaired

A summary of activity transpiring in at least one messaging conversation is presented on a region of a display in a summary window. Each messaging conversation summary includes one or more infographics indicating in real-time whether participant activity in the respective conversation is increasing or decreasing over time. In this way a user can monitor a single window in a single display rather than many windows occupying a series of displays. In some implementations the user may designate one or more of the summaries as an active window. The active window may include more information in its summary that the summaries for the remaining messaging conversation summaries which are not designated as active windows. In some cases the additional information included in the active window which is not available in the non-active windows includes the ongoing conversation of the participants.

Aggregation and visualization of multiple chat room information

Techniques to provide a user interface usable by anyone including the visually impaired are disclosed. Embodiments include dividing a display area of an electronic device into a workspace comprising a plurality of sections; associating each section with a different category; displaying a pane in a section including information for the associated category; receiving a touch gesture on a pane for a section; and outputting an audio signal comprising information of the pane. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Space interaction (SI) functionality is described herein for assisting a user in interacting with a space without unduly distracting the user. The SI functionality includes an application interface module that presents information and/or exposes functionality within a plurality of workspaces. Each workspace has a determined spatial relationship with respect to other workspaces. Further, the application interface module may detect and respond to various gestures, by which the user may move among workspaces and interact with menus and other information that are presented in those workspaces. The user's interaction with these workspaces and menus may be supplemented by various sounds generated by a sound generation module, and/or various haptic cues (e.g., vibration cues) generated by a haptic cue generation module.

User interface functionality for facilitating interaction between users and their environments

A headset is described herein for presenting audio information to the user as the user interacts with a space, e.g., as when a user navigates over a route within a space. The headset may include a set of input mechanisms for receiving commands from the user. The commands, in turn, invoke respective space-interaction-related functions to be performed by a space interaction (SI) module. The headset may operate with or without a separate user computing device.

Facilitating interaction between users and their environments using a headset having input mechanisms

Mechanisms for navigation via three dimensional audio effects are described. A current location of a device and a first point of interest are determined. The point of interest may be determined based on a web service and the current location of the device may be determined via mobile device signals. A zone that includes the point of interest may be determined. A three dimensional audio effect that simulates a sound being emitted from the zone may be generated. The three dimensional audio effect may be transmitted to speakers capable of simulating three dimensional audio effects. The transmitted three dimensional audio effect may aid in navigation from a current location to the point of interest.

Navigation with three dimensional audio effects

Beacon-based guidance functionality is described herein that assists the user in navigating over a desired route within an environment, or otherwise interacting with the environment. The environment, in turn, is populated with a plurality of beacons having, in one implementation, respective non-overlapping ranges. The desired route traverses ranges associated with a route-specific set of beacons, from among the plurality of beacons. In one manner of operation, the beacon-based guidance functionality determines whether a user is within a range of one of the route-specific beacons. Based on that knowledge, the beacon-based guidance module can generate guidance information which directs the user towards a next waypoint in the route.

Use of beacons for assistance to users in interacting with their environments

Space interaction (SI) functionality is described herein for assisting a user in interacting with a space. The SI functionality includes a sound generation module that generates three-dimensional sounds in various circumstances. A three-dimensional sound is perceived by a user as emanating from particular location within the space. Different modules may leverage the three-dimensional sounds for different purposes. In one implementation, a path guidance module uses a three-dimensional beat sound to direct the user in a particular direction. An exploration module uses three-dimensional sounds to identify the locations of items of interest that lie within (or are otherwise associated with) a subspace to which an attention of the user is currently directed. An orientation module uses three-dimensional sounds to identify the locations of items of interest that are associated with an entire space around the user.

Facilitating interaction between users and their environments using sounds

The information made available in a series of chat windows which each represent a different chat room is summarized and displayed in a single chat window summary screen. In this way a user can monitor a single window in a single display rather than many windows occupying a series of displays. When one of the chat room summaries indicates something of interest to the user, the user may return to a view of the entire chat window for that chat room. In some implementations the user may designate one or more of the chat room summaries as an active window. The active window may include more information in its summary that the chat room summaries for the remaining chat room summaries which are not designated as active windows.

Growing community of inventors

Reading, United Kingdom

Jarnail Chudge