Sharing of user interface objects via a shared space

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016334967-A1
Application number	US-201214409302-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2012
Priority date	Jun 29, 2012
Publication date	Nov 17, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Example embodiments relate to sharing of user interface objects via a shared space in a data sharing application. In example embodiments, a data sharing application provides a shared space. A user command may then be received to transfer a respective UI object from each of a plurality of applications to the shared space. In response, each transferred UI object may be displayed within the shared space, such that each displayed UI object retains associated functionality from the corresponding application within the shared space. Finally, each UI object in the shared space may be shared with a plurality of users granted access to the shared space.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A computing device comprising:
a processor to:
execute a data sharing application that provides a plurality of shared spaces, each shared space enabling a user of the computing device to share user interface (UI) objects with other users;
receive a user command to transfer a respective UI object from each of a plurality of corresponding applications executing on the computing device to a particular shared space;
display each transferred UI object within the particular shared space, wherein each displayed UI object retains associated functionality from the corresponding application within the shared space; and
share the particular shared space, including each UI object and the associated functionality, with a plurality of users granted access to the particular shared space by the user.

2 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein each application transfers the respective UI object as a data object including metadata describing the UI object and a reference to code for implementing the associated functionality.

3 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the user command to transfer each respective UI object is a drag and drop command by which the respective UI object is moved from a window of the corresponding application to a target associated with the particular shared space.

4 . The computing device of claim 3 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to display a panel of icons, each icon corresponding to one of the plurality of shared spaces, and the target associated with the particular shared space is the icon in the bar corresponding to the particular shared space.

5 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the processor is further configured to display, in response to a held activation of a particular UI object within the corresponding application, a pop-up menu listing an identifier for each of the plurality of shared spaces, and the user command to transfer the particular UI object to the particular shared space is a selection of the identifier corresponding to the particular shared space from the pop-up menu.

6 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to grant access to the particular shared space to a target user in response to a command to grant access provided by the user via a contacts application.

7 . The computing device of claim 6 , wherein:
the processor is configured to display a pop-up menu listing an identifier for each of the plurality of shared spaces while the contacts application is open, and the command to grant access is a selection of the identifier corresponding to the particular shared space from the pop-up menu while the target user is selected within the contacts application.

8 . The computing device of claim 6 , wherein the command to grant access to the particular user is a drag and drop command by which a UI object corresponding to the target user is dragged from the contacts application to the particular shared space within the data sharing application.

9 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
display a pop-up notification that indicates to the user that another user has granted the user access to a shared space controlled by the other user; receive, from the user, a command to obtain access to the shared space controlled by the other user; add the shared space controlled by the other user to the data sharing application; and synchronize, from a remote server, all UI objects contained in the shared space controlled by the other user for access on the computing device via the data sharing application.

10 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device for sharing UI objects, the machine-readable storage medium comprising:
instructions for executing a data sharing application including a shared space for enabling a user of the computing device to share user interface (UI) objects; instructions for receiving a selection of users to be granted access to the shared space by the user; instructions for receiving a plurality of user commands to transfer respective UI objects from each of a plurality of corresponding applications to the shared space; instructions for displaying each UI object within the shared space, wherein each displayed UI object executes functionality transferred from the corresponding application; and instructions for providing each UI object to a remote server to be shared with each user granted access to the shared space.

11 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for receiving the selection of users to be granted access comprise:
instructions for receiving a selection of a target user to be granted access to the shared space via a command by which a UI object corresponding to the target user is dragged and dropped from a contacts application.

12 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for receiving each command to transfer a respective UI object comprise:
instructions for displaying a panel of icons, each icon corresponding to one of a plurality of shared spaces; and instructions for adding the respective UI object to the shared space in response to a command by which the respective UI object is dragged from a window of the corresponding application and dropped on the icon corresponding to the shared space.

13 . A method for sharing user interface (UI) objects, the method comprising:
executing, by a computing device, a data sharing application that provides a plurality of shared spaces, each shared space enabling a user of the computing device to share user interface (UI) objects with other users; receiving a user command to transfer a respective UI object from each of a plurality of corresponding applications executing on the computing device to a particular shared space; displaying each transferred UI object within the particular shared space, wherein each displayed UI object retains associated functionality from the corresponding application within the shared application; receiving a selection of users to be granted access to the particular shared space based on a selection provided by the user via a contacts application; and sharing the particular shared space, including each UI object and the associated functionality, with the users granted access to the particular shared space.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein receiving the selection of users to be granted access comprises:
receiving a selection of each user to be granted access to the particular shared space via a respective command by which a UI object corresponding to the user to be granted access is dragged and dropped from the contacts application into the particular shared space.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein receiving the user command to transfer each respective UI object comprises:
displaying a panel of icons, each icon corresponding to one of the plurality of shared spaces; and adding the respective UI object to the particular shared space in response to a command by which the respective UI object is dragged from a window of the corresponding application and dropped on the icon corresponding to the particular shared space.

Assignees

• Rottler Benjamin
• Strutin-Belinoff Pilar
• Metcalfe Lindsay J
• Vonshak Itai
• Velazquez Velma
• Wirtz Chadwyck
• Arumugam Suresh
• Arroyo Greg
• Levin Itay
• Rapoport Alex
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Rottler Benjamin
• Strutin-Belinoff Pilar
• Metcalfe Lindsay J
• Vonshak Itai
• Velazquez Velma
• Wirtz Chadwyck
• Arumugam Suresh
• Arroyo Greg
• Levin Itay
• Rapoport Alex

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06F3/0486

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title

• G06F3/04842 Primary

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title