FR2860675A1 - Interactive communication providing process for telecommunication application, involves pushing share button by remote user for local user to remotely view document field identical with time - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves displaying total field of a document to be shared by a click of a remote user on a point of two images. A share button is pushed by the remote user for a local user to remotely view a document field identical with time. The scanning and searches of other documents by the remote user appear simultaneously on the screen of the local user without using his upper limbs. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a device for implementing an interactive audio-video communication process between local and remote users (2) a computer program comprising program code instructions for the execution of stages of an interactive video-audio communication process.

Description

Inter-generation telementation with shared remote exploration

documents

  for people with disabilities

Description

  1. FIELD OF ACTIVITY The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for interactive video-audiocommunication, between a local user, without the use of his upper limbs and / or his speech, and a user located at a distance, who explore jointly the same document or program.

  2. Prior art and problems 1. Videoconferencing (VC) stations, equipped with VC hardware and software, allow two users who are far apart, to see each other and to communicate face-to-face with each other. screen. When these stations are used for professional interviews, their handling often requires the support of a technician to adjust and manage the technical quality of these sessions. There are also amateurs who use VC equipment of varying quality, often limited to a VC software and a camera connected to a PC.

  These VC stations are not accessible to people with sensitivo-motor disabilities, to those who do not use a keyboard, for example because they have lost the use of their upper limbs.

  2. The applications for sharing the same document by two or more users who are far apart (chat room, web pages, games, blackboard / whiteboard) are intended for users of the technologies of the Information (TI) and to users generally of similar technical level. These are often young people and / or professionals, who use computer, keyboard and Windows features.

  3. There is no application of cohabitation of these two technologies (1 and 2), which is simple, accessible and stable, without requiring frequent and long adjustments by two users distant from each other, which do not see the manipulations of the other at a distance.

  4. Description of the specific problems posed by the prior art for the elderly and / or persons with a disability: None of these telecommunication applications (1, 2) is accessible to the 40 persons with reduced capacity (for example elderly ) or with a disability, for example those who have lost the use of their superior member (s), or speech. The majority of them, elderly women living alone and progressively having sensitivo-motor deficits, do not use a keyboard and can not handle a mouse. These people need the assistance of a person on site, who use for them the Information Technologies (T.I).

  Moreover, there is no method that encourages these people to perform an interactive remote communication with someone already initiated for IT There is no application that connects remote users, levels of unequal knowledge, which will be able to learn from each other, by telecommunication of VC combined with the tele-sharing of documents.

  In the rare conditions where motivation has arisen in this category of users, they then need the on-site assistance of a third person, in particular because of the following deficiencies: The device is unsuitable and not very user-friendly: computer is equipped with some small and poorly identified press buttons; the keyboard is impracticable by almost all seniors 75+; the mouse is of unsuitable shape in arthritic hands; the use of its left side for double-clicking and its right side are impossible for the majority of seniors with loss of autonomy.

  The existing processes of document-sharing, with simultaneous videoconferencing, are difficult and complicated access: 1. To obtain a local image of VC, it is necessary to resort to several pointing operations and double clicks of the mouse on various commands, which are not very evocative for these populations, and are represented in characters too small and too complex, especially for the visually impaired. The expansion itself requires the use of existing orders, impassable by these populations.

  2. Same difficulties to connect with the remote party and initiate the shared e-consultation application.

  3 The location and size of the VC images and the document sharing field are variable and invisible from one to the other, local and remote. They often have to adjust and readjust these fields to allow proper sharing of each document while maintaining video conferencing. These methods can take up to twenty minutes. The two correspondents have to agree to constantly perform manipulations that they try to make similar, at the risk of eventually realizing that they do not share the same document.

  4. The camera can work and project the image of the interlocutor remotely without him knowing, which creates a breach of confidentiality. To find out, the interlocutor must select the local video command.

  3. General Solution: A method and a device according to the invention make it possible to remedy these drawbacks and allow the participation from the outset of a person with reduced capacity (for example aged), who has sensitivo-motor deficits, for example, who does not use his upper limbs, possibly from an aphasic or dumb person.

  In the first place, the method according to the invention comprises, as a first feature: the disappearance of the manipulations described in the prior art, by modifying the Netmeeting application, to make room for a simple and automatic sequence in three phases: Videoconferencing and document-sharing applications as soon as the computer is turned on, with the only essential choices to be presented: two large dials (the local image and the recipient directory), which, together, occupy more than one 50% of the screen and which are located in front of the document scanning dial to share; the exit button of the application.

  Mise Mise Mise Mise,,, Mise É É É Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu he selects the chosen destination and activates it with a gesture or click on the pointing device. It is then the images, local and distant, which together occupy more than 50% of the screen. Their location on the screen and their size are the same for both local and remote users.

