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U.S. Patent: 10,642,576


Patent Title

Mobile information apparatus that includes wireless communication circuitry for discovery of an output device for outputting digital content at the wirelessly discovered output device

Meta Information

Issued Date: May 5, 2020
Inventor: William Ho Chang et al
External Links: UPSTO, Google Patents

Technical Fields

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Abstract

Information apparatus (e.g., a smart phone) for outputting digital content to an output device is herein disclosed and enabled. The information apparatus includes wireless communication circuitry for wirelessly discovering one or more output devices based, at least in part, on physical proximity and using short range wireless communication. Subsequent to having wirelessly discovered the output devices, the information apparatus receives device dependent attributes from the discovered output devices and provides, on a touch sensitive screen interface, at least an item related to the discovered output devices for selection. The device dependent attributes include information related to the discovered output devices. After the output device is selected, the information apparatus: generates output data from the digital content based, at least in part, on the device dependent attributes, and wirelessly transmits the generated out put data to the selected output device for rendering at least part of the digital content.

U.S. Patent Number: 10,642,576

Sample Claim

1. A method for wirelessly outputting, at one or more output devices, digital content from a mobile information apparatus, the mobile information apparatus including:

at least one processing unit that includes one or more processors, memory for storing at least part of the digital content, one or more wireless communication units, which include one or more communication chips or chipsets, for enabling the mobile information apparatus to wirelessly communicate with the one or more output devices, the one or more output devices are separate devices from the mobile information apparatus, a display screen including a touch sensitive screen interface, a graphical user interface for enabling a user to select a function or an icon displayed over the touch sensitive screen interface, one or more software applications that include a digital imaging application, an audio application, a video application, a document creation application, an e-mail application, or an Internet browsing application, an operating system providing an object model or an application programming interface to facilitate the one or more software applications access to the object model or the application programming interface and to communicate with utilities and services provided by device management applications at the mobile information apparatus, the one or more software applications having access to at least part of the digital content, and output manager software, at the mobile information apparatus, for managing and coordinating communication with the one or more output devices to output at least part of the digital content at the one or more output devices, the method comprising:
(1) wirelessly searching, using the one or more wireless communication units of the mobile information apparatus and over radio frequency wireless communication, for the one or more output devices, the wireless searching of the one or more output devices is based, at least in part, on physical distance between the mobile information apparatus and the one or more out put devices such that the mobile information apparatus is able to wirelessly search and wirelessly discover the one or more output devices by short range wireless communication;
(2) wirelessly receiving, via the one or more wireless communication units of the mobile information apparatus and over the radio frequency wireless communication, one or more device dependent attributes corresponding to the one or more output devices wirelessly discovered in the wireless search in step (1);
(3) receiving, via the touch sensitive screen interface of the mobile information apparatus, at least an indication of a selected output device from among the one or more output devices that are wirelessly discovered in the wireless search in step (1),
(4) passing, at the mobile information apparatus and from the one or more software applications, at least part of the digital content to the output manager software included in the mobile information apparatus, the passing of the at least part of the digital content being facilitated, at least in part, by the operating system included in the mobile information apparatus;
(5) generating, at the mobile information apparatus, output data from the at least part of the digital content passed in step (4) for delivering to the selected output device selected in step (3), the generated output data being associated, at least in part, with the one or more device dependent attributes received in step (2), and the one or more device dependent attributes corresponding to the selected output device selected in step (3); and
(6) wirelessly delivering, via the one or more wireless communication units of the mobile information apparatus and over a radio frequency wireless communication link, at least part of the output data generated in step (5) to the selected output device selected in step (3) for rendering at least part of the digital content, and wherein the one or more software applications, included in the mobile information apparatus, are enabled to wirelessly discover an output device based on physical proximity of the mobile information apparatus to the output device, select the discovered output device using the touch sensitive screen interface, and output at least part of the digital content, via the one or more wireless communication units of the mobile information apparatus and over the radio frequency wireless communication link, to the selected output device.