KR20180038522A - Forward activity-related information from the source electronic device to the companion electronic device - Google Patents

Abstract

The described embodiments convey activity from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device. The source electronic device receives the activity information describing the activity performed in the first application of the source electronic device and broadcasts an activity advertisement containing an activity identifier for the activity. When receiving an activity advertisement, the accompanying electronic device determines whether a second application associated with the first application is available in the accompanying electronic device. If a second application is available, the companion electronic device obtains extended activity data from the source electronic device, constructs a second application using the expanded activity data, To start the activity. The source electronic device may also forward activity related information (e.g., information from the copy and paste clipboard in the source electronic device) to the accompanying electronic device.

Description

Forward activity-related information from the source electronic device to the companion electronic device

Related application

This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 586,566, filed December 30, 2014, entitled " Activity Continuation Between Electronic Devices, " This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/1994, filed May 30, 2014, entitled " Activity Continuation between Electronic Devices, " / 005,781. Both of these applications are incorporated by reference.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/1992, entitled " Companion Application for Activity Cooperation ", filed Marc J. Krochmal, Christopher S. Linn, John J. Iarocci, Geoffrey Stahl, and Jacques P. Gasselin de Richebourg, Pending U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 586,511, Attorney Docket No. APL-P23129US1. This application also claims the benefit of the inventors Craig P. Dooley, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Anjali S. Sandesara, and Michael J. Giles on September 2, 2014, entitled " Operating Mode Transitions Based on Advertising Information " This application is related to co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 475,329, Attorney Docket No. APL-P22643US1. The present application is also related to the assignee of the present invention, entitled " Predefined Wireless Pairing ", filed on September 2, 2014 by inventors Jason C. Conn, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Craig P. Dooley, and Michael J. Giles This application is related to co-pending U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 474,466, entitled APL-P22642US1. The present invention is further described in the context of "Activity Continuation Between Electronic Devices" and inventors Christopher S. Linn, Keith Stattenfield, Christopher C. Jensen, Alexander R. Ledwith, David A. Carter, Marc J. Krochmal, John J. Iarocci, and Jonathan M. Grynspan, pending U.S. Patent Application No. 14 / 586,566, filed December 30, 2014, Attorney Docket No. APL-P22791US1. Each of the above-described applications is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical field

The disclosed embodiments relate to an electronic device. More particularly, the disclosed embodiments relate to forwarding activity-related information from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device.

Recent advances in computer technology have allowed manufacturers to produce powerful computing devices in a variety of form factors, so users can use small handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets to perform tasks that once would have required a desktop or laptop computer I can do it. Owing to these advances, users often carry and use multiple computing devices, such as smartphones, tablets during a meeting, and laptop or desktop computers on the go, while on the go.

Although the user has different devices each having powerful computing capabilities, in some cases, the user may find himself using the task being performed, or a device that does not fit the situation the user is in . For example, if a user initiated a short e-mail on a device with a small display screen, such as a smart phone, but the e-mail was longer than expected, it would be difficult to enter and edit text in the e-mail due to the size of the display screen . ≪ / RTI > Alternatively, the user may be reading web pages on the desktop or watching a movie, but may have to leave the room where the desktop is located. Although the user can initiate the task by bringing in another device, this is cumbersome.

1 shows a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according to some embodiments.
2 shows a block diagram illustrating a network environment in accordance with some embodiments.
3 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process for broadcasting an activity advertisement message, in accordance with some embodiments.
4 illustrates a flow chart illustrating a process for storing activity information describing activities available in a companion electronic device, in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 5 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for requesting extended activity data and delivering activities, in accordance with some embodiments.
6 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for responding to a request for extended activity data, in accordance with some embodiments.
7 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining whether a second application is available to a companion electronic device, according to some embodiments.
8 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining a second application using a flag, in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 9 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining whether a second application is available if an activity identifier identifies an entry in a structure storing advertised activities, in accordance with some embodiments.
10 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining the most recent activity from two or more activity advertisement messages, in accordance with some embodiments.
11 shows a block diagram illustrating activity information according to some embodiments.
12 shows a block diagram illustrating an advertised-activity table in accordance with some embodiments.
13 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity advertisement message in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 14 shows a block diagram illustrating a resumable-activity indication in accordance with some embodiments.
15 shows a swim lane diagram illustrating messages exchanged between electronic devices, in accordance with some embodiments.
16 illustrates a block diagram illustrating electronic devices proximate to each other in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 17 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for forwarding activity related information from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device, in accordance with some embodiments.
18 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity related information advertisement generated by a source electronic device according to some embodiments.
19 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for receiving activity-related information from a source electronic device at a companion electronic device, in accordance with some embodiments.
20 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity related information availability indicator in accordance with some embodiments.
In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like elements.

The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the described embodiments, and is provided in connection with the specific application and its requirements. Various modifications to the described embodiments will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the described embodiments. have. Accordingly, the described embodiments are not to be limited to the embodiments shown, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

In some embodiments, an electronic device (e.g., electronic device 100 and / or portion thereof in FIG. 1) may include code and / or code stored in a computer readable storage medium to perform some or all of the operations described herein. Or data. More particularly, the electronic device reads code and / or data from a computer-readable storage medium and executes code and / or uses data when performing the described operations. In these embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium can be any device or medium or combination thereof for storing code and / or data for use by an electronic device. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable storage media include volatile or nonvolatile memory such as semiconductor memory (e.g., flash memory, random access memory (eDRAM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM, DDR, DDR2 / DDR3 / DDR4 SDRAM, etc.) , And / or magnetic or optical storage media (e.g., disk drives, magnetic tape, CD, DVD). In the described embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium does not include a non-statutory computer readable storage medium such as temporal signals.

In some embodiments, one or more hardware modules are configured to perform the operations described herein. For example, the hardware modules may include one or more of a processor / core / central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a cache / cache controller, But are not limited to, a processor, a unit, an embedded processor, a graphics processor (GPU) / graphics core, a pipeline, and / or other programmable logic devices. When these hardware modules are activated, the hardware modules perform some or all of the operations. In some embodiments, the hardware modules include one or more general-purpose circuits configured by executing instructions (program code, firmware, etc.) for performing operations.

In the present description, functional blocks may be referred to in the description of some embodiments. In general, functional blocks include one or more interrelated circuits, devices, and / or mechanisms that perform the described operations. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional blocks include general-purpose processing circuits that execute program code (e.g., microcode, firmware, applications, etc.) that cause the general purpose processing circuits to perform the described operations.

summary

The described embodiments convey activities performed in a source electronic device from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device, which process is referred to as "continuing " its activity in a companion electronic device. In the described embodiments, the source electronic device for transferring transmits information to the companion electronic device describing the activities performed in the first application of the source electronic device. The companion electronic device then uses some or all of the information to configure a second application of the companion electronic device to perform the corresponding activity. In general, the activity includes at least one operation that is performed at least partially on the source electronic device and / or on the accompanying electronic device that is delivered to the accompanying electronic device. Examples of activities include reading and / or editing a document (e.g., a word processing document, spreadsheet, presentation, or other type of document), writing an email message, email, voice message or video, drafting a note , Browsing the web site, watching a movie, playing an audio file, or otherwise performing an action using an application or an app.

In some embodiments, when delivering an activity from a source device to a companion device, the source electronic device first uses the wireless network interface (e.g., Bluetooth low energy (BLE), ZigBee, etc.) Message (also referred to as "activity advertisement"). In some embodiments, the source electronic device generates an activity identifier for the activity performed in the first application of the source electronic device, and includes an activity identifier in the activity advertisement message. The source electronic device generates an activity identifier by performing a set of actions (e.g., a hash action, etc.) using the activity information describing the activity received from the first application. Examples of activity information will be described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

The companion electronic device monitors the network (e.g., the Bluetooth low energy network) for the activity advertisement message on the network interface corresponding to the network interface in the source electronic device that broadcast the activity advertisement. Upon detecting an activity advertisement broadcast from the source electronic device, the companion electronic device compares the activity identifiers for the activities available in the companion electronic device with the activity identifier in the activity advertisement message. The companion electronic device uses this comparison to determine whether a second application capable of performing an activity corresponding to the activity performed in the first application is available in the accompanying electronic device.

In some embodiments, if the second application determines that a second application is available, the accompanying electronic device may communicate via the communication channel (e.g., the same wireless network interface used to receive the activity advertisement message, or a different wireless and / And establishes communication with the source electronic device (using the network interface). The accompanying electronic device then uses the communication channel to request extended activity data from the source electronic device for the activity performed in the first application. In some embodiments, when receiving a request for extended activity data, the source electronic device provides the extended activity data to the accompanying electronic device using the same (or different) communication channel. Generally, extended activity data includes information that can be used to configure a second application in a companion electronic device to continue activities related to activities performed in the first application, such as a document identifier, a scroll location, a URL (uniform resource locator) .

In some embodiments, the companion electronic device uses the activity identifier and / or extended activity data to configure a second application to perform an activity corresponding to the activity performed in the first application of the source electronic device. The accompanying electronic device then starts performing the activity in the second application of the accompanying electronic device. For example, after a companion electronic device has configured a second application, the user may use the accompanying electronic device to continue working on the document the user was working on at the source electronic device, Or continue browsing the web page that the user was browsing on the source electronic device, and so on. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device sends a notification to the source electronic device to indicate that the activity has been delivered to the second application. The notification may cause the source electronic device and / or the first application to perform housekeeping tasks, such as deleting a document draft for an activity, closing an open document for an activity, and the like.

In some embodiments, in addition to the activity identifier and / or the extended activity data described above, the source electronic device forwards the activity related information to the accompanying electronic device. For example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device forwards part or all of the contents of the copy and paste clipboard (or "clipboard") within the source electronic device to the accompanying electronic device. When receiving activity-related information, the accompanying electronic device provides activity-related information for performing activities (e.g., delivered activities or other activities) in the accompanying electronic device. For example, in embodiments in which some or all of the contents of the clipboard are forwarded from the source electronic device, the accompanying electronic device may provide some or all of the existing content of the clipboard in the accompanying electronic device to the clipboard Can be overwritten. In this manner, the accompanying electronic device can make the contents of the clipboard (i. E., Activity related information) from the source electronic device available to activities in the accompanying electronic device. For example, text, images, video, sound, files, fields, and / or other information copied (or otherwise placed in) on the clipboard in the source electronic device may be transferred via the clipboard of the accompanying electronic device, And may be made available to activities in the accompanying electronic device.

By performing the above-described operations for continuing the activities performed in the source electronic device at the source electronic device, the described embodiments enable the user to continue the task seamlessly and without complicated user intervention. This allows the user to more easily perform tasks on the desired electronic device, which can improve the overall experience of the user using two or more electronic devices.

Electronic device

1 illustrates a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 100 in accordance with some embodiments. The electronic device 100 includes a processing subsystem 102, a memory subsystem 104, a networking subsystem 106, and a display subsystem 108.

The processing subsystem 102 is a functional block that performs computational operations in the electronic device 100. The processing subsystem 102 includes one or more central processing unit (CPU) / CPU cores, a graphics processing unit (GPU) / GPU core, an embedded processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and /

Memory subsystem 104 is a functional block that stores data and / or instructions for use by other functional blocks (e.g., processing subsystem 102, etc.) within electronic device 100. Memory subsystem 104 may include volatile memory circuits, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), and / or other types of memory used to store instructions and data, Lt; / RTI > In some embodiments, memory subsystem 104 includes a memory hierarchy having one or more caches coupled to memory circuits. In some of these embodiments, the processing subsystem 102 also includes one or more caches that are part of a memory hierarchy.

