METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROXIMITY-BASED CONTENT SHARING

• US 20120315846A1
• Filed: 06/13/2011
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Gartner, Jeff, Javed, Rabail
• Granted Patent: US 10,476,554 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system includes a combined NFC and Bluetooth interface that can interact with one or more other devices that also include the combined NFC and Bluetooth interface. A processor in the device executes an application that includes a thin client and a security wrapper. The thin client can package content in a packet with security settings and send the packet to the other device. Further, the thin client can accept packets from other devices. Based on one or more user settings and/or a level of trust between the devices, the thin client can determine if the packet should be accepted or rejected. If accepted, the thin client can store the content, located within the packet, for the user.

Claims

1. A computer program product including computer executable instructions stored onto a non-transitory computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform a method for receiving content on a communications device, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive a proximity signal, wherein the proximity signal indicates that the communications device is in spatial proximity to another device, wherein proximity signal is a near field communications (NFC) or Bluetooth signal;

instructions to receive a packet by NFC or Bluetooth communication;

instructions to determine if the packet should be rejected;

if the packet should be rejected, instructions to erase the packet; and

if the packet should not be rejected, instructions to store content in the packet.

2. The computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein determining whether to reject the packet is based on one or more of a user setting or a level of trust.

3. The computer program product as defined in claim 2, wherein the user setting establishes one of two or more conditions for responding to received packets.

4. The computer program product as defined in claim 3, wherein the two or more conditions comprise a reject all state, a quarantine all state, a check with the user state, a accept all state.

5. The computer program product as defined in claim 4, wherein if a quarantine state is set, instructions to store the packet into a quarantine.

6. The computer program product as defined in claim 4, wherein if a check with the user state is set, instructions to provide a user interface to the user asking whether to accept the packet.

7. The computer program product as defined in claim 6, wherein the user interface provides at least some information about the packet to the user.

8. The computer program product as defined in claim 7, wherein the at least some information about the packet includes an identity of a sender of the packet and an identifier for the content in the packet.

9. The computer program product as defined in claim 2, wherein the level of trust is one of two or more relationships between the user and the other device, wherein the two or more relationships include un-trusted source, partially-trusted source, or trusted source.

10. The computer program product as defined in claim 1, wherein the packet comprises a packet header, security information, and content data.

11. A method for pushing content with a device, comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth interface receiving a proximity signal from another device;

a thin client executed by a processor determining if there is content to push to the other device;

if there is no content to push, ignoring the proximity signal;

if there is content to push, the thin client creating a packet to be sent over either the NFC or Bluetooth interface to the other device;

the thin client sending the packet to either the NFC or Bluetooth interface; and

either the NFC or Bluetooth interface pushing the packet to the other device.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, wherein the device is one of a communications device or a broker.

13. The method as defined in claim 12, wherein determining if there is content to push comprises:

accessing settings in a settings database to determine if a user selected content to push; and

retrieving the content from a information database.

14. The method as defined in claim 13, wherein the packet includes a header, security information, and the content data.

15. The method as defined in claim 14, wherein the packet is pushed to one or more of a broker, another device, or two or more devices.

16. A content sharing device, comprising:

a near field communications (NFC) interface, operable to receive a packet from another device in spatial proximity;

a Bluetooth interface, operable to receive a packet from another device in spatial proximity;

a memory;

a processor in communication with the memory, the NFC interface, and the Bluetooth interface, the processor operable to receive the packet from either the NFC interface or the Bluetooth interface and operable to execute one or more modules, the modules comprising;

a settings database operable to store one or more user settings;

a quarantine database operable to store securely content received over either the NFC interface or the Bluetooth interface;

an information database operable to store content received over either the NFC interface or the Bluetooth interface;

a thin client in communication with the settings database, the quarantine database, and the information database, the thin client operable to;

receive the packet from either the NFC interface or the Bluetooth interface;

instructions to determine if the packet should be rejected;

if the packet should be rejected, instructions to erase the packet; and

if the packet should not be rejected, instructions to store content in the packet into the information database.

17. The content sharing device as defined in claim 16, wherein the content sharing device is a communication device or a broker.

18. The content sharing device as defined in claim 17, the thin client further operable to:

receive a proximity signal from another device;

in response to receiving the proximity signal, determine if there is content in the information database to push to the other device;

if there is no content to push, ignore the proximity signal;

if there is content to push, create a packet to be sent over either the NFC or Bluetooth interface to the other device; and

send the packet to either the NFC or Bluetooth interface.

19. The content sharing device as defined in claim 18, the thin client further operable to:

determine if the packet should be quarantined; and

store the packet in the quarantine database.

20. The content sharing device as defined in claim 0, further comprising a user interface in communication with the processor, the user interface operable to:

provide information about the packet to a user; and

operable to receive a signal from the user indicating the user wants to store the content in the packet.