Title METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SHARING DATA 5 Field The present invention relates to a computerized method and system for sharing data items between a group of users. 10 Background to the Invention The sharing of digital information between people is a ubiquitous feature of the computer age. With the advent of personal always-on mobile devices and massive reductions 15 in costs per byte and increases in bandwidth, the popularity of sharing large data items electronically between groups of people has grown. While the shared data items are typically of a personal character such as photos shared between friends and family, the uses of widespread 20 data sharing extend to all aspects of human endeavour including, commercial, professional and military. Paradigms for interfacing the sharing and transfer of data between people are still largely based on personal 25 computer software models such as email programs whereby a user sends a message with or without attachments to another user or a plurality of users on a distribution list. Email interfaces typically display messages received or sent in a scrollable list, and the selection of 30 recipients is accomplished by selecting the recipients from another scrollable list. SMS text messaging, while confined mainly to operation on small hand held devices, follows the list-based email model. 35 There is a growing need for a more intuitive user-friendly and informal interface for sharing data items between uses, in particular one which is best suited to the common situation of communication between a small group of -2 individuals. The inventors of the current invention have found a much improved method of interfacing the sharing of data items 5 between individuals, that exploits the natural attraction to representations of spatial location and is particularly suited to touch screens. Summary of the Invention 10 According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method for a user of a communications device sharing data item(s) with one or more of a plurality of data recipients being other persons or groups of people 15 accessing other communication devices in direct wireless communication with the user, comprising the steps of: selecting one or more data items to share; displaying symbols in a two-dimensional geometrical space on a display, at least some of which 20 represent individuals or groups of the data recipients, one or more of the symbols in the space being positioned so as to reflect a physical or notional location relative to the user of the individual or group represented by the symbol; 25 selecting one or more of the symbols as destinations for the data item(s); and sharing the data item(s) with the destination(s). In one embodiment, the step of sharing may comprise a 30 transfer to a data memory of an intended recipient of at least a readable version of the data item(s). According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a system to enable a user to share data item(s) 35 with one or more of a plurality of data recipients being other persons or groups of people accessing other communications devices in direct wireless communication with the user, comprising - 3 a communications device having a user interface including a display; a data item selector for selecting one or more data items to share; 5 a symbol display controller for displaying symbols in a two-dimensional geometrical space on the display, at least some of which represent individuals or groups of the data recipients, one or more of the symbols being positioned in the space so as to reflect a physical 10 or notional location relative to the user of the individual or group represented by the symbol; a destination selector selecting one or more of the symbols as destinations for the data item(s); and a data sharer for sharing the data item(s) with 15 the destination(s). In one embodiment, the data sharer is adapted to transfer at least a readable version of the data item(s) to a data memory of an intended recipient. 20 Brief Description of Drawings Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example data item sharing system of the current invention; 25 Figure 2 shows a flow diagram for the method of interfacing the sharing of data items of an embodiment of the current invention. 30 Figures 3-14 show displays in a sharing session according to an embodiment of the current invention. Figures 15-19 show the operation of an additional option feature of the invention enabling a three-dimensional 35 augmented reality.
