MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE APPLICATION SHARING

• US 20140170978A1
• Filed: 12/13/2012
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wolman, Alastair, Chu, David, Moscibroda, Thomas, Lane, Nicholas D., Seo, Jaebaek
• Granted Patent: US 9,936,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• 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: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/04 Exchange of auxiliary data, i.e. other than image data, between monitor and graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• 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

Technologies pertaining to sharing an application installed on a mobile computing device with another computing device are described herein. An indication is received that the application is desirably shared with the another computing device. Responsive to receiving such indication, a communications channel is automatically established between the mobile computing device and the another computing device, and display data generated at the mobile computing device is transmitted to the another computing device by way of the communications channel. The display data is displayed on the another computing device.

Claims

1. A method configured for execution on a first mobile computing device of a first user, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that an application installed on the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with a second mobile computing device of a second user;

responsive to receiving the indication that the application installed on the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device, automatically establishing a communications channel between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the indication that the application installed on the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device, executing a first instance of the application on the first mobile computing device; and

transmitting display data for display on the second mobile computing device over the communications channel, the display data based upon the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting audio data for replay on the second mobile computing device, the audio data based upon the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mobile computing device is a mobile telephone.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the application is desirably executed on the first mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the indication that the application is desirably executed on the first mobile computing device, executing a second instance of the application on the first mobile computing device, wherein the application is a multi-player game, wherein the display data transmitted for display on the second mobile computing device is based at least in part upon the second instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input data from the second mobile computing device by way of the communications channel, the input data based upon interaction of the second user on the second mobile computing device with the display data transmitted to the second mobile computing device;

providing the input data to the first instance of the application;

receiving updated state information from the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device; and

transmitting updated display data for display on the second mobile computing device, the updated display data based upon the updated state information from the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from the first user at the first mobile computing device with respect to the second instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device;

receiving updated state information from the second instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device; and

transmitting updated display data for display on the second mobile computing device, the updated display data based upon the updated state information from the second instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

responsive to receiving the indication that the application installed on the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device, spawning a first virtual machine, wherein the first instance of the application executes in the first virtual machine;

receiving an indication that the first user desirably utilizes the application;

responsive to receiving the indication that the first user desirably utilizes the application, executing the second instance of the application in a second virtual machine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second mobile computing device fails to have the application installed thereon.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mobile computing device has a first operating system developed by a first developer installed thereon, and wherein the second mobile computing device has a second operating system developed by a second developer installed thereon.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the indication that the application is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device of the second user comprises determining that the second mobile computing device is within a threshold distance from the first mobile computing device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the threshold distance is less than three inches.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the receiving of the indication that the application is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device comprises identifying that a near field communications tap has occurred between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications channel is a peer-to-peer communications channel.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving output data from the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device, the output data comprising the display data; and

encoding the output of the first instance of the application executing on the first mobile computing device prior to transmitting the output data over the communications channel to the second mobile computing device.

15. A first mobile computing device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that comprises an operating system that is executed by the processor, the operating system comprising a plurality of components, the plurality of components comprising;

a receiver component that receives an indication that an application being executed by the processor of the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with a second mobile computing device;

a channel establisher component that establishes a communications channel between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device responsive to the receiver component receiving the indication that the application being executed by the processor of the first mobile computing device is desirably shared with the second mobile computing device; and

a transmitter component that transmits display data generated by the application being executed by the processor of the first mobile computing device to the second mobile computing device for display on the second mobile computing device, wherein the transmitter component transmits the display data over the communications channel.

16. The first mobile computing device of claim 15 being configured to transmit data to and receive data from a web service associated with the application on behalf of a user of the second mobile computing device.

17. The first mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the application is a gaming application that is desirably simultaneously played by a first user of the first mobile computing device and a second user of the second mobile computing device.

18. The first mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the application, responsive to the receiver component receiving the indication, spawns data that supports multi-viewer utilization of the application.

19. The first mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein the transmitter component additionally transmits audio data generated by the application being executed on the first mobile computing device to the second mobile computing device for replay thereon.

20. A computer-readable medium in a first mobile computing device comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of the first mobile computing device, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

executing, in a first virtual machine, a first instance of an application;

determining that a near field communication tap has occurred between the first mobile computing device and a second mobile computing device;

responsive to the determining that the near field communication tap has occurred between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device, establishing a peer-to-peer communications channel between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device;

responsive to the determining that the near field communication tap has occurred between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device, spawning a second virtual machine on the first mobile computing device;

executing a second instance of the application in the second virtual machine;

encoding output data generated by the second instance of the application in the second virtual machine to generate encoded data, wherein the output data comprises data that is to be displayed on a display screen of the second mobile computing device and audio data that is desirably output from the second mobile computing device; and

transmitting the encoded data over the peer-to-peer communications channel between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device.