Dedicated on-screen closed caption display

1. A method of displaying a computer desktop and closed captioning content on a display device having a display area, the method comprising:

displaying the computer desktop on the display device while the display area is unpartitioned;

receiving a first instruction to display the closed captioning content on the display device;

in response to receiving the first instruction, partitioning the display area into a first portion for the closed captioning content and a second portion for the computer desktop, the second portion being reduced in size with respect to the unpartitioned display area to make room in the display area for the first portion for the closed captioning content;

capturing closed captioning content from a user application executing on a computer system associated with the display device and/or an operating system of the computer system, wherein the closed captioning content comprises text and is selected from the group consisting of title information for a currently active window displayed on the computer desktop, information about controls in a window displayed on the computer desktop, text typed in a document, help information for a computer desktop or user application element, alert information provided by the user application and/or the operating system, and information redirected for output by a speech synthesizer;

writing at least some of the closed captioning content to a first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area;

writing at least a portion of the computer desktop to a second buffer mapped to the second portion of the display area and not to the first portion of the display area;

displaying the at least some of the closed captioning content from the first buffer on the first portion of the display area, wherein the at least some of the closed captioning content displayed on the first portion of the display area is selected to facilitate a user interaction with the user application and/or the computer desktop;

analyzing a context of the at least some of the text in the closed captioning content, wherein the context indicates an application type associated with the at least some of the text;

replacing the at least some of the text with at least one user-defined symbol based, at least in part, on the context before displaying the closed captioning content on the first portion of the display area, wherein a same word or phrase in the closed captioning content is replaced with different user-defined symbols in association with different application types;

displaying the at least a portion of the computer desktop from the second buffer on the second portion of the display area; and

providing an ability to scroll the at least a portion of the computer desktop within the second portion of the display area, without causing movement of the at least some of the closed captioning content in the first portion of the display area, and without causing movement of the first portion of the display area.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

issuing one or more calls to the user application through an API to capture content from the user application; and

including at least some of the captured content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a scaling of information displayed on the at least a portion of the computer desktop is not altered in response to partitioning the display area.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the computer desktop displayed in the second portion of the display area is a magnified view of the at least a portion of the computer desktop.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second instruction to disable closed captioning; and

displaying the at least a portion of the computer desktop on the unpartitioned display area.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one characteristic of the closed captioning content displayed in the first portion of the display area is configurable by a user.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

receiving a second instruction to increase a font size of the closed captioning content; and

in response to receiving the second instruction, automatically increasing a size of the first portion of the display area and reducing a size of the second portion of the display area.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the context indicates a window type associated with the at least some of the text.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a same word or phrase in the closed-captioning content is replaced with different symbols in different window types.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

intercepting one or more display calls from the user application to display content within the computer desktop; and

including at least some of the intercepted content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

11. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method of displaying a computer desktop and closed captioning content on a display device having a display area, the method comprising:

displaying the computer desktop on the display device while the display area is unpartitioned;

receiving a first instruction to display closed captioning content on the display device;

in response to receiving the first instruction, partitioning the display area into a first portion for the closed captioning content and a second portion for the computer desktop, the second portion being reduced in size with respect to the unpartitioned display area to make room in the display area for the first portion for the closed captioning content;

capturing closed captioning content from a user application executing on a computer system associated with the display device and/or an operating system of the computer system, wherein the closed captioning content comprises text and is selected from the group consisting of title information for a currently active window displayed on the computer desktop, information about controls in a window displayed on the computer desktop, text typed in a document, help information for a computer desktop or user application element, alert information provided by the user application and/or the operating system, and information redirected for output by a speech synthesizer;

writing at least some of the closed captioning content to a first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area;

writing at least a portion of the computer desktop to a second buffer mapped to the second portion of the display area and not to the first portion of the display area;

displaying the at least some of the closed captioning content from the first buffer on the first portion of the display area, wherein the at least some of the closed captioning content displayed on the first portion of the display area is selected to facilitate a user interaction with the user application and/or the computer desktop;

analyzing a context of the at least some of the text in the closed captioning content, wherein the context indicates an application type associated with the at least some of the text;

replacing the at least some of the text with at least one user-defined symbol based, at least in part, on the context before displaying the closed captioning content on the first portion of the display area, wherein a same word or phrase in the closed captioning content is replaced with different user-defined symbols in association with different application types;

displaying the at least a portion of the computer desktop from the second buffer on the second portion of the display area; and

providing an ability to scroll the at least a portion of the computer desktop within the second portion of the display area, without causing movement of the at least some of the closed captioning content in the first portion of the display area, and without causing movement of the first portion of the display area.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

issuing one or more calls to the user application through an API to capture content from the user application; and

including at least some of the captured content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein a scaling of information displayed on the at least a portion of the computer desktop is not altered in response to partitioning the display area.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second instruction to modify at least one characteristic of the closed captioning content; and

in response to receiving the second instruction, automatically increasing a size of the first portion of the display area and reducing a size of the second portion of the display area.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

intercepting one or more display calls from the user application to display content within the computer desktop; and

including at least some of the intercepted content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