  É Exposure of the entire field of the document to be shared by a click of the user-2 on any point of these two images, (local and remote), images which automatically fit in small size, on the command bar preferably located at the top of the screen. At any time user-2 can press a share button to allow user-1 to remotely view an identical document field at all times. The exploration and searches of documents by the user-2 will then appear simultaneously on the screen of the user-1 without it using its upper limbs. The images of the users appearing on their respective screens, these, in particular the user-1, can guide the exploration of the document by movements and signals of the head or possibly by speech.

  The solution proposed makes it possible to solve the problems encountered with the two concurrent applications described in the prior art, namely: É The user-1, passive, automatically benefits from both applications (videoconferencing and document-sharing) without the using his upper limbs, ie without touching the keyboard or the pointing device (nor the conventional mouse) or the screen, since he turned on his computer. The local image and the directory appear immediately. User-1 knows that the local camera is activated and can receive the user's call2 or connect by simple click.

  É User-1 can orally transmit requests and discuss searches with interlocutor-2 who does the searches and operates the remote commands. User-1 can then consult and discuss the documents he wants to view, without having himself activated the commands.

  According to a particular characteristic, the control of the document or program extracted by the user-2, can be taken at any time by the user-1, which weighs on a large button requested control followed by the consent of the user-2 which weighs in a window granting control to the identified user.

  The user-1 can then control the exploration of the document or undertake himself a selection of document / program, by weighing on a large button choice of the program which will present a list with characters as large as those of the directory. No document / program installed on user-1's computer, can be viewed by user-2 unless user-1 has consented to share by pushing the share button, when he himself initiated the research. These mechanisms are valid for both users, depending on the role they play.

  At the moment when he feels ready, the user-1 can thus use the automated processes himself to explore the shared document or to carry out a search, possibly guided by an interactive communication with the user-2. The interlocutor-1's involvement in technology is growing, according to an interactive and fun learning process, facilitated by the simultaneous face-to-face videoconferencing exchanges. Typically the elderly and / or disabled person, who is alone in his home, first consult the documents that the user-2 will have selected remotely, then, as the interactive communication, it is encouraged to perform itself the command to select a document and share it with user-2.

  According to another particular characteristic, the two users, local and remote, have identical processes on their reciprocal station, the activation of which depends on who initiates the call or an action: For example, the sharing button becomes invisible to the user. user who did not initiate sharing; The request control button does not appear in the user who initiated the search.

  In this way, users know the processes they have mutually, and thus can more easily reverse roles.

  The method according to the invention comprises, according to another particular characteristic, the steps of: E Standardization of the size of the fields as a function of the activated phase, for example large images in audio-video communication phase, reduced images and maximization of the field sharing document / program in the shared exploration phase.

  E Suppression of interferences during the shared exploration phase of documents in the various fields of document sharing and videoconferencing images (for example overlays and non-standard appearances of windows with unequal sizes and unknown to the remote user) by separating the two videoconferencing and shared document / program scanning applications into two fixed fields.

  These two steps allow both users, local and remote, to have at all times an identical and standardized field of view.

  E Automation in a sequential order, with the disappearance of the selection menus for videoconferencing and document-sharing applications, automatic adjustment of the size, the location of videoconferencing images, and the configuration of the respective fields of the two applications, in according to their process of use.

  2860675 -6- Simplified presentation according to the activated phase and limited to simple commands indicating large icons or large characters: output, volume with 0 (mute) bar to maximum, microphone (key that changes to a bar when enabled), document sharing (key that changes to undo sharing) and requests control.

  The solution proposed makes it possible to solve the problems encountered with technology coexistence applications (combination of software with or without videoconferencing hardware codec, and shared exploration software): The method is made accessible, simple, stable and effective, to users with reduced capacity, for example aged and / or limited in the use of their members and possibly speech. Users on both sides can quickly engage in interactive communication and shared document browsing, and are free of all iterative, approximate, and also blind adjustments to the remote party's screen.

  According to another particular characteristic, the user-2 can explore alone a document chosen by himself by clicking once on any point of the local image or the directory, which, miniaturized, are automatically placed on the bar control, thus freeing up a maximum field of document / program scanning. It can also access Windows methods rather than using the fully automated and simplified functions of this method according to the invention. User-2 can also use a conventional mouse, with double click and right side, which, as well as the keyboard, have been eliminated from the automated process of this application.

  The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method, which comprises: A pointing device, adapted to the elderly person and to the sensitivo-motor handicaps, which comprises a truncated globe, of diameter exceeding the size of an adult hand, mobile on a base that does not require a table or supports, and has a large button allowing a single click.

  É A computer whose user side has only a large power button, which is operated by the foot, by the hand or by a mechanical arm operated by the mouth of the user.

