Mobile communication terminal supporting information sharing

• US 20070022158A1
• Filed: 07/25/2005
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 1, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Vasa, Yojak, Story, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,925,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality

Abstract

According to a method of sharing information between mobile terminals, a first mobile terminal receives information, such as a web page, which may include form data, and shares the information with one or more second mobile terminals. Input data relevant to the shared information as entered at the second mobile terminals is returned to the first mobile terminal, which consolidates that data with related input data entered at the first mobile terminal. Consolidated information may be sent from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal(s), so that each of the mobile terminals maintains updated consolidated input data, and this process may be repeated as needed. In at least one embodiment, the information to be shared is provided by a third party information provider, and the first mobile terminal is configured to return the finally consolidated data to the third party information provider.

Claims

1. A method of sharing information between mobile terminals comprising:

receiving information at a first mobile terminal;

sharing the information with a second mobile terminal;

receiving first input data relevant to the information as local input at the first mobile terminal, and receiving second input data relevant to the information as remote input from the second mobile terminal;

consolidating the first and second input data at the first mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving information at the first mobile terminal comprises receiving the information from a third party information provider, and further comprising returning the consolidated input data to the third party information provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information at the first mobile terminal comprises receiving form data directly or indirectly from a third party information provider, and wherein sharing the information with the second mobile terminal comprises sending the form data from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the first input data comprises receiving first form selection input data by a user of the first mobile terminal, and wherein receiving the second input data comprises receiving second form selection input data by a user of the second mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein consolidating the first and second input data comprises reconciling the first and second form selection data.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein sharing the information with the second mobile terminal, receiving the second input data from the second mobile terminal, and consolidating the first and second input data comprises the first mobile terminal acting as a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) server for the second mobile terminal, at least with respect to the form data received from the third party information provider at the first mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the information at the first mobile terminal comprises receiving HyperText Markup Language (HTML) information or extensible Markup Language (XML) information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein sharing the information with the second mobile terminal comprises sharing the HTML or XML information with the second mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of receiving information at first the mobile terminal, sharing information with the second mobile terminal, and receiving the second input data from the second mobile terminal comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based exchange.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a voice connection at the first mobile terminal for the second mobile terminal, concurrently with sharing the information with the second mobile terminal.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the first input data from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal, such that the second mobile also can consolidate the first and second input data.

12. A mobile terminal comprising one or more processing circuits configured to:

receive information and share the information with a second mobile terminal;

receive first input data relevant to the information as local input at the mobile terminal, and receive second input data relevant to the information as remote input from the second mobile terminal; and

consolidate the first and second input data at the first mobile terminal.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to return the consolidated input data to a third party information provider associated with the information received at the first mobile terminal.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 12, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to maintain a voice channel to support voice communication with the second mobile terminal concurrently with maintaining a data connection with the second mobile terminal to support sharing the information with the second mobile terminal.

15. A method of collecting form data at a first mobile terminal comprising:

receiving form data at the first mobile terminal from a server;

sharing the form data with a second mobile terminal;

updating form-related input data at the first mobile terminal based on form-related input data at the first and second mobile terminals; and

returning the form-related input data from the first mobile terminal to the server.