16. A computer system comprising:

at least one display device having a display area; and

at least one processor programmed to:

display the computer desktop on the at least one display device while the display area is unpartitioned;

in response to receiving a first instruction to display closed captioning content, partition the display area into a first portion for the closed captioning content and a second portion for a computer desktop, the second portion being reduced in size with respect to the unpartitioned display area to make room in the display area for the first portion for the closed captioning content;

capture closed captioning content from a user application executing on the computer system and/or an operating system of the computer system, wherein the closed captioning content comprises text and is selected from the group consisting of title information for a currently active window displayed on the computer desktop, information about controls in a window displayed on the computer desktop, text typed in a document, help information for a computer desktop or user application element, alert information provided by the user application and/or the operating system, and information redirected for output by a speech synthesizer;

write at least some of the closed captioning content to a first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area;

write at least a portion of the computer desktop to a second buffer mapped to the second portion of the display area and not to the first portion of the display area;

display the at least some of the closed captioning content from the first buffer on the first portion of the display area, wherein the at least some of the closed captioning content displayed on the first portion of the display area is selected to facilitate a user interaction with the user application and/or the computer desktop;

analyze a context of the at least some of the text in the closed captioning content, wherein the context indicates an application type associated with the at least some of the text;

replace the at least some of the text with at least one user-defined symbol based, at least in part, on the context before displaying the closed captioning content on the first portion of the display area, wherein a same word or phrase in the closed captioning content is replaced with different user-defined symbols in association with different application types;

display the at least a portion of the computer desktop from the second buffer on the second portion of the display area; and

provide an ability to scroll the at least a portion of the computer desktop within the second portion of the display area, without causing movement of the at least some of the closed captioning content in the first portion of the display area, and without causing movement of the first portion of the display area.

17. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

issuing one or more calls to the user application through an API to capture content from the user application; and

including at least some of the captured content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

18. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein a scaling of information displayed on the at least a portion of the computer desktop is not altered in response to partitioning the display area.

19. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

automatically modify a size of the first portion of the display area in response to receiving a second instruction to change at least one characteristic of the closed captioning content.

20. The computer system of claim 16 , wherein capturing closed captioning content comprises:

intercepting one or more display calls from the user application to display content within the computer desktop; and

including at least some of the intercepted content in the closed captioning content written to the first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area.

21. Apparatus comprising:

at least one display device having a display area;

at least one processor; and

at least one storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method for displaying a computer desktop and closed captioning content on the display device, the method comprising:

displaying the computer desktop on the at least one display device while the display area is unpartitioned;

in response to receiving a first instruction to display the closed captioning content, partitioning the display area into a first portion for the closed captioning content and a second portion for the computer desktop, the second portion being reduced in size with respect to the unpartitioned display area to make room in the display area for the first portion for the closed captioning content;

capturing closed captioning content from a user application executing on a computer system associated with the at least one display device and/or an operating system of the computer system, wherein the closed captioning content comprises text and is selected from the group consisting of title information for a currently active window displayed on the computer desktop, information about controls in a window displayed on the computer desktop, text typed in a document, help information for a computer desktop or user application element, alert information provided by the user application and/or the operating system, and information redirected for output by a speech synthesizer;

writing at least some of the closed captioning content to a first buffer mapped to the first portion of the display area;

writing at least a portion of the computer desktop to a second buffer mapped to the second portion of the display area and not to the first portion of the display area;

displaying the at least some of the closed captioning content from the first buffer on the first portion of the display area, wherein the at least some of the closed captioning content displayed on the first portion of the display area is selected to facilitate a user interaction with the user application and/or the computer desktop;

analyzing a context of the at least some of the text in the closed captioning content, wherein the context indicates an application type associated with the at least some of the text;

replacing the at least some of the text with at least one user-defined symbol based, at least in part, on the context before displaying the closed captioning content on the first portion of the display area, wherein a same word or phrase in the closed captioning content is replaced with different user-defined symbols in association with different application types;

displaying the at least a portion of the computer desktop from the second buffer on the second portion of the display area; and

providing an ability to scroll the at least a portion of the computer desktop within the second portion of the display area, without causing movement of the at least some of the closed captioning content in the first portion of the display area, and without causing movement of the first portion of the display area.