METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY SHARING AN APPLICATION AMONG A PLURALITY OF CLIENTS

• US 20130268627A1
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Kyung-Tak, Kim, Wuk
• Granted Patent: US 9,887,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

A method for automatically sharing an application among a plurality of clients according to the present invention comprises the following processes: receiving, from a request client, an application share request signal for sharing an application with an object client; receiving information on the capability of the object client; determining whether the application for which sharing has been requested and the object client are compatible with each other using the receiving information on the capability of the object client; and providing the object client with the application for which sharing has been requested in accordance with the result of the determination.

Claims

1. A method of automatically sharing an application among a plurality of clients, the method comprising:

receiving from a requesting client a share request signal for an application to be shared with a target client;

receiving capability information of the target client;

determining whether the application requested to be shared is compatible in the target client based on the capability information; and

providing the application requested to be shared to the target client based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein if it is determined that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, further comprising:

requesting the application, which is compatible in the target client, from an application provider of the target client; and

upon reception of the application, which is compatible in the target client, at the request, providing the received application to the target client.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if it is determined that the application requested to be shared is compatible in the target client, further comprising:

providing the application to be shared to the target client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the share request comprises information regarding the requesting client'"'"'s operating system, information regarding the application to be shared, and information regarding at least one target client.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein if it is determined that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, requesting the application, which is compatible in the target client, from an application provider of the target client comprises,

if it is determined that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, requesting and receiving access information to access the application provider of the target client from the target client;

and requesting the application, which is compatible in the target client, from the application provider of the target client, using the access information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving capability information of the target client comprises,

determining whether the target client approves the share request;

and

receiving the application to be shared if the target client approves the share request, and requesting and receiving the capabilities of the target client, including operating system information of the target client, from a terminal capabilities manager server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the share request is received using XDCP (XDM Command Protocol).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving capability information of the target client comprises,

requesting the capability information of the target terminal from a terminal capabilities manager server in ccq-message (client capabilities query-message) of PAP (Push Access Protocol), and receiving the capability information of the target client in ccq-response.

10. An apparatus for automatically sharing an application among a plurality of clients, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver for receiving from a requesting client a share request signal for an application to be shared with a target client, and for receiving capability information of the target client;

a compatibility determiner for determining whether the application requested to be shared is compatible in the target client based on the capability information; and

a controller for controlling the application requested to be shared to be provided to the target client based on the determination of the compatibility determiner.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller if the compatibility determiner determines that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, requests the application, which is compatible in the target client, from an application provider of the target client, and upon reception of the application, which is compatible in the target client, at the request, controls the received application to be provided to the target client.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller

if the compatibility determiner determines that the application requested to be shared is compatible in the target client, provides the application to be shared to the target client.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the share request comprises information regarding the requesting client'"'"'s operating system, information regarding the application to be shared, and information regarding at least one target client.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller

if the compatibility determiner determines that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, requests the application, which is compatible in the target client, from an application provider of the target client, and if the compatibility determiner determines that the application requested to be shared is not compatible in the target client, requests and receives access information to access the application provider of the target client from the target client;

and requests the application, which is compatible in the target client, from the application provider of the target client, using the access information.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller that controls the transceiver to receive capability information of the target client determines whether the target client approves the share request;

and receives the application to be shared if the target client approves the share request, and requests and receives operating system information of the target client from a terminal capabilities manager server.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the share request is received using XDCP (XDM Command Protocol).

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller that requests and receives operating system information of the target client from a terminal capabilities manager server,

requests the capability information of the target terminal from the terminal capabilities manager server in ccq-message (client capabilities query-message) of PAP (Push Access Protocol), and receives the capability information of the target client in ccq-response.

19. A sharing method in a client for automatic application sharing among a plurality of clients, the sharing method comprising:

receiving from a user a share request for a particular application;

generating an application share request message which corresponds to the received share request for the particular application;

sending the application share request message to a sharing server;

receiving an application share result; and

displaying the application share result.

20. The sharing method of claim 19, wherein the application share request message comprises information regarding the requesting client'"'"'s operating system, information regarding the application to be shared, and information regarding at least one target client.

21. The sharing method of claim 20, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.

22. The sharing method of claim 19, wherein the application share result comprises information regarding an application share result at each target client and information regarding a shared application.

23. A sharing method in a client for automatic application sharing among a plurality of clients, the sharing method comprising:

receiving from a sharing server share request notification which notifies that there has been a share request for an application;

displaying the share request notification;

notifying the sharing server that the share request is approved, if there has been an input of approval from a user for the share request; and

receiving from the sharing server the application requested to be shared.

24. The sharing method of claim 23, wherein the share request notification comprises information regarding a requesting client and information regarding the application to be shared.

25. The sharing method of claim 24, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.

26. A client device to be used for automatically sharing an application among a plurality of clients, the client device comprising:

a transceiver that communicates with a sharing server;

a display unit that displays an application share request notification and an application share result;

a share request generator that generates the application share request if a command to share an application has been received; and

a controller for controlling the share request generator to generate an application share request message if a command to share an application has been received;

for sending the application share request message to the sharing server; and

for controlling a share result to be displayed, if receiving the share result from the sharing server;

for controlling an application share request notification to be displayed if the application share request notification that notifies that there has been a request to share an application is received from the sharing server, and upon reception of approval for the share request, notifying the sharing server of the approval and controlling the application requested to be shared to be received from the sharing server.

27. The client device of claim 26, wherein the application share request message comprises information regarding the requesting client'"'"'s operating system, information regarding the application to be shared, and information regarding at least one target client.

28. The client device of claim 27, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.

29. The client device of claim 26, wherein the share result comprises information regarding an application share result at each target client and information regarding a shared application.

30. The client device of claim 26, wherein the share request notification comprises information regarding a requesting client and information regarding the application to be shared.

31. The client device of claim 30, wherein the information regarding the application to be shared comprises information about a title, identification, operating system, developer, address in which to access the application, and price of the application to be shared.