PROXIMITY BASED APPLICATION STATE SYNCHRONIZATION

• US 20140136481A1
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Razer (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd. (Razer Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Nextbit Systems, Inc. (Razer Incorporated)
• Inventors: Quan, Justin, Chan, Michael A., Moss, Tom, Fleming, Michael K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,600,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/617
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4856 resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration G06F9/5088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

Techniques for a method for automatically synchronizing application state across multiple devices are disclosed herein. The method includes running an instance of a computer application at a first electronic device, detecting a presence of a second electronic device based on a proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device, identifying an installation of another instance of the computer application on the second electronic device, and transmitting an application state data to the second electronic device. The application state data represents an application state of the computer application at the first electronic device. The application state data of the computer application enables another instance of the computer application at the second electronic device to resume running the computer application from the transmitted application state.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

running an instance of a computer application at a first electronic device, wherein the first electronic device belongs to a group of electronic devices associated with a user;

detecting a presence of a second electronic device based on a proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device, the second electronic device belonging to the group of electronic devices;

identifying an installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device; and

transmitting an application state data to the second electronic device, the application state data being associated with the instance of the computer application running at the first electronic device, the application state data representing an application state of the computer application at the first electronic device at the detection of the presence of the second electronic device;

wherein the application state data of the computer application enables another instance of the computer application at the second electronic device to resume running the computer application from the transmitted application state.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the presence of the second electronic device based on the proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device further includes:

identifying a local area network the first electronic device and the second electronic device are both connected to, the local area network requiring a minimum proximity between an access point of the network and a given electronic device to be able to connect to the local area network, the proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device being determined as a function of the minimum required proximity.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the local area network includes a WiFi network.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device further includes:

receiving a list of computer applications installed on the second electronic device, the received list of computer applications being provided by the second electronic device, the received list of computer applications being stored in a storage server via a network, the received list of computer applications including identifiers associated with one or more computer applications listed at the second electronic device; and

comparing an identifier associated the computer application with the corresponding identifiers of the one or more computer applications provided in the received list of computer applications to identify the installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the application state data to the second electronic device includes periodically transmitting the application state data from the first electronic device to a storage server, the transmitted application state data being stored in the storage server, the stored application state data being periodically refreshed when a periodical transmission of the application state data is received from the first electronic device, the stored application state data being transmitted to the second electronic device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the first electronic device is capable of transmitting the application state data to the storage server via a network.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the network includes the Internet, a WiFi network, or a cellular phone network.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the storage server belongs to a cloud storage service cluster.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request to provide a list of computer applications installed at a first electronic device, the request being received after detection of the first electronic device'"'"'s proximity to a second electronic device, the first electronic device and the second electronic device belonging to a group of electronic devices associated with a user;

providing the requested list of computer applications, the requested list of computer applications including identifiers associated with one or more computer applications listed at the first electronic device, wherein an identifier associated an instance of a computer application running at the second electronic device is compared with the corresponding identifiers of the one or more computer applications provided in the received list of computer applications, the comparison being performed to identify the installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the first electronic device;

receiving an application state data from the second electronic device, the application state data being associated with the instance of the computer application running at the second electronic device, the application state data representing an application state of the computer application at the second electronic device at the connection of the second electronic device to the local area network;

wherein the application state data of the computer application enables another instance of the computer application at the first electronic device to resume running the computer application from the received application state.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein detection of the first electronic device'"'"'s proximity to the second electronic device further includes:

identifying a local area network the first electronic device and the second electronic device are both connected to, the local area network requiring a minimum proximity between an access point of the network and a given electronic device to be able to connect to the local area network, the proximity of the first electronic device to the second electronic device being determined as a function of the minimum required proximity.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the local area network includes a WiFi network.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the application state data received from the second electronic device is transmitted periodically from the second electronic device to a storage server, the transmitted application state data being stored in the storage server, the stored application state data being periodically refreshed when a periodical transmission of the application state data is received from the second electronic device, the stored application state data being transmitted to the first electronic device.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the periodical transmission of the application state data includes transmitting a difference between the application state data of the computer application and previously transmitted application state data to the storage server.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the second electronic device is capable of transmitting the application state data to the storage server via a network.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the network includes the Internet, a WiFi network, or a cellular phone network.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the storage server belongs to a cloud storage service cluster.

17. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to perform a process including;

running an instance of a computer application at a first electronic device, wherein the first electronic device belongs to a group of electronic devices associated with a user;

detecting a presence of a second electronic device based on a proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device, the second electronic device belonging to the group of electronic devices;

identifying an installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device; and

a network component configured to transmit an application state data to the second electronic device, the application state data being associated with the instance of the computer application running at the first electronic device, the application state data representing an application state of the computer application at the first electronic device at the detection of the presence of the second electronic device;

wherein the application state data of the computer application enables another instance of the computer application at the second electronic device to resume running the computer application from the transmitted application state.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein detecting the presence of the second electronic device based on the proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device further includes:

identifying a local area network the first electronic device and the second electronic device are both connected to, the local area network requiring a minimum proximity between an access point of the network and a given electronic device to be able to connect to the local area network, the proximity of the second electronic device to the first electronic device being determined as a function of the minimum required proximity.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the local area network includes a WiFi network.

20. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein identifying the installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device further includes:

receiving a list of computer applications installed on the second electronic device, the received list of computer applications being provided by the second electronic device, the received list of computer applications being stored in a storage server via a network, the received list of computer applications including identifiers associated with one or more computer applications listed at the second electronic device; and

comparing an identifier associated the computer application with the corresponding identifiers of the one or more computer applications provided in the received list of computer applications to identify the installation of another instance of the computer application or another computer application similar to the computer application on the second electronic device.

21. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein transmitting the application state data to the second electronic device includes periodically transmitting the application state data from the first electronic device to a storage server, the transmitted application state data being stored in the storage server, the stored application state data being periodically refreshed when a periodical transmission of the application state data is received from the first electronic device, the stored application state data being transmitted to the second electronic device.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the periodical transmission of the application state data includes transmitting a difference between the application state data of the computer application and previously transmitted application state data to the storage server.

23. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein the first electronic device is capable of transmitting the application state data to the storage server via a network.

24. The electronic device of claim 23, wherein the network includes the Internet, a WiFi network, or a cellular phone network.

25. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the storage server belongs to a cloud storage service cluster.