Claims:We claim:

1. A method of sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first device of a first user, an input on one or more contacts displayed in an application on the first device to obtain a contextual activity information of a second user;
processing the received input to generate an application specific request;
transmitting the application specific request to a second device of the second user; and
receiving an application specific response including second user’s contextual activity information corresponding to the transmitted application specific request from the second device of the second user.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the input comprises of a gesture input or a voice input.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the input allows the first user to select the second user from the one or more contacts displayed in the application.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the application specific request comprises of one or more of the following:
current location of the second user;
current zone time of the second user; and
contextual event associated with the second user.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
receiving the application specific request as a notification along with one or more user interactions; and
selecting at least one user interaction from the received notification for providing contextual activity update to the first user.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the one or more user interactions comprises at least one of the following:
responding to the received notification;
keeping the received notification on pending; and
rejecting the received notification.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
receiving, by the first user, a notification indicating that the second user has kept the notification of first user on pending;
selecting a group of users displayed in the contacts of the application in the first device associated with the first user;
initiating a chat communication with the selected group of users for transmitting a collective request;
receiving confirmation from the selected group of users to transmit collective request; and
transmitting the collective request to the second device so as to get immediate attention of the second user to respond to the collective request.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
pre-configuring permissions to share contextual activity information between the first user and the second user; and
sharing contextual activity information based on the pre-configured permissions.

9. An apparatus for sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network, comprising:
a memory, and
a processor operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is adapted to:
receive an input on one or more contacts displayed in an application on the first device associated with a first user for obtaining a contextual activity information associated with a second user;
process the received input to generate an application specific request;
transmit the application specific request to a second device of the second user; and
receive an application specific response including second user’s contextual activity information corresponding to the transmitted application specific request from the second user.

10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the input comprises of a gesture input or a voice input.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the input allows the first user to select the second user from the one or more contacts displayed in the application.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the application specific request comprises of one or more of the following:
current location of the second user;
current zone time of the second user; and
contextual event associated with the second user.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor is further adapted to:
receive a notification indicating that the second user has kept the notification of first user on pending;
select a group of users displayed in the contacts of the application in the first device associated with the first user;
initiate a chat communication with the selected group of users for transmitting a collective request;
receive confirmation from the selected group of users to transmit collective request; and
transmit the collective request to the second device so as to get immediate attention of the second user to respond to the collective request.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the processor is further adapted to:
pre-configure permissions to share contextual activity information between the first user and the second user; and
share contextual activity information based on the pre-configured permissions.

Dated this the 12th day of January 2016

Signature

KEERTHI JS
Patent agent
Agent for the applicant
, Description:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10; Rule 13)

METHOD OF SHARING USER ACTIVITY INFORMATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK

SAMSUNG R&D INSTITUTE INDIA – BANGALORE Pvt. Ltd.
# 2870, ORION Building, Bagmane Constellation Business Park,
Outer Ring Road, Doddanakundi Circle,
Marathahalli Post,
Bangalore -560037, Karnataka, India
An Indian Company

The following Specification particularly describes the invention and the method it is being performed

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to wireless communications and more particularly relates to a method of sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the recent years, the concept of “status update” is widely used in social networking groups by the users belonging to them. A user can either send a request to one or plurality of users belonging to his group to obtain their updates or broadcast his status to the one or plurality of users. Alternately, the status of the user can be automatically updated by a social application based on some criteria and the status can be shared with other users in the group. For example, some of the existing prior art talks about a method for providing automatic status update on the social networking platform. In this method, a registered user stores his/her schedule over a timeline of the social networking platform and can modify the schedule manually. The schedule corresponds to one or more user activities. The method further tracks activities of the user through a plurality of components installed in the personal devices associated with the user. If there is any variation in user activity, then the method sends a suggestion to the user to post the user activity. If the user accepts, the user activity will be posted on the timeline of the user profile.