- 4 Detailed Description of embodiments Referring to the drawings, there is shown various aspects of a data sharing system, controller and method according 5 to an embodiment of the invention. The system may take a number of different forms. In a preferred form, the use interface is provided by a touch screen display and the data is communicated between the 10 users by wireless means. In a second form, the interface may be provided by a computer screen, keyboard and mouse and the data may be communicated by fixed line facilities. A typical implementation of the preferred form involves a 15 personal mobile device with touch screen interface such as an Apple* iPhone*, comprising optionally position and orientation sensing capabilities such as can be provided by one or more sources such as GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, wireless triangulation, optic flow 20 software, also optimally comprising a camera, and having access to wireless data transmission capabilities such as a commonly provided over the mobile phone network or WiFi networks. The data items will typically be stored on the mobile device but also commonly stored remotely from the 25 users. Referring now to Figure 1, the core components at the broadest level are the data item sharing system 10 comprising a user interface 20 and a data item sharing 30 controller 30, communicating with a data memory 40 which may be located either locally and/or remotely. In one embodiment data memory 40 includes a data items database 420, descriptor table 422 and restriction tag table 421. 35 Components of the user interface 20 include a display 200 such as an LCD screen and a position selector 210 such as touch sensors on the display 200 to provide touch screen functionality. Also provided in this typical mobile - 5 implementation are movement and orientation sensors 220 such as an accelerometer and magnetometer which can be used in conjunction with GPS or other positioning information to provide an absolute position and 5 orientation for the mobile device. The data item sharing controller 30 is in data communication with the user interface 20 and data memory 40 and typically contains or is implemented in software on 10 a processor, typically the CPU of the mobile device. Herein the term "processor" is used to refer generically to any device that can perform this function and may include: a microprocessor, microcontroller, programmable logic device or other computational device, a general 15 purpose computer (e.g. a PC) or a server. For the sharing of media data items, data items database 420 may be accompanied as is known in the art by a restriction tag table 421 to assist searching and 20 selection, typically containing textual or binary content based information in relation to each media item, but may also contain some native media information such as media type (e.g. colour / B&W). Data memory 40 may also contain descriptor table 422 of derived descriptors for each media 25 item as described herein which typically originate from native audiovisual descriptors but may also originate from content-based information. Data memory 40 also contains user table 424 having data 30 relating to each user such as names, electronic addresses or phone numbers and access privileges and display item table 423 containing a list of items for display, their actual geographical position if known and/or relevant and their positions and associated symbols on a two 35 dimensional region of display 200, which represents a geometrical space and may reflect geographical position. This list of items for display typically includes user symbols indicating different users, and also data item - 6 symbols indicating data items that may be shared with the users. Display item table 423 and user table 424 will typically 5 include data, such as the geographical location of the other recipients (where the recipients are physical people), which is updated continually over the internet via communications electronics 600 from a coordinating program on a server which the other recipients' devices 10 are also in contact. This data may alternatively or in addition be updated via direct connection between two or more users, using any appropriate wireless mode of communication such as Bluetooth. 15 Data memory 40 further may contain map data that may enable display of the data recipients in a map to indicate actual position in a city. Data item sharing controller 30 has symbol display 20 controller 310 for positioning symbols on display 200. The symbols include recipient symbols indicating individuals or groups of the recipients, data item symbols indicating individual data items or collections thereof, and data receptacle symbols indicating a virtual parcel, gallery, 25 post box or library that can be accessed by users. Data item sharing controller 30 also has data item selector 320 for selecting one or more data items to share, destination selector 330 for selecting one or more destinations of the data items, and data sharer 340 for effecting transfer or 30 sharing of the data items to the destinations via communicator 500. Sharing may comprise a transfer to a data memory owned by an intended recipient of a copy of the data item(s), or simply recording of the recipient in a list of approved recipients to be granted access to the 35 data item. Referring now to Figure 2, one embodiment of the method aspect of the invention is depicted in a flow diagram.
