Field of tse IrofettioH

Tbs present i& eKti& . rela s to accessing c ntent ia a rich, i.atarret ap li e&r. ion . I:n particular , i ^' related to

iH rovesserts to the accessibility of: rich internet, application content,

Centrally ^' hosted web appl cations f v.ex iBasy benefi s for businesses and users. ob p lications' provide for cen r ilsod development . deployment and; imi-aPenasce . C oud bas d service and Sln!tware as a Be ics (SaaS offerin a can be deployed as web a plicati n's, with service- provide s ^' instal iisg, deploying ^' and Tuaintainiiffi tbe so tware centrally, Benef t;:, for users can include flexibility, SOa.lability, eused capital costs, robustness, central .i sed su or , assured peri riaanoie: , central seorafe of files and. da a, ' entral. aS'Curity and data

iiitefrity .

Qn the otfeer band, .desbtop: appi scatlots which exeepte en local computer systeias can reside flexible use.r ex eriences with sophiaticatabb powerful and ltd; dfive' us * ^' interfac ^'

iPoladi.Rg features that sxensd those available with ^'

stabhardised web technologies, s ch a? IfS. o ao eve the benefits asso i ed ¾<iitft web app ^' lx cations with the

S'OPhis.ticati.ou of dssbfcop' applications, rich intern t

applications (lIAsi can be deployed. Ills are eb ap lica ions ub ng technologic that exten , bey pd the da ineb. standardised web f c.il iti .:S fcg provide richer func ional ty similar to desktop appi icafions, ElAa can provide the benefits of a %r b a lication combined; wi h the uaer ex rie ce, nd interactivity of a. local deskto a Ilealion .

¾ve: browse s sup r standa dised web technologies including H ML and o te da sot includ support tor the: ifiany and varieel types: of Rl teennoiogy <. To- provide. RIA. su er;: at a client co pute a stars,, additional software is: .normall installad to operate in addit ion to, or in exj nction with,, a rowse to receive and tender LA applications. Such additional yofrva o can include a ir ®.! machine, runtime environment, local media player, browdar p!tiglm or similar. Such additional aoltvare is. hereina ter rnfeared £s as a. runtime envirommmnt ,

Examples of 1 technology include JavaScript, Java and JavaFX {Java and JavaFX ate registered trademarks of Oracle,) Java and JavaFX allow for the development nd: deployment of eb appl.i.cntion.a that ran across a w e ariety of devices and provide ric dynamic functionality including deskto - 1 ik : user interface cont ols and incerastivit . To render Java arid JavaFX web application client software ,. a local computer

Sifste rei|uires as ins alled Java virtual machine software component as a runtime, eny.i onisent . The J¾va virtual machine 1© operable, alexia or in co unction with a rowse , to: eader a Java or JavaFX client application as part of a veb

appiicat ion .

^aolher example of R.1..A tec o ogy is Aalofea Flasli { dobe and Flash are: esistexoil trad:e .arka or Adobe..5 Flash cotterv. can include rich, dynamic and interactive client software and media such as audio axd video. To render Flash conten fo a eb application a local compute s st m requires the

installa ion of a Flash player as a rirutime esvironet . Yet another ^' exam le of Rid teohnology i s Mi cro:-:ol:r Silverlig! { i,c.r ^' oeo:ft arid s.I eslight are realsterad. trademarks of icxeeoifc ., ^' } Silverlight require.® a we ' b owses" plugin. a.s a. ruritime ep poneht to render Silverligbt. client content,

Wh xi d ' lo ing and. 'deploying software applica ions , ineli ihg^ weh applications, it is d~sir¾ble to ©nsrxe the .arjeeasibiiity of the anpiicanian o ^: ' se s with sensory impairment , aueii as users wit a. signt or auditory impairment .. In acme,

cir oasis tanoes . ens ring ©nob aeeeaaiai iity is a requi ement, snoh as the re xrirement on. Ϊ Federal agencies to ensure:

software solutions are aeosasible t.o the disable by virtue of the Seation SP8 amendment t.o the- OS B & ita ion i¾et of 1¾'?3, The requirements of. Section S-hS apply" to all. federal agenaiae when they develop, procure , amintai , o use

lectronic and information technology. The requirement i« d ^: ©xiepi¾qes :ly' p;.c?sod on o agencies dea-sloping an : sup l in " software and serYiees ^: and snoh providore are cognisant of the. requ:i r.&m&:;;ts of Sanction SO8: in their developmen and.

dep1oytgent anhi it.io« .

