Managing Differences in User Devices When Sharing Content on Mobile Devices

• US 20100146051A1
• Filed: 12/16/2009
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Wireless Services Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lambert, Ed, D'Souza, Gerry, Agrawal, Anuraag
• Granted Patent: US 8,130,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data

Abstract

Sharing content among users of mobile devices is facilitated and controlled by a system and method that employs a content sharing application to receive and process requests to share content amongst users of devices such as mobile devices and personal computers. Recipients receive share content messages from the content sharing application. The messages may contain links to shared content. The content sharing application is associated with an application program interface made available to content providers so that they can create user-selectable share content links or options displayed on display descriptions associated with the content. The content sharing application performs device capability checks so that selected recipients do not receive share content messages that contain links to content that is not compatible with their devices. In this way, users can select to share both device-dependent and device-independent content, even if the content provider does not always perform device compatibility checks.

Claims

1. A method of sharing content between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

presenting content on the first device, the content comprising a share content link;

detecting a selection of the share content link on the first device;

responsive to detecting the selection of the share content link, generating on the first device a share content request comprising a specific resource locator and a generic resource locator,

wherein the specific resource locator identifies a device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the device-dependent portion of the content is configured for a specific class of device, and

wherein the generic resource locator identifies a non-device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the non-device-dependent portion of the content is configured for multiple devices, wherein each of the multiple devices belong to a distinct class;

transmitting the share content request from the first device to a content sharing system;

receiving on the first device a user input form;

detecting user input form data on the first device comprising at least one second device identifier;

transmitting the user input form data to the content sharing system; and

receiving a status message from the content sharing system at the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the share content request is an HTTP GET request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user input form comprises receiving at least one address book entry.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the user input form data comprising the at least one second device identifier comprises detecting a selection of the at least one address book entry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user input form comprises receiving at least one recently shared device identifier, wherein the at least one recently shared device identifier is associated with a device for which the first device has generated a previous share content request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting the user input form data comprising the at least one recipient identifier comprises detecting a selection of the at least one recently shared device identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the share content request further comprises a cross-carrier indicator, wherein the cross-carrier indicator indicates whether the content is to be shared with a cross-carrier second device.

8. A wireless device configured to share content with a recipient device, the wireless device comprising:

a transceiver configured to;

receive content,

transmit a share content request to a content sharing system,

receive a user input form,

transmit user input form data to the content sharing system, and

receive a status message from the content sharing system; and

a processor configured to;

present the content comprising a share content link,

detect a selection of the share content link,

responsive to detecting the selection of the share content link, generate the share content request comprising a specific resource locator and a generic resource locator,

wherein the specific resource locator identifies a device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the device-dependent portion of the content is configured for a specific class of device, and

wherein the generic resource locator identifies a non-device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the non-device-dependent portion of the content is configured for multiple devices, wherein each of the multiple devices belong to a distinct class,

present the user input form,

detect the user input form data comprising at least one recipient device identifier, and

present the status message.

9. The wireless device of claim 8, wherein the share content request is an HTTP GET request.

10. The wireless device of claim 8, wherein the user input form comprises at least one address book entry.

11. The wireless device of claim 10, wherein the processor configured to detect the user input form data comprises the processor configured to detect a selection of the at least one address book entry.

12. The wireless device of claim 8, wherein the user input form comprises at least one recently shared device identifier, wherein the at least one recently shared device identifier is associated with a device for which the wireless device has generated a previous share content request.

13. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the processor configured to detect the user input form data comprises the processor configured to detect a selection of the at least one recently shared device identifier.

14. The wireless device of claim 8, wherein the share content request further comprises a cross-carrier indicator, wherein the cross-carrier indicator indicates whether the content is to be shared with a cross-carrier recipient device.

15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions for sharing content between a user device and a recipient device, the computer-readable instructions comprising instructions for:

presenting content on the user device, the content comprising a share content link;

detecting a selection of the share content link on the user device;

responsive to detecting the selection of the share content link, generating on the user device a share content request comprising a specific resource locator and a generic resource locator,

wherein the specific resource locator identifies a device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the device-dependent portion of the content is configured for a specific class of device, and

wherein the generic resource locator identifies a non-device-dependent portion of the content, wherein the non-device-dependent portion of the content is configured for multiple devices, wherein each of the multiple devices belong to a distinct class;

transmitting the share content request from the user device to a content sharing system;

receiving on the user device a user input form;

detecting user input form data on the user device comprising at least one recipient device identifier;

transmitting the user input form data to the content sharing system; and

receiving a status message from the content sharing system at the user device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the share content request is an HTTP GET request.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for receiving the user input form comprise instructions for receiving at least one address book entry.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions for detecting the user input form data comprising the at least one recipient device identifier comprise instructions for detecting a selection of the at least one address book entry.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions for receiving the user input form comprises instructions for receiving at least one recently shared device identifier, wherein the at least one recently shared device identifier is associated with a device for which the user device has generated a previous share content request.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions for detecting the user input form data comprising the at least one recipient identifier comprise instructions for detecting a selection of the at least one recently shared device identifier.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the share content request further comprises a cross-carrier indicator, wherein the cross-carrier indicator indicates whether the content is to be shared with a cross-carrier recipient device.