In some embodiments, the memory subsystem 104 is coupled to one or more non-volatile high capacity mass storage devices (not shown). For example, the memory subsystem 104 may be coupled to a magnetic or optical drive, a solid state drive, or other type of mass storage device. In these embodiments, the memory subsystem 104 may be used by the electronic device 100 as a fast-access storage for often-used data, while the mass-storage device may store less frequently used data .

Networking subsystem 106 is a functional block that includes one or more devices configured to couple to and communicate with (i.e., perform network operations) wired and / or wireless networks. For example, the networking subsystem 106 may be a Bluetooth ™ networking system, a cellular networking system (eg, a 3G / 4G network such as UMTS, LTE, etc.), a universal serial bus (USB) networking system, IEEE 802.11, 802.15 (E.g., a ZigBee, a Wi-Fi networking system, etc.), an Ethernet networking system, and / or other networking systems based on standards described in US Pat. The networking subsystem 106 includes processors, controllers, radios / antennas, sockets / plugs, etc., that are used to couple to, communicate with, and process data and events for each supported networking system , ≪ / RTI > and / or other devices. In the description that follows, the mechanisms used to connect to, communicate through, and process data and events for each network system are collectively referred to as "interfaces" or " do.

Display subsystem 108 is a functional block that includes one or more devices configured to display information on a visual interface to electronic device 100. [ For example, in some embodiments, the display subsystem 108 includes graphics processors (GPUs), graphics cards, and / or display screens used to display information.

In some embodiments, communication paths (including one or more buses, wires, and / or connections) may be provided to functional blocks within the electronic device 100 System 102, memory subsystem 104, etc.). Communication paths are used to transmit commands, data, event notifications, and / or other information between the components.

Certain components are used to describe the electronic device 100, but in some embodiments different components and / or subsystems may be present in the electronic device 100. [ For example, the electronic device 100 may include one or more additional processing subsystems 102, memory subsystems 104, and the like. Additionally, one or more of the subsystems may not be present in the electronic device 100, or some or all of the functionality of the subsystem may be integrated into the other subsystems. Moreover, in some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include one or more additional subsystems not shown in FIG. For example, electronic device 100 may include a data acquisition subsystem, an audio and / or video subsystem, an alarm subsystem, a media processing subsystem, and / or an input / output (I / O) It is not limited.

The electronic device 100 may be, or may be included in, any device that performs computational operations. For example, the electronic device 100 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computing device, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a server, a network appliance, a toy, an audio- (E.g., a vehicle interface system, a navigation system, a head-up display, etc.), a consumer electronics device, a controller, and / or the like, and / or combinations thereof. (Apple TV is a registered trademark of Apple Inc., Cupertino, Calif.).

Network environment

2 shows a block diagram illustrating a network environment in accordance with some embodiments. 2, the network environment 200 includes a source electronic device 202, a companion electronic device 204, a second source electronic device 206 (collectively referred to as an "electronic device"). do. In some embodiments, each of the electronic devices is an electronic device similar to the electronic device 100, i. E., Has a subsystem similar to the electronic device 100. However, this is not essential; The described embodiments may use any electronic device capable of performing the operations described herein.

The source electronic device 202 and the second source electronic device 206 are electronic devices that participate in the exchange of communications with the accompanying electronic device 204 in connection with the activity transfer operation. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 (and / or the second source electronic device 206) is an electronic device that is recognized by the companion electronic device 204 and is therefore allowed to participate in an activity transfer operation. For example, both the source electronic device 202 and the companion electronic device 204 may have been registered with a service provider using the same account, and therefore may be able to recognize each other through information stored in each electronic device. For example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 participate in a pre-pairing operation, e. G., A predefined pairing (and recognize each other via information obtained thereby) Quot ;, which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth in its entirety by the inventors Jason C. Conn, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Craig P. Dooley, and Michael Giles, inventors named "Predefined Wireless Pairing" As described in pending U.S. Patent Application No. xx / xxx, xxx, Attorney Docket No. APL-P22642USP1, In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 are configured to communicate with each other using the device-to-device identification factor (encryption key, certificate Etc.).

Within network environment 200, a companion electronic device 204 can communicate with a source electronic device (not shown) using a wireless communication signal 208 (illustrated using a zigzag line labeled "communication signal 208" 202 and the second source electronic device 206. [ In some embodiments, the communication signal 208 may be formatted and exchanged in accordance with a corresponding wireless protocol-for example, via a wireless network protocol such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, an 802.11-based protocol, and / (Broadcast, transmission / reception, etc.). In some embodiments, some or all of the communication signals 208 are communicated as wired communication signals, such as signals such as wired Ethernet, wired LAN, wired WAN, and the like.

In some embodiments, the activity transfer operations described herein may be performed in a manner that is sufficiently close to each other so that the communication signal 208 (and thus the merged message) sent by each electronic device can be received by the other electronic device The source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204. In other words, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 are "close" to each other, thus enabling message exchange between electronic devices. Thus, "proximity" as used herein refers to the distance (s) over which broadcast / transmitted messages from a given electronic device can be received by one or more other electronic devices. These distances can be broadened by factors such as radio equipment (antenna, receiver / transmitter, etc.) in the electronic device and by factors such as environmental conditions (electromagnetic interference, etc.), mediators (furniture, walls, clothes / Depending on the particular wireless protocol / signal used to cast / transmit. For example, in some embodiments, the communication signal 208 is exchanged using a protocol having a predicted range of 30 meters between the source electronic device 202 and the companion electronic device 204, Devices are "close" (note that the expected range can be significantly changed by the factors mentioned above).

16 illustrates a block diagram illustrating electronic devices proximate to each other in accordance with some embodiments. 16, the accompanying electronic device 204 is within range 1602 for a wireless signal (e.g., communication signal 208) for the source electronic device 202, It is possible to receive the radio signal transmitted from the source electronic device 202. [ Additionally, the source electronic device 202 is within range 1604 for a wireless signal (e.g., communication signal 208) for the accompanying electronic device 204, which allows the source electronic device 202 to communicate with the associated electronic device 204 Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI > Thus, as discussed above, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 are "close" to each other and thus enable communication (and corresponding operations) of the messages described herein. However, neither the source electronic device 202 nor the companion electronic device 204 is within range 1606 of the radio signal for the electronic device 1600, which is the source electronic device 202 or the companion electronic device 204, Quot; does not approach electronic device 1600. < RTI ID = 0.0 > It is noted that the ranges 1602 to 1606 in FIG. 16 are illustrated using irregular shapes, thereby illustrating that the radio signals from the electronic devices have an irregular range depending on the electronic device (antenna array, etc.) do.

In some embodiments, messages, data, etc. communicated between electronic devices are encrypted. In these embodiments, some or all of the electronic devices perform corresponding encryption and decryption operations using, for example, a shared key, keys derived from the shared key, and / or a disposable key. For example, as described above, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 participate in a predefined pairing, which is incorporated by reference as discussed above, This is a "Predefined Wireless Pairing" and is a pending United States Patent Application No. Attorney Docket No. APL-P22642USP1, filed on the same date as the present application by inventors Jason C. Conn, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Craig P. Dooley, and Michael Giles As described in Patent Application No. xx / xxx, xxx. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 may include one or more encryption keys obtained while the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 participate in a predefined pairing And encrypts and decrypts messages exchanged for activity delivery operations by use.

Although various electronic devices are shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments different arrangements of electronic devices are used to perform some or all of the operations described herein. For example, in some embodiments, the second source electronic device 206 is not present. Generally, the described embodiments include enough devices to switch activities between the electronic devices described herein.

Broadcasting of activity advertisement messages

3 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process for broadcasting an activity advertisement message, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, during the process shown in FIG. 3, an electronic device, such as the source electronic device 202, broadcasts an activity advertisement message. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 3 are shown as general examples of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms are used in the description of operations (e.g., source electronic device 202, etc.), in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations. For example, one or both of the companion electronic device 204 and the second source electronic device 206 may perform similar operations themselves to broadcast an activity advertisement message.

The process illustrated in Figure 3 is similar to the process illustrated in Figure 3 in that a source electronic device 202 is connected to a first application of the source electronic device 202, It begins when it receives activity information describing the activity being performed (step 300). (In some embodiments, the first application may provide or report activity information to the source electronic device 202, for example, to provide activity information To the operating system, daemon, or other process and / or service of the source electronic device 202. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 queries the first application for activity information. In general, the activity information includes information describing an activity performed at least in part using the electronic device. Examples of activities include reading and / or editing documents (e.g., word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or other types of documents), writing email messages, drafting notes, accessing websites (browsing) Viewing audio files, playing audio files, or otherwise performing corresponding actions using an application or an app.

Next, the source electronic device 202 decides whether to filter the received activity information (step 302), which does not go through further processing and / or to discard the activity information that is not to be broadcast to the activity advertisement message And the use of more than one criterion. For example, the source electronic device 202 may measure the frequency with which the first application provides updates to the activity information, and if the activity frequency exceeds the threshold, the activity information from the first application (Which may be referred to as "throttling " the activity information from the first application). As another example, the source electronic device 202 may be used as duplicative or iterative activity information, without including significant changes to previously reported activity information (e.g., automatic reporting of "no change", simple / Reporting of actions / changes, etc.), reporting information already known by the source electronic device 202, and so on. As another example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 filters the activity information based on an indication that the activity described by the activity information is not to be advertised. For example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and / or the user of the source electronic device 202 may configure certain activities and / or certain types of activities as activities that are not to be advertised. As another example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may rank some or all of the activities in which the activity information is present (i.e., some or all of the activities that can be advertised) Discard one or more of these activities. For example, the source electronic device 202 may assign a higher ranking to activities that the user has continued previously and a lower ranking to activities that the user has not previously continued. In some of these embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may determine that some of the advertised activities have previously been continued and that some of the advertised activities from the accompanying electronic device 204 Messages, such as those described below, with reference to step 510 of FIG. 5, for example.

If the source electronic device 202 filters the activity information, for example, if it discards it (step 302, Yes), the process ends. Otherwise, if the source electronic device 202 does not filter the activity information (step 302, no), the source electronic device 202 stores some or all of the activity information in the structure (step 304) ). For illustrative purposes, an embodiment of storing activity information in an entry in a table will be described, which will be referred to as an "advertised-activity" table. It should be noted, however, that the embodiments are not limited to using a table for storing activity information. Some embodiments use a different storage mechanism / structure for storing activity information, such as an associated array, content-addressable memory, and the like.

In some embodiments, while storing activity information, the source electronic device 202 overwrites / removes activity information that was previously stored in the advertised-activity table. For example, the source electronic device 202 may use a least-recently-used (LRU) algorithm to overwrite / overwrite entries in the advertised-activity table. Examples of advertised-activity tables are described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

Next, the source electronic device 202 determines an activity identifier for the activity information (step 306). In general, the activity identifier includes information from a first application, and activity information identifying an activity performed in the first application. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 generates an activity identifier by collapsing the activity information into a smaller coded representation that can be broadcast more efficiently than overall activity information. In some of these embodiments, the coded representation is the output of a hash function (e.g., MD4, MD5, SHA, MurmurHash, etc.) in which the input is the hash of the activity information, i. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 stores the activity identifier in the advertised-activity table (or any structure that the source electronic device 202 uses to store the activity information), along with the activity information. Examples of activity identifiers are described in more detail below with reference to FIG.