Another prior art describes a method of requesting an update by means of applying a “poke gesture”. A user can simply provide the poke gesture on one or more contacts of the user to update their current location and time. However, in the aforesaid prior arts, the scope of application is only a social networking group and the scope of the request is only limited to location and time. Moreover, the return path of the request is also fixed to location and time. In some cases, the user may not respond to the request. Hence, in such cases the user cannot receive response from the user every time to his/her request.

Thus, there is a need for a novel method to share and/or receive one’s activity information in an efficient manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments herein describe a method of sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network. In one embodiment, the method comprises of receiving, by a first device of a first user, an input on one or more contacts displayed in an application on the first device associated with a first user to obtain a contextual activity information of a second user, processing the received at least one input to generate an application specific request, transmitting the application specific request to a second device of the second user, and receiving an application specific response including second user’s contextual activity information corresponding to the transmitted application specific request from the second user.

According to one embodiment, the input comprises of a gesture input or a voice input and the input allows the first user to select the second user from the one or more contacts displayed in the application.

According to one embodiment, the application specific request comprises of one or more of the following: current location of the second user, current zone time of the second user, and contextual event associated with the second user.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises of receiving the application specific request as a notification along with one or more user interactions, and selecting at least one user interaction from the received notification for providing contextual activity update to the first user.

According to one embodiment, the one or more user interactions comprises of at least one of the following: responding to the received notification, keeping the received notification on pending, and rejecting the received notification.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises of receiving, by the first user, a notification indicating that the second user has kept the notification of first user on pending in order to respond later to the notification, selecting a group of users displayed in the contacts of the application in the first device associated with the first user, initiating a chat communication with the selected group of users for transmitting a collective request, receiving confirmation from the selected group of users to transmit collective request, and transmitting the collective request to the second device so as to get immediate attention of the second user to respond to the collective request.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises of pre-configuring permissions to share contextual activity information between the first user and the second user, and sharing contextual activity information based on the pre-configured permissions.

Various embodiments herein further describe an apparatus for sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network. The apparatus includes a memory, and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is adapted to: receive an input on one or more contacts displayed in an application on the first device associated with a first user for obtaining a contextual activity information associated with a second user, process the received input to generate an application specific request, transmit the application specific request to a second device of the second user, and receive an application specific response including second user’s contextual activity information corresponding to the transmitted application specific request from the second user.

The foregoing has outlined, in general, the various aspects of the invention and is to serve as an aid to better understanding the more complete detailed description which is to follow. In reference to such, there is to be a clear understanding that the present invention is not limited to the method or application of use described and illustrated herein. It is intended that any other advantages and objects of the present invention that become apparent or obvious from the detailed description or illustrations contained herein are within the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of transmitting application specific request by a first user to obtain contextual activity information associated with a second user, according to one embodiment.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary interactions performed by a second user on an application specific request received from a first user, according to one embodiment.

Figure 3 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method of sharing user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to one embodiment.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to one embodiment.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to another embodiment.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to yet another embodiment.

Although specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method of sharing user activity information in a wireless communication network. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Throughout the specification, the term “selected user” refers to “second user”. Further the terms “second device” refers to “Device B” and “first device” refers to “Device A”.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of transmitting an application specific request from a first user to a second user to obtain contextual activity information associated with the second user, according to one embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, consider that the first user is using a camera application on his device, “Device A” 102. The camera application comprises of a “people edge handle” feature which lists top 5 contacts to be used by the first user. In one embodiment, the first user selects the top 5 contacts to be displayed in the people edge handle. In another embodiment, the camera application itself lists top 5 contacts based on how often the user interacts with other contacts. The first user drags the “people edge handle” feature on camera to view one or more contacts 104 available therein. The first user provides an input on one of the one or more contacts 104 to select the second user. The input comprises of a gesture input or a voice input. In one embodiment, the first user provides a drag gesture on the second user contact displayed in people edge handle to select the second user. In another embodiment, the first user may call contact name associated with the second user to select the second user via the voice input. In turn, a camera app specific request is transmitted to a second device, “Device B” 106. The camera app specific request is transmitted to the second device 106 in order to obtain contextual activity information associated with the second user. On the second device 106, the camera app specific request is displayed as a notification 108 in a notification bar.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary interactions performed by a second user on an application specific request received from a first user, according to one embodiment. As shown in Figure 2, a notification 108 is displayed on notification bar on a second device (Device B) 106 associated with the second user. The notification 108 indicates the second user about activity update request received from the first user. The notification 106 may look like a card and comprises of text and one or more icons for performing one or more interactions with the notification. In one embodiment, the one or more interactions to be performed on the received notification comprises of responding to the received notification, keeping the received notification on pending and deleting the received notification.

