Data sharing method and apparatus

• US 9,756,673 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2015
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Dong, Xiao Ping, Liu, Yi Ning
• Primary Examiner(s): Diaby, Moustapha
• Application Number:
  US14/826,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20160278146A1
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Disclosed are a data sharing method used in a first electronic device connected to a second electronic device. A method involves detecting a location relationship between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, determining a share mode of the first electronic device according to the location relationship and determining, according to the share mode, data content to be shared between the first electronic device and the second electronic device. Data sharing may be implemented between devices by setting different access permissions according to the location relationship between the electronic devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

establishing a data communication link between a first electronic device and a second electronic device;

determining whether the first electronic device is in a first positional state and if the first electronic device detects that it is in the first positional state, performing image capturing by using an image capturing unit disposed on the first electronic device to capture a first image;

detecting, according to content of the first image, whether a principal surface of the first electronic device is in contact with the second electronic device, wherein the principal surface of the first electronic device comprises at least one of a front surface, and a back surface;

determining whether a position of the first electronic device relative to the second electronic device corresponds to a selected data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the second electronic device; and

transferring data between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, responsive to determining that the position of the first electronic device corresponds to the selected data transfer position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether said position of the first electronic device relative to the second electronic device corresponds to a selected data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the second electronic device further comprises:

determining that said position of the first electronic device corresponds to a data transfer position if the principal surface of the first electronic device is in contact with a display surface of the second electronic device; and

determining that said position of the first electronic device does not correspond to a data transfer position if the principal surface of the first electronic device is not in contact with the display surface of the second electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the position of the first electronic device relative to the second electronic device corresponds to a selected data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the second electronic device further comprises:

determining which principal surface, from a plurality of principal surfaces of the first electronic device, is in contact with the second electronic device, wherein the plurality of principal surfaces of the first electronic device comprises at least one of the front surface, wherein the front surface comprises a display surface, and the back surface; and

selecting a data sharing mode between the first and second electronic devices according to which of the plurality of principal surfaces is determined to be in contact with the second electronic device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the image capturing unit comprises a first image capturing unit disposed on a first principal surface, and the first electronic device further comprises a second image capturing unit disposed on a second principal surface;

the second principal surface is opposite the first principal surface; and

determining which principal surface, from the plurality of principal surfaces of the first electronic device, is in contact with the second electronic device comprises;

capturing the first image and a second image respectively by using the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit, and

determining, according to contents of the first image and the second image, which one of the first principal surface and the second principal surface of the first electronic device is the principal surface that is in contact with the second electronic device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a surface of the second electronic device that is in contact with the first electronic device is provided with multiple placing regions, and wherein determining whether the position of the first electronic device relative to the second electronic device corresponds to a selected data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the second electronic device further comprises:

determining which placing region of the second electronic device, from among multiple placing regions, is in contact with the principal surface of the first electronic device; and

determining a data sharing mode between the first and second electronic devices according to which of the multiple placing regions is determined to be in contact with the principal surface of the first electronic device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data sharing mode between the first and second electronic devices depends at least partially upon which principal surface of a plurality of principal surfaces of the first electronic device is determined to be in contact with the placing region of the second electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein

determining whether the first electronic device is in a first positional state comprises determining whether the first electronic device is in a horizontal state.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capturing unit comprises a first image capturing unit disposed on a first principal surface of the first electronic device, and the first electronic device further comprises a second image capturing unit disposed on a second principal surface, the second principal surface being opposite the first principal surface, and wherein:

determining whether the first electronic device is in a first positional state comprises determining whether the first electronic device is in a second positional state and, responsive to determining that the first electronic device is in the second positional state, performing image capturing by using the second image capturing unit to capture a second image; and

detecting, according to content of the first image, whether a principal surface of the first electronic device is in contact with the second electronic device comprises detecting, according to content of the second image, whether the second principal surface of the first electronic device is in contact with the second electronic device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the first electronic device, a positional state signal to the second electronic device such that the second electronic device displays a display content, responsive to the first electronic device detecting that it is in the first positional state;

identifying whether the first image comprises the display content; and

determining that the first electronic device is in contact with the surface of the second electronic device if the first image comprises the display content as displayed by the second electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring data between the first electronic device and the second electronic device comprises:

setting an attribute to the data on either the first electronic device or the second electronic device such that only the data with the set attribute is transferred between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

an image capturing unit

a processor; and

a memory storing code executable by the processor, the code comprising;

code that operatively establishes a communication link with another electronic device;

code that determines whether the electronic device is in a first positional state and if the electronic device detects that it is in the first positional state, code that performs image capturing by using the image capturing unit to capture a first image;

code that detects, according to content of the first image, whether a principal surface of the electronic device is in contact with the other electronic device, wherein the principal surface of the electronic device comprises at least one of a front surface, and a back surface;

code that operatively determines whether or not a position of the electronic device relative to the other electronic device corresponds to a data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the other electronic device; and

code that transfers data between the electronic device and the other electronic device if the position of the electronic device corresponds to a data transfer position.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the code further comprises:

code that operatively determines whether a surface of the electronic device is in contact with a surface of the other electronic device;

code that operatively determines that said position of the electronic device corresponds to a data transfer position if the principal surface of the electronic device is in contact with a display surface of the other electronic device; and

code that operatively determines that said position of the electronic device does not correspond to a data transfer position if the principal surface of the electronic device is not in contact with the display surface of the other electronic device.

13. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the code further comprises:

code that operatively determines which principal surface from among a plurality of principal surfaces of the electronic device is in contact with the other electronic device, wherein the plurality of principal surfaces of the electronic device comprises at least one of the front surface, wherein the front surface comprises a display surface, and the back surface; and

code that operatively selects a data sharing mode between the electronic device and the other electronic device according to which principal surface of the electronic device is determined to be in contact with the other electronic device.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein a first image capturing unit is disposed on a first principal surface, and wherein the electronic device further comprises:

a second image capturing unit that captures a second image, the second image capturing unit being disposed on a second principal surface, wherein the second principal surface is opposite the first principal surface and wherein the code further comprises code that determines, from the first image and second image, which of the first and second principal surfaces is in contact with the other electronic device.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein a surface of the other electronic device that is in contact with the electronic device is provided with multiple placing regions, and the code further comprises:

code that operatively determines which placing region from among the multiple placing regions of the other electronic device is in contact with the principal surface of the electronic device; and

code that operatively determines a data sharing mode between the electronic device and the other electronic device at least partially based upon the placing region that is determined to be in contact with the principal surface of the electronic device.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the code that operatively determines the data sharing mode between the electronic device and the other electronic device determines the data sharing mode at least partially based upon which principal surface of a plurality of principal surfaces of the electronic device is determined to be in contact with the placing region of the other electronic device.

17. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the code that determines whether the electronic device is in a first positional state comprises code that determines whether the electronic device is in a horizontal state.

18. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the image capturing unit comprises a first image capturing unit disposed on a first principal surface, and wherein the electronic device further comprises a second image capturing unit that captures a second image, the second image capturing unit being disposed on a second principal surface, the second principal surface opposite the first principal surface, and

wherein the code further comprises code that determines whether the electronic device is in a second positional state, and

wherein the second image capturing unit captures a second image if the code determines that the electronic device is in the second positional state, and

further comprising code that determines, according to content of the second image, whether the second principal surface of the electronic device is in contact with a surface of the other electronic device.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the code further comprises:

code that, responsive to a determination that the electronic device is in the first positional state, operatively sends a positional state signal to the other electronic device to cause the other electronic device to display a display content;

code that operatively identifies whether the first image comprises the display content; and

code that operatively determines that the electronic device is in contact with the other electronic device when the first image or the second image comprises the display content.

20. A program product comprising non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:

establishing a data communication link between a first electronic device and a second electronic device;

determining whether the first electronic device is in a first positional state and if the first electronic device detects that it is in the first positional state, performing image capturing by using an image capturing unit disposed on the first electronic device to capture a first image;

detecting, according to content of the first image, whether a principal surface of the first electronic device is in contract with the second electronic device, wherein the principal surface of the first electronic device comprises at least one of a front surface, and a back surface;

determining whether a position of the first electronic device relative to the second electronic device corresponds to a selected data transfer position in response to the principal surface being in contact with the second electronic device; and

transferring data between the first electronic device and the second electronic device, responsive to determining that the position of the first electronic device corresponds to the selected data transfer position.