In some embodiments, the activity identifier includes a representation of a domain name. For example, in some embodiments, if the activity performed in the first application includes using a resource in the domain, the activity information includes a domain name, e.g., at least a portion of the URL of the domain. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 determines the activity identifier by including part or all of the domain name in the activity identifier. For example, the activity identifier may be a hash of part or all of the URL to the resource.

In some embodiments, the activity identifier identifies an entry in the structure in which the source electronic device 202 stored the activity information (e.g., as described above with reference to step 304). For example, the activity identifier may identify an entry in the advertised-activity table from which the source electronic device 202 stored the activity information. The activity identifier may also include an identifier for the advertised-activity table itself. In some embodiments, in order to identify an entry in the structure in which the source electronic device 202 has stored the activity information, the activity identifier may include: (1) data in the advertised-activity table to identify the advertised- And (2) an index for an entry in the advertised-activity table that stores activity information.

The source electronic device 202 then includes an activity identifier in the activity advertisement message (step 308). In some embodiments, the activity advertisement message includes other data in addition to the activity identifier. For example, in some embodiments, the activity advertisement message includes a flag that is used to indicate when the activity identifier includes a representation of the domain name for the online resource associated with the activity. In these embodiments, the source electronic device 202 asserts a flag indicating that the activity identifier includes a representation of the domain name (e.g., sets the flag to a predetermined value (e.g., 1) . In some embodiments, for example, the source electronic device 202 can be a source electronic device (e. G., A source electronic device), by including corresponding instructions within the extended activity data 202 asserts in the activity advertisement message a flag indicating that the advertised activity can continue in a manner that it provides to the companion electronic device 204 individually.

In some embodiments, the activity advertisement message includes a timestamp for the activity / activity information. The timestamp can represent an absolute time or a relative time and can indicate the time at which the activity was last performed in the first application, e.g., the last time the document was edited, the website accessed, the movie viewed, . In some embodiments, the timestamp is independent of the activity / activity information, i.e., the timestamp indicates that the source electronic device 202 and the user, regardless of whether the user's final interaction includes the user performing an activity Indicating the time at which they finally interacted.

The source electronic device 202 then broadcasts an activity advertisement message (step 310). For example, the source electronic device 202 may use the communication signal 208 to broadcast an activity advertisement message. In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may receive an activity advertisement message from neighboring devices in the network environment 200 by broadcasting / advertising an activity advertisement message in the network environment 200. For example, in these embodiments, the source electronic device 202 broadcasts an activity advertisement message using a Bluetooth communication channel, such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE). Some embodiments may broadcast an activity advertisement message on a different communication channel, such as a peer-to-peer network, a LAN, the Internet, and the like. It should be noted that the activity broadcast may occur more than once, for example, the source electronic device 202 may broadcast the same activity advertisement message multiple times and / or periodically.

Available - Build activity table

In some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 stores available activity information, e.g., activity information describing the activities available in the companion electronic device 204 (examples of activity information are shown below under < RTI ID = 0.0 > Which will be described in more detail. For example, in some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 stores activity identifiers for available activity information. For purposes of illustration, the companion electronic device 204 describes storing activity information available in the table and refers to it as an "available-activity" table (examples of available- Although described in the following in more detail), although embodiments are described that store available activity information in an available-activity table, it is to be understood that embodiments are not limited to using tables to store available activity information do. Some embodiments may use other structures for storing available activity information, such as an associated array, content-addressable memory, and the like.

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process for storing activity information in an available-activity table describing the activities available in the accompanying electronic device 204, in accordance with some embodiments. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 4 are shown as general examples of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., companion electronic device 204, etc.) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations. For example, one or both of the source electronic device 202 and the second source electronic device 206 may perform similar operations themselves to store available activity information describing the available activities.

The process illustrated in FIG. 4 describes the activity information that describes the activities available in the second application of the companion electronic device 204, for example, the activities that may be performed in the companion electronic device 204, ≪ / RTI > (step 400). In general, the activity information describes an activity that can be performed in a second application of the companion electronic device 204, i.e., an action or function that a second application of the companion electronic device 204 can perform. In some embodiments, the second application reports / provides activity information as the second application is installed and / or used. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 queries or otherwise monitors the second application to collect activity information describing the activities available in the second application. In some embodiments, the activity information may include activity information for activities not performed on the accompanying electronic device 204 but available to be performed (e.g., a second application in the accompanying electronic device 204 to install / update, Activity information reported by the second application, etc.).

Next, the companion electronic device 204 determines an activity identifier for the activity information that describes the second activity identifier, i.e., the activity available in the second application (step 402). In general, the second activity identifier identifies the second application, and the activity available in the second application. The second activity identifier may be a coded representation of the activity information describing the activities available in the second application. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may perform some or all of the same operations that the source electronic device 202 performs to generate an activity identifier for an activity performed in the first application, And determines an activity identifier (see FIG. 3, step 306). For example, in some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may use the same hash function that the source electronic device 202 uses to generate an activity identifier for the activity performed in the first application, And generates an activity identifier.

In some embodiments, if the second application can perform an activity that includes accessing a resource of a domain, the activity information for such an activity includes a domain name for the domain. In some of these embodiments, the second activity identifier is a coded representation of the domain name, which allows the second application to "claim" the domain name, i.e., To declare that the second application can use the resource in the domain name so that the second application can forward the activities to the second application. For example, in a scenario where a second application streams a movie from a particular site on the Internet, as described below, the second activity identifier may be a coded representation of at least a portion of the domain name for the site. The second application may be different from the first application-that is, the one whose activity is advertised in the activity advertisement message-so that an application different from the first application can continue to run in the companion electronic device 204 .

Next, the companion electronic device 204 stores the second activity identifier into the available-activity table (step 404).

Propagate extended activity data requests and activities

In some embodiments, when receiving an activity advertisement message, the electronic device may request the extended activity data for the advertised activity so that the advertised activity is subsequently delivered to the electronic device. 5 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for requesting extended activity data and delivering activities, in accordance with some embodiments. 5, the accompanying electronic device 204 requests extended activity data for the activity performed in the first application in the source electronic device 202 from the source electronic device 202 (step < RTI ID = 0.0 > . It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 5 are shown as a general example of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., source electronic device 202, companion electronic device 204) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other electronic devices and / or mechanisms perform operations do.

5 begins when an accompanying electronic device 204 receives an activity advertisement message, e.g., an activity advertisement message broadcast from the source electronic device 202 (see FIG. 3, step 310) Step 500). Next, the accompanying electronic device 204 determines whether the accompanying electronic device 204 is in a receiving state (step 502). In general, the companion electronic device 204 is in a receive state when it is available to perform activity delivery. For example, in some embodiments, a companion electronic device 204 may be configured to display a lock screen when the device "wakes up ", e.g., after the user presses a button to wake up the device, To the receiving state. In some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 may be used when the accompanying electronic device 204 is in use, for example when the user is using an application of the accompanying electronic device 204, and / When the application is used within a period of time, it is not in the receiving state.

If the companion electronic device 204 is not in the receiving state (step 502, no), the process is terminated (i.e., the activity advertisement message is ignored). Otherwise, if the companion electronic device 204 is in the receiving state (step 502), the companion electronic device 204 determines whether the second application associated with the first application is available in the companion electronic device 204 (Step 504). Generally, this operation includes determining if an application for continuing the activities described in the activity advertisement message from the source electronic device 202 is available on the accompanying electronic device 204. Determining whether a second application is available is described in more detail below with reference to Figures 7 and 8. [

If the second application is not available (step 504, NO), the process ends. Otherwise, if a second application is available (step 504), the companion electronic device 204 retrieves the activity information for the second application (step 506). After determining the second application, for example, as described in more detail with reference to Figures 7, 8, 11, and 12, the companion electronic device 204 uses the activity identifier for the second application To retrieve activity information describing the activities available in the second application from the available-activity table (or from other structures used by the companion electronic device 204 to store available activity information). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may use the retrieved activity information, e.g., using the application identifier in the retrieved activity information, to display an indication that the activity is resumable, e.g., at step 508 and / To customize it as described below. The application identifiers will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

Next, the accompanying electronic device 204 presents an indication that the activity is resumable (step 508). For example, the accompanying electronic device 204 may present a graphical icon and / or a notification within the display of the accompanying electronic device 204. The indications are described in more detail below with reference to Fig.

The accompanying electronic device 204 then determines whether the activity delivery has been accepted (step 510). In some embodiments, a user of a companion electronic device 204 may accept an activity transfer by performing an action using an indication, such as clicking on the display, dragging the display in one or more directions and / or one or more specific locations, And / or rejects. For example, to accept an activity transfer, a user may tap an icon / notification using a finger (on a touch screen display) and send an icon / notification in a first direction (e.g., left to right, Can be dragged. As another example, to reject the activity, the user may tap the icon / notification using the finger and drag the icon / notification in a second direction (e.g., right to left, down, counterclockwise, etc.). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may determine that a certain period of time has passed without the user performing an action to accept the indication / activity transfer since the presentation was presented, Is not accepted.

If the activity delivery is not accepted (step 510, no), the process ends. Note that, in some embodiments, if the activity delivery is not accepted, the accompanying electronic device 204 sends a message to the source electronic device 202 to indicate that the activity delivery has not been accepted. If the activity delivery is accepted (step 510), the companion electronic device 204 sends a message to the source electronic device 202 to request extended activity data for the activity performed in the first application (Step 512). Generally, the request for extended activity data includes information to facilitate the source electronic device 202 to determine the activity for which the extended data is being requested. For example, in some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 includes an activity identifier from an activity advertisement message with a request for extended activity data.

Next, when receiving extended activity data from the source electronic device 202 in response to a request for extended activity data, the companion electronic device 204 constructs a second application using the extended activity data ( Step 514). Configuring the second application may include starting / starting the second application, setting the state of the second application (or giving a change to the state) based on the extended activity data, And configuring the second application to perform the operation. For example, the accompanying electronic device 204 may pass a document / resource identifier in extended activity data, information representing a document / resource, and / or a reference to a document / resource to a second application, (E.g., an identifier for a cloud-stored document for accessing a second application from a cloud-based repository located on the Internet / information / reference thereto representing that information, a second An identifier for the document to which the application is to access / information representing / reference thereto). In some embodiments, if the activity includes creating a document stored in the source electronic device 202, the extended activity data may include information representing the document or document, such that the associated electronic device 204 and / 2 application to use / regenerate the document for the second application in the accompanying electronic device 204. [ In some embodiments, the extended activity data includes the location and / or content of edits in the document, e.g., edits made within the document. In some embodiments, the extended activity data may include a final playback / viewing / recording location in the media file (i.e., a location within the media file where playback or recording is interrupted or ultimately performed), the location of the marker in the file, And / or the state of the game played on the source electronic device 202 (e.g., the last game level, the coordinates of the last place the player was at, the acquired points and / or accomplishments) Information that can be used for regeneration in the electronic device 204), and the like.

The companion electronic device 204 then begins to perform the activity in the second application (step 516), which in turn causes the companion electronic device 204 to execute the second application (if the second application is not already running) And executing a second application in the companion electronic device 204 based on the extended activity data. For example, a companion electronic device 204 may cause a second application to begin execution in a viewing mode and / or an edit mode for a document associated with the advertised activity, Allowing the second application to scroll to the final location in the document that was being edited. Next, the accompanying electronic device 204 sends a notification to the source electronic device 202 indicating that the activity has been delivered (step 518).

