System, method and apparatus for sensor virtualization in mobile devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11240853-B2
Application number	US-201916724623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2019
Priority date	Jun 27, 2016
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

A method and system for virtualizing mobile device sensors includes requesting from a first mobile device a virtual connection with a mobile device having a specific type of sensor, configuring an operating system of the first mobile device to allow an application program to accept data by proxy from the available sensor of the second mobile device; receiving a response from a second mobile device having the sensor, establishing a trusted temporary communication connection between the first and second mobile devices, sending a control signal from an application program on the first mobile device to the second mobile for operating the sensor on the second mobile device and receiving device sensor data from the sensor on the second mobile device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for virtualizing mobile device sensors comprising:
automatically recognizing by a first mobile device an available specific type of sensor on a second mobile device;
configuring an operating system of the first mobile device to allow an application program to accept data by proxy from the available specific type of sensor of the second mobile device;
establishing a trusted communication connection between the first and second mobile devices;
sending a control signal from the first mobile device to the second mobile device for controlling the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device to generate sensor data;
receiving at the first mobile device the sensor data from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device generated in response to the control signal for operating the available specific type of sensor; and
providing the sensor data received from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device by proxy to the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the control signal is generated by the application program on the first mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the control signal is generated by the application program on the first mobile device requiring operation of the available specific type of sensor not on the first mobile device.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the control signal is generated due to the available specific type of sensor not operating on the first mobile device.

5. The method of claim 2 , further including coupling an operating system of the first mobile device with the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor such that the data from the available specific type of sensor is not required to be from a sensor on the first mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the coupling is provided by a virtual machine monitor running on the first mobile device such that the first mobile device is a host machine and the second mobile device is a guest machine.

7. The method of claim 1 , further including the first mobile device automatically recognizing one or more second mobile devices has being a trusted device and having the available specific type of sensor.

8. A system comprising:
at least one data processor connected to at least one memory that stores software instructions, where execution of the software instructions by the at least one data processor causes the system to virtualize mobile device sensors by:
automatically recognizing by a first mobile device an available specific type of sensor on a second mobile device;
configuring an operating system of the first mobile device to allow an application program to accept data by proxy from the available specific type of sensor of the second mobile device;
establishing a trusted communication connection between the first and second mobile devices;
sending a control signal from the first mobile device to the second mobile device for controlling the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device to generate sensor data;
receiving at the first mobile device the sensor data from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device generated in response to the control signal for operating of the available specific type of sensor; and
providing the sensor data received from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device by proxy to the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control signal is generated by the application program on the first mobile device.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein an operating system of the first mobile device is coupled with the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor such that the data from the available specific type of sensor is not required to be from a sensor on the first mobile device.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein a virtual machine monitor on first mobile device is configured such that the first mobile device is a host machine and the second mobile device is a guest machine.

12. The system of claim 8 , further including the first mobile device automatically recognizing one or more second mobile devices has being a trusted device and having the available specific type of sensor.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control signal is generated by one of the application program on the first mobile device requiring operation of the available specific type of sensor not on the first mobile device and the available specific type of sensor not operating on the first mobile device.

14. A computer program product for virtualizing mobile device sensors, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by a processor of a computer that causes the computer to virtualize mobile device sensors by:
automatically recognizing by a first mobile device an available specific type of sensor on a second mobile device;
configuring an operating system of the first mobile device to allow an application program to accept data by proxy from the available specific type of sensor of the second mobile device;
establishing a trusted communication connection between the first and second mobile devices;
sending a control signal from the first mobile device to the second mobile device for controlling the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device to generate sensor data;
receiving at the first mobile device the sensor data from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device generated in response to the control signal for operating of the available specific type of sensor; and
providing the sensor data received from the available specific type of sensor on the second mobile device by proxy to the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the control signal is generated by the application program on the first mobile device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the control signal is generated by the application program on the first mobile device requiring operation of the available specific type of sensor not on the first mobile device.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the control signal is generated due to the available specific type of sensor not operating on the first mobile device.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 , further including coupling an operating system of the first mobile device with the application program requiring the operation of the available specific type of sensor such that the data from the available specific type of sensor is not required to be from a sensor on the first mobile device.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the coupling is provided by a virtual machine monitor running on the first mobile device such that the first mobile device is a host machine and the second mobile device is a guest machine.

20. The computer program product of claim 14 , further including the first mobile device automatically recognizing one or more second mobile devices has being a trusted device and having the available specific type of sensor.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Pistoia Marco
• Thomas Gegi
• Tripp Omer

Classifications

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W76/10 Primary

  Connection setup · CPC title