IDEAL Group Innovations

Credits

IDEAL Group achieved many “development firsts” that set the stage for other software/hardware developers to build upon. And they did! IDEAL Group innovations have been woven into the fabric of the high-tech ecosystems that enable billions of consumers to live more independent lives.

List of IDEAL Group’s “Development Firsts”

December 1992 – March 1994

Developed the first interactive video technology for sign-language communications over the Internet. IDEAL Group, then known as AT&T Project Freedom, engaged a group of students from Horace Mann Montessori School for the Deaf to use ASL to communicate with each other at a distance! Today, this technology has evolved into what is called video relay service (VRS). VRS is a video telecommunication service that allows deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired (D-HOH-SI) individuals to communicate over video telephones/smart phones with hearing people in real-time, through a sign language interpreter. VRS services became well developed nationally, in the United States, in 2003.
https://www.fcc.gov/general/2003-trs-history

January 1997

Integrated accessibility, for the first time, into a president’s presidential inaugural program book (Clinton)

July 2000

Designed, developed, and installed the world’s first fully-accessible prototype kiosks for the Smithsonian Institution’s American History Museum

January 2001

Integrated accessibility, for the second time, into President Bush’s inauguration program and guidebook. IDEAL took technology then being used by the Israeli military, modified it, and came up with a method that provides individuals who are blind to scan 77 pages of text with only one pass of a scanner, with 100% accuracy. Even as of today, nothing has equaled this accomplishment.

January 2009

Developed the first “talking” notepad for Android in support of people who are non-verbal.

February 2009

Developed the first talking SMS message reader for Android (SMSpeaker) in support of users who are blind.

January 2010

Developed the first, Android-based, Augmentative Alternative Communications (AAC) app called iAugComm. AAC apps/devices help a person communicate, when they cannot rely on speech. There are many reasons why a person may not be able to communicate using speech. They may have a developmental disability which has affected the development of speech. They may have an acquired disorder that has affected the person’s ability to speak. Many people with different communication difficulties, speech impediments, and disorders can benefit from AAC.

February 2010

Developed the first fully accessible email app for Android smart phones in support of users who are blind. This accessible K9 email app used Google’s Talkback as well as other screen readers. This work was based upon the existing K9 email application and, later, integrated into the existing app.

March 2010

Developed the first fully-accessible barcode-reading app (IDEAL Item Identifier) for Android smart phones in support of users who have low vision, or who never learned to read. IDEAL Item Identifier enabled Android smartphone users to take a picture of standard UPC and QR codes and then hear a description of the item being read out loud using Google’s TTS voices. This was especially helpful for people with low vision trying to differentiate cans of soup that all looked alike.

June 2010

Developed the first fully accessible browser for Android smart phones (IDEAL Web Reader) in support of users who are blind.

August 2010

Developed the first fully accessible Android smartphone-based handheld video magnifier (IDEAL Magnifier) in support of users who have low vision.

July 2010

Developed the first audio-described movie viewer (IDEAL AD Movie Viewer) for individuals who are blind.

November 2010

Developed the first talking caller ID for Android smart phones.

December 2010

Developed the first high-quality voices for Android devices. These innovative voices enabled user’s talking applications to sound better in English (US & UK), Italian, German, French, and Spanish.

December 2010

Developed the first fully accessible text enlarger app for Android smart phones in support of users who have low vision. IDEAL Text Enlarger made the text in most of your Android smartphone’s applications larger than usual. Text enlargement was not a normally supported feature in Android. We had to do a few non-standard bits of Android programming magic to make it work. As a result, it might not be 100% compatible with all applications.

February 2011

Developed the first fully accessible Android application installers (AAI) for carriers around the world. AAIs are carrier-specific applications designed to make it easier and more intuitive for wireless carrier retail store personnel, help desk professionals, and wireless subscribers to identify, download, install, sample, and purchase (if the app is a paid app) applications that enhance the accessibility of Android smart devices. All current accessibility applications delivered by this AAI are at “no-cost-to-the-user.” In the near future, IDEAL Apps4Android’s AAIs will include previews of, and the ability to purchase, paid Android accessibility applications. AAIs developed included:

  • IDEAL Access 4 AT&T
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of AT&T® in the United States.
    https://androidappsapk.co/detail-ideal-access-4-att/
  • IDEAL Access 4 Sprint
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of Sprint® services in the United States.
    https://m.apkpure.com/ideal-access-4-sprint%C2%AE/com.ideal.accessibilityinstaller.sprint
  • IDEAL Access 4 T-Mobile
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of T-Mobile® services in the United States, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Poland.
    https://m.apkpure.com/ideal-access-4-t-mobile%C2%AE/com.ideal.accessibilityinstaller.tmobile
  • IDEAL Access 4 Verizon
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of of Verizon® services in the United States.
    https://www.apkmonk.com/app/com.ideal.accessibilityinstaller.verizon/
  • IDEAL Access 4 Vodaphone
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of of Vodaphone® services in Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, and Romania.
    https://m.apkpure.com/ideal-access-4-vodafone%C2%AE/com.ideal.accessibilityinstaller.vodafone
  • IDEAL Access 4 Other Carriers
    This accessibility Android application Installer was customized for subscribers of: 1) China Mobile® services in China; 2) KT® services in Korea; 3) Telefónica®, O2®, Atento®, Terra®, and Movistar® services in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, El Salvador, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the UK; 4) Bouygues®, Telecom®, and Orange® services in France; 5) Rogers® services in Canada; 6) Boost Mobile®, Virgin Mobile®, MetroPCS®, and nTelos® services in the United States; 7) Optus® services in Australia; 8) DOCOMO®, SoftBank®, and au by KDDI® services in Japan; 9) Singtel® services in Singapore; and, 10) all other Android smart device carrier’s in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and Thailand.
    https://m.apkpure.com/ideal-access-4-other-carriers%C2%AE/com.ideal.accessibilityinstaller

