NEW INTEROPERABILITY STANDARD FOR AT CONTROL OF DEVICES USING SIMPLE GAMEPAD COMMANDS

By J. Bern Jordan and Gregg C. Vanderheiden

Please cite this document as follows:

Jordan, J.B., & Vanderheiden, G.C. (2006). New interoperability standard for AT control of devices using simple gamepad commands. Proceedings of the Center on Disabilities Technology And Persons With Disabilities Conference 2006.  http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/2006/proceedings/2834.htm.

This work was funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, under grant # H133E030012. The viewpoints expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the those of the funding agency.

There are many products where users are not able to operate the built-in interface. For some people, buttons are too small or difficult to press. Others may have difficulty reaching controls or may lack stamina to effectively operate a built-in interface. Some individuals may have difficulty understanding how to use a device with many buttons and would appreciate simpler controls. Providing a more accessible interface is important for many users who want to use consumer electronics and other products.

The most flexible solution to this problem is to provide the ability to plug alternative interfaces into mainstream products. This approach, which is characterized by the standards being developed by the V2 working group (INCITS/ANSI 389-2005 through 394-2005) and the ISO Working Group 24752, would put interface sockets on products and allow users to replace current interfaces with entirely new interfaces. These solutions would require manufacturers to build an interface socket into their products and architectures. There are powerful reasons for doing this in the future, but it will take time for these developing standards to become a mainstream reality.

A variety of electronic voting systems, like the tablet and full-face voting machines shown in Figure 1 are accessible to individuals with some disabilities, but not necessarily those who need custom switches.

Figure 1.  A tablet voting system prototype developed at the Trace Center (left) and a full-face voting machine (right).

With an accessible voting system, one can use all of the features from a set of keys such as the EZ Access keypad shown in Figure 2. The EZ Access keypad allows access to all of the functionality of a voting system with the eight buttons. These buttons could in turn be controlled by custom user switches or AT if a standard existed.

Figure 2.  EZ Access keypad allows one to access all of the functionality of a voting system from the eight buttons.

Products like stereo systems, home environment controllers, and digital talking book players (see Figure 3) are easy for some people to use. However, if the only way a user has to control things is sip and puff or head switches or some other special set of switches they would not be able to operate these devices. A standard way to connect alternate switches to control such devices would allow them to use their own special switches and controls.

Figure 3.  Example consumer electronics that could be designed to be controlled from custom and AT switches if a standard existed.  From left to right, a stereo system, a home environment controller, and a digital talking book player.

One way to approach this would be to have a common USB connector switch assignment standard. If this was done properly, a set of switches, or sip and puff, etc. could be used to control a wide variety of products. In order for this to work, however, there would need to be a logical mapping between the switches and the products or else users would have to reconfigure their switches each time they tried to use a different product. For example, if one manufacturer uses switches 1 and 2 to move up and down and another manufacturer uses switches 3 and 4, then users would have to reconfigure their switches to map different products and manufacturers.

The goal of this project is to provide guidance and guidelines which can be used both by AT manufacturers to map their switches and by other product manufacturers to map the functions of their products.

Goals

• Frequently used functions should map to switches that are easy to use frequently.
• Functions which must be used together should map to movements which are easy to do in sequence.
• The most common up/down functions on a product should map to the same switches on an interface.
• Up/down mode functions are best if they are mapped to things which make logical sense to users.

Constraints and Issues

• On one product the most common up/down functions may be an up/down movement, with volume being a secondary function. On another product the volume may the most frequently used up/down movement. Is it better to map the most frequently up/down function set of switches or is it better for volume to always be consistently mapped?
• Some switch arrays may allow the user to have a large number of switches. Other individuals may only be able to operate a small number of switches. How do you map many-function products to a small number of control switches?
• Some manufactures may have already decided to map their switches to a USB format to match their own product line for some reason. How would they deal with a standard which is different?  Can mechanisms be provided to accommodate both?
• Is it better for this new switch array standard to be a custom AT standard or is it better for it to be mapped off a pre-existing human interface device (HID) standard?

Currently the work is focused on capitalizing on existing human interface devices standards. In particular the USB game controller interface is being explored. It provides a very rich set of controls and also does not interfere with concurrent use of a keyboard or mouse. In addition it has the advantage that AT manufacturers can arrange their controls to function in this fashion and also enable their users to be able to control mainstream games and other software which can be controlled by game controllers.

On the controller side, it allows rehabilitation engineers to easily manufacture inexpensive custom controllers. For example, a rehabilitation engineer could take any set of switches that were arranged in a fashion to maximize the control of a client and, using a circuit board removed from an inexpensive USB game controller, wire up a custom electronic which would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars. This special switch configuration could then be used not only with games but also with other devices that implemented the standard, including voting machines, digital talking book players, home environment control units, stereo systems, and more.

The presentation will provide the latest update on the status of the development of the new standard as well as an opportunity for participants to provide input and feedback to the process.