One ea O'lO'gy t.hat assists in Section 50,8 compliance is screen, reader technolog ,. j¾ screen reader i a software: and/or hardware cnisponeht that, retrieves content or information, about content presented in a user ^' interface: s !; that the: epatent can be presented in as aeeasaibie form for sensory" impaired neara. The information, is precentad in an ancessibie fa m using an aeeeselhle output generator, such as a text--tP-spaePu converter, a speech eyathesiser ,. a. Braill©: e Ppnt device.,, sound output or other ontpnt suitable for assisting an unpai ed user, in addition to being a licable ta users with sensory impairments , such tePhnelegy is also adrentageoua for illiterate, dyslexic or learning disabled. u;;:e . Screen readers interoperate with so wa e applications hr ugh an accessibility application prag ¾sxd, g ^' interface (ΑΡΠ such as Microsoft's Active accessibility (MS .) , IJPrcessIble; from the L Lan x Foundation or one OS ¾ accessibil y p otocol (OS X is a trademark of Ap le.): To provide effect ve accessibili y enhancements, a screen reader and a software applica ion ;rus: be speci ically developed to cooperate using piich native APIs, and inns there is a tight eou lu g between the sof w e-^ appj i c ion and the screen reader,

Web browsers can be adapted, or configured to cooperate with screen r aders using an. accessibility API and s.haro web content such as web page ir:format ion including HfML: with screen readers. In. this way a screen reader is aisle to interpret HTML content and provide accessibility enhancement si such as esst -- c- sp«¾c.b for a user. Isw&ver, vhex a RIA

app Pica t i o s are rendered fey a web brbw-sor using ¾IA runtime- errcironisents , the w b browser is unable to copapuaicate content or i formation about content to a screen reader since the conten of the k IP is hot in a HTML fo m and is pot readily accessible to the web browse . in ecmtr&st , the contest for RIP .applications is rendered by; a runtime e viro ment, such as a virtual machine or browser piagin. Accordingly, a screen reader cannot access content or information about content in It; A applications trots a b owser.

To provide accessibility &h&n£ i f&r a PIA w-efe

application: using a sc een reader i is necessary for the RIA web application to include support for a native accessibility API Such support can be at least Partly provided through the' runtime envir nment for the . l _: ¾ such hat the R.XJ¾ %?eb

application: can cooperate with a screen reader. However, this introdu es- a tight coupling between the RIA and the screen reader and: imposes fu the burdens- whe:h developing a RIA. and associated an its© s ^p yirode ■ ftl^o, such . appro ch

in PO^ueos a separ :i or; netwean aoe spxbi!i ty fari li ins: for acces ng; a web p¾ ^: g© rende ed, by a. sswser and; acoe^slbi lity .facilities foe. apcensd.ng 11A. appi i eatrone that ma h&. embedded, in the eb- page,. Such separation i.s nnhelpfnl and, detract s ■ pcfs upae.ili.ty which is a key concern for sensory irapaire-d. sere . Yet farther,. M.I¾s nep'd to be de eloped to: take

advantage of aooepsl ili y taeilitieo. p'rava.:.de ^: d by a ElA ra tijwe enviraRisent ,, s¾ch. as by identi yi g content for aha ri with screen readers and ennnring sdeh contest is: kept tap to date as ccm£«»t dynamically changes in an Ε,ίΑ,.

^■ It wortld therefore be. advantageona o provide Siccesaibili y enhance;ae ^' nts for Rids without the afc edent lade

disadvan ges ,

The presen" invention .acoptd.ing y ovides in a first aspect ,. a coSippter i plemented isethod. for aeoeesi g'' 'Content: in a icb in ·: erne l a pi.i catiep,, the rids intsr.net lica ion being ssui table for ex cut: ion in an application, rnntirse e ironme t operating wi h a ¾ob browser on a cerate:r system, and the content being stored: in a data sersctrre in. the rich interned, ap lication, the method com r si g copying the content t® at' least οηο· field in a web page aePeoaed by the: browser ^' snob that, tbe content is aeoeesabie via. the at leas o e field in the web page , ha.a erabO'diPente of the invention provide ccess: to EI A

content i.n a manner suitable for a user" having sensory

impai ment via a ataPdard ^" aseiefc e iecbsoloay snoh as a seises reader ueing a standard escidtind oeo ibility AFT sneh as icrcspf ds Active Aceens.ibiiitv ( S&dd: , iLSeeesaibind or

or API such as proprietary b owse accessibility functions. re£exabl the method farther ^' comprises an assistive:

tec nology softwere op one accessing ^' the at. least o¾e field, in the web page so as: to render ^' th ' con nt in a fo m suitab for access by a sensory im a ed user.

