COOPERATIVE FEDERATION OF DIGITAL DEVICES VIA PROXEMICS AND DEVICE MICRO-MOBILITY

• US 20140280748A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hinckley, Kenneth P., Marquardt, Nicolai
• Granted Patent: US 9,294,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]

Abstract

The subject disclosure is directed towards co-located collaboration/data sharing that is based upon detecting the proxemics of people and/or the proxemics of devices. A federation of devices is established based upon proxemics, such as when the users have entered into a formation based upon distance between them and orientation. User devices may share content with other devices in the federation based upon micro-mobility actions performed on the devices, e.g., tilting and/or otherwise interacting with a sending device.

Claims

1. A system comprising, a server configured to process image data to determine a formation based upon proxemics of users having digital devices, the server further configured to maintain federation data corresponding to which devices are in the formation and to communicate the federation data to the devices to establish a federation between the devices.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the server dynamically updates the federation data and the devices upon a change to the formation.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the images comprise depth data, and wherein the server includes a processing pipeline that determines users within the depth data and the orientation of the users relative to one another.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the orientation of the users relative to one another comprises a face to face orientation, a side-to-side orientation, or a corner-to-corner orientation.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the server comprises a central server coupled to one or more cameras that provide the image data.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the devices in the federation are configured to communicate content with one another based upon one or more micro-mobility actions detected by at least one of the devices.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the micro-mobility actions comprise at least one of:

device tilting, device movement, touch gesture, pen gesture, or multi-touch gesture.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a device in the federation that is associated with the federation by proxemics but not associated with any one user.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the device comprises a digital whiteboard or other display mechanism configured to render content.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising radios having signals that are detected to associate devices to users.

11. A method comprising, establishing a federation among devices, including devices associated with users, including determining proxemics among at least two users having digital devices, at least one user and a digital device, or at least two digital devices, maintaining federation data indicative of the federation, and using the federation data to determine a set of federated devices that are able to communicate data between one another based upon the federation and one or more micro-mobility actions.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein maintaining the federation data comprises updating the federation data upon a change to the federation, and wherein using the federation data to determine the set of federated devices comprises communicating the federation data to the devices.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising, associating detected users with devices.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein one sending device shares content to at least one recipient device based upon the one or more micro-mobility actions, including moving the content from the sending device to the at least one recipient device or copying the content from the sending device, at least temporarily, to the at least one recipient device.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, at a recipient device, saving a copy of the content shared thereto based upon user interaction with the recipient device.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising, detecting a micro-mobility action, including detecting a tilting of the sending device.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising, taking a first sharing action based upon detecting a first amount of tilting of the sending device, or taking a second sharing action based upon detecting a second amount of tilting of the sending device.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising, sharing content to a device that displays the content to a plurality of users.

19. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, which when executed on at least one processor perform steps, comprising, receiving content at a recipient device from a sending device, in which the sending device and the recipient device are participants in a federation established via proxemics between the devices, and rendering the content on the recipient device, including rendering the content in partial, increasing amounts over time until fully rendered, the rendering in partial, increasing amounts occurring from one direction based upon the relative locations of the devices to have the content appear to have come from a direction of the sending device relative to the recipient device.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19 having further computer-executable instructions comprising, detecting at the sending device a first micro-mobility action or a second micro-mobility action, and sharing a full screen of content based on the first micro-mobility action, or sharing less than a full screen of content based upon the second micro-mobility action.