Platform-enabled proximity service

• US 9,800,688 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Pottier, Marc Christopher, Morris, Max Glenn, Martin, Travis J., Loholt, Michael N., Davis, Darren R., Dandawate, Priya Bhushan, Shipley, Kenton A., Zia, Khurram M.
• Primary Examiner(s): LIAO, HSINCHUN
• Application Number:
  US13/230,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20130065526A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,234 Days
• Field of Search: 455 39, 455 411, 455 412, 713164
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• 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

Embodiments include processes, systems, and devices for initiating proximity actions upon the activation of a proximity connection. A proximity service receives an indication from a proximity provider that a proximity connection is established, and then determines a joint proximity context of the proximity connection. The proximity service then initiates a proximity action to facilitate a proximity function indicated by the joint proximity context. Joint proximity contexts include indications that an application has queued content to be shared with a proximity device, that an application has registered to publish messages on a namespace, that an application has subscribed to messages on a namespace, that an application has registered to find a peer application on a proximity device to enable multi-user collaboration, and that a device seeks to pair with another device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a proximity service of a mobile device, an indication from a proximity provider that a proximity connection is established between the mobile device and another mobile device;

exchanging with another proximity service of the other mobile device, in response to the indication, pre-staged context information via the proximity connection;

based on the exchanged pre-staged context information, determining a joint proximity context of the proximity connection between the mobile device and the other mobile device, wherein the pre-staged context information includes indications of one or more proximity functions registered either with the proximity service by one or more different applications of the mobile device or with the other proximity service by a plurality of applications of the other mobile device, wherein the one or more proximity functions include identifying and establishing a peer connection between a peer application on the mobile device and another peer application on the other mobile device to enable multi-user features of both the peer application and the other peer application, wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication that the other peer application of the other mobile device has registered to find the peer application;

initiating, based on the determining the joint proximity context of the proximity connection between the mobile device and the other mobile device, a pre-staged proximity action to facilitate the one or more proximity functions, the pre-staged proximity action comprising initiating establishment of an additional connection, separate from the proximity connection, between the peer application and the other peer application wherein the one or more proximity functions include at least one function different from establishing the additional connection; and

upon a determination that an application that corresponds to the peer application of the other mobile device is not installed on the mobile device, presenting, by the proximity service, a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to acquiring the peer application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the peer application of the mobile device a registration to find the other peer application on a proximity device, and wherein the additional connection is an out-of-band peer connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication that the other peer application of the other mobile device has registered to find the peer application on a proximity device, and wherein the pre-staged proximity action includes presenting, by the proximity service of the mobile device, a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to launching the peer application of the mobile device—

and establishment of a peer connection between the peer application and the other peer application.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving by the proximity service, input from a user input device indicating user consent to the launching of the peer application of the device and establishment of the peer connection;

launching the peer application of the mobile device in response to receiving the input; and

bringing the peer application of the mobile device to a foreground of a user interface of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a registration from a sharing service of the mobile device that the sharing service has content queued by the peer application of the mobile device for sharing with a proximity device, and wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication of the registration, and wherein the pre-staged proximity action includes establishing, by the proximity service of the mobile device, an out-of-band connection between the sharing service and the other mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication that a sharing service of the other mobile device has queued content from the other peer application of the other mobile device to send to a proximity device, and wherein the pre-staged proximity action includes presenting a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to receipt of the queued content.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving by the proximity service of the mobile device, input from a user input device consenting to the receipt of the queued content; and

establishing, by the proximity service of the mobile device in response to the input, an out-of-band connection to the other mobile device to receive the queued content.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising inferring a proximity function from a state of the peer application of the mobile device prior to receiving the indication from the proximity provider, and wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication of the inferred proximity function.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the joint proximity context includes an indication that the peer application of the mobile device has subscribed to messages on a namespace or an indication that the peer application of the mobile device has queued messages to be published on the namespace, and wherein the pre-staged proximity action includes one or more of receiving messages on the namespace from the other mobile device via the proximity connection and transmitting the queued messages to the other mobile device via the proximity connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer application and the other peer application are instances of a same application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer application is a gaming application.

