PRESENTING STATUS DATA RECEIVED FROM MULTIPLE DEVICES

• US 20140006955A1
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Published: 01/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Greenzeiger, Michael Froimowitz, Sanghavi, Mehul K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/328 Computer systems status display G06F11/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for presenting status data received from multiple computing devices in a single central interface. A computing device can be configured to gather and transmit status data. Status data can include any type of data known or discoverable by a computing device. The computing device can also be configured to receive status data from other computing devices and display the status data in a central interface. This functionality can be implemented as part of the operating system running on the computing device. The computing device can also utilize the received status data to select performance options regarding the performance of the computing device. For example, a computing device can select to disable functionality that requires the availability of a target computing device upon a determination that the target computing device is unavailable.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving by a receiving computing device, status data from a broadcasting computing device, wherein the status data describes the broadcasting computing device; and

displaying, by the receiving computing device, the received status data in a central interface, wherein the central interface can present status data received from a plurality of broadcasting devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving computing device and the broadcasting computing device are running a form of an operating system that enables a computing device to transmit, receive and display the status data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a performance option based upon the received status data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the status data indicates that the broadcasting device is unavailable and selecting the performance option includes disabling functionality that requires the availability of the broadcasting computing device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the status data indicates an available bandwidth of the broadcasting device and selecting the performance option includes transmitting data to the broadcasting device in a form determined to be optimal for the available bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the performance option includes adjusting settings of the receiving device.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting a performance option includes displaying an optimal travel route.

8. A system, comprising:

a broadcasting computing device configured to gather and transmit status data describing the broadcasting computing device; and

a receiving computing device configured to receive status data from the broadcasting device and display the received status data in a central interface, wherein the central interface can present status data received from a plurality of broadcasting computing devices.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the receiving computing device and the broadcasting computing device are running an operating system that enables a computing device to transmit, receive and display the status data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the receiving device is further configured to:

select a performance option based upon the received status data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the status data indicates that the broadcasting device is unavailable and the selected performance option is disabling functionality that requires the availability of the broadcasting computing device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the status data indicates an available bandwidth of the broadcasting device and the selected performance option is transmitting data to the broadcasting device in a form determined to be optimal for the available bandwidth.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the selected performance option is adjusting settings of the receiving device.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the selected performance option is displaying an optimal travel route.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instruction that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

gather status data from the computing device, wherein the status data describes the computing device;

transmit the status data to a receiving device in network communication with the computing device;

receive status data transmitted from a broadcasting computing device, wherein the status data describes the broadcasting computing device; and

display the received status data in a central interface, wherein the central interface can present status data received from a plurality of broadcasting devices.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are implemented as part of an operating system running on the computing device, and the broadcasting computing device and the receiving computing device are running an operating system including the instructions.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

select a performance option based upon the received status data.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the status data indicates that the broadcasting device is unavailable and the selected performance option is disabling functionality that requires the availability of the broadcasting computing device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the status data indicates an available bandwidth of the broadcasting device and the selected performance option is transmitting data to the broadcasting device in a form determined to be optimal for the available bandwidth.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selected performance option is adjusting the settings of the receiving device.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the selected performance option is displaying an optimal travel route.