Distribution of files from mobile devices

• US 7,958,270 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2006
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nytell Software LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Laurent Frederick Sidon
• Inventors: SIDON, LAURENT FREDERICK
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayard, Djenane M
• Application Number:
  US11/423,151
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288551A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,824 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/218, 709/248, 709/213, 709/216, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

Techniques for seamless distribution of files stored in folders, in an Internet-enabled mobile device to one or more recipients including replicating and mapping a folder structure of the mobile device and the folder structure of the remote server, transferring files between the mobile device and the remote server using an Internet connection, and seamlessly distributing the files on the remote server to file recipients. Pre-selected email addresses can be associated with each folder, so that the files are automatically distributed to the pre-selected email addresses. Preferably, the user can configure folders using a Web user interface on a computer and transfer files in multiple folders on the mobile device to the pre-selected email addresses automatically after a trigger event.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of seamlessly distributing files stored in a plurality of folders in an Internet-enabled source mobile device to one or more recipient devices, comprising the steps of:

replicating and mapping a folder structure for files of a user on an Internet-enabled mobile source device of the user and a folder structure of the user on a remote server, said remote server being wirelessly connectable to the mobile device by an Internet connection;

transferring files between one or more folders on the mobile device and corresponding mapped folders on said remote server;

requiring only one action by said user of said mobile device to initiate said transfer; and

distributing the files to one or more recipient devices from said remote server, requiring no further action by users of said recipient devices, by the further steps of;

extracting one or more recipient device addresses from a contact data organizer on said mobile source device and transferring said recipient device addresses to said remote server;

associating one or more of said recipient device addresses with each of said files based on the structure of said mapped folders; and

using said recipient device addresses to distribute said files to one or more recipient devices from said remote server upon the occurrence of a user-selected trigger event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein some of the files on the mobile device are captured using a file capturing device associated with the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of three-way replicating and mapping of folder structures on the mobile device, a computer having a convenient user interface, and said remote server, and wherein the step of transferring the files further comprises the steps of:

transferring the files between the folders on the mobile device and corresponding mapped folders on the computer using an electromagnetic signal; and

transferring the files between the folders on the computer and the corresponding mapped folders on said remote server using an Internet connection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transfer of the files between the folders on the mobile device and the corresponding mapped folders on said remote server takes place using the Internet connection between the mobile device and said remote server.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of configuring the association of said recipient device addresses with each of said folders using a Web site interface on said remote server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the trigger event is a one-step menu selection using a graphical user interface of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of distributing the files to the recipient devices further comprises sending an email message to the recipient devices, inviting the users of the recipient devices to download the files by clicking a download link in the email message.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of distributing the files to the recipient devices further comprises sending the files as attachments to an email message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the Web site interface, used for configuring folders and other settings, is accessible via an Internet connection from a Web browser residing on a computer having a convenient user interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the files that are transferred from said mobile device to said remote server are chosen by determining which files on said mobile device are new and need to be included in said file distribution.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of one or more recipient devices is configured on said remote server using a Web browser residing on a computer having a convenient user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the transfer of said files from said mobile device to said remote server includes the steps of:

initiating said transfer with a single step by said user of said mobile device;

determining which files are new and including them in said; and

retrieving the list of said recipient devices from said remote server without any further action on the part of said user of said mobile device; and

wherein the transfer of said files from said remote server to said recipient devices further includes the step of;

the configuration of the list of said recipient devices further includes a step of;

configuring the list of said recipient devices on said remote server through a Web browser using an Internet connection.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said recipient devices is a second Internet-enabled mobile device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said files comprise at least one of the following, or a combination of more than one of the following:

video playback data, audio playback data, images, HTML pages, text data, Flash player data, databases, and executable code.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the files transferred between one or more folders on the mobile device and the corresponding mapped folders on said remote server, the files distributed to one or more recipient devices from the server, and said recipient device addresses transferred to said remote server are encrypted.

