SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPLICATIONS ON MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES

• US 20110136507A1
• Filed: 12/03/2009
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OL Security LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Recursion Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Peterson, Robert W., Hauser, Robert R., Wheeler, Thomas T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,644,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

The functionality of smartphone applications may be extended to a basic phone, i.e., a phone lacking a particular smartphone capability, by providing a data synthesizer in the basic phone that synthesizers required data points. The data synthesizer may communicate with nearby smartphones to collect relevant data points such as location or motion data. Data points for the basic phone may be calculated from the collected data points. When an application on the basic phone requests data, a data provider proxy may retrieve a synthesized data point from the data synthesizer. In one example, a basic phone without a GPS or similar location module may execute a mapping application by averaging location data from nearby smartphones.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transmitting a data request from a mobile communications device to at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

receiving data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device responsive to the data request; and

processing the data in at least one application of the mobile communications device.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one application comprises a mapping application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for location data.

3. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the application comprises a motion application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for motion data.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data request comprises a request for enhanced data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device for at least one enhanced data service that is not available on the mobile communications device.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the enhanced data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

synthesizing at least one datapoint from the received enhanced data; and

utilizing the at least one synthesized datapoint in the at least one application.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein synthesizing the at least one datapoint comprises averaging a plurality of received data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications devices.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising discovering at least one another enhanced mobile communications device.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the data request comprises transmitting the data request across a short range communication protocol.

9. A mobile communications device, comprising:

at least one application; and

at least one data synthesizer configured to;

request data from at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

receive data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

generate at least one datapoint from the received data; and

provide the at least one datapoint to the at least one application.

10. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, further comprising a data provider proxy configured to:

receive a data request from the at least one application; and

provide the data request to the at least one data synthesizer.

11. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, wherein the data synthesizer is configured to generate a location datapoint from the data received from the at least one enhanced mobile communications devices.

12. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one data synthesizer is configured to generate a motion datapoint from the received data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device.

13. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one data synthesizer comprises:

a collected datapoints repository configured to store the received data; and

a synthesized datapoints repository configured to store the at least one datapoint generated from the received data.

14. The mobile communications device according to claim 9,

wherein the at least one data synthesizer is further configured to discover nearby enhanced mobile communications devices;

and

wherein the at least one data synthesizer is further configured to store identities of the nearby enhanced mobile communications devices.

15. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, further comprising a network access module configured for short range communication with the at least one enhanced mobile communication device.

16. The mobile communications device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one application comprises the at least one data synthesizer.

17-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A device, comprising:

means for transmitting a data request from a mobile communications device to at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

means for receiving data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device responsive to the data request; and

means for processing the data in at least one application of the mobile communications device.

22. The device of claim 21,

wherein the at least one application comprises a mapping application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for location data.

23. The device of claim 21,

wherein the application comprises a motion application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for motion data.

24. The device of claim 21, wherein the data request comprises a request for enhanced data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device for at least one enhanced data service that is not available on the mobile communications device.

25. The device of claim 24, further comprising:

means for receiving the enhanced data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

means for synthesizing at least one datapoint from the received enhanced data; and

means for utilizing the at least one synthesized datapoint in the at least one application.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein said means for synthesizing the at least one datapoint comprises means for averaging a plurality of received data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications devices.

27. The device of claim 21, further comprising means for discovering at least another enhanced mobile communications device.

28. The device of claim 21, wherein said means for transmitting the data request comprises means for transmitting the data request across a short range communication protocol.

29. An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that configure a processing system to:

transmit a data request from a mobile communications device to at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

receive data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device responsive to the data request; and

process the data in at least one application of the mobile communications device.

30. The article of claim 29,

wherein the at least one application comprises a mapping application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for location data.

31. The article of claim 29,

wherein the application comprises a motion application;

and

wherein the data request comprises a request for motion data.

32. The article of claim 29, wherein the data request comprises a request for enhanced data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device for at least one enhanced data service that is not available on the mobile communications device.

33. The article of claim 32, further configuring the processing system to:

receive the enhanced data at the mobile communications device from the at least one enhanced mobile communications device;

synthesize at least one datapoint from the received enhanced data; and

utilize the at least one synthesized datapoint in the at least one application.

34. The article of claim 33, further configuring the processing system to:

average a plurality of received data from the at least one enhanced mobile communications devices.

35. The article of claim 29, further configuring the processing system to:

discover at least another enhanced mobile communications device.

36. The article of claim 29, further configuring the processing system to:

transmit the data request across a short range communication protocol.