Techniques for using near field communication to add a person to an email thread

• US 8,977,201 B1
• Filed: 06/11/2013
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Westbrook, Paul T., Huang, Andrew T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Minh D
• Application Number:
  US13/914,861
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/410, 455/411, 455/412.1, 455/413, 715/733
• US Class Current: 455/41.1
• 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

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for communication between a first mobile device and a second mobile device using near field communication (NFC) is presented. The method includes determining, at the first mobile device, whether NFC is enabled with the second mobile device. The method includes determining, at the first mobile device, whether a share command has been initiated, the share command associated with an email to be shared with the second mobile device. The method includes sending a first identifier from the first mobile device to the second mobile device via an NFC transmission. The method includes receiving, at the first mobile device, a second identifier from the second mobile device, the second identifier comprising user information related to (i) a second user and (ii) the email to be shared. The method includes associating the second user as a recipient to the email to be shared.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for communication between a first mobile device and a second mobile device using a short-range wireless communication medium, the method comprising:

determining, at the first mobile device, whether communication with the second mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium is enabled;

determining, at the first mobile device, whether a share command has been initiated, the share command associated with an email to be shared with the second mobile device;

sending a first identifier from the first mobile device to the second mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium based on the share command being initiated, the first identifier comprising user information related to (i) a first user and (ii) the email to be shared;

receiving, at the first mobile device, a second identifier from the second mobile device, the second identifier comprising user information related to (i) a second user and (ii) the email to be shared; and

associating the second user as a recipient to the email to be shared based on receiving the second identifier.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the associating further comprises forwarding the email to be shared to the second mobile device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the associating further comprises identifying the second user as a recipient on a subsequent email associated with the email to be shared.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending the first identifier further comprises providing, via a display of the first mobile device, a request to share the email to be shared.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein sending the first identifier further comprises sending a command to the second mobile device to launch an email application.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining whether communication with the second mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium is enabled includes determining, at the first mobile device, whether the second mobile device is within range for communication with the first mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is near field communication (NFC).

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is Bluetooth.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is WiFi Direct.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a network server, a command to send a conversation token from a second mobile device to a first mobile device, the first and second mobile devices associated with first and second users, respectively, the conversation token comprising user information related to the second user and an email to be shared, the command being sent by the second mobile device in response to the second mobile device receiving a uniform resource identifier (URI) from the first mobile device regarding a first user via transmission short-range wireless communication medium;

sending the conversation token to the first mobile device;

receiving authorization from the first mobile device to add the second user to a thread of the email to be shared, the thread having identified email recipients including the first user and at least one other recipient; and

sending the email to be shared to the second mobile device; and

sending a notification email to the at least one other recipient of the email thread that the second user has been added.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is near field communication (NFC).

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is one of Bluetooth and WiFi Direct.

13. A first mobile device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program code, the at least one or more processors configured to execute the executable computer program code to cause the first mobile device to perform operations including;

determining whether communication with a second mobile device via a short-range wireless communication medium is enabled;

determining whether a share command has been initiated, the share command associated with an email to be shared with the second mobile device;

sending a first identifier to the second mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium based on the share command being initiated, the first identifier comprising user information related to (i) a first user and (ii) the email to be shared;

receiving a second identifier from the second mobile device, the second identifier comprising user information related to (i) a second user and (ii) the email to be shared; and

associating the second user as a recipient to the email to be shared based on receiving the second identifier.

14. The first mobile device of claim 13, wherein the operations further include (i) determining whether the second mobile device is within range for communication with the first mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium;

and (ii) sending the first identifier when the second mobile device is within range for communication with the first mobile device via the short-range wireless communication medium.

15. The first mobile device of claim 13, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is near field communication (NFC).

16. The first mobile device of claim 13, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is Bluetooth.

17. The first mobile device of claim 13, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is WiFi Direct.

18. A network server comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program code, the one or more processors configured to execute the executable computer program code to cause the network server to perform operations including;

receiving a command to send a conversation token from a second mobile device to a first mobile device, the first and second mobile devices associated with first and second users, respectively, the conversation token comprising user information related to the second user and an email to be shared, the command being sent by the second mobile device in response to the second mobile device receiving a uniform resource identifier (URI) from the first mobile device via a short-range wireless communication medium;

sending the conversation token to the first mobile device;

receiving authorization from the first mobile device to add the second user to a thread of the email to be shared, the thread having identified email recipients including the first user and at least one other recipient;

sending the email to be shared to the second mobile device; and

sending a notification email to the at least one other recipient of the email thread that the second user has been added.

19. The network server of claim 18, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is near field communication (NFC).

20. The network server of claim 18, wherein the short-range wireless communication medium is one of Bluetooth and WiFi Direct.