16. A system for seamlessly distributing files stored in a plurality of folders in an Internet-enabled mobile device to one or more recipient devices, comprising:

an Internet-enabled mobile device;

a mobile application residing on said mobile device;

a remote server, linkable to said mobile device by an Internet connection, and said remote server including a Web Server software; and

a Web application residing on said remote server, a database associated with said remote server, said mobile application on said mobile device, a set of user-defined trigger events selected on said mobile device, said Web application and the Web server software on said remote server, and said database interacting with one another to extract one or more recipient device addresses from a contact data organizer on said mobile device, associate one or more of said recipient device addresses with each of one or more files in a folder structure on said mobile device based on the structure of said folders, and distribute files to one or more recipient devices with said recipient device addresses upon the occurrence of one of said user-defined trigger events.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a Web site interface on said remote server for configuring said association of said recipient device addresses with said files.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a computer having a convenient user interface and a Web browser, so that the Web site interface for configuring the folders can be accessed from the Web browser using an Internet connection.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said mobile application further comprises a user data parser module, a file handling module, a folder replicating module, a file synchronizing module, and a graphical user interface module.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein:

said Web application further comprises a user authentication module, a file handling module, a user data handling module, and a graphical user interface module accessible from a Web browser; and

said database further comprises data on folder structure, file paths, and folder configuration of users.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the trigger event is a one-step menu selection using a graphical user interface of said mobile device.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile device further includes a file capturing device.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the files that are transferred from said mobile device to said remote server are chosen by determining which files on said mobile device are new and need to be included in said file distribution, with no additional action required by said user of said mobile device.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein a list of one or more recipient devices is configured on said remote server using a Web browser residing on a computer having a convenient user interface.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the transfer of said files from said mobile device to said remote server includes the steps of:

initiating said transfer with a single step by said user of said mobile device;

determining which files are new and including them in said transfer; and

retrieving the list of said recipient devices from said remote server without any further action on the part of said user of said mobile device; and

the configuration of the list of said recipient devices further includes a step of;

configuring the list of said recipient devices on said remote server through a Web browser using an Internet connection.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of said recipient devices is a second Internet-enabled mobile device.

27. The system of claim 16, wherein said files comprise at least one of the following, or a combination of more than one of the following:

video playback data, audio playback data, images, HTML pages, text data, Flash player data, databases, and executable code.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the files distributed to one or more recipient devices are encrypted.

29. A system for seamlessly distributing files from a mobile device to one or more recipient devices, comprising:

a mobile device;

a remote server wirelessly connectable to said mobile device;

means for replicating and mapping a folder structure of a user on said mobile device and a folder structure of the user on said remote server;

means for transferring files between the folders on said mobile device and the folders on said remote server;

means for extracting one or more recipient device addresses from a contact data organizer on said mobile source device and transferring said recipient device addresses to said remote server;

means for associating one or more of said recipient device addresses with each of said files based on the structure of said mapped folders; and

means for using said recipient device addresses to distribute said files to one or more recipient devices from the server upon the occurrence of a user-selected trigger event.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein said mobile device further comprises a file capturing means.

31. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for configuring a folder and other settings using a Web site interface.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a computer having a user interface;

means for extracting the email addresses of the potential recipient devices from a contact data organizer software residing on said computer; and

means for transferring the email addresses to a database associated with said remote server.

33. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

means for replicating and mapping the folder structure on said mobile device and the folder structure on said remote server with a corresponding folder structure on said computer;

means for transferring the files between the folder on said mobile device and a corresponding folder on said computer using an electromagnetic signal; and

means for transferring the files between the folder on said computer and the corresponding folder on said remote server using an Internet connection, the folders on said mobile device, said computer, and said remote server being mapped to one another.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereupon, said computer program comprising computer readable instructions for cooperating with a media reader to cause a computer processor to perform the steps of:

replicating and mapping a folder structure of a user on a mobile device and a folder structure of the user on a remote server;

transferring files seamlessly between the mobile device and said remote server;

extracting one or more recipient device addresses from a contact data organizer on said mobile source device and transferring said recipient device addresses to said remote server;

configuring a folder using a Web site interface;

associating one or more of said recipient device addresses with each of files in said folder based on the structure of said folder; and

using said recipient device addresses to automatically distribute said files seamlessly in a folder to one or more recipient devices from said remote server upon the occurrence of a user-selected trigger event.