In one exemplary embodiment, consider that the first user has sent a camera app specific request to obtain activity update of the second user. When the second user accepts the camera app specific request, then camera application in device B is invoked and camera view is live streamed to Device A. In addition, the second user also clicks photo/video and the clicked photo/video can be shared automatically with the first user. Sometimes, the second user wishes to respond to the camera app specific request at a later point of time. If the second user wishes to send response at later point of time, then the camera app in the Device B 106 starts capturing ambient data in background and stops when the second user opens the notification. Thus, all the ambient data captured during that interval will be shared with the first user. However, in some cases, the second user may delete camera app specific request received from the first user. In those cases, the rejection of activity update request will be conveyed back to the first user via Device A. The same is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 3 is a flowchart diagram illustrating an exemplary method of sharing user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to one embodiment. At step 302, an input is received on one or more contacts displayed in an application on a first device associated with a first user. The input comprises of a gesture input or a voice input. At step 304, the input received from the first user is processed to generate an application specific request. The input is processed to determine type of application used by the first user. The determined type of application includes but is not limited to a camera application, an email application, a gallery, a SMS. After determining the type of application, an application specific request is generated and at step 306, the generated application specific request is transmitted to a second device associated with the second user, wherein the application specific request comprises of current location, time and contextual event associated with the second user.

The application specific request is displayed as a notification on a display of the second device. On receiving the application specific request, the type of application used by the first user and contextual information of the second user are extracted at the second device. The notification comprises of text and one or more user interactions to be performed by the second user. The one or more user interactions comprise at least one of responding to the received notification, responding to the received notification at later point of time, and deleting the received notification. If the second user accepts the application specific request then at step 308, an application specific response with all the extracted information corresponding to the transmitted application specific request is received from the second user. The extracted information includes current location, time and contextual event associated with the second user. In one embodiment, the contextual event is associated with a current event in which the second user is a part of.

In another embodiment, the contextual event corresponds to an event marked by the second user in his planner/calendar or an event posted in his social networking site. The information relating to the aforesaid event can be extracted if the current location and time of the second user matches with the time and location of the event marked in the calendar. Thus, the application specific request performs two check operations, one to retrieve contextual activity information and another to check any event marked in calendar/planner in any associated application.

For example, consider that the second user has created an event named “flower show at Ooty, 5PM” in his calendar to participate the event in the said time. Assume that the second user receives a camera app specific request when he is participating in the flower show at Ooty, 5pm from first user. The camera app specific request as a routine process invokes a camera application in the second user’s device and captures one or more images of the contextual activity of the second user. Since, the second user is in the flower show, the captured one or more images correspond to pictures of flowers viz. a lily flower, a daisy flower and the like. The camera app request further checks if any event is marked in his calendar or in any social networking site at the current time and location. If the location and time of flower show event matches with the current time and location of the second user then, the camera app specific request retrieves the flower show event related information. The second user simply sends the images of lily flower and daisy flower and flower show related information on being prompted by the notification. Once, the first user receives the images of lily flower and daisy flower and flower show related information as “flower show at Ooty, 5PM”, the first user not only comes to know that the second user is currently capturing images of flowers and also knows that he is participating in the flower show event at Ooty. These kinds of updates provide more realistic information about the users.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to one embodiment. Figure 4 illustrates a use-case scenario explaining how user activity information is shared between the first user and second user via the Email application. Consider that a first user is using an Email application and browsing contacts menu on Device A 402. The first user selects at least one user from the displayed contacts menu by an input mechanism. The input mechanism may comprise at least one of gesture based input or a voice input. In one embodiment, the first user selects a second user by providing a drag gesture on the contacts menu displayed in the Email application. In response to the drag gesture, a predefined email will be transmitted to the second user’s device, Device B 404. On the Device B 404, the email will be displayed as a notification 406. The notification 404 indicates the second user that the first user has requested to update contextual activity information associated with the second user. The notification also comprises one or more user interactions to be performed on the received email. The one or more user interactions comprise at least one of responding to the received notification, keeping the received notification on pending, and rejecting the received notification. If the second user wishes to respond to the received notification, the second user will select the notification displayed in the notification bar. Once the user opens the notification, an pre-defined email will get composed in Device B 404, wherein sender space of the email is pre-filled with first user’s contact id, body of the email is pre-filed with the second user’s latest or ongoing location and time and body of the email is filled with contextual event associated with the second user. The second user can simply send the email with the above content or can edit the content of the mail before sending it to the first user.

