Accessibility of computer based training systems for the visually impaired

1 . A computer system comprising a processor, an input interface, a display device, and a speaker, wherein the processor is programmed to:

receive a content file,

process the content file to generate a frame for a visible output with images, and

process the content file to generate a frame for a screen reader output.

2 . A computer system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor generates the outputs with reference to settings including a setting indicating if the visible frame or the screen reader frame is to be maximised or minimised.

3 . A computer system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor processes the content file according to a player comprising a frameset, in turn comprising frames.

4 . A computer system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the frames comprise the visible frame, the screen reader frame, and a navigation frame.

5 . A computer system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the player comprises an action script for playing the content.

6 . A computer system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the action script is held in a frame.

7 . A computer system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the action script in held in the visible frame.

8 . A computer system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the content file is loaded by the processor into the action script.

9 . A computer system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the settings are loaded into the action script.

10 . A computer system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each frame has an associated executable file for generating the outputs in response to commands from the action script.

11 . A computer system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the content file uses a mark-up language to store content.

12 . A computer system as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the language is XML.

13 . A computer system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor downloads the content file from a server.

14 . A computer system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the processor downloads the content file and the player for outputting a unit of content.

15 . A computer system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the unit of content is a courseware learning point.

16 . A computer system as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the processor downloads a series of content files and associated players in succession to progress through content.

17 . A computer system as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the processor also downloads a settings file with each content file and player downloads a settings file with each content file and player download.

18 . A computer system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the outputs generated by the visible frame are used to generate screen reader outputs by transferring text from the visible frame to the screen reader frame.

19 . A computer program product comprising software code for causing a digital computer to operate as a system of claim 1 when the code executing on the digital computer.

20 . A server comprising means for downloading a content file and a player to a client computer to allow the client computer to operate as a system of any of claim 14 .

21 . A method carried out by a server and a client for processing content, the method comprising the steps of:

the server loading content and an action script into a frameset comprising visible and screen reader frames;

the server downloading the frameset to the client; and

the client processing the action script to generate outputs for the visible frame and the screen reader frame.

22 . A method as claimed in claim 21 , wherein the content and the action script is held in the visible frame of the frameset.