Sharing content with nearby devices

• US 10,638,261 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2017
• Issued: 04/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Kannan, Akshay
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tam T
• Application Number:
  US15/856,963
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Various aspects of the subject technology relate to systems, methods, and machine-readable media for sharing content with a nearby device. A system is configured receive, from a sending device, a request to share content, wherein the request comprises location information associated with a location of the sending device and content characteristics, determine, based on the location information and the content characteristics, that one or more receiving devices are within a proximity threshold of the location of the sending device and are capable of loading content associated with the content characteristics, receive, from the sending device, a selection of a receiving device from the one or more receiving devices and content to be shared, and provide the content to be shared to the selected receiving device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of sharing content, comprising:

transmitting, from a sending device, a request to share a content, the request to share the content includes location information associated with a location of the sending device and a content characteristic of the content to be shared;

receiving, by the sending device, a list of receiving devices including a plurality of receiving devices identified as commonly sharing a network with the sending device and within a proximity threshold distance of the sending device;

selecting, by the sending device, at least one receiving device from the list of receiving devices; and

transmitting, by the sending device, an indication of the selected receiving device and the content to a server.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request includes at least one of a location information indicating a list of detected networks associated with the sending device, a characteristic of the content to be shared, or an action to be performed for the content to be shared.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the sending device, the request to share the content.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture, and wherein the user gesture comprises a dragging gesture of a file associated with the content to be shared.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the selected receiving device and the content are transmitted from the sending device in separate communications.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sending device and the selected receiving device are on different sub-networks.

8. An apparatus for sharing content, comprising:

a processor; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

transmitting, from a sending device, a request to share a content, the request to share the content includes location information associated with a location of the sending device and a content characteristic of the content to be shared;

receiving, by the sending device, a list of receiving devices including a plurality of receiving devices identified as commonly sharing a network with the sending device and within a proximity threshold distance of the sending device;

selecting, by the sending device, at least one receiving device from the list of receiving devices; and

transmitting, by the sending device, an indication of the selected receiving device and the content to a server.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the request includes at least one of a location information indicating a list of detected networks associated with the sending device, a characteristic of the content to be shared, or an action to be performed for the content to be shared.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured for performing:

generating, by the sending device, the request to share the content.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture, and wherein the user gesture comprises a dragging gesture of a file associated with the content to be shared.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the indication of the selected receiving device and the content are transmitted from the sending device in separate communications.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sending device and the selected receiving device are on different sub-networks.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations for sharing content, the instructions being configured to:

transmit, from a sending device, a request to share a content, the request to share the content includes location information associated with a location of the sending device and a content characteristic of the content to be shared;

receive, by the sending device, a list of receiving devices including a plurality of devices identified as commonly sharing a network with the sending device and within a proximity threshold distance of the sending device;

select, by the sending device, at least one receiving device from the list of receiving devices; and

transmit, by the sending device, an indication of the selected receiving device and the content to a server.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the request includes at least one of a location information indicating a list of detected networks associated with the sending device, a characteristic of the content to be shared, or an action to be performed for the content to be shared.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to:

generate, by the sending device, the request to share the content.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the request to share the content is generated by the sending device in response to a user gesture, and wherein the user gesture comprises a dragging gesture of a file associated with the content to be shared.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the indication of the selected receiving device and the content are transmitted from the sending device in separate communications.