Note that some embodiments may use the information in the activity advertisement message, e.g., an activity identifier, to begin configuring the second application while the extended activity data is being transmitted, or before the extended activity data is requested. Some of these embodiments use an information in an activity advertisement message to set an initial background for a second application and set a mode for the second application (e.g., edit mode, read-only mode, email creation mode, ). Thus, some embodiments may start and / or configure a second application as soon as the activity transfer is accepted, possibly before the extended activity data is received, thereby slowing the data transfer time to the application start time The performance in the network can be improved.

In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may use a different signal than the communication signal 208, and / or may use an extended communication channel / network interface that is different from the communication channel / network interface from which the activity advertisement message was received And sends a request for activity data. For example, the companion electronic device 204 can receive an activity advertisement message via a Bluetooth link (using the BLE protocol) and request extended activity data over a Wi-Fi link or the Internet. In such embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and the accompanying electronic device 204 may communicate using a communication signal 208 (e.g., a Bluetooth link) to enable electronic devices to communicate over different communication channels / Exchange information. For example, in some of these embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may be configured to generate a peer-to-peer network (e.g., an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network) To the source electronic device (202). In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 provides extended activity data to the server, and the accompanying electronic device 204 receives extended activity data from the server, e.g., via the Internet.

Switching to receiving status based on advertising information

Although in FIG. 5 we have described embodiments in which an activity advertisement message is received (FIG. 5, step 500) and the accompanying electronic device 204 is in a receiving state (FIG. 5, step 502) , Some embodiments transition to a receive state based on information in the received activity advertisement message. In some of these embodiments, after receiving the activity advertisement message (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5, step 500), the accompanying electronic device 204 may determine whether the accompanying electronic device 204 is in the receiving state Or not. That is, the process shown in FIG. 5 proceeds from step 500 to step 504 without performing the operation of step 502. [

For example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 broadcasts an activity advertisement message with a corresponding communication signal 208 using a low power protocol such as Bluetooth low energy (BLE), ZigBee, and the like. The accompanying electronic device 204 may be coupled to a source electronic device 202 (e.g., a wireless device) using a corresponding low power mechanism, e.g., a corresponding low power mechanism, such as a baseband processor Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > a < / RTI > broadcast advertisement message. In some of these embodiments, receiving an activity advertisement message is handled by the companion electronic device 204 using only the baseband processor for the companion electronic device 204, (E.g., a subsystem, such as a processing subsystem, is in a low power state). For example, in some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 may be a smartphone that is idle in the user's pocket, in which the processing subsystem (and typically the accompanying electronic device 204) While the baseband processor monitors activity advertisement messages.

In some embodiments, the baseband processor wakes the processing subsystem in order to perform subsequent operations when it recognizes such an activity advertisement message (and generally also causes the associated electronic device 204 to enter a higher power / ≪ / RTI > For example, in some embodiments, a companion electronic device 204 may monitor an activity advertisement message and respond to an activity advertisement message, which is filed on the same date as the present application, The inventors Craig P. Dooley, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Anjali S. Sandesara, and Michael Giles, inventors, entitled " Operating Mode Transitions Based on Advertising Information ", pending U.S. Patent Application No. APL-P22643USP1, As described in Patent Application No. xx / xxx, xxx. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 / smartphone need not be activated to get it out of the user's pocket and place the companion electronic device 204 in the receiving state.

Responding to requests for extended activity data

6 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for responding to a request for extended activity data, in accordance with some embodiments. 6, the electronic device, such as the source electronic device 202, responds to a request for extended activity data from the electronic device, such as the companion electronic device 204. As shown in FIG. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 6 are shown as a general example of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., source electronic device 202, companion electronic device 204) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other electronic devices and / or mechanisms perform operations do.

The process depicted in FIG. 6 may include sending a request for extended activity data, such as, for example, a request for extended activity data sent by a companion electronic device 204, as described with reference to step 512 of FIG. 5 And is started when the source electronic device 202 receives (step 600).

Next, the source electronic device 202 uses the information in the request for extended activity data to determine that the request is for extended activity data for the first application (step 602). For example, as described earlier, the request for extended activity data may include an activity identifier from the activity advertisement message (see step 308 of FIG. 3). In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may include an advertised-activity table (or other structure in which activity information is stored; examples of advertised-activity tables are described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 12) And performs a lookup on the activity identifier in the activity identifier. If the source electronic device 202 finds an entry in the advertised-activity table that contains an activity identifier from the activity advertisement message, the source electronic device 202 retrieves the activity information for the entry, for example, By determining that the application identifier is an application identifier for the first application, it can be determined that the activity identifier corresponds to the first application (examples of activity information and application identifiers are described in more detail with reference to Figures 11 and 12).

Next, the source electronic device 202 optionally sends a notification / request to the first application to perform an update related to the activity (step 604). In some embodiments, the notification causes the first application to update the extended activity data before providing the extended activity data to the companion electronic device 204. For example, the first application may use notifications to update the final scrolled / viewed location of the document associated with the activity and / or to update the actions associated with the activity, such as storing the document associated with the activity, To perform finishing operations related to the activity, such as updating the extended activity data using a recent draft of the document.

The source electronic device 202 then retrieves extended activity data for the first application (step 606). In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 requests the first application to provide extended activity data. In some embodiments, the first application provides initial activity information (see FIG. 3, step 300) with some or all of the extended activity and / or periodically reports extended activity information (e.g., N Every time an event occurs for a first application, such as a number of times such as 1, 3, etc., N is recorded in the first application, a movie stored in the first application and a movie being viewed in the first application is paused, Reporting information).

Next, the source electronic device 202 transmits the extended activity data to the companion electronic device 204 (step 608). Generally, the extended activity data includes information that can be used to configure the second application to continue the activity, e.g., a document identifier (and / or a document identifier) identifying the document used for the activity performed in the first application (E.g., information representing a web page / URL such as a reference to a web page / URL), location information (e.g., (E. G., "Cloud storage") or on a corporate network (e. G., A web browser) A copy of the draft document stored in the accessible storage device (and / or a draft document, such as a reference to the draft document) And the like to the current information).

Then, the source electronic device 202 receives a notification that the activity has been delivered (step 610), and the source electronic device 202 sends the notification to the associated electronic device 204, for example, as described with reference to FIG. 5, step 518 Lt; / RTI > In some embodiments, in response to receiving the notification, the source electronic device 202 notifies the first application that the activity has been delivered (step 612). In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 and / or the first application may perform one or more actions related to the activity based on receiving the notification, such as deleting a locally stored document / document draft, Shutting down applications, and so on.

In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 uses a different signal than the communication signal 208 and / or the request for the activity advertisement message and / or extended activity data is different from the communication channel / By using a communication channel / network interface, it provides extended activity data. For example, the source electronic device 202 may receive a request for extended activity data over a Bluetooth link, and may provide extended activity data over a Wi-Fi link or the Internet.

Secure communication with cloud pairing

As previously discussed, in some embodiments, the electronic devices performing the activity transferring operation may be referred to as a pre-pairing operation, for example, " Predefined Wireless Pairing ", which is incorporated by reference as discussed above, Pending U.S. Patent Applications xx / xxx, xxx, Attorney Docket No. APL-P22642USP1, filed on the same date as the present application by Jason C. Conn, Akshay Mangalam Srivatsa, Craig P. Dooley, Participate in a "cloud pairing" operation, such as the predefined pairing described in the < / RTI > In some embodiments, the electronic devices use the security information obtained during the cloud pairing operation to encrypt and decrypt mutually exchanged messages to perform an activity transfer operation, e.g., using the encryption key obtained during the cloud pairing operation do.

For example, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may use an encryption key obtained during a cloud pairing operation performed by the source electronic device 202 with the accompanying electronic device 204 to generate an activity advertisement message 3, step 310) and / or the extended activity data (see FIG. 6, step 608). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may provide the same security information, different security information obtained during the cloud pairing operation performed by the accompanying electronic device 204 with the source electronic device 202, and / (See FIG. 5, step 512) and / or notification that the activity has been delivered (see FIG. 5, step 518) using the information derived from the acquired security information do.

Determining the second application using the activity identifier

As previously described, in some embodiments, the electronic device determines whether a second application associated with the first application is available in the electronic device (to facilitate delivery of a possible activity to the electronic device). FIG. 7 depicts a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining whether a second application is available to a companion electronic device 204, in accordance with some embodiments. The operations shown in Fig. 7 may be performed during the process shown in Fig. 5, for example, step 504. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 7 are shown as a general example of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., companion electronic device 204, etc.) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations. For example, one or both of the source electronic device 202 and the second source electronic device 206 may perform similar operations to determine for themselves whether a second application is available.

The process illustrated in FIG. 7 begins when the accompanying electronic device 204 determines whether the flag in the activity advertisement message is asserted (step 700). As previously described, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 asserts the flag in the activity advertisement message to indicate that the activity identifier is a representation of the domain name for the advertised activity and / or includes. In some of these embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 determines that the activity advertisement message includes a representation of the domain name by determining that the flag has been asserted. The flags are described in detail herein below, for example, with reference to FIGS. 11 and 13. FIG.

If the flag in the activity advertisement message is asserted (step 700, YES), the companion electronic device 204 processes the flag (step 702). The processing of the flags generated in step 702 will be described later with reference to Fig. Some embodiments repeat step 702 (i.e., the processing described with reference to Figure 8) for each of the asserted flags in the activity advertisement message, e.g., the activity advertisement message includes two or more asserted flags The processing for each of the asserted flags is repeated.

If the activity advertisement message does not contain an asserted flag (step 700, no), the companion electronic device 204 sends an activity identifier from the activity advertisement message to the activity available in the accompanying electronic device 204 With activity identifiers (step 704). For example, a companion electronic device 204 may store the available activity information of the companion electronic device 204 (or, as previously described with reference to FIG. 4, (E.g., another structure that is being processed). ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 >

If a match is found in an entry in the availability-activity table (step 706, yes), the companion electronic device 204 determines whether the second application has stored its activity identifier in the entry (Step 708).

If the lookup for the activity identifier does not find a match in the available activity information (step 706, no), then the accompanying electronic device 204 determines that the application associated with the first application is not available in the accompanying electronic device 204 (Step 710).

Determining the second application using the flag

As previously described, some embodiments assert flags in an activity advertisement message. 8 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining a second application using a flag, in accordance with some embodiments. More particularly, FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram illustrating the process performed by the accompanying electronic device 204 at step 702 of FIG. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 8 are shown as general examples of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., companion electronic device 204, etc.) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations. For example, one or both of the source electronic device 202 and the second source electronic device 206 may perform similar operations themselves.

The process illustrated in FIG. 8 begins when the companion electronic device 204 determines an application corresponding to a flag (step 800). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 uses the value of the location and / or flag of the flag that is asserted to determine the application corresponding to the flag. For example, if the activity advertisement message includes two or more flags that can be asserted, each flag may be used to identify a different application that may be used to continue the activity. In some embodiments, the flag is a multi-bit field, and different values of the multi-bit field identify different applications. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 stores a mapping that identifies the application to which the location / value of the flags corresponds.

