Copy and paste between devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9967697-B2
Application number	US-201615191165-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2016
Priority date	May 30, 2016
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

A device may comprise at least one wireless transceiver, a memory configured to store a local pasteboard, and a processor. The processor may be configured to receive local selections of data to be placed on a local pasteboard, broadcast advertisements indicating that the local data is on the local pasteboard, and wirelessly transmit the local data to remote device pasteboards. The processor may also be configured to receive advertisements indicating that remote data is available on remote pasteboards of other devices, request the remote data in response to a paste command, wirelessly receive the remote data, and paste the remote data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a first device, a selection of data to be placed on a first pasteboard of the first device;
wirelessly broadcasting, with the first device, an advertisement comprising information indicative of the presence of the data on the first pasteboard;
wirelessly receiving, at the first device, a request for a type list from the second device, the type list comprising a plurality of data types of a plurality of subsets of the data on the first pasteboard;
wirelessly transmitting, with the first device, the type list directly to the second device;
wirelessly receiving, at the first device, a request for the data on the first pasteboard from the second device, the request for the data including a selection of one of the plurality of data type options;
establishing, with the first device, a direct wireless connection to the second device; and
wirelessly transmitting, with the first device, the data in the selected one of the plurality of data type options on the first pasteboard directly to a second pasteboard of the second device by the direct wireless connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data in the second pasteboard can be pasted into a document on the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement is added to a prescheduled broadcast message including additional information.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data on the first pasteboard is directly transmitted using a Bluetooth low energy transmission when a size of the data is less than a threshold size.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data on the first pasteboard is directly transmitted using a direct WiFi connection between the first device and the second device when a size of the data is greater than or equal to a threshold size.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
wirelessly advertising, with the first device, an available WiFi service;
wirelessly receiving, at the first device, a request to connect to the available WiFi service from the second device; and
establishing, with the first device, the direct WiFi connection between the first device and the second device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected one of the plurality of data type options corresponds to a data type useable by the second device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected one of the plurality of data type options omits at least one data type not useable by the second device.

9. A method comprising:
wirelessly receiving, at a second device, an advertisement comprising information indicative of the presence of data on a first pasteboard of a first device;
receiving, at the second device, a command to paste data from a second pasteboard of the second device;
wirelessly transmitting, with the second device, a request for a type list to the first device, the type list comprising a plurality of data types of a plurality of subsets of the data on the first pasteboard;
wirelessly receiving, at the second device, the type list directly from the first device;
selecting, with the second device, one of the plurality of data type options;
wirelessly transmitting, with the second device, a request for the selected one of the plurality of data type options on the first pasteboard to the first device;
establishing, with the second device, a direct wireless connection to the first device;
wirelessly receiving, at the second device, the data in the selected one of the plurality of data type options on the first pasteboard directly from the first device by the direct wireless connection;
placing, with the second device, the received data in the second pasteboard of the second device; and
pasting, with the second device, the received data.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data on the first pasteboard is transmitted using a Bluetooth low energy transmission.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
wirelessly receiving, at the second device, an advertisement of an available WiFi service from the first device;
wirelessly responding, with the second device, to the advertisement with a request to connect to the available WiFi service from the second device; and
establishing, with the second device, a direct WiFi connection between the first device and the second device, wherein the data on the first pasteboard is received through the direct WiFi connection.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising displaying, with the second device, a user interface while the data on the first pasteboard is being received, the user interface comprising an indication of data receipt progress, a cancel option, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving, at the second device, a cancel command from the user interface; and
stopping, with the second device, receipt of the data on the first pasteboard in response to receiving the cancel command.

14. A device comprising:
at least one wireless transceiver;
a memory configured to store a local pasteboard; and
a processor configured to:
receive a selection of local data to be placed on the local pasteboard;
place the selected local data on the pasteboard;
wirelessly broadcast, using the at least one wireless transceiver, a local advertisement comprising information indicative of the presence of the local data on the local pasteboard;
wirelessly receive a request for a type list from at least one remote device, the type list comprising a plurality of data types of a plurality of subsets of the data on the first pasteboard;
wirelessly transmit the type list directly to the second device;
wirelessly receive, through the at least one wireless transceiver, a request for the local data on the local pasteboard from the at least one remote device, the request for the data including a selection of one of the plurality of data type options;
establish, using the at least one wireless transceiver, a direct wireless connection to the at least one remote device;
wirelessly transmit, using the at least one wireless transceiver, the local data on the local pasteboard in the selected one of the plurality of data type options directly to at least one remote pasteboard of the at least one remote device by the direct wireless connection;
wirelessly receive, through the at least one wireless transceiver, a remote advertisement comprising information indicative of the presence of remote data on the at least one remote pasteboard of the at least one remote device;
receive a command to paste data after receiving the remote advertisement;
wirelessly transmit, using the at least one wireless transceiver, a request for the remote data on the at least one remote pasteboard to the at least one remote device;
wirelessly receive, through the at least one wireless transceiver, the remote data on the at least one remote pasteboard directly from the at least one remote device by the direct wireless connection;
place the received remote data in the local pasteboard; and
paste the received remote data in response to the command to paste data.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the at least one wireless transceiver comprises a Bluetooth low energy transceiver, a WiFi transceiver, or a combination thereof.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether a size of the local data is below a threshold size;
in response to determining that the size of the local data is below the threshold size, select the Bluetooth low energy transceiver for wirelessly transmitting the local data on the local pasteboard directly to the at

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Stattenfield Keith
• Edmonson Douglas R
• Krochmal Marc
• Iarocci John J
• Perry Kevin S
• Rahardja David
• Linn Christopher S

Classifications

• G06F9/543

  User-generated data transfer, e.g. clipboards, dynamic data exchange [DDE], object linking and embedding [OLE] · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W48/10

  using broadcasted information · CPC title

• G06F3/0481

  based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance · CPC title