Preferably the assistive technology so tware component is a scree reader software com onent ..

Preferably the content is rendered: as audio usin a Pe¾t~ta~ speebh ooE?ert.si' .

Preferably the content includes data arid inform tion

indicating at least one formatting characteristic o the conten .

Pre.fera.bly' the at lease o ^: no ormat ing c ar cte istic ^' :· nol aces at least one ©ΐί a epyle, structure _f forrsat and co igu a n of the d ta .

Prefer ly the conten ncludes siedia co te t ,

Preferably the assistive technology sof ware coaipomni

includes accessible output generator for gene ti g' output •sui ab e tor aeuess by a sensory .impaired s cy the aoO selfcle ont.ph ^' t geue ator including at least o-ne .o ^' f'i a text -to-apeeoh converte _^ a speech s nthesise and a. tactile' output de ice ^' .

web page .

The present invention accordingly ovides, in a third aspect, an apparatus com risin ; a cen ral processing uni :.: ; a memo y s bsystem : an input/output subsystem; and a bus subsystem interconnecting the central processing unit, the merer y

S ^' ubsysitfeis, the inpu /o t ut, subsystem;: and. the apparatus as de scri ed ah o e ,

The present: invention aocordinq!y provides, in a fourth aspect, a computer program ede nt comprising computer progxais code to, when loadad into a co leter sys em and executed thereon, cause the covapate:;: t perform the steps of a method as desc bed a.bove..

3 r i e f De a or .lot: ionjsi ;t;e radyci;

Ά preferred e bodiment of the pre-serhi invention is destrribed below in sore detail , by 'way. of example only, with reference to the accotiparjyi g drawings, in which:

Bllgure 1 is a. ^' block, diagram ol a com uter systcis suitable for the operation, of e¾3bepi¾snts of ^' the presen invention.;

visual or auditory .im ^' .:pa.ir¾e t .

The RIA accessibility system 280 includes a web browser 200, The web browser 200 is a software and/or a dw re component operable to receive eb page information such as:. RT I., sr au. meated: HTML web page documents from a web se ve , Ksampto web browsers include internet Explorer™ provided by Microsoft ⁵ * Corpora ίsr. (Internet Ex lorer and Microsoft are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of Mic osoft Corporation}; Chrome ^H'! provided by Google ί Chrome and doogle a e rademarks or Registered Trademarks ^' of Google) ; F ^' irefo¾: ^!¾ ro d s* by

Moziiis" ^s iFiiefor and Moz lia are trademarks or Eegistered Trademarks of Morilia Inc.}; Opera™ provided by Opera

Software (Opera is a Trademark or ks _: gi stored Trademark of Opera. Software) ; Sa.fax.iT' provided, fey ¾.ppid ^'Wi: Inc. (Cafati and. .Apple are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of .Kp le IncO or any other web b ovr;:e as e i.11 fee known to those skilled in the art ,

In use, t.he web browser 200 receives wsfe page doouam t such as web page 202 from wop server. Wefc page 202 i s , for example, an HTML document including one or more web page elements. Bach web page element is an iuduvidm&l component of the web page ^' 202 having as identifier and at ibutes , For example , a web page defined in HTML cap include elements such as; container elements fe.g, "DIV"};: textual eicfsents {e.g. "El", "SMALL" ; :ura¾o sismsiits ie.g,. "IMG") ; anchor element (e.g. ^ss ,ft ^!S ) ; as well as ot e ele&ents such as user: iri crfacs controls, dynamic slsmsnts ,. embedded, media elements including audio o video, embedded software such as Java applets o nat ive contro1 s .

