TRANSFERRING STATE INFORMATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20130007499A1
• Filed: 06/28/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: MOY, STEVEN KA CHEUNG
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/400
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/12 Synchronisation between the display unit and other units, e.g. other display units, video-disc players
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Some embodiments enable a first electronic device (e.g., a notebook computer) to obtain state information directly from another electronic device (e.g., a smartphone) so that the first electronic device may replicate a state of content of the other computing device. This is useful when a user of an electronic device desires to switch between one device and another device such that the user may continue an activity (e.g., playing a video game) on another device without having to restart the activity. This is also useful when a user of a first electronic device attempts to replicate the state of the activity on a second device from another user such that both users may participate in the same activity. In some embodiments, a user of a device may obtain content from a server and state information from another device to replicate the state of content on the other device.

Claims

1. A method of enabling an electronic device to generate a display corresponding to a state of content on a portable computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a link associated with the portable computing device;

transmitting a data request to a location associated with the link, the request including identifying information for the electronic device;

receiving content related to the data request from a remote server;

establishing communication with the portable computing device using the identifying information;

receiving state information related to the data request directly from the portable computing device; and

generating a display on the electronic device using the content and the state information,

wherein a state of the content displayed on the electronic device matches a state of the content displayed on the portable computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the data request causes the data request to be sent to the portable computing device to establish the communication using the identifying information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information relates to a location within the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing communication with the portable computing device is performed over a wireless channel that includes at least one of a Bluetooth channel, a cellular channel, and a Wi-Fi channel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is at least one of an audio file, a video file, a presentation, an application, a game, and wherein the state information is at least one of a point within the audio file, a frame within the video file, a page within a presentation, a portion within the application, a level in the game.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data request is transmitted over a Web browser of the electronic device.

7. A method of transferring a state of content of a first computing device to a second computing device, the method comprising:

transmitting, from the second computing device, a request for data stored on the first computing device;

obtaining content relating to the requested data from a source of content;

receiving state information relating to the requested data directly from the first computing device to the second computing device; and

providing access to a state of the content on the second computing device based at least in part on the received state information,

wherein a state of the first computing device with respect to content is transferred directly to the second computing device such that the state of the content is accessible on the second computing device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

requesting authentication information from a user of the second computing device, authentication information comprising at least one of a pin, a fingerprint, a facial features input, a gesture input, and an eye scan input; and

determining whether the user is authorized to receive information from the first computing device using the authentication information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the obtained content is an address book application and the state of the content is the contact information as stored on the first computing device.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the state information is received over a wireless channel that includes at least one of a Bluetooth channel, a cellular channel, and a Wi-Fi channel.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the request for data comprises:

sending a first request for the content directly to the source that is a remote server; and

sending a second request for the state information to the first computing device.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the request is transmitted to the source that is a remote server operable to translate the request into multiple requests for the remote server and the first computing device.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the request is transmitted through a Web browser of the second computing device.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a uniform resource locator (URL) from the first computing device, wherein the request is transmitted to an address associated with the URL when a user of the second computing device selects the URL.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the content is obtained through at least one of downloading the content from the source to the second computing device, data streaming the content from the source to the second computing device, and loading certain local resources to execute a remote application while maintaining a local virtual display.

16. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a set of parameters of the second computing device; and

modifying a display of the state of the content on the second computing device based at least in part on the determined set of parameters,

wherein the modified display on the second computing device is of a different display resolution than a display of the state of the content on the first computing device.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the second computing device is one of a monitor, a projector, a television, a notebook computer, and a personal computer, and the first computing device is one of a smartphone, a tablet computer, and a portable media player.

18. A method of enabling a user of a first computing device to seamlessly transition to using a second computing device during the usage of an application, the method comprising:

receiving a request over a first communication channel to establish communications with the second computing device, the second computing device having access to an instance of content;

sending a confirmation request over a direct communication channel to the second computing device to establish a connection with the second computing device;

receiving a confirmation from the second computing device; and

sending state information based on the received request and the confirmation, wherein the second computing device may use the state information to replicate a state of the content from the first computing device on the second computing device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the state information is sent directly to the second computing device through a local connection.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the request, sending the confirmation request, receiving the confirmation, sending the state information are performed without an Internet connection.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether a data size of the state information exceeds a threshold amount of data;

sending the state information to a remote server for transmission to the second computing device when the determined data size exceeds the threshold amount of data.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

sending a link to the second computing device, wherein a selection of the link causes the request to be sent over the first communication channel from the second computing device.

23. A computer readable medium storing a computing program for enabling an electronic device to have access to data on a computing device, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

transmitting a request for data stored on the computing device;

obtaining content relating to the requested data from a source;

receiving state information relating to the requested data from the computing device; and

providing access to a state of the content on the electronic device based at least in part on the state information,

wherein a state of the computing device with respect to content on the computing device is transferred directly to the electronic device.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the state information is received directly from the computing device.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 23, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions for authenticating that a user of the electronic device has authority to access content from the computing device.

26. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions operable to be executed by the processor to perform a set of actions, enabling the electronic device to;

transmit a request for data stored on a computing device;

obtain content relating to the requested data from a source;

receive state information relating to the requested data from the computing device; and

provide access to a state of the content on the electronic device based at least in part on the state information,

wherein a state of the computing device with respect to content on the computing device is transferred directly to the electronic device.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the content is obtained while the electronic device is communicatively coupled with the source, and wherein the state information is received while the electronic device is not communicatively coupled with the source.

28. The device of claim 26, wherein the state information is received directly from the computing device.

29. The device of claim 26, wherein the state information is received over a wireless channel that includes at least one of a Bluetooth channel, a cellular channel, and a Wi-Fi channel.