Motion to connect to kiosk

• US 9,413,872 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2015
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Want, Roy, Schilit, William N.
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, TED M
• Application Number:
  US14/657,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20150271312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 515 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass

Abstract

A user may associate an electronic device such as a smartphone with a public device by imitating a pattern for a target with a gesture of the mobile device. The physical movement of the smartphone may be compared to the movement data for the target. If there is a match, the public device and the electronic device may be associated with one another. The association may allow a user to interact with the public device using the smartphone.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) a difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration; and

in response to determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) the difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that a difference between a motion of the mobile computing device and a motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device is less than a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein pairing the mobile computing device with the display of the computing device comprises pairing the mobile computing device with a particular sub-region of the display of the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more other sub-regions of the display of the computing device are paired with one or more other corresponding mobile computing devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual target on the display of the computing device comprises a ball or a vehicle that moves across the display in a predefined pattern.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein pairing the mobile computing device with the computing device associated with the display comprises storing an identifier associated with the mobile computing device.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising;

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) a difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration; and

in response to determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) the difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that a difference between a motion of the mobile computing device and a motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device is less than a predetermined threshold.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the motion data corresponding to the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device is generated at a first time and the motion data corresponding to the motion of the mobile computing device is generated at a different second time, and wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that a difference between the first time and the different second time is less than a predetermined threshold.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein pairing the mobile computing device with the display of the computing device comprises pairing the mobile computing device with a particular sub-region of the display of the computing device.

13. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) a difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration; and

in response to determining that (i) the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, and (ii) the difference between a first time when the one or more visual targets are moved on a display associated with the computing device and a second time when the motion data was received is less than a predetermined duration, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein determining that the motion of the mobile computing device matches the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device comprises determining that a difference between a motion of the mobile computing device and a motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display of the computing device is less than a predetermined threshold.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein pairing the mobile computing device with the display of the computing device comprises pairing the mobile computing device with a particular sub-region of the display of the computing device, wherein one or more other sub-regions of the display of the computing device are paired with one or more other corresponding mobile computing devices.

17. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display;

storing an identifier that identifies a computing device from a plurality of computing devices, and selecting the identified computing device to pair with the mobile computing device, and wherein transmitting the instruction for the computing device to move the one or more of the visual targets on a display associated with the computing device occurs after the identified computing device is selected; and

in response to determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display;

in response to determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display;

while the display or the computing device associated with the display is paired with the mobile computing device;

transmitting an instruction for the computing device to move one or more other visual targets on the display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to the motion of a different mobile computing device;

determining that the motion of the different mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the other visual targets on the display; and

in response to determining that the motion of the other mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the other visual targets on the display, pairing the other mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display, while continuing to pair the computing device associated with the display to the mobile computing device.

19. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting an instruction for a computing device to move one or more visual targets on a display associated with the computing device;

receiving motion data corresponding to motion of a mobile computing device;

determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of one or more of the visual targets on the display; and

in response to determining that the motion of the mobile computing device is associated with the motion of the one or more of the visual targets on the display, pairing the mobile computing device with (i) the display, or (ii) the computing device associated with the display, wherein one or more other sub-regions of the display of the computing device are paired with one or more other corresponding mobile computing devices.