The web page 202 i sitides an ac essi ility tie 210 and a reference to a RIA 206 ^' . Accessibility field 210 is a field of the web age suitable for storage of: content s;¾¾s as data, information or media from the RIA 2(3:6 as will be described Mow, The accessibility field 210 is accessible to the web browser 280 such that data stored in t e ^. accessibility field 210 can be retrieved by tbe browser 200. For exam le , the aores- si til ic field 210 is an HTML, field of the web page 202. Preferably, the accessibility field 210 is adapted to be rende ed out ^' of sight of: a oner of the ad a«a: 202:, s¾c¾: as at a location not normally visible to a user of the web page 202 including a location of f -screen:, Alternatively, the accessibility field 21® can have attribu es that cease the field: 21,0 to be i visibl ', not end red pr otherwise not displayed, as part o:f we ^' b page 2.02. Hu areus possible

approaches can be employee to ensi the accessibility field 210 is not visible. For example, whe e the accessibility field 210 is a HTML field, parameters such as- ^{^} visibility: hiddesr" ^' ; ^w display t one ^*■ ' ; hvidth ::0 x ^: ; height i:Q x ^w ; and/or: ^w text- indent ^* . - 10 ^' OQpx" can be employed, Alternati el or additionally, the field can be positioned off "Screen si g absolute position parameters in HTML,

In a pre er ·: cd em odiment , ^' the aonessibil ity field. 210 is suitable for being accessed ia an accessibility API such as such as icrosoft's Active Accessibi ity (MSAA): , ϊ Acce s iblc2 free the L nux Foundation or the 0:S: X Acce sibility Protocol . Sach ;s eea to the accessibility field 210 can be ia the bro eer 200 ^: which Sfay be operable to int face ie one o-r more apeh a asssi bi 1 ty APIs ..

RIA 2 OS is a software component exeexxting i:o. a. rxnatirfis erooL onoen·: 204. For example , the Ρ.ΙΆ 206 can be a client s f ware lication provided by a web salver snch ®.s a Java, e¾vaFX, Flash or Silverlight appl ic tiox^. The runtime

enviroppent 20 is a software and/oa: hard¾?er:e com onent exeox :: x;g wi hiS:,: alongside ., in co¾mxm i.cati n with or ih

conjunction with the web browser 200'. The rPnti e e xnl x:oxx;nen:: 3.0 provides faeili ies required far the- essesutioxa of fc.be RIA 29¾. For example, the rxxntiaie e ironmen 204 is a software coiS oxie t native to a computer systets that is operable to reeaive and execute Km 206. Kxintitse eavi ronmexP:: 2P can include a. virtual nuxchine, sx h as a J a virtual m chi e,: or ot.he ^: r isec ^' feai ^' d,* tor nterpreting and s¾:eo¾ ing exeenPafele instrxictions caopr x sexi in RIA 206, For example, hIA 206 can inc. l de isaahina code, feyteoode or other expressions of

executable function that are iPterpsxetable by the rxxntii¾e environment 204. hltsrnat iveiy _. , th rxin iraa environment 20 can. be a pis-aye*:" software aompenent sPeh as a Fl ah pl yer or media player operable t;.o reaeive and render RIA 206.

In the proferred embodiment ,. th runtiaxs environment 20 is an adj nct, extension or alag in fco the x*?eb brewser 200. ^hiie the runtime erxvi roraaent 20 is illustrated as being coi¾prioed within th bro ser 200 it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the rPnhiiae environment 204 can he provided separate to the browser 200. For exam le, the rx;nt ims

envi onment 204 sen be provided as a component ins tailed to an cpe.rating system of a poittputer system in opaxsnxnica ion with, browser 200. While he S:1A 2Q is- desc ibed: as beiing: ref renced: by the: web page 202 it will be apparent to those skilled in the art: that Κ1Ά 206 may be embedded, .identi ied or otherwise indicated in web p«ge ZQ2 , for ^' ex m le , the R IA 206 a be rederenced. by the web page 202 using an "ob ecri'd ^,s applet" ^' o " stbed" HTML tag. Such references can include an indication of a y e' of cue SIA 20'6,. such as the application type which can. he specified as a MIME type.