- 7 In steps 1201, 1202 and 1203, actions performed by the user are to select data items, select destination symbols and then to share the data items with one or more of the 5 data recipients represented by the destination symbols. In step 1205, the system continually monitors the movement and orientation of the touch screen. This monitoring is performed by the accelerometer, which detects both movement and the gravitational field, and the 10 magnetometer, which detects the earth's magnetic field and hence orientation of the touch sheen with respect to local geography. While the touch screen is held generally horizontal such as would be parallel to the surface of a table, the system maintains the symbols in a two 15 dimensional geometrical space (step 1204). In this mode, if the touch screen is reoriented, the symbols may be moved on the display as the physical spatial orientation changes so as to maintain a correspondence of the two dimensional spatial location with physical space. If the 20 touch screen is held away from a horizontal plane, the system enters a 3D augmented reality mode (step 1207), where the camera of the phone is used to superimpose a real-time image of the view behind the screen with representation of the symbols as if hanging in space. If 25 the symbol is a user, personal details may appear. It the symbol represents a data item, details of the data item may be shown, such as a still from a movie. Now referring to Figure 3, an example two-dimensional 30 geometrical space is shown, while the touch screen is held horizontally. The system is implemented as an application on an iPhone. The centre of the screen is to be considered the position of the user of the device, with the "up" direction on the screen representing the space in front of 35 the user. The five symbols shown represent either physical objects such as a user or data objects notionally located in the - 8 geometrical space. The flower-like symbol is another user, who is registered as in data communication with the user and whose position in space is in front of the user and to the left. This example contemplates that the two users are 5 in the same room, but analogous examples can involve users in the same or different cities, for which the position on the screen can be referred to a physical map, or for which the position on the screen is purely notional. The user is able to detect presence with other users by communication 10 with a server. This is acheived via Global Navigation Satellite System (via GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, or other similar satellite system) or assisted GNSS, where the geospatial location of a device is ascertained with reduced error via contact with other wireless transcievers 15 (such as in a Differential GPS or Real Time Kinematic system), deadreckoning via motion sensor, orbital extensions, or contact with other GPS enabled devices and their respective location estimates (short-baseline RTK) or fixed WiFi transceivers. An alternative means of 20 detecting presence of other users could be via a scanner in the mobile device itself (via as an RFID scanner or Ultra Wide Band radar, or similar technology). 25 The other symbols represent data items that are notionally located in the space and which the other user is potentially also able to view on his or her screen and are "shared". The circular symbol represents an audio file, the film symbol represents a video or movie, the Square 30 symbol with diagonals represents an image and the circular symbol with an X superimposed represents a parcel such as a collection of media items which may be of different types. 35 Figure 4 shows the screen after the user has touched the square function button in the bottom left. The function button becomes coloured and five option buttons appear. One of these is labelled "SHARE" and the user touches it - 9 which in Figure 5 becomes coloured. Figure 6 shows the screen that now appears, with a breadcrumb trail developing along the bottom and in the body of the screen are labelled regions representing categories of data items 5 in the user's possession. The user touches "IMAGE," and a in Figure 7 a new screen appears with sub-categories and a section for a keyword tag if desired. The user touches "Japan" and as shown in Figure 8 three stored photographs appear with selection buttons in the centre of each. The 10 user touches the centre image selection button which becomes coloured as seen in Figure 9. The step of data item selection is now complete. Figure 10 shows that the two-dimensional symbol screen now 15 reappears with a symbol for the image to be shared in the centre (square with upwards pointing arrow). Optionally the image itself may appear in the background. In order for the recipient "someone" represented by the flower symbol to be selected, the user turns to the left and in 20 response to magnetometer signals the symbols rotate on the screen until as shown in Figure 11 the flower symbol appears at the top of the screen when the recipient "someone" is in front of the user. In this case "someone" is an actual person accessing a respective device. A line 25 connects the centre of the screen and the flow symbol, as an aid to unambiguous selection. The user now uses a flicking gesture from the centre of the screen towards the flower symbol to indicate selection of the destination, which is shown confirmed in Figure 12, where the option to 30 view the data item is offered. If this option is touched, the data item is displayed in full screen as shown in Figure 13. Touching the screen returns to the two dimensional symbol view again in Figure 14 (the user has turned back to the original orientation, with "someone" to 35 the left). Now referring to Figures 15 to 19, operation of the 3-D augmented reality mode will be demonstrated. From the - 10 display of Figure 14, the user lifts the touch screen up to view the scene in front. The camera turns on and the various symbols can be viewed in Figure 15 as if hanging in space in front of the real scene. In Figure 16, when 5 the user has tilted the screen all the way to vertical, the contents of the film symbol can be seen hanging in space. As the user changes orientation, so the film object moves on the screen to give the augmented reality perception of a film object in physical space, shown when 10 fully centred on the screen in Figure 17. Touching the object allows playing of the video, as shown in Figure 18 and Figure 19. Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that many 15 other variations may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention. In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context 20 requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further 25 features in various embodiments of the invention. Further, recitation of the method steps in a particular order does not imply serial performance unless the context requires. In particular, the displaying and selecting 30 steps of the current invention typically occur in parallel. Further still, the term "communications device" encompasses any device capable of sending a data 35 communication in any form and includes an internet connected desktop computer as well as a wireless enabled PDA or telephone.
- 11 It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any 5 other country.