Peer to peer sharing of functionality of mobile devices

• US 8,340,658 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2008
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tuen Solutions LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Tuen Solutions LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Tsui, Chi Ying, Murch, Ross David, Cheng, Roger Shu Kwan, Mow, Wai Ho, Lau, Vincent Kin Nang
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Assistant Examiner(s): DONADO, FRANK E
• Application Number:
  US12/054,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20080250408A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,736 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2207/40 adapted for charging from various sources, e.g. AC, DC or multivoltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00302 Overcharge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/32 for charging batteries from a charging set comprising a non-electric prime mover rotating at constant speed
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 2/18 producing electrical output from mechanical input, e.g. generators for measurement devices G01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 40/00 Technologies aiming at improving the efficiency of home appliances, e.g. induction cooking or efficient technologies for refrigerators, freezers or dish washers

Abstract

Systems and methodologies for sharing functionality among mobile devices in a peer to peer manner are described herein. A mobile device can include a plurality of functional components that can each perform respective functionality. Examples of the functionalities can include transceiver communications, processing, power, memory, input and output for the mobile device. Further, the mobile device can include a sharing component that enables sharing a particular third party functional component to replace or supplement operation of a corresponding functional component of the mobile device. The third party functional component, for instance, can be made available for sharing by at least one of a disparate mobile device or a stand alone functional component. Moreover, a host component can allow a disparate mobile device to use an available one or more of the plurality of functional components of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a memory;

a processor that facilitates execution of computer-executable components stored within the memory, the computer-executable components comprising;

a diagnosis component configured to monitor at least one interface component comprising an input interface used to enter input data and an output interface used to render output data locally on the mobile device to perform a task, and identify that the at least one interface component is malfunctioning;

a sharing component configured to, in response to a determination by the diagnosis component that the at least one interface component is malfunctioning, search for a remote functional component made available for share by a disparate mobile device to replace or supplement operation of the at least one interface component; and

a routing component configured to determine a network path from the mobile device to the disparate mobile device through at least one intermediate mobile device, wherein the sharing component is configured to replace or supplement the at least one interface component with the remote functional component via the network path,

wherein, through communication with the intermediate mobile device, the at least one interface component is replaced or supplemented by the remote functional component to facilitate at least entering the input data in response to the input interface malfunctioning and rendering the output data in response to the output interface malfunctioning.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising a functionality expansion component configured to identify a set of remote functional components, including the remote functional component, available for share and to enable the mobile device to select the remote functional component from the set of remote functional components.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the diagnosis component is further configured to recognize that the at least one interface component has transitioned from a functional state to at least one of a disabled state, an unavailable state, an inactivated state, or an inefficient state.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising a task evaluation component configured to analyze the task to be performed and to select a set of functional components, including at least one of the at least one interface component or the remote functional component, to be used to accomplish the task.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising an availability recognition component configured to identify an available functional component hosted by a remote device and available to be shared with the mobile device.

6. The mobile device of claim 5, wherein the availability recognition component is further configured to identify at least one of a current operational status, an authorization requirement, a performance metric, or a cost related to the available functional component hosted by the remote device.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising a host component configured to allow the disparate mobile device to use an available one or more of a plurality of functional components of the mobile device.

8. The mobile device of claim 7, the computer-executable components further comprising an authorization component configured to at least one of authorize or authenticate the disparate mobile device in response to selection by the disparate mobile device of the available one or more of the plurality of functional components of the mobile device.

9. The mobile device of claim 7, the computer-executable components further comprising a contention resolution component configured to allocate use of the available one or more of the plurality of functional components among multiple disparate mobile devices in response to reception of concurrent or substantially concurrent requests for use of the available one or more of the plurality of functional components from the multiple disparate mobile devices.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the contention resolution component is further configured to allocate use of the available one or more of the plurality of functional components based at least on a determination of respective merits of tasks to be performed by the multiple disparate mobile devices using the available one or more of the plurality of functional components.

11. The mobile device of claim 1, the computer-executable components further comprising a financial component configured to credit an account in response to usage of the at least one interface component by a disparate device and to debit the account in response to usage of the remote functional component by the mobile device.

12. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least one interface component is one of a plurality of functional components that are componentized and include respective sharing components configured to enable sharing of the plurality of functional components.

13. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to act as a node within a mesh network of devices that share functional components in a peer-to-peer manner.

14. A method, comprising:

in response to determining that an input capability for entering input data to a first mobile device or an output capability for rendering output data from a first mobile device is not capable of performing a requested task;

searching for a remote interface capability made available for sharing by a second mobile device to replace or supplement the input capability or the output capability;

determining a network path from the first mobile device the second mobile device through at least one intermediate mobile device;

replacing or supplementing the input capability or the output capability with the remote interface capability through communication with the second mobile device over the network path to facilitate entering the input data in response to the input capability malfunctioning and rendering the output data in response to the output capability malfunctioning.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

notifying a disparate mobile device in proximity of the first mobile device that an available functional component hosted by the first mobile device is available for sharing; and

allowing the disparate mobile device to borrow the available functional component to carry out a task.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving multiple competing requests for the available functional component from respective multiple remote mobile devices;

determining that the available functional component is able to satisfy the multiple competing requests; and

granting a subset of the multiple competing requests based upon a criterion.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting that the interface capability of the first mobile device has transitioned from an operative state to a disabled state; and

sharing the remote interface capability in response to the detecting.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the detecting includes diagnosing whether the input capability or the output capability becomes at least one of disabled, unavailable, inactivated, or inefficient.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the granting includes granting the subset of the multiple competing requests based upon evaluating a buddy list of mobile devices.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the granting includes granting the subset of the multiple competing requests based upon evaluating needs of the respective multiple remote mobile devices.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the granting includes granting the subset of the multiple competing requests based upon evaluating merits of tasks to be performed with an available local functional component by the respective multiple remote mobile devices.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the granting includes granting the subset of the multiple competing requests based upon evaluating expected amounts of time of use of the available functional component by the respective multiple remote mobile devices.

23. A system comprising:

means for searching for a remote interface function available for sharing by a remote mobile device in response to identifying that an interface function of a local mobile device is malfunctioning, wherein the interface function accepts input data entered to the local mobile device and renders output data from the local mobile device to perform a task;

means for identifying a network path from the local mobile device to the remote mobile device through at least one intermediate mobile device; and

means for accessing, by the local mobile device via the network path, the remote interface function and at least one of replacing or supplementing the interface function with the remote interface function through communication with the remote mobile device to facilitate entering the input data if an input functionality of the interface component is malfunctioning and rendering the output data if an output functionality of the interface component is malfunctioning.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

means for segmenting a local processing task of the local mobile device into a first subset and a second subset;

means for processing the first subset of the local processing task locally with a first processor of local mobile device; and

means for processing the second subset of the local processing task with a remote processor of the remote mobile device.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system to perform operations, comprising:

in response to determining that an interface component used to enter input data and to render output data locally on of a first mobile device is incapable of performing a pending task, searching for a remote interface component, hosted by a second mobile device, capable of performing the pending task;

establishing a network path from the first mobile device to the second mobile device via at least one intermediate mobile device; and

making use of, via the network path, the remote interface component hosted by the second mobile device to replace or supplement operation of the interface component of the first mobile device to facilitate entering the input data in response to an input capability of the interface component malfunctioning and rendering the output data in response to an output capability of the interface component malfunctioning.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, the operations further comprising:

monitoring operation of the interface component of the first mobile device;

determining, based on the monitoring, that the interface component has transitioned from an operative state to a disabled state; and

sharing the remote interface component in response to the determining that the interface component has transitioned from the operative state to the disabled state.