Next, the accompanying electronic device 204 determines whether the application corresponding to the flag is available at the companion electronic device 204 (step 802). For example, the companion electronic device 204 can verify whether the application corresponding to the flag is installed in the companion electronic device 204. [ In some embodiments, step 802 is not performed / omitted so that the process shown in FIG. 8 continues from step 800 to step 804. For example, in embodiments that use flags to identify only pre-installed applications that are known to be available at the companion electronic device 204 and that can not be uninstalled by the user, Not performed.

If an application corresponding to the flag is available (step 802), the companion electronic device 204 determines that the second application is the application corresponding to the flag (step 804). The process then ends, which may include continuing with step 506 of FIG.

If the application corresponding to the flag is not available in the companion electronic device 204 (step 802, no), the process ends. At this point, the companion electronic device 204 may determine that the second application is not available (e.g., step 504, No in FIG. 5), continue to step 704 of FIG. 7, By using an activity identifier from the message, it is possible to determine whether a second application is available.

In some embodiments, the process shown in Fig. 8 allows an application different from the first application to continue the activity in the accompanying electronic device 204. [ For example, consider a case where the first application is a web browser and the activities performed in the first application include browsing of a social media web site. In this example, the second application may be a social media app that accesses a resource (e.g., a social media user page, etc.) accessed from the first application / web browser (i.e., the second application is an app and not a web browser) . By using the flags, these embodiments can configure the social media app to continue the activity that was being performed on the social media website, at the same point where the web browser is interrupted. As another example, in some embodiments, the first application is a standalone media streaming app (e.g., a media player app) for streaming a movie from a website, and the second application is a web browser capable of streaming a movie. By using the flag, these embodiments configure the web browser to continue playing the movie, which allows the web browser to use the extended activity data for the activity to cause the media streaming app to continue playing the movie where it was interrupted .

In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may be provided with an activity (not shown) to indicate that the source electronic device 202 will subsequently provide instructions / information about how to proceed with the activity in the accompanying electronic device 204 And sets a second flag (or a different value for the flag) in the advertisement message. In some embodiments, the application corresponding to the flag includes instructions / information on how to continue the activity in the companion electronic device 204. In some embodiments, the extended activity data provides instructions / information for continuing activity at the companion electronic device 204.

Determining the second application using the structure that stores the advertised activity

As previously described with reference to FIG. 3, in some embodiments, the activity identifier in the activity advertisement message may be stored in a structure (e.g., a table) that stores activity information for the advertised activity of the electronic device that advertised the activity Identify the entry. Figure 9 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining whether a second application is available if an activity identifier identifies an entry in such a structure, in accordance with some embodiments. 9, the accompanying electronic device 204 sends an activity identifier that identifies an entry in the advertised-activity table in which the source electronic device 202 has stored activity information for the advertised activity To determine whether a second application associated with the first application is available at the companion electronic device 204 (examples of advertised-activity tables are described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 12). It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 9 are shown as general examples of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., source electronic device 202, companion electronic device 204) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other electronic devices and / or mechanisms perform operations do.

9 begins when the accompanying electronic device 204 receives an activity identifier that identifies an entry in the advertised-activity table in which the source electronic device 202 stored the activity information for the advertised activity (Step 900). In some embodiments, the activity identifier includes a table identifier and an entry index, the table identifier identifies the advertised-activity table in which the source electronic device 202 stored the activity information for the advertised activity, Identifies an entry in the advertised-activity table identified by the table identifier in which the activity information for the advertised activity is stored. In some embodiments, the table identifier is a hash of advertised-activity table data.

Next, the accompanying electronic device 204 determines whether the advertised-activity table for the activity identifier is available in the accompanying electronic device 204 (step 902). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 uses a table identifier from the activity identifier to determine whether the companion electronic device 204 has stored a local copy of the advertised-activity table.

If the advertised-activity table for the activity identifier is not available in the companion electronic device 204 (step 902, no), the companion electronic device 204 receives the advertised-activity table from the source electronic device 202 (Step 904). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may send an advertised-activity table identifier identified by an activity identifier from an activity advertisement message, e.g., an advertised-activity table identifier by a table identifier, 202). The companion electronic device 204 may send such a request and the source electronic device 202 may respond to such a request using the communication signal 208 and / or different communication signals / different channels.

In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 periodically synchronizes the local copies / copies of its advertised-activity table with the source electronic device 202. For example, the companion electronic device 204 may receive a copy of the advertised-activity table from the source electronic device 202 using a "push" mechanism, i.e., without sending a request for a copy of the advertised- can do.

If the advertised-activity table for the activity identifier is available in the companion electronic device 204 (step 902), or after receiving the advertised-activity table from the source electronic device 202, The search engine 204 retrieves activity information from the advertised-activity table using the activity identifier (step 906). For example, the accompanying electronic device 204 may retrieve activity information from an entry in the advertised-activity table identified by the entry index.

In some embodiments, the operations shown in Fig. 9 enable information describing two or more activities to be advertised in a single activity advertisement message. Consider, for example, the case where the size of the activity advertisement message is limited due to the limitation of the network protocol used to broadcast the activity advertisement message, for example. In this case, the entry identifier, i.e., the activity identifier that identifies the entry in which the activity information is stored, may be less than the coded representation, i.e., the activity identifier generated from the same activity information (e.g., represented using fewer bits than the activity identifier) , These embodiments may enable delivery of multiple entry identifiers in an activity advertisement message.

As previously described with reference to FIG. 3, the described embodiments are not limited to using a table to store available activity information. Some embodiments use different structures for storing available activity information, such as an associative array, content-addressable memory, and the like. In these embodiments, the activity identifier may identify an entry in the structure where the source electronic device 202 stores activity information for the advertised activities. For example, in these embodiments, the table identifier may identify the structure, and the entry index may identify the index in the structure in which the source electronic device 202 stores activity information for the advertised activity.

Further, although embodiments are described using one advertised-activity table, some embodiments use two or more advertised-activity tables, for example, activities advertised in different advertised-activity tables And stores the activity information.

Determine your most recent activity

As previously described, the network environment 200 may include a second source electronic device, which may broadcast activity advertisement messages for activities performed on the second source electronic device. As also previously described, some embodiments include a timestamp in the activity advertisement message to indicate the time at which the activity advertised in the activity advertisement message was ultimately performed. 10 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining the most recent activity from two or more activity advertisement messages, in accordance with some embodiments. 10, the accompanying electronic device 204 includes a time stamp included with an advertisement from the source electronic device 202 ("activity advertisement"), and a second source electronic device 206 ("Second activity advertisement") and an included timestamp (" second activity advertisement ") to determine the most recent of the activities advertised in the activity advertisement and the second activity advertisement. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 10 are shown as general examples of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., source electronic device 202, companion electronic device 204, second source electronic device 206) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > and / or < / RTI >

For the process illustrated in FIG. 10, assume that the accompanying electronic device 204 has already received an activity advertisement from the source electronic device 202, for example, as shown in FIG. Thus, the accompanying electronic device 204 has an activity advertisement including a first time stamp included with the activity advertisement.

The process illustrated in FIG. 10 begins when a companion electronic device 204 receives a second activity advertisement (step 1000). Next, the companion electronic device 204 compares the first timestamp included with the activity advertisement to the included second timestamp with the second activity advertisement (step 1002). For example, the companion electronic device 204 may compare the timestamps to find out which is newer (i.e., indicates a more recent time).

If the comparison indicates that the first timestamp is newer (step 1004), the accompanying electronic device determines that the activity performed in the first application, i.e., the activity advertised in the activity advertisement, is the most recent activity (Step 1006). Otherwise, if the comparison indicates that the second timestamp is newer (step 1004), then the companion electronic device 204 may determine that the activity performed in the second application, i.e., the activity advertised in the second activity advertisement It determines that the activity is the most recent activity (step 1008).

In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 may determine the number of presentations presented to the user in the display of the accompanying electronic device 204 by presenting only an indication that the activity is resumable for the most recent of the advertised activities (E.g., as shown in FIG. 14). In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 uses timestamps to present an indication that the activities are resumable in order, for example, first presenting the most recent activity, and then in a downward order Present other advertised activities. In such embodiments, two or more indications may be presented side by side, depending on the relative freshness of the corresponding activities, one on top of the other, or the like.

In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 presents the indicia for the resumable activities in order using the history of previously performed activities. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 orders the activities that have previously been continued in a higher order, i.e., an activity that has never been continued before, It should be presented before the sign of resumability. In some embodiments, two or more indications are presented in order, based on the number of times each of the corresponding activities has previously been continued.

Activity information

As previously described, some embodiments use activity information to describe an activity performed on an electronic device. 11 shows a block diagram illustrating activity information 1100, activity information 1110, and activity information 1120 in accordance with some embodiments. Note that the activity information 1100, activity information 1110, and activity information 1120 shown in FIG. 11 are presented as a general example of the format of activity information used by some embodiments. Some embodiments use different formats and / or contain different information in the activity information.

Activity information 1100 includes an application identifier 1102 that identifies an application that is used to perform the activities described in activity information 1100. [ For example, the application identifier 1102 containing the string com.apple.Keynote identifies the application Keynote, which is an application that can be used to edit and view the presentation. The activity descriptor 1104 includes a string EditPresentation , which identifies the activity performed using the application Keynote as a presentation edit. The timestamp 1106, which includes the string / number 103, identifies the time the activity was last performed, e.g., the last time the user edited the presentation in the application Keynote. The timestamp may represent a real time, such as a wall clock time (or its representation, such as system time) at the time the activity was last performed, or it may indicate the time since the activity was last performed after the timeout, It can be a representation of time. In some embodiments, the timestamp may be in real time, such as absolute / wall clock time (or system time), when the source electronic device 202 is finally used (e.g., when actively used by the user) Or the timestamp may be a representation of the elapsed time since the source electronic device 202 was last used after the timeout, or since the synchronization event. In activity information 1100, flag 1108 is not asserted.

Activity information 1110 includes an application identifier 1112 that identifies an application that is used to perform the activities described in activity information 1110. [ For example, the application identifier 1112 containing the string com.apple.Mail identifies the application Mail, which is an application that can be used to create and send an email message. The activity descriptor 1114 includes the string ComposeDraft to identify that activities performed using the application Mail include creating a message draft. A timestamp 1116 containing string / number 315 identifies the time the activity was last performed, e.g., the last time the user created the draft using Mail. Flag 1118 for activity information 1110 is not asserted.

Activity information 1120 includes an application identifier 1122 that identifies an application that is used to perform the activities described in activity information 1120. [ For example, the application identifier 1122 containing the string com.apple.Safari identifies the application Safari, which is a web browser. Activity descriptor 1124 includes a string www.evideostreamer.com that identifies the domain name being accessed using a web browser. In this example, the activity descriptor 1124 holds the domain name, and thus the flag 1128 in the activity information 1120 indicates that the activity descriptor 1124 has been flagged 1128 to indicate that it contains a domain name. to be. Timestamp 1126, which includes string / number 820, identifies the time when the web browser was last used to access the movie streaming website.

Activity information 1130 includes an application identifier 1132 that identifies an application that is used to perform the activities described in activity information 1130. [ For example, identifying an application identifier 1132 is an application, the application MediaPlayer which may be used to play and record multimedia contents (in this example, which will developed by developer CompanyA) including a string com.CompanyA.MediaPlayer do. The activity descriptor 1134 includes the string PlayVideo to identify that the activity performed using the application MediaPlayer includes playing video, i.e., including video playback. The timestamp 1136, which includes the string / number 902, identifies the time the activity was last performed, e.g., the last time the user played the video using the MediaPlayer. Flag 1138 for activity information 1130 is not asserted.

