Extended User Assistance

• US 20140097935A1
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Dragan, Dimovski, Ekstrom, Ann, Overgaard, Emma
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.61
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0056 for use in interrogation, identification or read/write systems record carriers G06K7/00, G06K19/00; for railways B61L3/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID

Abstract

The invention relates to providing extended user assistance to the user of a portable electronic device. In particular, the invention relates to providing using assistance for a user of a portable electronic device, comprising a display and a Near Field Communication (NFC) circuit. The method comprises swiping the portable electronic device over an NFC tag comprising user assistance data, accessing user assistance information based on the user assistance data and displaying the user assistance information on the display. The application also relates to a method for providing context-based user assistance information and to a corresponding device.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

a Near Field Communication (NFC) circuit adapted to retrieve data stored on an NFC tag,

a controller adapted to identify the data as being context-based user assistance data and to retrieve current user context of the portable electronic device,

access means adapted to access user assistance information based on the context-based user assistance data and the current user context and

provision means adapted to provide user assistance information, corresponding to the current user context, to the user.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

means for identifying a language in the portable electronic device and for providing the user assistance information based on the language.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

an internal memory for storing the user assistance information.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the context-based user assistance data comprises an address to an external data storage and wherein the access means is wireless communication means, adapted to retrieve the user assistance information from the external data storage.

5. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the user context is an application and wherein the user assistance information is the user manual of the application.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a mobile phone.

7. A method for providing using assistance to a user of a portable electronic device, comprising an Near Field Communication (NFC) circuit, comprising:

providing user assistance data on at least one NFC tag,

swiping the portable electronic device over the NFC tag,

retrieving user assistance data stored on the NFC tag,

accessing user assistance information based on the user assistance data, and

providing user assistance information to the user.

8. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a language in the portable electronic device, and

providing the user assistance information based on the language.

9. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, wherein accessing user assistance information comprises accessing data from an internal memory in the portable electronic device.

10. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, wherein the user assistance data comprises an address to an external data storage, and

wherein accessing user assistance information comprises retrieving data from the external data storage.

11. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, wherein at least one NFC tag is placed on a box comprising the portable electronic device.

12. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, wherein at least one NFC tag is placed in a printed document.

13. The method for providing using assistance of claim 12, wherein the printed document is a “

Quick guide”

, and wherein each NFC tag is represented by an image.

14. The method for providing using assistance of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying the user assistance data as being context-based user assistance data, and

retrieving the user context currently used by a user of the portable electronic device,

wherein accessing user assistance information based on the user assistance data further comprises accessing user assistance information based on the current user context.

15. A computer program including programmed instructions that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to:

determine that a portable electronic device has been moved into proximity with at least one NFC tag,

wherein the at least one NFC tag includes user assistance data stored thereon;

retrieve the user assistance data stored on the NFC tag,

access user assistance information based on the user assistance data, and

provide the user assistance information to the user.