Graphical user interface for establishing data sharing relationships

• US 20060053389A1
• Filed: 08/26/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cascade Basic Research Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cascade Basic Research Corporation
• Inventors: Michelman, Eric H.
• Application Number:
  US11/213,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20060053389A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/775
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/004 Artificial life, i.e. computing arrangements simulating life

Abstract

Enhanced presentation techniques for modeling a connectivity universe associated with a particular user or device are provided. Example embodiments provide a WorldView Display System (a “WVDS”), which automatically organizes a user'"'"'s online relationships with entities, such as devices, data collections, services, and people, and provides a user interface for accessing and interacting with these entities. The WVDS automatically determines the universe of objects that the user has relationships with, automatically groups objects having similar measures of access proximity, displays a multi-dimensional representation of these groups of objects on a display device, and provides a uniform user interface for initiating an interaction with any represented object. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and it is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for establishing a sharing relationship between collections of data, comprising:

displaying, in proximity to a first object associated with a first device, a user interface for setting up a data sharing relationship, the user interface capable of establishing a two-way sharing relationship between the first object and a second object by connecting a single portion of the displayed user interface;

receiving an indication that the portion of the displayed user interface has been connected to the second object associated with a second one of the devices; and

in response to the received indication, establishing a sharing relationship between the first object and the second object such that, when data content associated with the first object changes, the changed data content is automatically reflected in data content associated with the second object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the first and second objects in locations that are based upon associated access proximity characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the indication that the portion of the displayed user interface has been connected to the second object further comprises receiving an indication that the portion of the displayed user interface has been dragged to the second object via direct manipulation of an input device.

4. The method of claim 1, the establishing the sharing relationship between the first object and the second object further comprising:

establishing a synchronized sharing relationship between the first object and the second object such that data content is synchronized between the first and second objects.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the sharing relationship is established to share at least one of images, photographs, music, contact information or multimedia content.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein, when the data content associated with the first object is changed by adding new data content to content associated with the first object, the new data content is automatically added to the data content associated with the second object.

7. The method of claim 1, the establishing the sharing relationship further comprising:

establishing a two-way sharing relationship between the first object and the second object such that, when data content associated with the first object changes, the changed data content is automatically reflected in the data content associated with the second object, and when data content associated with the second object changes, the changed data content associated with the second object is automatically reflected in the data content associated with the first object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically reflecting changed data content associated with the first object by virtual transfer of the changed data content to the data content associated with the second object.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a functional agent with at least one endpoint of the established sharing relationship.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the functional agent comprises at least one of a send new data agent, a filter and send agent, a receive and store agent, a receive and filter agent, a receive and display agent, or a receive and notify agent.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first object and the second object represent data collections.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first object and the second object represent devices.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the changed data content resides in a data collection.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the devices are physical devices in the real-world.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first object represents a data collection and the second object represents a device.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the first object and the second object are not directly physically connected to each other.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first object is the same device as the second object.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the displayed user interface depicts at least a portion of a cable.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the at least the portion of the cable depicts a plug.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

in response to receiving an indication that the portion of the displayed user interface has been moved near a second object associated with a second one of the devices, displaying a receptor for the plug.

21. The method of claim 1, the establishing the sharing relationship between the first object and the second object further comprising:

establishing a sharing relationship between the first object and the second object such that, when data content associated with the first object changes and the data content associated with the second object is not accessible, recording the change for later synchronization such that, when the data content associated with the second object becomes accessible, the changed data content is automatically reflected in data content associated with the second object.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a graphical indication of the established sharing relationship in proximity to the first object.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

displaying a graphical indication of the established sharing relationship in proximity to the second object.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the graphical indication is an indicator that extends between the first object and the second object.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the indicator is a representation of a colored cable.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the indicator indicates a two-way sharing relationship.

27. A computer-readable memory medium containing instructions that, when executed, control a computer processor to establish a sharing relationship between collections of data, by:

displaying, in proximity to a first object associated with a first device, a user interface for setting up a data sharing relationship, the user interface capable of establishing a two-way sharing relationship between the first object and a second object by connecting a single portion of the displayed user interface;

receiving an indication that a portion of the displayed user interface has been associated with the second object that is associated with a second one of the devices; and

in response to the received indication, establishing a sharing relationship between the first object and the second object such that, when data content associated with the first object changes, the changed data content is automatically reflected in data content associated with the second object.

28. The memory medium of claim 27, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the first and second objects to be displayed in locations that are based upon associated access proximity characteristics.

29. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the sharing relationship established between the first and second object causes data content to be synchronized between the first and second objects.

30. The memory medium of claim 27, the contained instructions used to share at least one of photographs, images, music, contact information, or multimedia content.

31. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein, when the data content associated with the first object is changed by adding new data content to content associated with the first object, instructions are executed to automatically add the new data content to the data content associated with the second object.

32. The memory medium of claim 27, further comprising instructions that when executed control a computer processor by:

when data content associated with the second object changes, automatically reflecting the changed data content associated with the second object in the data content associated with the first object.

33. The memory medium of claim 27, further comprising instructions that when executed control a computer processor by:

automatically reflecting changed data content associated with the first object by virtual transfer of the changed data content to the data content associated with the second object such that the changed data content is not actually transferred until an attempt to access the virtually transferred changed data content is made.

34. The memory medium of claim 27, further comprising instructions that when executed control a computer processor by:

associating a functional agent with at least one endpoint of the established sharing relationship.

35. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the functional agent comprises at least one of a send new data agent, a filter and send agent, a receive and store agent, a receive and filter agent, a receive and display agent, or a receive and notify agent.

36. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the first object and the second object represent data collections.

37. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the first object and the second object represent devices.

38. The memory medium of claim 37 wherein the devices are physical devices in the real world.

39. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the first object represents a data collection and the second object represents a device.

40. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the first device is the same device as the second device.

41. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the portion of the displayed user interface depicts at least a portion of a cable.

42. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein the portion of the displayed user interface is associated with the second object by performing an input device dragging operation on a representation of a cable.

43. The memory medium of claim 27 wherein, when data content associated with the first object changes and the data content associated with the second object is not accessible, recording the change for later synchronization such that, when the data content associated with the second object becomes accessible, the changed data content is automatically reflected in data content associated with the second object.

44. The memory medium of claim 27, further comprising:

displaying a graphical indication of the established sharing relationship.

45. A computer system, comprising:

a first device having a first data collection;

a second device having a second data collection;

a user interface that is configured to;

display a first object associated with the first device and a second object associated with the second device;

display in proximity to the displayed first object an indicator of a source endpoint for a data sharing relationship;

when the indicator of the source endpoint is associated with the displayed second object, determine whether one-way or two-way directional sharing is desired and automatically establish a data sharing relationship between the first data collection and the second data collection, such that the first data collection is automatically shared with the second data collection according to the determined one-way or two-way directional sharing.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the first data collection is automatically synchronized with the second data collection in at least one direction by automatically reflecting in the second data collection changes occurring to the first data collection.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the first data collection is automatically synchronized in two directions with the second data collection by automatically reflecting in the first data collection changes occurring to the second data collection.

48. The system of claim 45 wherein, when the new data content is added to content associated with the first data collection, the new data content is automatically added to the second data collection.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the automatic sharing is performed by virtually transfer of changed data content associated with the first data collection to the second data collection.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein actual data transfer of the changed data content associated with the first data collection occurs when a user attempts to access the virtually transferred changed data content.

51. The system of claim 45, the user interface further configured to:

associate a functional agent with at least one endpoint of the established sharing relationship.

52. The system of claim 45 wherein the functional agent comprises at least one of a send new data agent, a filter and send agent, a receive and store agent, a receive and filter agent, a receive and display agent, or a receive and notify agent.

53. The system of claim 45 wherein the user interface is further configured to display in proximity to the displayed second object an indicator of a target endpoint for the data sharing relationship.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein the indicator of the target endpoint represents a receptacle for a plug.

55. The system of claim 45 wherein the user interface is further configured to display a sharing indicator between the displayed first object and the displayed second object, thereby indicating the establishment of the sharing relationship between the first data collection and the second data collection.

56. The system of claim 55 wherein the sharing indicator is a representation of a cable that appears to link the first object and the second object.

57. The system of claim 56 wherein the sharing indicator represents a colored cable.

58. The system of claim 45 wherein the first and second objects are displayed in locations that are based upon associated access proximity characteristics.

59. The system of claim 45 wherein the synchronized sharing relationship is established to share at least one of photographs, images, music, contact information, or multimedia content.

60. The system of claim 45 wherein the first object and the second object represent the first data collection and second data collection, respectively.

61. The system of claim 45 wherein the first object and the second object represent the first device and the second device, respectively.

62. The system of claim 45 wherein the first object represents a data collection and the second object represents a device.

63. The system of claim 45 wherein the first device and the second device are connected via a network.

64. The system of claim 45 wherein the first device is the same device as the second device.

65. The system of claim 45 wherein the indicator of the source endpoint depicts a plug of a cable.

66. The system of claim 45 wherein the portion of the displayed user interface is associated with the second object by performing an input device dragging operation on a representation of a cable.

67. The system of claim 45, the user interface further configured to:

when data content associated with the first data collection changes and the second data collection is not accessible, recording the change for later synchronization such that, when the second data collection becomes accessible, the changed data content is automatically reflected in the second data collection.