TRANSFER OF DATA-INTENSIVE CONTENT BETWEEN PORTABLE DEVICES

• US 20120244847A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 09/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chandra, Ranveer, Moscibroda, Thomas, Park, Ki-Woong
• Granted Patent: US 8,509,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/182 Network node acting on behalf of an other network entity, e.g. proxy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Described herein are technologies that facilitate transfer of data-intensive content between portable telephones. Phones are configured to transmit data indicative of phone location to a proxy server by way of respective cellular network data connections. When a user of a phone wishes to acquire content that is labeled as shareable on another phone, the user of the phone initiates a location-based request, which causes the proxy server to provide a list of phones that are estimated to be in Wi-Fi range of such phone. The user thereafter selects a particular phone, and the proxy server instructs that phone to activate its Wi-Fi radio. The phone of the user additionally activates its Wi-Fi radio, and a peer-to-peer connection between phones is established. Thereafter, rich content is transferrable between the phones.

Claims

1. A method that facilitates distributing content from a first portable telephone to a second portable telephone, comprising:

at the first portable telephone, receiving an indication from a proxy server that the second portable telephone has requested content from the first portable telephone;

responsive to receiving the indication, establishing a peer-to-peer connection with the second portable telephone;

subsequent to establishing the peer-to-peer connection with the second portable telephone, receiving a selection of the content from the second portable telephone; and

responsive to receiving the selection of the content from the second portable telephone, causing the content to be transmitted to the second portable telephone.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is one of an audio file or a video file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer-to-peer connection is a Wi-Fi connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the first portable telephone, capturing video by way of a video camera that is integral to the first portable telephone, wherein the selection of content from the second portable telephone is for the video, and wherein the video is caused to be streamed from the first portable telephone to the second portable telephone.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portable telephone is configured to act as a web server, and wherein the content is accessible to the second portable telephone by way of links on a web page hosted by the first portable telephone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication from the proxy server is received by way of a cellular network, and further comprising:

providing electrical power to a chipset in the first portable telephone that is utilized to establish the peer-to-peer connection subsequent to receipt of the indication from the proxy server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second indication from the proxy server that a third portable telephone has requested second peer-to-peer connection with the first portable telephone;

responsive to receiving the second indication, establishing the second peer-to-peer connection with the third portable telephone;

subsequent to establishing the second peer-to-peer connection with the third portable telephone, receiving a request for second content from the third portable telephone; and

responsive to receiving the request for the second content, causing the second content to be transmitted to the third portable telephone.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing data to be stored in a data repository of the first portable telephone, wherein the data identifies the second portable telephone and the content transmitted to the second portable telephone;

receiving a second indication from the proxy server that a third portable telephone has requested second peer-to-peer connection with the first portable telephone;

responsive to receiving the second indication, establishing the second peer-to-peer connection with the third portable telephone;

subsequent to establishing the second peer-to-peer connection with the third portable telephone, receiving a request for the content from the third portable telephone; and

responsive to receiving the request for the content from the third portable telephone, transmitting the data that identifies the second portable telephone to the third portable telephone.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the indication from the proxy server, transmitting a profile to the proxy server, wherein the profile is indicative of content available on the first portable phone for sharing with other portable telephones.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the indication from the proxy server, transmitting data to the proxy server that is indicative of a location of the first portable telephone relative to the second portable telephone.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the data transmitted to the proxy server comprises latitude/longitude coordinates.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the data transmitted to the proxy server comprises a strength of a signal received at the first portable telephone from a base station, wherein the signal is received at the first portable telephone by way of a cellular network.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to receiving the indication from a proxy server that the second portable telephone has requested a peer-to-peer connection with the first portable telephone, receiving an IP address from the proxy server, wherein the first portable telephone is assigned the IP address.

14. A first portable telephone, comprising:

a receiver component that receives an indication from a proxy server that a second portable telephone has requested a peer-to-peer connection with the first portable telephone;

a power controller component that causes a wireless radio to be provided with power responsive to the receiver component receiving the indication from the proxy server;

a connection establisher component that establishes the peer-to-peer connection with the second portable telephone by way of the wireless radio; and

a file transfer component that causes at least one file in a data repository on the first portable telephone to be transferred to the second portable telephone by way of the peer-to-peer connection responsive to the receiver component receiving a selection of the at least one file from the second portable telephone, wherein the at least one file is labeled as being shareable in the data repository.

15. The first portable telephone of claim 14, wherein the peer-to-peer connection is a Wi-Fi connection.

16. The first portable telephone of claim 14, wherein the indication from the proxy server is received by way of a cellular network.

18. The first portable telephone of claim 14, wherein the at least one file is one of an audio file or a video file.

19. The first portable telephone of claim 14, further comprising a transmitter component that transmits data that is indicative of a location of the first portable telephone to the proxy server.

17. The first portable telephone of claim 17, wherein the data repository comprises a web page, wherein the first portable telephone acts as a web server with respect to the web page, and wherein the at least one file is linked by the web page.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

transmitting a profile to a proxy server by way of a cellular network connection, wherein the profile identifies a user of a first portable telephone and is indicative of shareable content on the first portable telephone;

transmitting data that is indicative of a location of the first portable telephone to the proxy server by way of the cellular network connection;

receiving an indication from the proxy server that a second portable telephone has requested a peer-to-peer connection with the first portable telephone, wherein the second portable telephone is predicted to be in Wi-Fi range of the first portable telephone;

responsive to receiving the request, powering on a Wi-Fi radio in the first portable telephone;

receiving an IP address that has been assigned to the first portable telephone from the proxy server;

receiving, by way of the Wi-Fi radio, a request directly from the second portable telephone to establish the peer-to-peer connection;

establishing the peer-to-peer connection responsive to receiving the request from the second portable telephone;

receiving a selection of at least one file on the first portable computing device from the second portable computing device, wherein the at least one file is marked as being shareable with a user of the second portable computing device; and

causing the at least one file to be transmitted to the second portable computing device by way of the peer-to-peer connection.