Title of Invention

A METHOD FOR PROVIDING ACCESS TO THE SHARED CONTENTS IN A REMOTE MOBILE

Abstract

This invention provides the accessing of shared contents in a remote mobile by registered users in a secured way. Mobiles can have their own listed users who are allowed to access the contents. Once a mobile gets registered to the shared user list of the host mobile, it can access all the contents, which are allowed to access. Phone book entry. Ring tone, Wallpaper, Games, Pictures, Text messages etc can be downloaded. Figure 1.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates in general to mobile phone communication and in particular to the facilitation of sophisticated features for communication in handheld devices, Smart Phones etc. Further, this invention relates to enhancement of functionality of mobile handsets for easy sharing of information between users. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for providing access to the shared contents in a remote mobile. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART The mobile phone technology has made significant advancement in recent past creating a revolution in telecommunication. Presently mobile phones serve as prompt communication means as well as entertainment devices. Mobile phones can download music, pictures, games etc. and forward their contents to another mobile phones. When a mobile phone user wants to have a particular content in his handset he can download contents from the service provider or request another mobile user to forward the content (e.g., forwarding pictures from camera phones) if it is already there in that mobile. Most of the handsets provide the facility for downloading the Ring tones, Wallpapers; games etc. from specific service providers or web sites. It is also possible to forward the Ring tones. Wallpapers etc. as SMS attachment to other Mobiles. Even though the content downloading or forwarding is achieved in most of the mobile handsets available in the market, there are practical difficulties in using this feature. When a mobile user comes to know about an interesting content from another mobile user who has already downloaded the content, he should either connect to the service provider or request offline to the other user for forwarding the same. Both the methods are time consuming and cumbersome. Also the other user needs to be disturbed, as his intervention is required. Currently there is no way to access remote mobile content and to automatically download the content. Therefore, in the light of the foregoing deficiencies in the state of the art, the present invention proposes a method for sharing the contents in a remote mobile and providing access to authorized users and thereby permitting the browsing and downloading of contents from the remote mobile automatically in a secured manner without disturbing the mobile holder. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is to provide a method for sharing the contents in a remote mobile and for facilitating the automatic access of the contents by the registered users in the "shared user list" of the said remote mobile. It is another object of the invention to allow the downloading of the shared contents only by the registered users listed in the shared user list and thereby conferring adequate security. It is yet another object of the invention to choose a suitable messaging service for sending the requested content based on its size and format. It is yet another object of the invention to restrict the access to specific contents based on the user's identification. It is a further object of the invention to provide an easy medium for exchange of contents among friends groups. It is also an object of the invention to provide the freedom to the user of the host mobile to add or remove users in the user list and also to restrict the access of contents to specific users. Accordingly, the present invention comprises a method for providing access to the shared contents in a first remote mobile on request from a second mobile registered with the said first remote mobile and listed in its shared user's list, the method comprising the steps of: a. receiving the request for content from the second mobile; b. verifying whether the requesting second mobile is present in the shared user list of the said first mobile.; c. decrypting the said request if the requesting second mobile is registered; d. searching for the requested content in the said first mobile.; e. checking the content size and type; and f. sending the content to the requesting second mobile using a suitable communication mode. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from a reading of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows the Flow chart of operations within the remote mobile when it receives the request from another mobile for accessing the content. Figure 2 is an example of mobile screen shot when access of the contents is requested. Figure 3 demonstrates the steps for requesting Phonebook Contents with the name "Samsung". Figure 4 presents the management of shared user list in the host mobile. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. It is to be noted that the word "Content" in the whole description means a Phone book entry, a ring tone, a wall paper picture, a camera picture, a game application or anything which can be stored in a mobile. Also the applicant suggests that sharing shall be restricted to contents, which do not have any Copyright issues (E.g. Contents with no digital Signatures). According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the host mobile allows any other Mobile to access its contents only if the Mobile number or any kind of Identity is present in its List of Shared users or Allowed Users. "SHARED USER LIST" contains the list of Identities of the Mobile Users who are allowed to access the Mobile Contents and therefore any Mobile that wants to access the contents of the Remote Mobile has to get registered itself in the Remote Mobile shared user list. In order to confer the above facility in mobiles the invention introduces a LIST, which consists of all the Mobile users who can access the Mobile content thus preventing the hoax users from accessing the Mobile. Each LIST may contain either Mobile Number or name of the mobile user or his nickname or some kind of identification. Also each record in the SHARED USER LIST contains the access to type of the contents i.e. a particular record (entry) will be allowed to access only Phone book and Ring tones if it is registered only for those items so that the particular user cannot afccess other contents like Wall paper etc. When any Mobile user likes the contents in other Mobile and is not already listed. Mobile user first has to register himself in the remote Mobile. The request for accessing content will be denied if the requesting Mobile Number or Identity is not present in the "SHARED USER LIST". In order to get added into shared list of the remote mobile a request may be rnitiated