For illustrative purposes, the timestamp shown in FIG. 11 is calculated as a delta (difference) from a synchronization event, such as, for example, on-time. 11, the activity described using the activity information 1100 becomes the most recent activity because the time stamp 1106 has not been updated on time since the activity described using the activity information 1100 has been performed Indicating that the minimum amount of time has elapsed.

Although the examples of FIG. 11 use application identifiers and activity descriptors, it is noted that some embodiments may use different information to identify applications and / or activities. For example, some embodiments use numerical identifiers for application identifiers and / or activity descriptors. In some embodiments, the application identifier is an identifier for the corresponding application in the online "AppStore ". In some embodiments, the application identifier includes some or all of the bundle identifier, e.g., a bundle ID. Also, while the illustrated application identifier is separate from the activity descriptor, some embodiments combine the application identifier and the activity descriptor into a single identifier.

In some embodiments, the application / application developers provide information about activity descriptors, e.g., activity descriptor 1104, activity descriptor 1114, activity descriptor 1124, and activity descriptor 1134. In these examples, the developer of the application / app can determine a number of activities for the application / app and can provide relevant values for the activity descriptors.

Advertised - activity table

12 shows a block diagram illustrating an advertised-activity table 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. As described above, the advertised-activity table 1200 includes information about the activities that were advertised (i.e., the activities over which the activity advertisement message was sent by the electronic device, such as the source electronic device 202) . It should be noted that the advertisement-activity table shown in FIG. 12 is shown as a general example of advertised-activity tables used by some embodiments. Some embodiments differentiate the activity information in the ad-activity table and / or include more or less information.

The entry 1202 identified by the entry index 1206 stores the activity information 1100 and the activity identifier 1204. In this example, the activity identifier 1204 is generated using an application identifier 1102 and an activity identifier 1104, such as a hash of the string " com.apple.Keynote :: EditPresentation ".

The entry 1212 identified by the entry index 1216 stores activity information 1110 and activity identifier 1214. In this example, the activity identifier 1214 is generated using an application identifier 1112 and an activity descriptor 1114, such as a hash of the string " com.apple.Mail :: ComposeDraft ".

The entry 1222 identified by the entry index 1226 stores the activity information 1120 and the activity identifier 1224. In this example, the activity identifier 1224 is generated using an activity descriptor 1124, such as a hash of the string www.evideostreamer.com .

The entry 1232 identified by the entry index 1236 stores the activity information 1130 and the activity identifier 1234. In this example, the activity identifier 1234 is generated using an application identifier 1132 and an activity descriptor 1134, such as a hash of the string " com.CompanyA.MediaPlayer :: PlayVideo ".

For the sake of example, the entries 1202 to 1232 store all of the activity information 1100 to 1130, respectively. Note, however, that in some embodiments, entries 1202 through 1232 store just some of the activity information 1100 through 1130, respectively. For example, some embodiments do not store timestamps 1106-1136 in entries 1202-1232.

Available - activity table

In some embodiments, the above-described availability-activity table is formatted similarly to the advertised-activity table 1200 shown in FIG. However, the entries in the available-activity table include application information about the corresponding electronic device, e.g., applications available within the accompanying electronic device 204. [

Activity Advertising Messages

13 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity advertisement 1300, e.g., an activity advertisement message, in accordance with some embodiments. It should be noted that the activity advertisement message shown in Fig. 13 is shown as a general example of activity advertisement messages used by some embodiments. Some embodiments differentiate the fields in the activity advertisement messages and / or include different information in the activity advertisement message.

The activity advertisement message 1300 optionally includes a device ID field 1302, and a version ID field 1304. The device ID field 1302 includes an identifier that identifies the device that transmitted the activity advertisement message 1300, e.g., the source electronic device 202. The version ID field 1304 includes a version identifier such as a version identifier that can be used by the companion electronic device 204 to determine how the fields in the activity information 1300 are formatted and / or how information is stored in the fields do.

The activity identifier field 1306 includes at least one of an activity identifier, e.g., activity identifiers 1204 through 1224. [ The flag field 1308 includes one or more flags, e.g., flags 1108-1128, corresponding to the advertised activity.

Timestamp field 1310 includes one or more of timestamps, e.g., timestamps 1106-1126, for activities advertised in activity identifier field 1306. [

Resumeable - show activity

As previously described, some embodiments present an indication that the activity is resumable before requesting extended activity data. 14 shows a block diagram illustrating an indication of a resumable-activity indication, i. E., An activity is resumable, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, Fig. 14 shows the resumable-activity indication displayed on the display 1400 for the accompanying electronic device 204. Fig. It should be noted that the resumable-activity indication shown in FIG. 14 is shown as a generic example of a resumable-activity indication used by some embodiments. Some embodiments use different resumable-activity indications and / or present differently from the resumable-activity indication.

In the illustrated embodiment, the accompanying electronic device 204 is a smartphone that includes a touch screen display 1400. The embodiment shown in FIG. 14 is in the receive state because the display 1400 shows a lock screen with an unlock indicator 1402 showing the phrase "push and unlock ". In general, a user of the companion electronic device 204 may use a finger to unlock the companion electronic device 204, such as pushing the graphic for the unlock indicator 1402 across the display 1400 And performs an operation using the release indicator 1402. [

The resumable-activity indication 1404 includes a graphic, e.g., an icon that the user can manipulate to accept (or reject) the activity delivery. In Fig. 14, the resumable-activity indication 1404 indicates that the resumable activity includes using an e-mail application, including an envelope-like icon. In some embodiments, the user may accept activity delivery by clicking / touching on the resumable-activity indication 1404 and / or by moving the resumable-activity indication 1404 along the path on the display 1400 have. For example, in some embodiments, a user may accept an activity transfer by touching and dragging the resumable-activity indication 1404 along or near the path 1406 (shown in phantom).

For illustrative purposes, the resumable-activity indication 1404 is shown in the lock screen for the accompanying electronic device 204. In some embodiments, the resumable-activity indication 1404 may be viewed using a different screen / location, such as an unlock screen, a notification window / pop-up, etc. in the menu bar. In addition, the location, size, graphics, color, and / or other visual characteristics of the resumable-activity indication 1404 may vary from one embodiment to another and may depend on the type of activity that can be resumed. For example, in some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 determines graphics displayed in the resumable-activity indication 1404 based on the application identifier for the advertised activity. As another example, in some embodiments, a resumable-activity indication 1404 appears in the lower left corner of the display 1400. Some embodiments present a plurality of resumable activity indications at the same time.

Note that the acceptance (or rejection) of an activity transfer may include moving a resumable-activity indication 1404 along a path different from the path 1406, for example, to the top of the screen along a curved path or the like. In some embodiments, the user may click on the resumable-activity indication 1404, tap on the resumable-activity indication 1404, swipe the resumable-activity indication 1404, display the resumable-activity indication 1404, Or performing a gesture using the gesture 1404, for example.

Automatic and manual activity ads

In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 automatically broadcasts an activity advertisement as soon as the activity information is received, e.g., at a predetermined time interval, based on the detected location of the source electronic device 202 . In these embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may provide settings such as system preferences that a user may use to turn on and off the broadcast of an activity advertisement.

In some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 manually begins to broadcast an activity advertisement, i.e., waits for an input from the user to initiate an activity advertisement broadcast. In some of these embodiments, the source electronic device 202 may initiate an activity advertisement broadcast if it detects a user input, and / or cause the source electronic device 202 to stop the activity advertisement for a predetermined period of time and / Continue to broadcast the activity ad until you provide the directive input. In some embodiments, the user input for activating and / or deactivating an activity advertisement may include a movement of the source electronic device 202 (e.g., waving the source electronic device 202, moving the source electronic device 202 in a circular direction, Oscillating the electronic device 202, etc.), performing one or more gestures on the touch screen for the source electronic device 202, pressing a key and / or button combination, and the like.

In some embodiments, the activity advertisement message, and / or the message that the source electronic device 202 transmits with (or in addition to) the activity advertisement message to the accompanying electronic device 204, . In some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 remains in the receive state as described above until such timer expires. The source electronic device 202 may provide the end time for the timer to the accompanying electronic device 204 or the associated electronic device 204 may determine the end time.

In some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 presents an indication that the activity is resumable, until the timer expires, and if the user accepts the display, the user unlocks the companion electronic device 204 But does not perform one or more actions (e.g., fingerprint scanning, password entry, etc.) to continue activity at the companion electronic device 204. More specifically, the companion electronic device 204 can detect that the user has accepted the display and bypass the lock screen / unlock action to allow the user to access the companion electronic device 204 ). ≪ / RTI > In some embodiments, the user is allowed to bypass the lock screen / unlock action only before the timer expires.

Activity continuation framework

In some embodiments, the third-party application may provide access to some or all of the activities described above with reference to the activities delivery operation, e.g., with reference to Figures 3-10, in electronic devices that may participate in the activity delivery operation Via the available "continue activities" framework. The activity continuation framework may provide third party applications with access to operating system functions, daemons, processes, services, etc. that perform at least some of the activity transfer operations. For example, in some embodiments, the provider of the electronic device and / or the operating system for the electronic device provides an application programming interface (API), and the third party application calls the functions that facilitate the activity transfer operation can do. In some embodiments, the activity continuation framework allows third party applications (and third party application developers) to interact with one another without the need to implement (or even know about) low-level details of activity continuity Enabling the transfer of activities from the electronic device to another electronic device.

For example, in some embodiments, in order for a third-party application to participate in an activity transfer operation, the third-party application developer may include activity descriptors for activities that the third-party application can perform, Provides a method for configuring a three-party application to perform an activity. In some of these embodiments, in an electronic device, such as the source electronic device 202, the third party application provides an activity descriptor (and possibly extended activity data) for the activity performed in the third party application We call the function provided by the continue activity framework. In an electronic device, such as a companion electronic device 204, an activity continuation framework may communicate extended activity data to a third party application (e.g., a command line switch or a command line switch) to configure a third party application to perform an activity Parameters, using objects, etc.). Thus, the activity continuation framework can facilitate continuing activity for third party applications with minimal effort and cost to the third party application developer.

Messages exchanged between electronic devices

15 shows a block diagram illustrating messages exchanged between electronic devices, in accordance with some embodiments. As can be seen in Figure 15, messages are exchanged over a period of time between the source electronic device 202 and the companion electronic device 204, where the activity advertisement 1500 occurs first in time, Lt; / RTI > Although it is shown that messages are exchanged in a particular order in Figure 15, in some embodiments, other messages are exchanged and / or messages are exchanged in a different order. Generally, the electronic devices of the described embodiments exchange messages sufficient to enable the operations described herein.

The messages in FIG. 15 are associated with two operations performed by the source electronic device 202 and / or the accompanying electronic device 204. The first action involving the advertisement 1500 is an activity advertisement action as shown in FIG. During an activity advertisement operation, the source electronic device 202 broadcasts at least one activity advertisement 1500.

The second action, which includes request 1502 for extended activity data, extended activity data 1504, and notification of activity delivery 1506, is an activity transfer operation as shown in Figures 5 and 6. During the activity delivery operation, the accompanying electronic device 204 responds to the activity advertisement 1500 using a request 1502 for extended activity data. When receiving a request 1502 for extended activity data, the source electronic device 202 responds by sending extended activity data 1504. In some embodiments, after the companion electronic device 204 has used the extended activity data to begin performing the activity in the second application, the companion electronic device 204 sends an activity delivery notification 1506, Device 202 will know that the activity has been delivered.