However, if the second user decided to respond to the received notification at a later point of time, the email application in “Device B” 404 starts accumulating data from point of time the notification is received to the time the second user responds to the request or deletes the request. If the second user responds to the request at later point of time, then the Email application auto-drafts all the accumulated data and allows the second user to send the data to the first user via “Device A” 402. In case, the second user deletes the request at later point of time, then all the accumulated data are deleted from auto-drafts of the Email application.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to another embodiment. In this embodiment, contextual activity information associated with a second user is forcefully shared with the first user even without the intervention of the second user. As shown in Figure 5, the first user working on a camera application drags people edge handle provided in the camera application of first user’s device, Device A 502 to select a second user. The people edge handle is configured for displaying top 5 contacts on a camera interface. The first user selects the second user from the displayed top 5 contacts by providing a drag gesture. In turn, a notification 506 will be displayed for updating contextual activity information associated with the second user’s device, Device B 504. The notification 506 is time defined. For example, if the second user did not respond to the received notification 506 within 3 seconds, then a camera application in Device B 504 is forcefully invoked and a photo/video is captured for a specific duration. The captured photo/video is then transmitted to the first user and will be displayed as a notification on Device A 502.

In one embodiment, applications and permissions are pre-defined between the first user and the second user prior to sharing of contextual activity updates. For example, the first user and the second user agree with each other regarding type of an application to be used for future communications between them. Further, permissions including time management to invoke the application, defining time to collect contextual activity information, configuring what kind of information to be shared etc., are pre-defined between both the users before initiating communication between them.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of sharing of user activity information between a first user and a second user, according to yet another embodiment. Consider that the first user is using a camera application and sends a contextual activity update request to the second user. The first user may receive a pending notification from the second user for contextual activity update request. In order to obtain contextual activity information associated with the second user, the first user selects other contacts displayed in people edge handle of the camera application and initiates a group chat communication with the selected contacts. The group chat communication is initiated to obtain consent from other contacts so as to transmit a collective request to the second user. The collective request is transmitted to attract immediate attention of the second user. The strength of the collective request, impact and/or dimension of notification to be displayed on the second user’s device and force of making the second user to respond to the collective request increases based on number of users selected by the first user for creating the collective request, strength or duration of gesture to create the contextual activity request and social closeness associated between the selected contacts.

In one embodiment, the collective request notification may be displayed in bigger size than the size of a normal notification. The collective request notification may also be highlighted with additional effects including color, vibration etc.

Thus, the various embodiments of the present invention herein is adapted to create a new paradigm of emotional conversation with user to user request for immediate contextual activity update using application specific content via a simple, and quick interaction. Since, the users are already well acquainted with application and function, it is easy to send activity update request and receive response from other users. The present invention further increases speed of conversation and amount of involvement of participants when compared to current systems as the latter is dependent on manual inputs of users during a conversation. Also, the users may have seen to shirk from creating a request and take their time to create response. Thus, the present invention allows users to make demands to participant users to stay involved and receive updates more frequently from the participant users.

Although the invention of the method and apparatus has been described in connection with the embodiments of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is not limited thereto. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.