Activity continuation between electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9380123-B2
Application number	US-201514691440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2015
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

The described embodiments transfer an activity from a source electronic device to a companion electronic device. The source electronic device receives activity information describing an activity performed in a first application at the source electronic device, determines an activity identifier for the activity information, and broadcasts an activity advertisement comprising the activity identifier. Upon receiving the activity advertisement, the companion electronic device determines whether a second application that is associated with the first application is available at the companion electronic device. If the second application is available, the companion electronic device requests extended activity data from the source electronic device. The source electronic device responds by sending extended activity data from the first application to the companion electronic device. Then, the companion electronic device uses the extended activity data to configure the second application and commences performing the activity with the second application at the companion electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
in a companion electronic device, performing operations for:
receiving, from a source electronic device, an advertisement message that includes information about a first activity being performed in a first application at the source electronic device, wherein the information about the first activity comprises a value that is determined based at least in part on an activity descriptor for the first activity;
determining that a second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity, the continuing comprising commencing a second activity in the second application based on a current state of the first activity so that a state of the second activity corresponds to the current state of the first activity;
requesting, from the source electronic device, extended activity data that comprises information about the current state of the first activity, wherein extended activity data comprises activity-related information comprising one or more of: state information that describes a state of the first application and external information about resources used for performing the activity;
upon receiving the extended activity data from the source electronic device, using the extended activity data to configure the second application to commence the second activity so that the state of the second activity corresponds to the current state of the first activity; and
commencing the second activity in the second application.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity comprises:
acquiring, based on the advertisement message, information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity;
comparing the information for identifying applications with one or more records of applications available in the companion electronic device; and
based on the comparing, determining that the second application is available in the companion electronic device for continuing the first activity.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
in the companion electronic device, performing operations for:
receiving, from the source electronic device, a table of activities performed at the source electronic device;
wherein acquiring, based on the advertisement message, information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity, comprises retrieving, from the table of activities performed at the source electronic device, the information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity comprises:
determining a second application of a different type than the first application is available for continuing the first activity.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the companion electronic device, performing operations for:
presenting, on a display of the companion electronic device, an indication that the second application is available for continuing the first activity; and
based on receiving an acceptance of the indication, permitting the requesting, using, and commencing operations to be performed.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving, from the source electronic device, the advertisement message comprises:
receiving the advertisement message in a baseband processor in the companion electronic device while the companion electronic device is in a low-power state; and
waking the companion electronic device from the low-power state to perform subsequent operations.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the companion electronic device, performing operations for:
upon determining that the second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity, starting the second application substantially at a same time as requesting, from the source electronic device, the extended activity data, so that the starting and the requesting operations are performed substantially in parallel.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in the companion electronic device, performing operations for:
sending a notification to the source electronic device to cause the first application to stop performing the first activity.

9. A companion electronic device, comprising:
a processing subsystem; and
a networking subsystem;
wherein the processing subsystem and the networking subsystem perform operations for:
receiving, from a source electronic device, an advertisement message that includes information about a first activity being performed in a first application at the source electronic device, wherein the information about the first activity comprises a value that is determined based at least in part on an activity descriptor for the first activity;
determining that a second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity, the continuing comprising commencing a second activity in the second application based on a current state of the first activity so that a state of the second activity corresponds to the current state of the first activity;
requesting, from the source electronic device, extended activity data that comprises information about the current state of the first activity,
wherein extended activity data comprises activity-related information comprising one or more of: state information that describes a state of the first application and external information about resources used for performing the activity;
upon receiving the extended activity data from the source electronic device, using the extended activity data to configure the second application to commence the second activity so that the state of the second activity corresponds to the current state of the first activity; and
commencing the second activity in the second application.

10. The companion electronic device of claim 9 , wherein determining that the second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity comprises:
acquiring, based on the advertisement message, information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity;
comparing the information for identifying applications with one or more records of applications available in the companion electronic device; and
based on the comparing, determining that the second application is available in the companion electronic device for continuing the first activity.

11. The companion electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the processing subsystem and the networking subsystem further perform operations for:
receiving, from the source electronic device, a table of activities performed at the source electronic device;
wherein acquiring, based on the advertisement message, information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity, comprises retrieving, from the table of activities performed at the source electronic device, the information for identifying applications for continuing the first activity.

12. The companion electronic device of claim 9 , wherein determining that the second application in the companion electronic device is available for continuing the first activity comprises:
determining a second application of a different type than the first application is available for continuing the first activity.

13. The companion electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the companion electronic device further comprises:
a display;
wherein the processing subsystem and the displa

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Linn Christopher S
• Stattenfield Keith
• Jensen Christopher C
• Ledwith Alexander R
• Carter David A
• Krochmal Marc J
• Iarocci John J
• Grynspan Jonathan M

Classifications

• H04L67/22 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/148 Primary

  Migration or transfer of sessions · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04L67/53

  using third party service providers · CPC title