Activity related information forward

As described above, in some embodiments, the source electronic device (e.g., source electronic device 202) forwards the activity related information to a companion electronic device (e.g., companion electronic device 204). In general, the activity related information includes any information that can be used when performing an activity (e.g., an activity carried to a companion electronic device as described herein, or other activity performed on a companion electronic device). For example, the activity related information may include information (e.g., text, images, video, sound, settings, files, etc.) from the copy and paste clipboard in the source electronic device 202, previous versions of the file, undo) buffer (which maintains a record of changes to the system made by the user, which may be used to reverse the change), and / or other types of information. When receiving activity-related information, the associated electronic device can use activity-related information for one or more activities. For example, if the activity-related information includes the contents of the undo buffer, the accompanying electronic device may use the contents of the undo buffer received from the source electronic device to create a local undo buffer (i.e., Buffer) can be updated. For example, the undo buffer may contain a listing of the last N actions performed when the document was edited, and the listing may be reversed when subsequently editing the document using a menu, hotkey combination, Or "cancel" In this way, the accompanying electronic device can configure itself to enable reversal or undo of operations previously performed on the source electronic device.

Figure 17 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for forwarding activity related information from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device, in accordance with some embodiments. More particularly, FIG. 17 illustrates an embodiment in which the source electronic device 202 forwards the activity related information to the accompanying electronic device 204 using the advertisement message. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 17 are shown as a general example of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., companion electronic device 204, etc.) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations.

In the case of the process shown in FIG. 17, the contents of the clipboard in the source electronic device 202 are used as activity related information. However, in some embodiments, and as described above, other types of activity related information may be forwarded from the source electronic device 202. Additionally, "clipboard " as used herein refers to the copy and paste clipboard in the corresponding device. In some embodiments, the clipboard is a software service (e.g., operating system software service, standalone application, etc.) that provides temporary storage for information within the electronic device. The clipboard allows the user to perform actions such as copying, pasting, cropping, etc. to interact with the information. Such clipboards are generally known in the art generally and therefore are not described in further detail herein.

The process illustrated in FIG. 17 begins when the source electronic device 202 determines that activity-related information is available to forward to the accompanying electronic device 204 (step 1700). For example, based on receiving the above-described activity information (e.g., see step 300 of FIG. 3), the source electronic device 202 may perform one or more confirmations and determine that activity related information is available . As another example, when the user receives an indication indicating that the user has performed a copy operation to copy information (e.g., copied text, file, image, etc.) to the clipboard, the source electronic device 202 determines that the activity- It can be decided that it is possible. As another example, the source electronic device 202 may monitor the various operations being performed in the source electronic device 202 as part of performing the activity, and may determine, directly or indirectly, that the activity related information has become available . As described above, in the case of the example of Fig. 17, the content of the clipboard is activity related information. Thus, the source electronic device 202 determines, at step 1700, that one or more copied items that were placed during the current activity are on the clipboard.

The source electronic device 202 then generates an activity related information advertisement (step 1702). In general, the activity-related informational advertisement allows the accompanying electronic device 204 (and possibly other devices receiving activity-related informational ads) to determine that the activity-related information is of interest and to process the activity-related information And the like. Continuing with the clipboard example, the source electronic device 202 generates an activity related information advertisement, which causes the accompanying electronic device 204 to send the activity related information described in the activity related information advertisement, To update the clipboard in the companion electronic device 204 to or from the content of the clipboard from the source electronic device 202 as well as determine that the content of the clipboard from the source electronic device 202 is of interest to the companion electronic device 204 .

18 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity related information advertisement 1800 generated by a source electronic device 202 in accordance with some embodiments. The activity related information advertisement 1800 optionally includes a device ID field 1802, a version ID field 1804, an activity identifier field 1806, and a timestamp field 1808. The device ID field 1802 includes an identifier that identifies the device that transmitted the activity related information advertisement 1800, e.g., identifies the source electronic device 202. The version ID field 1804 contains a version identifier such as a version identifier that can be used by the companion electronic device 204 to determine how the fields in the activity related information advertisement 1800 are formatted and / . The activity identifier field 1806 includes at least one of an activity identifier, e.g., activity identifiers 1204 to 1224, that identifies the activity with which the corresponding activity related information is associated. The timestamp field 1808 contains a timestamp for the activity advertised in the activity identifier field 1806. [ As described above, the timestamp can be used to resolve the order in which two or more activity related information advertisements 1800 should be processed, which activity related information advertisement 1800 should be ignored, and the like.

Activity related information field 1810 includes information based on, derived from, or otherwise identifying activity related information and / or activity related information. Continuing with the example above, in some embodiments, the source electronic device 202 includes some or all of the actual content from the clipboard in the source electronic device 202, in the activity related information field 1810. For example, if a section of text has recently been copied to the clipboard, the section of text, i.e., the text itself, possibly includes metadata including format, timestamp, version information, etc., ). As another example, if sections of text, images, and files were individually copied to the clipboard during one or more copying operations, some or all of the sections of text, images, and files may be combined with possibly corresponding metadata , And an activity related information field 1810.

As another example, in embodiments where the source electronic device 202 includes information based on, derived from, or related to activity-related information in the activity-related information field 1810, the source electronic device 202 may include activity- Field 1810 may include compressed information, presentation information, information that may be used to derive activity-related information, and / or other information based on or related to activity-related information. For example, the source electronic device 202 may include an indication (e.g., a pointer, tag, identifier, reference, and / or other indicator) that information is available, But does not include the actual activity related information itself in the activity related information advertisement 1800. In such embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 may perform one or more operations to retrieve activity-related information indicated within the activity-related information advertisement 1800. [ For example, suppose the source electronic device 202 includes a pointer to activity-related information in the activity-related information field 1810, the accompanying electronic device 204 may communicate with the source electronic device 202 via one or more corresponding, Related information indicated by the pointer can be retrieved from the memory 202.

In some embodiments, information based on or derived from activity-related information may be included in an activity-related information field 1810 in addition to some or all of the actual activity-related information. Continuing the clipboard example, assuming that a small section of text (100 bytes) and a large image (4 MB) have been copied to the clipboard in the source electronic device 202, the source electronic device 202 creates an activity related information field 1810), but may only include a reference to the image. The accompanying electronic device 204 can then request an image using its reference, as described above. In some embodiments, the size of the activity-related information is used to determine whether activity-related information or information based thereon is to be included in the activity-related information advertisement 1800. [ For example, based on one or more thresholds (e.g., the maximum size for activity-related information advertisement 1800), the activity-related information may be included directly or indirectly in the activity-related information field 1810 (e.g., An indicator, etc.).

The source electronic device 202 then transmits (e.g., broadcasts, unicasts, multicasts, etc.) the activity related information advertisement 1800 (step 1704). For example, using the corresponding protocol, the source electronic device 202 may unicast the activity related information advertisement 1800 to the accompanying electronic device 204. [ Generally, during this operation, the source electronic device 202 provides the activity-related information advertisement 1800 to the accompanying electronic device 204 via a wired or wireless communication link. As will be described in greater detail below, when receiving an activity related information advertisement 1800, the accompanying electronic device 204 selects activity related information for use in performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device 204, .

In the case of the example of FIG. 17, embodiments in which the source electronic device 202 advertises activity-related information separately from the above-described activity advertisement (e.g., activity advertisement 1300) are described. In other words, in some embodiments, the activity advertisement 1300 is transmitted in addition to the activity related information advertisement 1800. However, in some embodiments, some or all of the above-described activity related information (i.e., actual information, pointers, etc.) is included in the activity advertisement 1300. In these embodiments, a separate activity related information advertisement 1800 may not be used. In these embodiments, the activity advertisement 1300 includes various fields, values, etc. that are used to hold activity related information or information based thereon. In these embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 may perform operations similar to those shown in FIG. 19 to process activity-related information in the activity advertisement 1300. [

Although activity related information advertisement 1800 is shown as an example of an activity related information advertisement, in some embodiments, activity related information advertisement 1800 is formatted differently (e.g., including fields of different arrangements, etc.) . For example, in some embodiments, one or more of the fields described as optional are not optional. In general, the activity-related information advertisement 1800 includes information sufficient to allow the source electronic device 202 to communicate activity-related information to the accompanying electronic device 204, To provide activity related information for use in performing one or more activities in the server 204. [

19 illustrates a flow diagram illustrating a process for receiving activity-related information from a source electronic device at a companion electronic device, in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, Figure 19 illustrates an embodiment in which the accompanying electronic device 204 receives activity related information from the source electronic device 202. It should be noted that the operations shown in FIG. 19 are shown as a general example of operations performed by some embodiments. The operations performed by some embodiments include different operations and / or operations performed in a different order. Additionally, although certain mechanisms (e.g., companion electronic device 204, etc.) are used in the description of operations, in some embodiments, other mechanisms perform operations.

In the case of the process shown in Fig. 19, the contents of the clipboard in the source electronic device 202 are used as activity related information. However, in some embodiments, and as described above, other types of activity related information may be received from the source electronic device 202.

The process illustrated in FIG. 19 begins when a companion electronic device 204 receives an activity related information advertisement 1800 from a source electronic device 202 (step 1900). As described above, this operation allows the accompanying electronic device 204 to selectively provide activity-related information for use when processing activity-related information and performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device 204 Broadcast, multicast, etc. of the activity-related information advertisement 1800 that includes the information.

The accompanying electronic device 204 then determines 1902 whether the activity related information described in the activity related information advertisement 1800 is of interest. Generally, during this operation, the accompanying electronic device 204 determines whether the activity-related information is to be used in the accompanying electronic device 204. In this description, it is noted that the operation determining that activity related information is of interest and accordingly providing activity related information (or not) is described as providing "selectively" activity related information. In other words, the accompanying electronic device 204 selects whether to provide activity-related information to the activities in the accompanying electronic device 204, as described herein.

In some embodiments, when determining whether activity-related information is of interest, the accompanying electronic device 204 may display an activity-related information availability indicator on the display (e.g., display 1400) of the companion electronic device 204 present. 20 shows a block diagram illustrating an activity related information availability indicator 2000 in accordance with some embodiments. As can be seen in FIG. 20, the activity related information availability indicator 2000 is an icon presented on the display 1400 of the accompanying electronic device 204. In some embodiments, the activity related information availability indicator 2000 is generally a simple icon indicating that activity related information is available. However, in some embodiments, the activity related information availability indicator 2000 may include a representation of the type (s) of activity related information in the icon (e.g., a text indicator as shown, an image indicator, A buffer indicator, a clipboard indicator, a combination indicator, etc.). Similar to the above-described resumable activity indication 1404, in some embodiments, a user may enter an activity related information availability indicator (e. G., ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > 2000) can be selected. For example, the user may tap the activity related information availability indicator 2000 on the touch sensitive screen, perform a mouse point hover, click on the activity related information availability indicator 2000, Click-select the relevant information availability indicator 2000, drag it along the specified path, and so on. In some embodiments, the acceptance of the activity-related information causes the accompanying electronic device 204 to determine that the activity-related information is of interest.

