Computing device to wirelessly transmit and receive data with at least one proximally located electronic device

• US 8,768,256 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2013
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syndefense
• Original Assignee: Robin Dua
• Inventors: Dua, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US14/019,766
• Publication Number:
  US 20140004846A1
• Time in Patent Office: 298 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/556.1, 455/552.1, 455/557, 455/2.01, 455/2.06, 369/53.37, 369/44.29, 348/838, 340/10.51, 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/44 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0264 for a camera module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 : Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A wireless media player and a related system and methodology are disclosed. One aspect of the wireless media player system pertains to a virtual connector system, apparatus, and method for the automatic establishment of wireless connectivity with other electronic devices. In one embodiment, the media player device employs the use of integrated Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to exchange communication settings, media capability, and other parameters with an external device that also has integrated RFID technology. The automatic exchange of settings and other information via a proximity-based RFID data exchange allows a media player to quickly establish a secure communication link with another device via a commonly supported wireless protocol such as Ultra Wideband (UWB) or Bluetooth. Another aspect of the media player system pertains to a method of using the captured media capability of the connecting device to customize certain menu options and software parameters in the media player.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

a touch screen display;

one or more processors;

at least one memory device;

a near field communication (NFC) interface to be communicatively coupled to a near field communication interface of at least one electronic device,

a network transceiver to communicate with a cellular communications network; and

a wireless transceiver to communicate with the at least one electronic device, where the at least one electronic device supports a predetermined communications protocol,

wherein the at least one memory device stores one or more applications that are executed by the one or more processors to process data stored in the at least one memory device or received by at least one of the network transceiver and the wireless transceiver, and

wherein when the NFC interface is communicatively coupled to the near field communication interface of the at least one electronic device, the one or more processors to instantiate a Bluetooth or WiFi connection between the wireless transceiver of the computing device and the at least one of electronic device over a wireless link, the instantiated Bluetooth or WiFi connection to exchange content via the wireless link.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the NFC interface transmits or receives communication configuration data to an NFC interface of the at least one electronic device when in a predetermined proximity so as to establish a communication link with the at least one electronic device via the wireless transceiver.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the NFC interface transmits or receives the communication configuration data when a selection to communicatively couple the computing device to the at least one electronic device is received via a user interface displayed on the touch screen display or a media content selection is received via a user interface displayed on the touch screen display.

4. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the communication configuration data that is transmitted or received by the NFC interface includes connectivity data defining parameters to instantiate a communication link between the computing device and the at least one electronic device via the wireless transceiver.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the NFC interface of the computing device transmits or receives at least one communication configuration data, device descriptive data, and media information to an NFC interface of the at least one electronic device when in a predetermined proximity.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the memory device stores device profile information including capabilities data of the computing device.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein at least one of communication configuration data and device descriptive data of the profile information is transmitted to the at least one electronic device via at least one of the NFC interface and the wireless transceiver.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the network transceiver initiates and supports voice calls and data transmissions through the cellular communications network.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver accesses the Internet via an Internet wireless access point.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein a user interface is displayed on the touch screen display and has an option to receive at least one data file currently open in an application running on the at least one electronic device that is communicatively coupled to the computing device via the wireless transceiver.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein at least one processor processes at least one of audio data, video data, audio-visual data, image data, text, a presentation, internet content, and mark-up language data received by the wireless transceiver.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor controls the touch screen display to display a selectable list of media sources of the at least one electronic device that is communicatively coupled to the computing device via the wireless transceiver.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the wireless transceiver can receive a list of one or more data files of the selected media source from the at least one electronic device to be displayed on the touch screen display of the computing device when at least one media source of the selectable media sources is selected.

15. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor controls the touch screen display to display a selectable list of data files that, when selected via the touch screen display, are transmitted to the at least one electronic device via the wireless transceiver.

16. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising:

a camera including at least one lens and a flash to capture at least one of still images and video images to be stored in the at least one memory device or to be transmitted via at least one of the wireless transceiver and the network transceiver.

17. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising:

a biometric fingerprint reader to provide security to protect the computing device against unauthorized use.

18. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver communicates with the at least one electronic device via the Bluetooth or the WiFi connection.

19. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising:

an audio port to connect at least one of headphones and speakers.

20. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the content is manually selected via the touch screen display on the computing device either before or after the NFC interface being communicatively coupled to the near field communication interface of the at least one electronic device, and the at least one processor controls the transfer of the manually selected content to the at least one electronic device via the wireless transceiver.

21. The computing device of claim 1, wherein when one or more open data files in the one or more applications running when the NFC interface is communicatively coupled to the near field communication interface of the at least one electronic device, the at least one processor controls the transfer of the open data files in the one or more applications running automatically to the at least one electronic device via the wireless transceiver.

22. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors control the wireless transceiver to communicatively connect to one or more peripheral devices that extend at least one of the data input, visual display, audio, video, and audio visual output of the computing device, or one or more functions of the computing device.

23. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more peripheral devices include at least one of speakers, headsets, microphone, camera, display, joy stick, mouse, keyboard, projector, printer, fax, copier, automobile computer systems, and storage devices.

24. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the touch screen display includes a user interface to display when the one or more peripheral devices are connected to the computing device.

25. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors controls the wireless transceiver to communicatively couple the computing device to an automobile computing system wirelessly.

26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the touch screen display receives a selection of media.

27. The computing device of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors control a streaming transmission of the selected media via the wireless transceiver to the automobile computer system to be output by an audio system including speakers that is coupled to the automobile computer system.

28. The computing device of claim 27, wherein the touch screen display receives input via a user interface to control the media output by the audio system of the automobile computer system, the user interface including at least one of play, pause, stop, rewind, fast forward, and audio controls.

29. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors control the touch screen display so as to display a QWERTY keyboard to receive input.

30. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising a camera and a microphone to respectively capture video and audio, and the one or more processors to process the captured video and audio, as well as control the transmission of the processed video and audio via at least one of the wireless transceiver and the network transceiver to the at least one electronic device to be viewed or stored by the at least one device.

31. The computing device of claim 30, wherein the touch screen display receives an input to select the at least one electronic device, and the one or more processors control the wireless transceiver to establish the wireless link or to control the network transceiver with the selected at least one electronic device so as to transmit the processed video and audio.

32. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the touch screen display receives an input to select the at least one electronic device, and the one or more processors control the wireless transceiver to establish the wireless link with the selected at least one electronic device so as to receive at least one of audio, video, and audio visual content from the at least one electronic device to be output by the computing device.

14. The computing device 13, wherein the touch screen display receives a selection of the one or more data files to be transmitted from the at least one electronic device to the computing device via the wireless transceiver.

33. A computing device, comprising:

a touch screen display;

one or more processors;

at least one memory device;

a near field communication (NFC) interface to be communicatively coupled to a near field communication interface of at least one electronic device,

a network transceiver to communicate with a cellular communications network; and

a wireless transceiver to communicate with the at least one electronic device, where the at least one electronic device supports a predetermined communications protocol,

wherein the at least one memory device stores one or more applications that are executed by the one or more processors to process data stored in the at least one memory device or received by at least one of the network transceiver and the wireless transceiver, and

wherein the one or more processors controls the automatic detection of the at least one electronic device, and controls the wireless transceiver to connect to the at least one electronic device via Bluetooth or WiFi when the at least one electronic device is within a predetermined proximity of the computing device, and when a profile of the at least one electronic device is stored in the memory device.