Passing information between mobile devices

• US 8,219,028 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Issued: 07/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Flamholz, Abraham I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jones, Stephen
• Application Number:
  US12/415,425
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.3
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1636 Sensing arrangement for detection of a tap gesture on the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/64 file transfer between terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass

Abstract

A method for sharing information between mobile devices is disclosed. The method includes sensing a physical motion event of a first mobile device, obtaining information reflecting a physical motion event of a second mobile device that is in proximity to the first mobile device, and transmitting data to the second mobile device upon a determination that the physical motion events match each other.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first mobile device configured to provide a notification of a motion of the first mobile device in response to the motion and send selected data to a second mobile device, wherein the notification indicates an intent to transfer data of the first mobile device to the second mobile device; and

the second mobile device in close physical proximity to the first mobile device, the second mobile device configured to receive the notification indicating an intent by the first mobile device to transfer data to the second mobile device, receive data specifying a first predefined level of access to data of the first mobile device, determine a second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device, and receive the selected data from the first mobile device, wherein the selected data received from the first mobile device is selected from the first mobile device based on a determination of a lower of the first predefined level of access of the first mobile device and the second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first predefined level of access to data of the first mobile device and the second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device are user-selectable.

3. The system of claim 1, the first mobile device comprises an accelerometer configured to detect motion of the first mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second mobile device is further configured to send data from the second mobile device to the first mobile device, wherein the data sent from the second mobile device is selected from the second mobile device based on a determination of the lower of the first predefined level of access of the first mobile device and the second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device.

5. A method for sharing information between a first mobile device and a second mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a second mobile device, a notification of a motion of a first mobile device, wherein;

the first mobile device is in close proximity to the second mobile device at the time of the motion of the first mobile device, and

the notification indicates an intent to transfer data of the first mobile device to the second mobile device;

receiving data specifying a first predefined level access to data of the first mobile device;

determining a second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device;

determining a lower of the first predefined level of access to data of the first mobile device and the second predefined level of access to data of the second mobile device, wherein the determined lower of the first and second predefined levels of access is usable to select data of the first mobile device to be transferred to the second mobile device;

based on the determined lower of the first and second predefined levels of access, selecting data of the first mobile device to be transferred to the second mobile device; and

receiving, by the second mobile device, the selected data of the first mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein detecting a motion from the first mobile device comprises obtaining acceleration data from an accelerometer in the first mobile device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the motion comprises momentary contact between the first mobile device and the second mobile device.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising detecting a motion from the second mobile device wherein the motions of the first and second mobile devices comprise coordinated hand-held motions of the first mobile device and the second mobile device at a distance by which the first and second mobile devices are not in contact with each other.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving, from the first mobile device, key derived from an acceleration measurement of the first mobile device, and further comprising using the key to decode encoded information from the first mobile device.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising, detecting a motion from the second mobile device;

and determining that the motion from the first mobile device matches the motion from the second mobile device; and

upon a determination that the motions match each other, prompting a user of the first device to confirm an intent to transmit data to the second mobile device.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving, from a user of the first mobile device, confirmation to share private information with the second mobile device, and receiving the private data with the second mobile device only if the confirmation is received.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the users of the first and second mobile devices are permitted by their respective devices to select the level access.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein second mobile device tags the data received by the second mobile device as being received as shared data.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising detecting a motion from the second mobile device;

and determining that the motion from the first mobile device matches the motion from the second mobile device, where the determination that the motions match each other comprises comparing patterns of the motions and times at which the motions occurred.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the motions are determined to match if the pattern and time of the motion for the first mobile device are separated from the pattern and time of the second mobile device by less than a predetermined separation distance.

16. The method of claim 5, further comprising automatically sending, with the second mobile device, data of a type that matches the data received from the first mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the received and transmitted data corresponds to contact information for users of the second mobile device and the first mobile device, respectively.

18. The method of claim 5, wherein the shared data comprises contact information, and the sharing is dynamic such that when the contact information on the first mobile device is updated, the contact information on the second mobile device is also updated automatically.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising generating an event notification on the second mobile device when the contact information on the first mobile device is updated.