Cloud-based device interaction

• US 8,606,948 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Evans, Ethan Z., Cabrera, Luis Felipe, Siegel, Hilliard Bruce, DeSantis, Peter N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Lynn
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US12/889,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20120079126A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1013 Network architectures, gateways, control or user entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/554 Data synchronization
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0012 Details of application programming interfaces [API] for telephone networks; Arrangements which combine a telephonic communication equipment and a computer, i.e. computer telephony integration [CPI] arrangements

Abstract

A logically centralized system or service, such as a cloud-based content management service, enables intelligent communication between disparate devices. Such communication enables content such as applications and data to be synchronized between various devices, where the synchronization takes into account the capabilities of each device to provide versions and/or formats of that content that are appropriate for each device. A user purchasing an additional device, for example, can have various applications and other content automatically installed or copied over to the additional device, but with versions or formats that take advantage of, and are appropriate for, the capabilities of that additional device. Further, the intelligent communication via a logically centralized service can enable such devices to interact even though those devices might utilize different protocols and/or formats, and might otherwise not be able to communicate or have ever have been tested together.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of enabling devices to interact, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request from a first user device to interact with a plurality of user devices;

in response to the request, determining one or more capabilities of at least one of the plurality of user devices utilizing at least one third party system storing the capability information for the at least one of the plurality of user devices;

providing for display to the user on the first user device at least one command capable of being executed on the at least one of the plurality of user devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities, the provided display including a web page that provides at least one user-selectable element corresponding to the at least one command;

maintaining state information for each of the first user device and the at least one of the plurality of user devices in order to execute coordinated applications across the first user device and the at least one of the plurality of user devices;

receiving at least one command utilizing the at least one user-selectable element;

changing at least one of a format or protocol of the received at least one command, based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices; and

forwarding the command to the at least one of the plurality of user devices in the changed at least one format,

whereby the first device is able to interact with the at least one of the plurality of user devices without having knowledge of the determined at least one format or the capabilities of the at least one of the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices includes contacting at least one third party system storing the capability information for the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices includes determining one or more commands capable of being received and executed by the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices include at least one of processing capabilities, amount of memory, audio capabilities, video rendering capabilities, display capabilities, rate of power consumption, available battery life, available input mechanisms, available output mechanisms, data connection type, and peripheral information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing for display to the user on the first user device at least one command capable of being executed on the at least one of the plurality of user devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each user-selectable element causes a request to be sent to a communication service capable of changing a format or protocol of the request and sending the changed request to the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each user-selectable element causes a request to be sent to the at least one of the plurality of user devices, the request including information formatted for the at least one of the plurality of user devices as determined by a communication service having generated code for the web page based at least in part upon the one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the command is initially received by the at least one of the plurality of user devices, the at least one of the plurality of user devices forwarding information for the command to a communication service in order to change at least one of the format or protocol of the command to suit the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein enabling the first device to interact with the plurality of user devices further enables the first device to combine the capabilities of the plurality of user devices with the capabilities of the first device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing command execution on the plurality of user devices.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining a resulting command based at least in part on a consensus of users of the plurality of user devices.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an input command from a user of the first device;

determining whether the input command from the user is in a set of restricted input commands based at least in part on the user;

when the input command is in the set of restricted input commands, inhibiting further processing of the input command.

13. A system for enabling devices to interact, comprising:

a processor; and

memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to, at least;

receive a request from a first user device to interact with a plurality of user devices;

in response to the request, determine one or more capabilities of at least one of the plurality of user devices utilizing at least one third party system storing the capability information for the at least one of the plurality of user devices;

provide for display to the user on the first user device at least one command capable of being executed on the at least one of the plurality of user devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities, the provided display including a web page that provides at least one user-selectable element corresponding to the at least one command;

maintain state information for each of the first user device and the at least one of the plurality of user devices in order to execute coordinated applications across the first user device and the at least one of the plurality of user devices;

receive at least one command utilizing the at least one user-selectable element;

change at least one of a format or protocol of the received at least one command based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices; and

forward the command to the plurality of user devices in the changed at least one format or with the changed at least one protocol,

wherein the first device is able to interact with the at least one of the plurality of user devices without having knowledge of the determined at least one format or the capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein determining one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices includes determining one or more commands capable of being received and executed by the plurality of user devices.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to provide for display to the user on the first user device at least one command capable of being executed on the plurality of user devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of user devices.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed further cause the system to maintain state information for each of the first user device and the plurality of user devices suited to executing coordinated applications across the first user device and the plurality of user devices.

17. A computer-implemented method of enabling devices with different capabilities to interact, comprising:

under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request for format or protocol translation from a first electronic device, wherein the request for format or protocol translation is associated with an interaction request between the first electronic device and at least one of a plurality of electronic devices;

in response to the request, obtaining capability information for the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices utilizing at least one third party system storing the capability information for the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices;

providing for display to the user on the first electronic device at least one command capable of being executed on the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities, the provided display including a web page that provides at least one user-selectable element corresponding to the at least one command;

maintaining state information for each of the first electronic device and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices in order to execute coordinated applications across the first electronic device and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices;

receiving at least one command utilizing the at least one user-selectable element;

changing at least one of a format or protocol of the interaction request to a format or protocol recognizable by the intended receiver of the interaction request based at least in part on the capability information of the at least one of the electronic devices; and

sending the changed interaction request to the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices,

wherein the first electronic device is able to interact with the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices without having knowledge of the format or protocol of the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the first and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices are associated with different users.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to, at least:

receive a request for translation of a command from a first electronic device, wherein the request for translation is associated with an interaction request between the first electronic device and at least one of a plurality of electronic devices;

determine one or more capabilities of the first electronic device;

in response to the request, determine one or more capabilities of the at least one of a plurality of the electronic devices utilizing at least one third party system storing the capability information for the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices;

provide for display to the user on the first electronic device at least one command capable of being executed on the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices based at least in part upon the determined one or more capabilities, the provided display including a web page that provides at least one user-selectable element corresponding to the at least one command;

maintain state information for each of the first electronic device and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices in order to execute coordinated applications across the first electronic device and the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices;

receiving at least one command utilizing the at least one user-selectable element;

change the command to a format or protocol recognizable by the first electronic device based at least in part on the one or more capabilities of the first electronic device and the one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices; and

send the command to the first electronic device, whereby the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices are able to interact with the first electronic device without having knowledge of the determined one or more capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of electronic devices.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein determining one or more capabilities of the first electronic device includes determining one or more commands capable of being received and executed by the first electronic device.