METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ALLOWING DRAG-AND-DROP OPERATIONS ACROSS THE SHARED BORDERS OF ADJACENT TOUCH SCREEN-EQUIPPED DEVICES

• US 20120278727A1
• Filed: 04/29/2011
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Michaelis, Paul Roller, Ananthakrishnan, Ganesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,367,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management

Abstract

A user interface(s) in which the displays of different devices become “synchronized” when the devices are brought into close proximity with one another. One exemplary embodiment permits drag-and-drop procedures that originate on one device to be terminated on the other. Illustratively, the solution could be handled in the following manner:

• • The user would place the second device alongside or in close proximity to the first device,
  • The two devices would detect each other,
  • The user would touch the representation (such as an icon) of the party on the second device'"'"'s display that they wish to add to the call,
  • The user would slide the representation across the first device/second device border onto the first device'"'"'s screen,
  • The user would slide the representation to a spotlight or hot spot and then lift the finger from the screen,
  • The party would be connected to the call.

Claims

1. A method for transferring information comprising:

associating one or more devices;

detecting a drag-and-drop operation indicative of a desire to transfer information from a first device to at least one other device; and

transferring the information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting movement of an icon to a location corresponding to a second device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing displays of the one or more devices.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting compatibility of the at least one other device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is one or more of a file, media, picture, call, communications session, multimedia session, contact, calendar item, document, license and song.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is a license, and a further determination is made as to whether an application associated with the license is present on the at least one other device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an icon of the at least one other device on the first device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is a communications device with a touch screen.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is represented by an icon.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring session information associated with the information that is desired to be transferred.

11. A system to transfer information comprising:

a first device that is associated with one or more other devices;

a drag-and-drop module that detects a drag-and-drop operation indicative of a desire to transfer information from the first device to at least one other device and transfers the information from the first device to the at least one other device.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising an icon management module that detects movement of an icon to a location corresponding to a second device.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising a synchronization module that synchronizes displays of the one or more devices.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising a destination compatibility module that detects compatibility of the at least one other device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the information is one or more of a file, media, picture, call, communications session, multimedia session, contact, calendar item, document, license and song.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the information is a license, and a further determination is made as to whether an application associated with the license is present on the at least one other device.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein an icon of the at least one other device on the first device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first device is a communications device with a touch screen.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the information is represented by an icon and session information associated with the information that is desired to be transferred is transferred to the at least one other device.

20. A method for content management comprising:

detecting a license transfer request from a first device to a second device;

determining whether the second device has installed an object associated with the license;

transferring via a drag-and-drop operating the license from the first device to the second device;

allowing use of content in accordance with the transferred license on the second device; and

one or more of automatically and semi-automatically transferring the license back to the first device.