Device controller and viewer

• US 10,735,557 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2017
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elo Touch Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Elo Touch Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: North, Kenneth, Prasad, Ragini Rajendra, Power, Michael James, Ansari, Haroun Ansari Mohammed, Pendse, Neeraj
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chung, Mong-Shune
• Application Number:
  US15/400,584
• Publication Number:
  US 20170201599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Method, apparatus and computer program product embodiments are provided for distributing and installing content and settings on client devices without receiving any user input at the client devices, which limit usage of the client device a user at the client device to a first set of the usage activities. A device controller may remotely configure and control client devices by providing instructions and content for distribution to the client devices. The instructions may cause the client devices to install the content on the client devices without requiring any user input to initiate the installation or during installation of the content. The client device may be further configured to allow management of the client device by the device controller.

Claims

1. A method for remotely configuring and controlling a client device without user input at the client device, the method comprising:

providing usage activities at the client device;

limiting usage of the client device by a user at the client device to a first set of the usage activities, wherein the first set includes an interaction activity;

receiving, at the client device via a drag and drop interface, an instruction and distributed content from a device controller, wherein the distributed content is represented by a thumbnail provided via the drag and drop interface;

based on the received instruction received via the drag and drop interface, initiating installation of the distributed content on the client device without receiving any input from the user at the client device to initiate the installation of the distributed content and without receiving any input from the user at the client device during the installation of the distributed content;

installing the distributed content, by an operating system on the client device, without invoking an application program interface that requires additional input activity or directed response interaction; and

allowing management of the client device by the device controller according to a second set of the usage activities.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, during the installation of the distributed content, the method further comprises:

preventing, by the operating system on the client device, displaying on the client device requests for any input from the user of the client device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the client device, a second instruction and a setting property of the client device, wherein the setting property controls at least one of;

a volume, a brightness level, a contrast level, and a color setting of the client device; and

based on the second instruction, changing a setting of the client device according to the setting property without receiving any input from the user at the client device to change the setting of the client device, wherein changing the setting of the client device is a usage activity of the second set.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving touch-related input from the user at the client device, wherein the touch-related input is related to a usage activity of the first set;

storing the touch-related input in the client device; and

transmitting the touch-related input to the device controller.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the client device, a second instruction and a client parameter of the client device, wherein the client parameter controls at least one of;

a browser on the client device, a content display mode of the client device, a homepage timeout property of the client device, a cache size on the client device, and a time interval for clearing browser-related cookies or user data; and

based on the second instruction, installing the client parameter on the client device without receiving any input from the user at the client device to install the client parameter on the client device, wherein installing the client parameter on the client device is a usage activity of the second set.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a network connection exists between the client device and the device controller;

in response determining that the network connection does not exist, determining whether off-line content is available to the client device; and

in response to determining that the off-line content is available, retrieving the off-line content.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device is pre-programmed to communicate with the device controller when the client device connects to a network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage activities are determined by a modified operating system of the client device.

9. A client device, comprising:

a touch-sensitive display; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the touch-sensitive display and configured to;

provide usage activities;

limit usage of the client device by a user at the client device to a first set of the usage activities, wherein the first set includes an interaction activity;

receive, via a drag and drop interface, an instruction and distributed content from a device controller wherein the distributed content is represented by a thumbnail provided via the drag and drop interface;

based on the received instruction received via the drop and drop interface, initiate installation of the distributed content on the client device without receiving any input from the user at the client device to initiate the installation of the distributed content and without receiving any input from the user at the client device during the installation of the distributed content;

install the distributed content, by an operating system on the client device without invoking an application program interface that requires additional input activity or directed response interaction; and

allow management of the client device by the device controller according to a second set of the usage activities.

10. The client device of claim 9, wherein, during the installation of the distributed content, the processor is further configured to:

prevent, by the operating system on the client device, displaying on the touch-sensitive display, requests for any input from the user of the client device.

11. The client device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a second instruction and a setting property, wherein the setting property controls at least one of;

a volume, a brightness level, a contrast level, and a color setting of the client device and the second set of the usage activities includes changing a setting of the client device based on the setting property; and

based on the second instruction, change the setting of the client device based on the setting property without receiving any input from the user of the client device to change the setting of the client device, wherein changing the setting of the client device is a usage activity of the second set.

12. The client device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive touch-related input on the touch-sensitive display from the user of the client device, wherein the touch-related input is related to a usage activity of the first set;

store the touch-related input in the client device; and

transmit the touch-related input to the device controller.

13. The client device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a second instruction and a client parameter, wherein the client parameter controls at least one of;

a browser on the client device, a content display mode of the client device, a homepage timeout property of the client device, a cache size on the client device, and a time interval for clearing browser-related cookies or user data; and

based on the second instruction, install the client parameter on the client device without receiving any input from the user of the client device to install the client parameter on the client device, wherein installing the client parameter on the client device is a usage activity of the second set.

14. The client device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine whether a network connection exists between the client device and the device controller;

in response determining that the network connection does not exist, determine whether off-line content is available to the client device; and

in response to determining that the off-line content is available, retrieve the off-line content.

15. The client device of claim 9, wherein the processor is pre-programmed to communicate with the device controller when the client device connects to a network.

16. A method for remotely configuring and controlling a client device without user input at the client device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a device controller, a selection for remotely configuring the client device;

based on the selection, determining distributed content for transmitting to the client device; and

transmitting, by the device controller, an instruction and the distributed content to the client device, wherein the instruction is configured to;

cause the client device to install the distributed content without receiving any input from the user of the client device to initiate installation of the distributed content and without receiving any input from the user of the client device during the installation of the distributed content; and

install the distributed content, by an operating system on the client device without invoking an application program interface that requires additional input activity or directed response interaction.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the instruction is further configured to:

prevent, by the operating system on the client device, displaying on the client device requests for any input from the user of the client device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

transmitting, by the device controller, a second instruction and a setting property of the client device, wherein the setting property controls at least one of;

a volume, a brightness level, a contrast level, and a color setting of the client device; and

wherein the second instruction is configured to cause the client device to change a setting based on the setting property without receiving any input from the user of the client device to change the setting.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, by the device controller, first touch-related input from the client device;

receiving, by the device controller, second touch-related input from another client device; and

performing data analytics on the first touch-related input and the second touch-related input.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying a drag-and-drop user interface for the device controller, wherein the drag-and-drop user interface includes a first section and a second section;

displaying, within the first section, a content library, wherein the content library includes an identifier representing the distributed content;

displaying, within the second section, a client device listing, wherein the client device listing includes an identifier representing the client device; and

receiving, as the selections, a drag-and-drop input, wherein the drag-and-drop input indicates that the identifier representing the distributed content has been placed with the identifier representing the client device.