SHARING COMPUTER APPLICATION ACTIVITIES

• US 20170034291A1
• Filed: 06/15/2016
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Ens, Barret, Grossman, Tovi, Fitzmaurice, George, Matejka, Justin Frank, Anderson, Fraser
• Granted Patent: US 11,190,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Information regarding application usage on an actor device may be provided through activity notifications and activity reports. An activity notification describing current application activity on an actor device is sent, via wireless connection, to an observer device which displays the activity notification. Activity notifications provide different granularity levels of information based on a received level selection or based on a distance (proximity) between the actor device and the observer device. An activity report representing the history of application usage on an actor device may be displayed on the actor device. For example, the activity report may be triggered to by displayed when the actor device is placed flat. The activity report provides a graphical representation of the application usage on the actor device for a predetermined time period of prior usage. The graphical representation may comprise a plurality of stripes, each stripe representing a particular application or application type.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for communicating information related to computing device activity, the method comprising:

detecting a user activity associated with an application executing on an actor device;

producing an activity notification that includes information related to the user activity; and

transmitting the activity notification to an observer device for display.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the activity notification comprises text data describing the user activity.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the activity notification comprises text data comprising at least one of an actor name, an application activity name, an application name, and an application type.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the activity notification comprises image data comprising an icon or color representing the application.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the activity notification is transmitted to the observer device via a wireless connection.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the actor device comprises a mobile device or wearable device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a level selection indicating a granularity level of user activities that should be shared in the activity notification; and

producing the activity notification only upon determining that the user activity satisfies the level selection.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the information related to the user activity included in the activity notification is based on the distance between the actor device and the observer device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a distance value comprising an approximate distance between the actor device and the observer device, wherein the distance value determines a granularity level of user activities that should be shared in the activity notification; and

producing the activity notification only upon determining that the user activity satisfies the granularity level.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to communicate information related to computing device activity by performing the steps of:

detecting a user activity associated with an application executing on an actor device;

producing an activity notification that includes information related to the user activity; and

transmitting the activity notification to an observer device for display.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the activity notification comprises text data comprising at least one of an actor name, an application activity name, an application name, and an application type.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the activity notification comprises image data comprising an icon or color representing the application.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

storing, at the actor device, an activity table comprising a plurality of level selections, each level selection mapping to a different set of user activities;

receiving a first level selection that maps to a first set of activities in the activity table; and

producing the activity notification only upon determining that the user activity is included in the first set of activities.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the activity notification comprises at least one interactive item.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising receiving a backchannel notification from the observer device indicating that the at least one interactive item was selected.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

storing, at the actor device, an activity table comprising a plurality of proximity levels, each proximity level mapping to a different set of user activities;

determining a first proximity level based on a distance between the actor device and the observer device, the first proximity level mapping to a first set of activities in the activity table; and

producing the activity notification only upon determining that the user activity is included in the first set of activities.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the observer device includes a viewing component for viewing a user of the actor device and displaying the activity notification.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the viewing component displays the activity notification as an overlay proximate to the user of the actor device.

19. A system configured for communicating information related to computing device activity, comprising:

an actor device comprising;

a memory that includes an actor engine; and

a processor that is coupled to the memory and, upon executing the actor engine, is configured to;

detect a user activity associated with an application executing on an actor device;

produce an activity notification that includes information related to the user activity; and

transmit the activity notification to an observer device for display.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

an observer device comprising;

a memory that includes an observer engine; and

a processor that is coupled to the memory and, upon executing the observer engine, is configured to;

receive the activity notification via a wireless connection; and

display the activity notification.