12. A computing system, comprising:

a proximity provider;

a wireless communication radio;

one or more processors;

a proximity provider module executable by the one or more processors and configured to establish proximity connections via the proximity provider; and

a proximity service executable by the one or more processors and configured to;

receive an indication from the proximity provider that a proximity connection has been established between the computing system and a mobile proximity device;

exchange proximity information with another proximity service of the mobile proximity device upon establishment of the proximity connection between the computing system and the proximity mobile device, a portion of the proximity information including requested one or more proximity functions originating either from at least one of a plurality of applications of the computing system or at least one of a plurality of applications of the proximity mobile device via registration with either the proximity service or the other proximity service, wherein the one or more proximity functions include identifying and establishing a peer connection between a peer application of the computing system and a peer application on the mobile proximity device to enable multi-user features of the peer application of the computing system, wherein the proximity information includes an indication that the peer application of the mobile proximity device has registered to find the peer application;

initiate the establishment, upon a determination that the exchanged proximity information indicates a request to establish an additional connection between the peer application of the computing system and the peer application of the mobile proximity device, of communication between the peer application of the computing system and the peer application of the mobile proximity device via the wireless communication radio to enable the peer connection;

initiate a pre-staged proximity action to facilitate the one or more proximity functions, wherein the one or more proximity functions include at least one function different from establishing the communication; and

upon a determination that an application that corresponds to the peer application of the mobile proximity device is not installed on the computing system, present a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to acquiring the peer application.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the proximity service is further configured to cause, upon a determination that the peer application of the computing system is not executing in a foreground of a user interface of the computing system, display of a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to bring the peer application of the computing system to the foreground.

14. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the proximity service is further configured to cause, upon a determination that the peer application of the computing system that corresponds to the peer application of the mobile proximity device is not executing on the computing system, display of a user interface element that provides a selectable option to consent to acquiring the peer application of the computing system that corresponds to the peer application of the mobile proximity device for the computing device.

15. The computing system of claim 12, wherein the peer application of the computing system is a gaming application and the peer application of the mobile proximity device is the gaming application.

16. A computer storage device comprising a plurality of programming instructions that, upon execution by one or more processors of a computing device, causes the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving from a proximity service from a connecting device, in response to establishment of a proximity connection between the computing device and the connecting device via a proximity provider of the computing device, an inbound request to establish a peer connection between a first peer application, having multi-user collaboration features, of the computing device and a second peer application on the connecting device corresponding to the first peer application, wherein the inbound request includes a plurality of communication channel types available to the connecting device;

selecting a communication channel type for the peer connection from the plurality of communication channel types;

determining that the first peer application is not installed on the computing system;

upon determining that the first peer application is not installed on the computing system, presenting a first user interface element that provides a first selectable option to consent to acquiring the first peer application;

receiving a selection of the first selectable option;

in response to receiving the selection of the selectable option, installing the first peer application;

causing by the proximity service a second user interface element to be displayed, the user interface element including a second selectable option to consent to the peer connection between the first peer application and the second peer application; and

initiating, upon receipt of input indicating consent to the peer connection between the computing device and the connecting device, a connection between the first peer application and the second peer application via a communication provider of the device that differs from the proximity provider.

17. The computer storage device of claim 16, further comprising establishing a pairing connection between a pairing service of the computing device and a pairing service of the connecting device, and passing, to a pairing service of the computing device, information regarding the pairing connection in order to allow the pairing service of the computing device to communicate with the connecting device via the pairing connection.

18. The computer storage device of claim 16, wherein the inbound request includes information regarding the connecting device, and wherein the user interface element further includes the information regarding the connecting device.

19. The computer storage device of claim 16, wherein the method further includes determining by the proximity service a type of the communication provider.

20. The computer storage device of claim 16, wherein the selecting the communication channel type for the pairing connection from the plurality of communication channel types is further based at least in part on determining a communication rate of the communication channel type.