!IA .20€ includes content s ed gerteyally in data st ucture 208. It will be apparent to. those skilled in the art that multiple, many or nuSierous data structures can be provided by or for RIA 266 in which data including content is sto ed . Content includes information, data or media store by or for the RIA 20€< For example, where ί¾ΪΑ. 206 renders textual, graphical, multimedia or other iruiorsvatipn: oh a. display of a compute:;: systerrt, such infor ation can constitute content st red in data structure 208 <: Data s-traoture 2OS c&m be a simple data, s ruc ure, s cb: as a singl dat item of specific or non-specific type (such as numeric, textual or unspecified typ.e) . Alternatively, data .structure 208 can be a madti-- element,, muiti -field or complex data structure, such as a record including numerous and potentially nested elements , fields: o i eima. In w¾s embdd isa ^' nts data st uc u e- 208 includes other,, nested, ata structures. Thus, in this wa content associated with the RIA 206 such as inforation, data Or media presented by the & 206 via a. us-ftr :i nte ί ace of the miA 206, is stored in data structure 208. Examples of such content can include rich text: , images, n erical information or ^' information relating to user inter ce con ols ^, inc:lading ^''' control names, control types (e.g.. combobox, edit field, ¾>ena item,, button e c , control atetas ¾e,g. active, inactive , _: visible, edi table, peculated, impopulatsd etc) « Additionally or alternatively, content can include infornmti on relating to tile layou , Structure, s enc or navigation of a user

inPteriaee associated wich 0: providPd by he Έ.ΪΆ 2QS . For exam le, a 1 ©eat ion of a mouse pointer , an entry field ca et, a sel cted PsnP. item, a sl.se or state of a window or other control., a ppmbex of or emiiaerated List 0: items i a lis control etc. Further additionally or alternat ely, content can include inform at ί o relating to a state of the EI¾ 2QS, such as a loading st e {e.g.. percentage ioadsbU , a visibility scata, an active state etc. In ye r. a further addition or alternative, content can incigde inf orruation. selected, indicated or identified by a use , such as text, se !ecced i a entry field or menu items selected in a drop down menu , Such information can be stored, in data structure ZQ .

The lA accessibility system 28Ϊ1 further incl ds.s an

scceesibi illy field updater 212 as a soft are and/ or hardware eoTiiponent foP ^" updating a value, con e it. o data, .sto ed; in the accessibility field 2 ^' ie. The accessibility field updater 212 is operable: to retrieve da a , information or tseslia storeid in the d ^ striot e 208 for storage in the ^, aeoapsibi I ity field 210 in web page 202. For example, the accessibil ity field updater 212 can update the accessibility field 210 by

modif ing a document object model {DOM 5 for the ws page 20-2. For e:.o;vop ^' ; e , where the web page 202 is comprised of HTML , the DOM of the web page 3S2 will comprise addressable ob e c t s , including the accessibility field 210", which can. be m dified by reference to web page element identifiers, for example:, a addressable object for a web page element can be obtained by J vaScript using the 'pgetiaeraenPByld" cail, passing the element identifier ^' as a parasseter. Ph resulting ¹ object reference returxred by such a call can be used as a. basis for ί uprising psthpiie and modifyin object attr i.b¾tes ^: .. For e am l , r:he ^ge tattr.ifcajte" a id. P-;etl.ti: ibia:e" JavaScript calls can be used to obtain and set attribute states for a DOM object . In

23S is modified, refreshed ox updated.

While the accessibility field updater 232 is illustrated as being ex 'ereal to the browser 200 , l.S 26® and un ime' en ironment 204, it will be ^: appreciate by those skilled in the art that the accessibility field updater 21 say be implemented wholly or partially' as a Jiinctiaii of one' or pore of these co:Pspohent:S, The accessibility field upda er 212 is operable to access data structure 208 and so accessibility field updater 2 2 can .be irnplemsnt.ed an: a function of Rift. 206 or a function of the runtime environment 2.Q - with which EI¾ 206 executes, Further, accessibility field updater 212 is operable to u d te the accessi ility field 21i and aucoxdbngi the accessibility field updater 212 can be partially

While the assistive technology software component 214 is described as a so i: cv/are com oneht ₍ it will be apparent to those skilled in tee art tbat the assistive technology

