SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MOBILE DEVICE PAIRING

• US 20130169526A1
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Gai, Bowei, Shoup, Matthew David, Brikman, Yevgeniy Jim
• Granted Patent: US 9,131,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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

Tools (systems, apparatuses, methodologies, computer program products, etc.) for pairing electronic devices including touchscreen-enabled electronic devices, and for facilitating communication between paired electronic devices.

Claims

1. A method for pairing plural devices, each of the plural devices including display surfaces, the method comprising:

detecting, using one or more motion detection systems, a user motion corresponding to user input of a single continuous gesture across the display surfaces of the plural devices, the gesture including at least one entry point and one exit point on each of the display surfaces of the plural devices; and

automatically pairing the plural devices to enable transfer of data between the plural devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture includes an entry point and an exit point on a specific side of each of the display surfaces of the plural devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the user input of the gesture includes:

determining that a distance between an entry point and an exit point of the gesture on the display surfaces of each one of the plural devices corresponds to a distance between an entry point and an exit point of the gesture on the display surface of another one of the plural devices.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the gesture corresponds to a drag operation of an icon of data displayed on the display surface of one of the plural devices;

determining an operation corresponding to the data, and automatically causing an application installed on the plural devices to perform the operation based on the data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponds to a user profile, and the operation is accessing a user profile webpage on a social networking website.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponds to user contact information, and the operation is storing the user contact information.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the data is a media file, and the operation is a playback operation.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the data is an electronic document, and the operation is a document display operation.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponds to geographic address information, and the operation is a mapping operation.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponds to electronic payment information, and the operation is an electronic payment operation.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponds to a multi-player electronic game, and the operation is initiating the multi-player electronic game.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user motion is performed without physical contact between the user and the display surfaces of the plural devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the gesture includes a start point at the display surface of a first one of the plural devices, a mid-point at the display surface of a second one of the plural devices, and a finish point at the display surface of the first one of the plural devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the gesture includes a first line segment between the start point and the mid-point that extends across the display surfaces of the plural devices in a specific order, and a second line segment between the mid-point and the finish point that extends across the display surfaces of the plural devices in a reverse order that is the reverse of the specific order.

15. A paring server for pairing plural devices, each of the plural devices including display surfaces, the pairing server comprising:

a detection module operable to detect, using one or more motion detection systems, a user motion corresponding to user input of a single continuous gesture across the display surfaces of the plural devices, the gesture including at least one entry point and one exit point on each of the display surfaces of the plural devices; and

a pairing module operable to automatically pair the plural devices to enable transfer of data between the plural devices.

16. The pairing server of claim 15, wherein the detection module detects the user input of the gesture by:

determining that a distance between an entry point and an exit point of the gesture on the display surfaces of each one of the plural devices corresponds to a distance between an entry point and an exit point of the gesture on the display surface of another one of the plural devices.

17. The pairing server of claim 15, wherein the detection module:

determines that the gesture corresponds to a drag operation of an icon of a file displayed on the display surface of one of the plural devices; and

determines an operation corresponding to the file, and automatically causes an application installed on the plural devices to perform the operation based on the file.

18. The pairing server of claim 15, wherein the gesture includes a start point at the display surface of a first one of the plural devices, a mid-point at the display surfaces of a second one of the plural devices, and a finish point at the display surface of the first one of the plural devices.

19. The pairing server of claim 18, wherein the gesture includes a first line segment between the start point and the mid-point that extends across the display surfaces of the plural devices in a specific order, and a second line segment between the mid-point and the finish point that extends across the display surfaces of the plural devices in a reverse order that is the reverse of the specific order.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

detecting, using one or more motion detection systems, a user motion corresponding to user input of a single continuous gesture across display surfaces of plural devices, the gesture including at least one entry point and one exit point on each of the display surfaces of the plural devices; and

automatically pairing the plural devices to enable transfer of data between the plural devices.