Broadcasting Local Function Templates to Proximate Mobile Computing Devices

• US 20170195990A1
• Filed: 12/30/2015
• Published: 07/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Quixey, Inc.
• Inventors: BEN-TZUR, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 10,257,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Techniques include broadcasting, via a local wireless network (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or NFC), a uniform resource locator (URL) template (e.g., an alphanumeric string) that references a software application (app) and indicates one or more operations (e.g., a function) for the app to perform based on one or more parameters (e.g., alphabetic, numeric, and/or symbolic characters). In this example, the URL template includes one or more fields (e.g., placeholders) configured to indicate the parameters. The techniques further include, in response to broadcasting the URL template, receiving, from a mobile user device (e.g., a smartphone) via the network, a URL including (e.g., generated based on) the template, where the fields include one or more user-specified parameters specified by a user of the device. The techniques also include causing the software app to perform the operations (e.g., the function) based on the user-specified parameters included in the fields of the received URL.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

broadcasting, via a local wireless network, a uniform resource locator (URL) template that references a software application (app) and indicates one or more operations for the app to perform based on one or more parameters, wherein the URL template includes one or more fields configured to include the one or more parameters;

in response to broadcasting the URL template, receiving, from a mobile user device via the local wireless network, a URL comprising the URL template, wherein the one or more fields include one or more user-specified parameters specified by a user of the mobile user device; and

causing the software app to perform the one or more operations based on the one or more user-specified parameters included in the one or more fields.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, via the local wireless network, parameter data that indicates, for at least one of the one or more fields included in the URL template, that the field is required to include a parameter, wherein at least one of the one or more user-specified parameters is included in the field indicated by the parameter data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, via the local wireless network, parameter data that indicates, for at least one of the one or more fields included in the URL template, one or more example parameters that may be included in the field, wherein at least one of the one or more user-specified parameters comprises one of the one or more example parameters indicated by the parameter data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein broadcasting the URL template comprises including, in at least one of the one or more fields included in the URL template, one or more default parameters that may be included in the field.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, via the local wireless network, access data indicating one or more conditions under which the mobile user device may perform one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising broadcasting, via the local wireless network, access data configured to enable the mobile user device to perform one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the mobile user device via the local wireless network, authentication data indicating that the mobile user device may perform one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template, wherein causing the software app to perform the one or more operations comprises causing the software app to perform the one or more operations based on the authentication data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the URL further comprises one or more additional fields that include one or more additional user-specified parameters specified by the user, the method further comprising causing the software app to perform the one or more operations based on the one or more additional user-specified parameters included in the one or more additional fields.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the local wireless network comprises a Wi-Fi network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the local wireless network comprises a Bluetooth network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the local wireless network comprises a near field communications (NFC) network.

12. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile user device via a local wireless network, a uniform resource locator (URL) template from a broadcasting device, the URL template referencing a software application (app) and indicating one or more operations for the app to perform based on one or more parameters, wherein the URL template includes one or more fields configured to include the one or more parameters;

receiving, at the mobile user device from a user of the mobile user device, one or more user-specified parameters specified by the user;

generating, using the mobile user device, a URL comprising the URL template, wherein the one or more fields include the one or more user-specified parameters; and

transmitting, using the mobile user device via the local wireless network, the URL to the broadcasting device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile user device from the broadcasting device via the local wireless network, parameter data that indicates, for at least one of the one or more fields included in the URL template, one or more example parameters that may be included in the field; and

displaying, at the mobile user device to the user, an indication of the one or more example parameters,

wherein receiving the one or more user-specified parameters from the user comprises receiving a selection of the indication of the one or more example parameters from the user.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile user device from the broadcasting device via the local wireless network, access data configured to enable the mobile user device to perform one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template; and

performing one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template based on the access data.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that the mobile user device may perform one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template; and

transmitting, from the mobile user device to the broadcasting device via the local wireless network, authentication data indicating that the mobile user device may perform the one or more of receiving the URL template via the local wireless network and accessing the URL template.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving, at the mobile user device from the user, one or more additional user-specified parameters specified by the user, wherein generating the URL comprises generating the URL to include one or more additional fields that include the one or more additional user-specified parameters.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying, at the mobile user device to the user, an indication of a geographic location of the broadcasting device.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the local wireless network comprises one of a Wi-Fi network, a Bluetooth network, and a near field communications (NFC) network.

19. A system comprising one or more computing devices configured to:

broadcast, via a local wireless network, a uniform resource locator (URL) template that references a software application (app) and indicates one or more operations for the app to perform based on one or more parameters, wherein the URL template includes one or more fields configured to include the one or more parameters;

in response to broadcasting the URL template, receive, from a mobile user device via the local wireless network, a URL comprising the URL template, wherein the one or more fields include one or more user-specified parameters specified by a user of the mobile user device; and

cause the software app to perform the one or more operations based on the one or more user-specified parameters included in the one or more fields.

20. A computing device comprising:

a network interface component configured to communicate with a local wireless network;

an input/output (I/O) component configured to receive one or more user-specified parameters specified by a user of the computing device from the user;

one or more memory components configured to store computer-readable instructions; and

one or more processing units configured to execute the computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the one or more processing units to;

receive a uniform resource locator (URL) template from a broadcasting device via the local wireless network using the network interface component, the URL template referencing a software application (app) and indicating one or more operations for the app to perform based on one or more parameters, wherein the URL template includes one or more fields configured to include the one or more parameters;

receive the one or more user-specified parameters from the user using the I/O component;

generate a URL comprising the URL template, wherein the one or more fields include the one or more user-specified parameters; and

transmit the URL to the broadcasting device via the local wireless network using the network interface component.