\ ~\ ^N t could alternatively Be embodie a har ware component or a combined software an hardware

component suitable for accessing the accessibility field 2:10. Preferably, the assistive technology software eoxponoxu. 214 is operable via an accessibili y ΡΊ such as those p eviousl y desor-lbed _t The assistive technology software component .214: ceu. be a screen reader component smch as JAWS (JAMS is a

registered trademark of Freedom Scientific) or any other suitable software component fox access i rig the accessibilit field 210. 1 ^' be assisiiive c n logy softw re eoifiponent 214 preferably deludes an accessible output generator 2X6 as a se tware ^, or hardware ePisppTisat suitable' for generatl ng output 226 suitable for acces by a se so y impaired user. For exam le , i: he accessible: output generator 21£ can include a text- to -speech conv r er, a speech synthenlaer , a user interface; description facility for .desoribing ^. attrubet e of a ^. user inter face _: a Cap ion gene ato , a act.,lie outpu device such as a Br ille output device or any other accessible output 226 suitable for assisting u:sers ha v -i ng sensory impairment: as will be apparent bo those a si lied In the art, The ^: output 226 .getisrabed. by the acc^csi l c output generatcx- 216 is derived from, or based on the contents;: of the accessibility field 210 whion, in turn, is copied :: em data structure 08 in the EIA 206. Tims, the accessible outpat 22¾ provides contour froi¾ the RI.S 20 , or info mation about content, ff¾ the RIP 236i in a fa¾ of manner that i _S: suitable fox consumption by a user having aensory imp irme . Fox example, the accessible output 226 c r fee an audible representation of the content stored in data structure 2Chl such as s be generated! f om ^, a tex --to ^: "Speee.h function.. Pi. orn ^: u: ivcly, the acues sihie output 2 # can be an. audible description of one or more characte istics: of the content stored in data structure 2Q&. Such characteristics can include, fo e¾ample _; a format, style, typeface ox siae of rich tex conten.t stored in data structure 20-8.. Similarly,, such character i sixes can x::c ide , f©f exas ie _; a state, sioe. type or iah&I of a user interface control included in the concent stored in data structure SOS.

Thus, in use, user 218 usee the fefeh browser 2SQ to navigate to a. web page 20 including a reference: to PIP 201. The TP! A 20S is rendered: by the runtime environment 204 and includes centent stored in data so ructare 2m, The accessibi ity field updater 212 c ies 220 ^: _; 222 eonteat :: ro-s the- data structure 2SS to the accessibility ieid 210 fox retrieval 2 M by the assistive technology software oo ^' tspono ^' nt ' .1 ,. The accessible atput generator 216 geherates accessible otit at 22 ior consumption by the s r 218 providing contest: or inferm 'tien abont content of the EIA 2C6 stored in data structure 208.

In this, wa , nonce,nt. ois; the RIA 2©8 is vaila le to an.

ssi tive technology o c aro component 214 s ch as a screen reader via existing slanilard accessibility m ohaaisxaS;, such as accessibility AlbXs, withoat a need for the MIA 206 or runtime environment 204 to p o ide bespoke, proprietary or dedicated facilities for interlacing with aaeiS'tiv technology s©tp¾? _a re component 214, F rther, the use of the aocesblbility field 210 to r vide a copy of content from the RIA 2Q8 within the web page 02 ensu ed that content id the web page. 202: nd coAient in the referenced RIA 20» are available to assistive

technology software expo ent 214 in eodhiPdfloit via, web page 202. Thus, there is no separation between eootexM from the ^: web page 202 and content from th RIA 20:6 which would detract froti the usabi Ϊ ity of. the web ge' 202 and. B1A 206. This advantage is particularl acute for users having sensory impairment where such separation a i constitute a consi.abr ble chall enge or hindrance to the usability of a combined web page and MIA so tware application.

Figure 3a is a flowchart of a method for rendering an RIA application. 2OS in atcardance with a. preferr« . ersbeaisrient ol the present invention. Initially, at step 3S2, the browser 200 renders the web page 202. At step 30: an I 206 referenced by the ^' web page 302 i;3 rendered using the runtime savironusent 204, At step 306, content in the RIA 206 is stored in the data structure 20§. Figure 3b is a .Qowchart of a method of the accessibilit field updater 21.2: of Figure 2 is accord nce with a. rs:feru%d embodiment of the present invention, initially, at step 310,. the accessibility field updater 2.1.2 identifie con.te.nf: stored in data structure 208 of the RIA.206. Subsequently.. at ste 31,2, the accessibility field updater 212 copies: content ruit data structure 208 to the accessibility field 210. igu e 3c is a flowchart of a method of the assistive technology so wa e component 21 of Figure 2 in accordance with a preferred e bodimen: of the present invention.

Initially, at step 320, the assisti : technology s ftware co^poncn-. 214 rsst irisves the contents of the accetmlbility field 210 ftosi the web page 20 _f such as via an accessibility API. Subsequently, at step 132 the acmssibiliny output generator 216 generates accessibl output 226 suitable fo a User saving senuery isap i.rssent .

