Patent Application
20070033210
This invention relates generally to software interfaces, and more particularly to a method and system for application interaction.
Applications on a mobile phone generally do not interact with the each other. For example, a date book only accepts events and gives alerts fed back to the user. There is no interaction between internal phone applications and the collective knowledge available at a mobile phone or other computing device is not utilized to assist a user in remembering or linking important related data.
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention can collect information about a person or event from a first application, store this information in a common database or in commonly accessible databases and then access and provide this information to a user when that user is engaged with a second application and an event or marker is activated in the second application that is related to the stored information.
In a first embodiment of the present invention, a method of application data interaction can include the steps of activating an application that uses application data found in one or more databases, generating associations with the application data using related data used with other applications, determining a relevance of the related data to the application data, and presenting the related data during operation of the application based on a relevancy of the related data to the application data. The application can be for example any mobile phone applications such as a call application, a messaging application, a phone book application, a date book application, an emailing application, a recent call list application, an audio presentation application, a video presentation application, or an audio-visual presentation application. Relevance can be determined by determining among a time relevance, a task relevance, an event relevance, and an update relevance. Relevance can also be determined by assigning an importance level to the relevant data based on one among a due date, a task termination date, and a previous update date. Presenting can be done by either visibly displaying or audibly presenting and such presentation can be done in an unobtrusive manner to the application running.
In a second embodiment of the present invention, an interaction data manager system can include an interaction data manager capable of interacting with a plurality of applications and one or more databases and a processor. The processor can be programmed in accordance with the interaction data manager to link information from the plurality of applications, search the one or more databases for relevant data associated with application data currently being used, determine a relevance between the relevant data and the application data, and present the relevant data based on a relevancy of the relevant data. The system can be a portable communication product and the plurality of applications can be at least one or more among mobile phone applications selected from a call application, a messaging application, a phone book application, a date book application, an emailing application, a recent call list application, an audio presentation application, a video presentation application, and an audio-visual presentation application. The processor can determine a relevance by determining at least one among a time relevance, a task relevance, an event relevance, and an update relevance. The system can further include a display that presents the relevant data such as icons that can be programmed to fade in accordance with a level of relevance as determined by the processor. The system can further include a speaker where the processor presents the relevant data audibly on the speaker. Note, the interaction manager can further include a database manager that links information and determines the relevance of the relevant data to the application data.
In a third embodiment of the present invention, a mobile communication device having an interaction data manager system can include a transceiver, an interaction data manager capable of interacting with a plurality of applications and one or more databases, and a processor coupled to the transceiver. The processor can be programmed in accordance with the interaction data manager to link information from the plurality of applications, search the one or more databases for relevant data associated with application data currently being used, determine a relevance between the relevant data and the application data, and present the relevant data based on a relevancy of the relevant data.
Other embodiments, when configured in accordance with the inventive arrangements disclosed herein, can include a system for performing and a machine readable storage for causing a machine to perform the various processes and methods disclosed herein.
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of embodiments of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward.
A specific example can best portray the usefulness of the embodiments herein with reference to
Embodiments herein can encompass a personal application framework or system 10 where all the applications existing on a phone for example can interact with each other through an interaction manager 17. The interaction manager 17 assists the applications to identify data generated from other applications. Applications in a mobile radio can include a date book or calendaring application 11, a phone book application 12, a recent call list or application 13, a messaging application 14 such as instant messaging or email, a call application 16, and other external applications such as cameras, video recorders, voice recognition, and location finding applications. For example, a date book entry might need to get a phone book entry to add it to the date book event manager. Each application has valuable information that other applications can benefit from.
With reference to
For the interaction to occur as described above, the database can include other fields such as:
Again, another example can better illustrate how an interaction framework/architecture 40 as shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to the framework 70 of
Relevance is created when an association is identified. The relevance can be linked to the association either automatically or manually by the user. There are different types of relevance. Some personal examples can include the day of a birthday or an anniversary which would have high relevance, or a day or two before a birthday or anniversary which would have moderate relevance, and there can be low relevance a week or more before a birthday, anniversary or other important date. Other personal items of relevance can include tasks and memos. Some business examples can include important dates, tasks, memos and travel related relevance that can have high relevance on the week of departure for example.
Relevance can also be determined based on time, a task, an update, or on an event. Time Relevance is a relevance determined based on the time of an event. If the event has passed, then the relevance can be considered either low (depending on the importance of the event) or non-existent. If the event is today or soon (hours, minutes, etc.), then the relevance is high. Events in the future might have a relevance that would depend on the number of days until the event. With respect to “Task Relevance”, this relevance can depend on a task completion. An “Updates” Relevance can be a relevance associated with memos, messages, or other subject matter that have been previously received. The relevance can depend on the last time a version of the memo or message was last received. An “Event” relevance can be determined on the event, for example, if the event is “traveling on Friday”. The relevance is either high or moderate the whole week of the travel date. The data stored on the database 18 (events) can have expiration timers associated with them. The database manager 34 can be in charge of the database housekeeping including time expiration, event or task expiration, or manual entries from a user. Note, relevance and any type of association can be created during runtime of an application or when a device is idle.
Referring to
Several examples provided below can further illustrate the usefulness of the embodiments. With the use of new fields on a date book for example and the interaction with other applications, now the applications can check on a database to find related information. Before an action is performed, a device can alert the user with all the related/meaningful information found. In one example where a wife's birthday is imminent, a husband when making or receiving a phone call can cause the interaction manager 17 to query the database 18 with the Incoming/outgoing call phone number. The data base query would use the phone book as input and the output or information retrieved after the query would include today's date and the birth date of the called or calling party. All the applications can remind the husband/user that today is the wife's birthday when an action is required. As illustrated in the call screen 100 of
When browsing a phone book, a device can quickly remember all the events/reminder associated to a person. As a user navigates a phone book as illustrated in
The same techniques illustrated above can be used to remind a business user of a Business meeting. Besides the icon, a song can be associated with the phone book entry, or a ringtone can change automatically when the user receives a call on the day of the event from the phone book entry associated with the date book (the ring tone can be associated with the reminder—i.e. Birthday song).
The interaction manager can populate the date-book automatically by doing a simple query of the database. For example, the interaction manager can search for all existing dates of birth (DOB) on the database (phone books entries) and add them automatically to the date book, so when the day comes the user receives an alert. Also the interaction manager can do an Internet search to identify special days, such as Valentines Day, Father/Mother days, etc. Then, using the relationship field on the database, the Valentines day entry can be linked to the wife phone book, the Father's day entry can be linked to the father entry on the phone book, and so on. The user can activate the predetermined entries and edit those entries as he/she wishes.
The interaction manager can also do global queries if requested. For example when on a business call, the user might want to find out all the e-mails/messages interchanged with the caller, as well as phone book, important dates etc. All that information can be queried on the database and presented to the user. When the user receives a call, then all the important information is displayed to the user during the call (phone number, e-mail etc.), as well as links to other important information exchanged (appointments, emails, etc). During the call, the user can easily select and review all the relevant important information.
Referring to
In light of the foregoing description, it should be recognized that embodiments in accordance with the present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. A network or system according to the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system or processor, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems or processors (such as a microprocessor and a DSP). Any kind of computer system, or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the functions described herein, is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the functions described herein.
In light of the foregoing description, it should also be recognized that embodiments in accordance with the present invention can be realized in numerous configurations contemplated to be within the scope and spirit of the claims. Additionally, the description above is intended by way of example only and is not intended to limit the present invention in any way, except as set forth in the following claims.
