Sharing electronic resources with users of nearby devices

• US 8,510,381 B1
• Filed: 02/14/2012
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Koulomzin, Daniel George, Wren, Christopher Richard, Birand, Gulay
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US13/396,472
• Time in Patent Office: 546 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A device receives shared data that identifies resources shared by users of nearby devices. The device outputs a user interface that contains a private area and a public area. The public area includes one or more display elements. Each of the display elements in the public area represents one of the resources shared by one of the users of one of the nearby devices. A user of the device may move the display element that represents a given resource from the public area to the private area. When the user moves the display element to the private area, the device performs an action associated with the given resource.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, shared data that identifies a first resource, the first resource being currently shared by a second computing device;

outputting, by the first computing device for display at a display device, a user interface comprising a private area and a public area, the public area including a first display element and a second display element, the first display element representing the first resource, the second display element representing a second resource, the second resource being shared by the second computing device or another computing device;

receiving, by the first computing device, an input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area;

identifying, by the first computing device and based on the shared data, an action as being associated with the first resource;

in response to receiving the input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area, performing, by the first computing device, the action identified as being associated with the first resource;

receiving, by the first computing device, an input to move the second display element from the public area to the private area;

identifying, by the first computing device, an action as being associated with the second resource; and

in response to receiving the input to move the second display element from the public area to the private area, performing, by the first computing device, the action identified as being associated with the second resource, the action identified as being associated with the second resource being different than the action identified as being associated with the first resource.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises:

displaying, by the first computing device, a third display element in the private area of the user interface, the third display element associated with a third resource;

receiving, by the first computing device, an input to move the third display element from the private area to the public area; and

in response to receiving the input to move the third display element from the private area to the public area, indicating, by the first computing device, to a server system that the first computing device is sharing the third resource.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to receiving the input to move the third display element from the private area to the public area, displaying, by the first computing device, the third display element in the public area;

receiving, by the first computing device, an input to move the third display element from the public area back to the private area; and

in response to receiving the input to move the third display element from the public area back to the private area, indicating, by the first computing device, to the server system that the first computing device is no longer sharing the third resource.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the first computing device, an indication of a characteristic of people who are allowed to capture the third resource.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising after receiving the input to move the third display element from the private area to the public area, outputting, by the first computing device and for display at the display device, a confirmation dialog, the confirmation dialog containing a prompt to indicate whether users of devices that are currently proximate to the first computing device are allowed to capture the third resource.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by the first computing device and based on a proximity of the second computing device and the first computing device, the first display element in the public area of the user interface.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first resource is a social networking profile of the user of the second device;

and

wherein performing the action identified as being associated with the first resource comprises establishing, by the first computing device, a social networking link between a user of the first computing device and a user of the second computing device.

8. The method of claim 1,

further comprising sending, by the first computing device, context data from the first computing device to a server system, the context data indicative of one or more aspects of a physical environment of the first computing device;

and

wherein receiving the shared data comprises receiving, by the first computing device, the shared data from the server system.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein identifying an action as being associated with the first resource comprises identifying, by the first computing device, a first application as being associated with the first resource;

wherein identifying an action as being associated with the second resource comprises identifying, by the first computing device, a second application as being associated with the second resource, the second application being different than the first application;

wherein performing the action identified as being associated with the first resource comprises invoking, by the first computing device, the first application; and

wherein performing the action identified as being associated with the second resource comprises invoking, by the first computing device, the second application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first display element comprises a label of the first resource and a graphical image indicative of a type of the first resource.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to receiving the input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area, receiving, the first computing device, an input to view information about the first resource while the first display element remains in the public area.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating, by the first computing device, the user interface to remove the first display element from the public area based on a proximity of the second computing device and the first computing device.

13. The method of claim 1,

wherein the shared data comprises a uniform resource identifier (URI) of the first resource;

and

wherein performing the action identified as being associated with the first resource comprises sending, by the first computing device, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request for the URI.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to performing the action identified as being associated with the first resource, the first computing device does not store contact information regarding a user of the second computing device or the second computing device.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the first computing device, computer-readable instructions associated with the first resource;

and

wherein performing the action identified as being associated with the first resource comprises performing, by the first computing device, the computer-readable instructions in response to receiving the input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area.

16. A computing device comprising a processing system configured to read instructions from a computer readable medium and execute the instructions, execution of the instructions causing the computing device to:

output, for display at a display device, a user interface that comprises a private area and a public area, the public area including a first display element and a second display element, the first display element representing a first resource, the second display element representing a second resource, the first resource being shared by a first device, the second resource being shared by the first device or a second device;

identify, based on a uniform resource identifier (URI) of the first resource, an action as being associated with the first resource;

perform, in response to receiving input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area, the action identified as being associated with the first resource;

identify, based on a URI of the second resource, an action as being associated with the second resource; and

perform, in response to receiving input to move the second display element from the public area to the private area, the action identified as being associated with the second resource, the action identified as being associated with the first resource being different than the action identified as being associated with the second resource.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing one or more processors of a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving shared data from a server system, the shared data identifying a first resource and a second resource shared by devices;

outputting, for display at a display device, a user interface that comprises a public area and a private area, the public area including a first display element and a second display element, the first display element representing the first resource, the second display element representing the second resource;

receiving input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area;

identifying, based on the shared data, an action associated with the first resource;

in response to receiving the input to move the first display element from the public area to the private area, performing the action associated with the first resource;

receiving input to move the second display element from the public area to the private area;

identifying, based on the shared data, an action associated with the second resource, the action associated with the second resource being different than the action associated with the first resource; and

in response to receiving the input to move the second display element from the public area to the private area, performing the action associated with the second resource.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein performing the action associated with the first resource comprises launching a first application and performing the action associated with the second resource comprises launching a second application, the first application being different than the second application.