RIA 2ϋ-6 ^; includes a data structures 2D8 ^? - Data structure. 2DS ^f s or s data relating to a issser selec on in t he rich text entry field. 02, s t as a select ion ghiignted by the assr using the caret 408. For exam le, whore the user selects rich text 40 , data structure 2, Of coxes th rich text content 404 ipciudiag textual content, £ormat , style, font, sttey layout, paragraph, characteristics, line spacing,: hulleted list information and: any other relevant content and characte istics for ric text: 404, n an alternative ex:; ;soie , where the ser selects image 436, data structure 208' stores data relating to im ge 40 including image data siuch as bitmapped^ or vec or i age infprtsation, dimensions, position and. any metadata such, as descriptive infortsa ion for image 40£h

being output by an audio output device 28 such as a speaker.

I an example of the ar angemerih or Figure 4 in use, a user •se!ects rich text co ten 404 using oa.pet 4OS tor output to the user in a form siiitafoie for a sensory impaired user. The acce sibility field apdater 212: r trieves 220 the selected content from data strnethre 20|: ^f and copies 222 the selected content to the accessibility field 210. The screen reader 42 subse uently access* 224 the contents of the acc ssibili y field 210 co:rresponding to the selected rich text content 40 using the accessibility l 422. The lexv. - r.o- s ech converter 426 Is operable to convert the contents of the aces c i bill ;:y field 21 ^, (5 into an aipli le speech signal 30: four output by the audio output device 428. :; o this way, use r: selections in: the ich text en ry ield 402 of the RIA 2Q& ^f' can be e ressed in a manner suitable for a use having sensory impairment via a standard screen, reader 424 _f snob, as sI WS, using an: existing acoe saibi I. ity AP I 3 ch a s M ^' icrosof t. ' s Acti e Access ibi 1i ty ( 8ΑΆ) .. IAco:essible2 ox the OS X &bili& _Y Protocol . The accessibility mech nise is: consistent for content in the RIA 20$* and other content that may be r jidex ^' ed in ttte web page

202, and the RIA 206' need not include accessibility featur s ^' that tightly couple the RIA 206' to any articular assistive' technology such as proprietary browser accessibility

functions .

Insofar s e^feodiraents of. the inv ntion des ibed are

: ¾plementable , at least in pare, using a software- control led ogr mmable prccesitinf device.,, sued s a ra .cxo r©0£¾¾c¾: ,, digital sig al processor or other processi g de ice, data processing appara s or svstesp. it sill be apprec ted that a computer prograsn for con iguring programmable device, apparatus or . sheis to impietfe-nt the foregoing: descrlbess methods is envisaged as an aspect of the present invention. The computer program may bo etibeoJed as sentC'S ^' ce e ^' or u de go' compilation fo op lemem: si. on on a processing device,

apparatus or system or 5¾ay be em odied as object code:, or exam le .

Suitably, the computer program Is stored on a carrier medium in. ruaohine r. device ra.adabie fans,, for exam le in. solid-state memory, magnetic memory such a disk: or tape, optically or agneto-- optical ly raa ahie -sas S'ac . s com act disk o-r digltal versa ile disk etc. , and the processing device tilises: the profyap; or a art t e eof to configure it or operation. The computer ·:ogran- "say be supplied f r n a reside source embodied in a cammmications rnediiPw such ss an

electronic siq.aa , radio: frequency carrier ave or opt- leal carrier wa e.. Such carrier ;«edia ¾r also envisaged as aspscts of the present invention., it will bo understood oy those skilled in. the art that, ltho g the. p esent invention as been described in relation to the ahwe desc ibed exagfple e bo iments, the ia utiasi is r:o :. i :·;.< ed thereto and that there are m ny possible

i t ons nd modifica ons which fall within the scops of the invention.

T¾e ^: s ope of. the" resent inv ntio , i nei des any no:vei fea res- or combination of f atu es disclosed: herein. The applicant feereby gives notice that ew claims st be: -hrn-ralated to such feature© or combination of features during rosecution of this application Or of any uch further applications derived therefroo In particular, with r ference to the appended claims _/ feature® from dependent claims aiay fee ootiblnsh sifch those of the ndependent: claims and features from respective independent claims inay be combined in any appropriate manner and not merely in the specific cpmbi.nat.ions numerated in ^; : he claims .