February 2011

Developed the first fully accessible tele-medicine app (TeleDroid) for Android smart phones in support of users who are blind, have low vision, or are elderly. This app was never released because it was acquired by a major healthcare company before it was released.

July 2011

Developed the first fully accessible “Talking NFC Tags” (IDEAL Talking Tags) for Android smart phones in support of users who are blind, have low vision, or are elderly. This technology was acquired by Samsung, renamed to Samsung TecTiles NFC Tags and re-released a year later in July, 2012.

December 2011

Developed the first fully accessible browser for Android smart phones (IDEAL Web Reader) in support of users who are blind.

February 2012

Developed the first (and only to this day) tactile screen protectors designed to give a tactile “feel” to onscreen mobile device keyboards.

  • Video
    This video was dedicated to Alan Viverette, one incredibly dedicated and talented Google accessibility engineer. Thank you, Alan, for all the great work you have done with TalkBack… especially modifying the layout of the keyboard in support of using tactile virtual keyboard screen protectors on any and all Android devices!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg8uSajkgGg

June 2012

Developed the first accessibility-themed ID pack for a U.S. wireless carrier, Sprint. Sprint’s ID pack installs all the applications necessary to operate a smartphone without the need to see or read what is being displayed on the screen. It does so through the use of spoken auditory and vibrational feedback. This ID Pack included some very unique IDEAL Group accessibility apps, as follows:

August 2012

Developed the first android-based fully accessible U.S. Currency Identifier for the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing

October 2012

Developed the first Android mobile app to help make election information accessible for voters with disabilities. It was called the IDEAL Voter Information Guide.

July 2016

Developed the world’s first multilingual, speech-driven, cross-platform, real-time caption correcting service, called uCaption. uCaption, a real-time text-streaming caption correction infrastructure and service, allows event participants (who have permission), to generate real time captions through the use of advanced speech to text (STT) technology. In addition, corrections can be made to captions in real-time. The corrections will be seen instantly by everyone viewing the captions, both locally and remotely.  This will make highly accurate, low-cost, captioning services available as an alternative to professional CART services in situations where the use of professional CART services is not logistically possible, technically possible, or affordable.

Issues Addressed by uCaption:
Hundreds-of-millions of people worldwide, who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hard-of-hearing are being disenfranchised because events they wish to participate in are not live captioned.  Forty-eight million Americans have a significant hearing or a combined hearing/vision loss.  Almost 900 million worldwide have some degree of hearing loss.  Two thirds of the world’s deaf and hard of hearing population reside in developing countries.

Compatible Languages:

Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Zulu.

June 2017

Developed the first communications application (Speech2RTT) that enables people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and non-verbal to communicate with anyone, including people who can hear and speak, using their Android smartphone. Speech2RTT works across all wireless networks. It transcribes and then streams the text of what is being said, in real-time, between individuals. If a user cannot speak, or opts not to speak, they can type what they want to say, in real-time. Speech2RTT is available on Google Play and accommodates transcribing any one of 68 languages for users in 94 countries. Communications are 100% private. No live communications assistants (CAs) are involved… and no limits are imposed on the length of a communication.

Benefits:

  • Enables people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and non-verbal to communicate with anyone – using their Android smart phone;
  • Works over all cellular networks;
  • Transcribes speech to text, in real-time, in 68 languages;
  • Communications are 100% private. No communications assistants (CAs) are involved;
  • No limits are imposed on the length of communications;
  • Offered at no cost;
  • Offers 24×7 availability with absolutely no waiting time;
  • Enables users to communicate “on the go” since it is a mobile app;
  • Fast communications: less than 300 ms latency streaming from one device to another; and,
  • No voice-training is needed, even with accents.

Additional Information:

September 2021

Developed the first android-based fully accessible Smart Home Helper (SHH) app. SHH is a free Android app (available on the Google Play Store) that enables individuals who are nonverbal and individuals with speech disorders such as stuttering, apraxia, and dysarthria to issue verbal commands to voice-activated smart home devices, using Android’s Text-to-Speech engine. SHH enables its users to issue smart home commands, in any one of 63 languages/dialects. Smart home voice commands can easily be created, organized, and shared with other users of the app.

 

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