In some embodiments, when determining whether activity-related information is of interest (in addition to or instead of using the activity-related information availability indicator 2000 described above), the accompanying electronic device 204 may determine Whether the activity is to be transferred from the source electronic device 202 to the companion electronic device 204, whether the activity related information is a format supported by the accompanying electronic device 204, and so on. In general, the companion electronic device 204 determines that the activity-related information is of interest when it should and should be made available to the activities in the companion electronic device 204.

If the activity related information described in the activity related information advertisement 1800 is not of interest (step 1904), the accompanying electronic device 204 may stop processing related to the activity related information advertisement 1800 and the process And is terminated. During this operation, in some embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 may remove the activity related information availability indicator 2000 from the display screen, configure itself to ignore future duplicate advertisements, Conveying a negative acknowledgment or rejection to the source electronic device 202, and so on.

If the activity related information described in the activity related information advertisement 1800 is of interest (step 1904), the accompanying electronic device 204 acquires the activity related information (1906). Generally, during this operation, the accompanying electronic device 204 retrieves at least a portion of the activity-related information from one or both of the activity-related information advertisement 1800 and the source electronic device 202. During this operation, if the activity related information advertisement 1800 includes some or all of the actual activity related information, the accompanying electronic device 204 may acquire some or all of the activity related information from the activity related information advertisement 1800 . For example, suppose that the source electronic device 202 includes at least a portion of the contents of the clipboard in the activity-related information advertisement 1800, the accompanying electronic device 204 receives the information from the activity- Content can be obtained.

In addition to or instead of obtaining activity related information from the activity related information advertisement 1800, the accompanying electronic device 204 may obtain some or all of the activity related information from the source electronic device 202. For example, the source electronic device 202 may include a pointer (or other indicator thereof) to activity related information on the source electronic device 202 (e.g., within the source electronic device 202) within the activity related information advertisement 1800 A pointer to information such as an image file on the clipboard, etc.), the accompanying electronic device 204 may request activity-related information from the source electronic device 202. [

In some embodiments, activity related information may be obtained with the extended-activity data, i.e., included in the activity data extended by the source electronic device 202. In some of these embodiments, the accompanying electronic device 204 requests the transmission of activity related information along with the extended activity data. For example, the activity-related information advertisement 1800 may include an indication that activity-related information is available, e.g., a pointer or other indicator, and the accompanying electronic device may communicate the corresponding activity as described herein (I. E., Requesting extended activity data), < / RTI >

The accompanying electronic device 204 then provides activity related information for use in performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device 204 (step 1908). During this operation, the companion electronic device 204 may store activity related information using one or more corresponding structures (memory, clipboard, cache, buffer, etc.) so that activity- 202 to the accompanying electronic device 204, activities initiated on the accompanying electronic device 204, and the like). In some embodiments, "providing activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities" means that during activity of the activity, activity-related information may be associated with the activity- And providing information. Continuing with the clipboard example, this can be done by inserting the contents of the clipboard from the source electronic device 202 into the electronic device 204 as if the information on the clipboard were generally available in the accompanying electronic device 204 - Pasting as if it were from the clipboard and making it available for other operations. For example, therefore, the hot keys and menu selections may be used to access the contents of the clipboard copied from the source electronic device 202, on the accompanying electronic device 204. As another example, assuming that the activity related information includes the contents of the undo buffer, the undo buffer in the accompanying electronic device 204 stores activity related information (i.e., history of operations performed in the source electronic device 202) So that the corresponding actions that were not initially performed in the accompanying electronic device 204 can be undone in the accompanying electronic device 204. [

Continuing with the clipboard example, in some embodiments, providing activity-related information for use in performing one or more activities in a companion electronic device 204 may be accomplished by using the clipboard described in the activity- To the clipboard in the accompanying electronic device (204). In such embodiments, the contents of the clipboard may be partially or completely overwritten by the contents of the clipboard described in the activity-related information advertisement 1800. [ In some embodiments, the associated electronic device 204 (e. G., Its operating system) may be provided with a separate transmitted information buffer < RTI ID = 0.0 > (transferred information buffer). In these embodiments, the transferred information buffer may be accessed using corresponding menu selections, hot keys, and the like. In some embodiments, the user may be presented with a choice (e.g., a pop-up prompt) to overwrite the clipboard or write information to the passed activity buffer. In some embodiments, the delivered information buffer is a software service (e.g., an operating system software service, a standalone application, etc.) that provides temporary storage for information in electronic devices, but a hardware- May be used in combination with the information buffer transferred. The transferred information buffer allows the user to perform operations such as copying, pasting, truncating, etc., and interacting with the information stored in the transferred information buffer.

In some embodiments, the user may provide an interface (e. G., A display < / RTI > (e. G., A display, a display, etc.) that allows a user to determine what content of the clipboard from the source electronic device 202 will be copied to the clipboard in the accompanying electronic device, (1400)). For example, after selecting an activity related information availability indicator 2000, a pop-up window may be presented on the display 1400 to show or otherwise list the contents of the clipboard from the source electronic device 202 The pop-up window includes mechanisms for selecting which content is to be copied to the clipboard in the accompanying electronic device 204, where the content is to be copied on the clipboard, and so on.

Activity related information availability indicator 2000 is presented at a specific location on the lock screen, but in some embodiments activity related information availability indicator 2000 may be displayed on any screen during operation of the companion electronic device 204. < RTI ID = 0.0 >Lt; / RTI > may be presented at different locations on the network. In addition, the activity related information availability indicator 2000 may be presented in conjunction with and / or in association with the re-activatable activity indication 1404. [ In such embodiments, the user may select an activity related information availability indicator 2000 and a resumable < RTI ID = 0.0 > availability indicator 2000, for either or both of conveying activities An activity indication 1404, or both. In some embodiments, the companion electronic device 204 presents only the resumable activity indication 1404, and the user selects the resumable activity indication 1404 to allow the companion electronic device 204 to deliver the activity (As described herein) and accepting activity-related information.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for purposes of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and changes will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In addition, the above disclosure is not intended to limit the embodiments. The scope of the embodiments is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (24)

As a method,
With a companion electronic device,
Receiving activity-related information from a source electronic device, wherein the activity-related information is associated with an activity performed on the source electronic device, the receiving comprising receiving source clipboard information, The source clipboard information including a copy of a portion or all of the contents of the clipboard in the source electronic device;
Performing operations to selectively provide the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing the one or more activities comprises:
And replacing part or all of the contents of the clipboard in the companion electronic device with the source clipboard information. 3. The method of claim 2,
A portion of or all of the content of the clipboard in the companion electronic device, based on receiving an indication that some or all of the content of the clipboard in the companion electronic device will be replaced with the source clipboard information, With source clipboard information. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities comprises:
Storing the source clipboard information in a transferred information buffer in the accompanying electronic device, the transferred information buffer being different from the clipboard in the companion electronic device; And
And providing the source clipboard information from the transferred information buffer for use in activities in the companion electronic device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device comprises:
And receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, wherein the advertisement message includes some or all of the activity related information. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device comprises:
Receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, the advertisement message including an identifier of part or all of the activity related information;
Requesting some or all of the activity related information from the source electronic device using the identifier; And
And in response to the request, receiving some or all of the activity related information from the source electronic device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device comprises:
Requesting extended activity data from the source electronic device, wherein the extended activity data includes information that can be used to configure an application in the companion electronic device to continue activity from the source electronic device Included -; And
And receiving the activity related information together with extended activity data for the activity performed in the first application from the source electronic device. The method of claim 1, wherein selectively providing the activity-
Presenting an activity related information availability indicator on the display of the accompanying electronic device;
Providing the activity-related information for use in performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device when receiving an acceptance of the activity-related information availability indicator; And
Related information availability indicator if the activity-related information availability indicator indicates that the activity-related information availability indicator is not present; and when receiving a rejection of the activity-related information availability indicator, not providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device. As a companion electronic device,
Processing subsystem; And
A networking subsystem;
The accompanying electronic device comprising:
Wherein the activity related information is associated with an activity performed at the source electronic device, the receiving comprising receiving source clipboard information, wherein the source clipboard information comprises information about the activity A copy of some or all of the contents of the clipboard in the source electronic device;
And optionally provides the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9,
An additional clipboard is included;
When selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing the one or more activities,
Replaces some or all of the contents of the clipboard in the companion electronic device with the source clipboard information. 11. The electronic device according to claim 10,
A portion of or all of the content of the clipboard in the companion electronic device, based on receiving an indication that some or all of the content of the clipboard in the companion electronic device will be replaced with the source clipboard information, A companion electronic device that replaces the source clipboard information. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising a forwarded information buffer, the forwarded information buffer being different from the clipboard in the companion electronic device;
When selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities,
Storing the source clipboard information in the transferred information buffer;
To provide the source clipboard information from the transferred information buffer for use in activities in the companion electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein upon receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device,
Receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, the advertisement message including some or all of the activity related information. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein upon receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device,
Receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, the advertisement message including an identifier of part or all of the activity related information;
Requesting some or all of the activity related information from the source electronic device using the identifier;
In response to the request, receive some or all of the activity-related information from the source electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein upon receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device,
Requesting extended activity data from the source electronic device, the extended activity data including information that can be used to configure an application in the companion electronic device to continue activity from the source electronic device;
Associated activity information with the extended activity data for the activity performed in the first application from the source electronic device. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising a display subsystem, the display subsystem including a display;
When the activity-related information is selectively provided,
Presenting an activity related information availability indicator on the display;
Providing the activity-related information for use in performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device when receiving an acceptance of the activity-related information availability indicator;
Related information availability indicator does not provide the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device when receiving a rejection of the activity-related information availability indicator. 22. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for causing a companion electronic device to perform a method when executed by a processing subsystem in a companion electronic device,
Receiving activity-related information from a source electronic device, the activity-related information being associated with an activity performed on the source electronic device, the receiving comprising receiving source clipboard information, The information including a copy of some or all of the contents of the clipboard in the source electronic device; And
And selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein selectively providing the activity-related information for use in performing the one or more activities comprises:
And replacing part or all of the contents of the clipboard in the companion electronic device with the source clipboard information. 19. The method of claim 18,
Further comprising receiving an indication that some or all of the content of the clipboard in the companion electronic device will be overwritten using the source clipboard information. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein selectively providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities comprises:
Storing the source clipboard information in a transferred information buffer in the accompanying electronic device, the transferred information buffer being different from the clipboard in the companion electronic device; And
And providing the source clipboard information from the transferred information buffer for use in activities in the companion electronic device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving activity-related information from the source electronic device comprises:
And receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, wherein the advertisement message includes some or all of the activity related information. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the activity related information from the source electronic device comprises:
Receiving an advertisement message from the source electronic device, the advertisement message including an identifier of a portion or all of the activity related information;
Requesting some or all of the activity related information from the source electronic device using the identifier; And
Receiving, in response to the request, part or all of the activity-related information from the source electronic device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving activity-related information from the source electronic device comprises:
Requesting extended activity data from the source electronic device, the extended activity data including information that can be used to configure an application in the companion electronic device to continue activity from the source electronic device; And
And receiving the activity related information together with extended activity data for the activity performed in the first application from the source electronic device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein selectively providing the activity-
Presenting an activity related information availability indicator on the display of the accompanying electronic device;
Providing the activity-related information for use in performing one or more activities in the accompanying electronic device when receiving an acceptance of the activity-related information availability indicator; And
Related information availability indicator; and upon receiving a rejection of the activity-related information availability indicator, not providing the activity-related information for use when performing one or more activities in the companion electronic device.

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