  The invention also relates to a computer program comprising program code instructions for performing the steps of the interactive video-audio-communication method, when said program is executed on a computer.

Claims (7)

-7-CLAIMS   A method of interactive video-audio-communication with conjoint exploration of a document or program, between a local-time-1, without intervention of its upper limbs, and / or its speech, and a user-2 located at a distance, characterized in that the user-2 has, to access it, three phases of simple and automated linking: É Automatic activation of the videoconferencing and document-sharing applications as soon as the computer is turned on, with presentation of the only essential choices: two large dials (the local image and the recipient directory), which together occupy more than 50% of the screen and are located in front of the document scanning dial to share ; the exit button of the application.   Mise Mise Mise Mise,,, Mise É É É Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise Mise qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu qu he selects the chosen destination and activates it with a gesture or click on the pointing device. It is then the images, local and distant, which together occupy more than 50% of the screen. Their location on the screen and their size are the same for both local and remote users.   É Exposure of the entire field of the document to be shared by a click of the user-2 on any point of these two images, (local and remote), images which automatically fit in small size, on the command bar preferably located at the top of the screen. At any time user-2 can press a share button to allow user-1 to remotely view an identical document field at any time. The exploration and searches of other documents by the user-2 will then appear simultaneously on the screen of the user-1 without it using his upper limbs. The images of the users appearing on their respective screens, these, in particular the user-1, can guide the exploration of the document by movements and signals of the head or possibly by speech.   2. A method of interactive video-audio-communication with conjoint exploration of documents between a local user-1, and a user-2 located remotely, according to claim 1, characterized in that the control of the document or program chosen by the user-2, can be taken at any time by the user-1, who weighs on a requested control button followed by the consent of the user-2 who weighs in a window granting the control to the identified user. The user-1 can then control the exploration of the document or undertake a selection of document / program himself, by weighing on a large button choice of the program which will present a list with characters as large as those of the document. 'phone book.   No document / program installed and selected by user-1 on its computer, can be viewed by user-2, unless user-1 has consented to sharing by pressing the share button, when he himself initiated the research. These mechanisms are valid for both users, depending on the role they play. A fortiori, no document / program installed on the computer without being selected by its user, can not be shared / explored by the remote interlocutor.   Interactive video-audio-communication method with conjoint exploration of documents between a local user-1 and a remote user-2 according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two users, on their reciprocal station, have the same process (screen, images and buttons identical) and the same choice of operation before initiation of a document search. The search for a document by a user is followed by a few automatic and unilateral steps: The user who has initiated / extracted the document, then has a sharing button that is invisible to the user who did not initiate the research. The request control button does not appear in the user who initiated the search.   An interactive video-audio-communication method with conjoint document scanning between a local user-1, and a remote user-2, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized by the steps of: size of the fields according to the activated phase, for example large images in phase of audio-video communication, reduced images and maximization of the sharing field of document / program in shared exploration phase.   E Suppression of interferences during the shared exploration phase of documents in the various fields of document sharing and videoconferencing images (for example overlays and non-standard appearances of windows with unequal sizes and unknown to the remote user) by separating the two videoconferencing and shared document / program scanning applications into two fixed fields.   These two steps allow both users, local and remote, to have at all times an identical and standardized field of view.   2860675 -9- E Automation in a sequential order, with the disappearance of the selection menus for videoconferencing and document-sharing applications, automatic adjustment of the size, the location of videoconferencing images, and the configuration of the respective fields of the two applications, depending on their usage process.   É Simplified presentation according to the activated phase and limited to simple commands indicating large icons or large characters: output, volume with 0 (mute) to maximum adjustment bar, microphone (key that changes to a bar when is enabled), and document sharing (key that changes to undo sharing).   An interactive video-audio-communication method with conjoint document / program scanning between a local user-1, without using its upper limbs, and a remotely located user-2, according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that during the stand-by phase user-2 can independently explore a self-selected document by clicking once on any point in the local image or directory , which, miniaturized, are automatically placed on the control bar, thus freeing up a maximum field of document / program exploration.   At all times, the operating system can be Windows and the pointing device, a conventional mouse, with double click and right side.   6. Device for the implementation of the interactive video-audiocommunication method with conjoint exploration of documents between a local user-1, without using his upper limbs and / or speech, and a user-2 located at a distance, according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it comprises: É A pointing device, adapted to a person with reduced capacity (for example aged) and to the sensitivo-motor disabilities, including a truncated globe, diameter exceeding the size of an adult hand, mobile on a base that does not require a table or supports; and having a large button allowing a single click.   É A computer whose user side has only a large power button, which is operated by the foot, by the hand or by a mechanical arm operated by the mouth of the user.   2860675 -10- A computer program comprising program code instructions for executing the steps of the interactive video-audio communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, when said program is executed on a computer.