via SMS/MMS/WAPA/oice Call/Data Call. On receiving the request the Remote Mobile user will decide whether to add the number in the SHARED USER LIST or ignore it or decline the request. While registering the requesting mobile has to indicate whether the access is needed only for a specific content type or all the content types available in the Remote Mobile. The Registration can also be effected manually by the user of the host mobile by adding the entry in the Mobile. Once a Mobile is registered, it is ready to receive or access the contents. Figure 4 shows mobile screen while managing the SHARED USER LIST. It is apparent that owner of the host Mobile can include any of the Mobile Numbers or its Identity in the "SHARED USER LIST" and also delete them from the "SHARED USER LIST" if he wishes so. Operation of the invention is now described with reference to figure 1. As it is understood from the figure that when a Mobile wants to access the Remote Mobile content, it requests the Remote Mobile indicating the type of content and/or first few characters of the Name or request a list of downloadable data that is available. This request goes to the Remote Mobile using SMS/MMS or any mode of possible communication. This communication happens automatically between the Mobiles without the intervention of the users. The mobile receiving the request can alert the user to determine whether to grant such access to automatically download the contents. When the Remote Mobile receives the request from the requesting Mobile, first of all it checks if the requesting Mobile is present in the SHARED USER LIST and also checks if the specific Mobile has been registered for the specific Content type that it has requested. Once it is found that the requesting mobile is not listed a message to indicate that the mobile has no authority to access info will be sent back. If it passed the security check, then the Mobile decrypts the request, searches for the particular content and returns first record and/or all the records and/or first few records found to the requested Mobile or may return the list of contents, which can be accessed. The communication here takes place via SMS/MMSAA/AP or any mode of communication based on the size and format requirements. It is up to the Mobile makers to support the format of the downloaded or accessed or received content. If no record is found then a message stating, "no record has been found" is sent back to the requested Mobile. As explained above the mobile, which wants to download the content from remote Mobile should initiate a request that is a command understandable by other Mobile. It is left to the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) / Mobile Vendor to frame the request. The command can be a plain text or encrypted text or any special text, which can be interpreted by the Mobile. Mobiles create new user Interface to accept the Download requests and it is possible to have multiple Interfaces for each kind of request. Some examples of requests generated by the Mobile are given below: • For Phone book record starting with name ABC, command may be SPECIAL CHARACTER or CONTROL CHARACTER followed by PB ABC or plain text PB ABC or SPECIAL CHARACTER + PB NAME ABC • For Ring tone Vandemataram, command may be SPECIAL CHARACTER or CONTROL CHARACTER followed by RT VANDE or plain text RT VANDE. The following table gives some of examples for codes for accessing the contents of remote Mobiles While sending the requests, the message can be slightly modified using special characters inserted for the remote mobile to understand that it is meant for accessing the contents. For example SMS options header can be used to indicate that the message is meant for content downloading. Alternatively, SMS message text can be changed so that the text can be understood by remote Mobile as a Content downloading command. Otherwise, both can be modified to indicate that the message is meant for content downloading. The invention proposes that some characters may be added before or after the message to indicate that the message is meant for content downloading. Mobile user can also download contents like Animation or Bitmap or Wallpaper or picture of any type or Java Game or Java application or any other kind of application. The Examples given above are for understanding only. It is to be understood that the command can be in any form that can be understood by the remote mobile. The contents will be transferred from one Mobile to Other Mobile using a SMS or MMS or WAP mode of communication or GPRS or Voice Call or Data Call or any other communication possible using Mobile Phones. OEM can decide the mode of communication based on the size of the content and type of the content, speed, available protocol, user preference etc. i.e. Phone book entry can be sent using SMS while wallpaper can be sent using MMS and so on. Communication can occur directly between two mobiles or via intermediate transmitters like BTS etc. When multiple records/contents are found to use the same searching string, OEM can decide on sending first found record/Content or all the records/contents. Alternatively, a list of records found may be sent to the requesting mobile so that the requesting Mobile can choose from the list of records found. While the requesting Mobile downloads the List of records available in the Remote Mobile, then the user may choose the records, which are supported by the Mobile. This is possible when the list of records contain properties of the contents like size, name, type, format etc. Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the mobile screen shots according to the invention. As is apparent from the figures the user may have mainly 3 options in the Mobile viz. Request for the access, request for the content and managing the Shared User list. While requesting the access, user may request multiple phones and also user may have the option to request variety of contents or all the contents. 1. In Send Access Request - the user requests the remote Mobile to include in his/her Shared User List. This is the request for accessing the remote contents. Result of this may be an inclusion in the Remote Mobile's Shared user list or rejection. 2. In Access Content request - The user requests the remote Mobile content by the name. Result of this may be one-record/multiple records or list of records or a rejection if user is not in remote Mobile's Shared User List. In Figure 4 it can be seen that phone book contents with name "Samsung" is requested 3. In Shared User List - The user manages his/her Shared user List by adding, deleting or modifying the shared users and their records. (See Figure 5) From the foregoing discussion it is clear that the invention allows the Mobiles to exchange the contents automatically. Any Mobile user who wants to access the contents in any other Mobile can access the same automatically once he is registered in the SHARED USER LIST. This will be very much useful in the High-end phones where contents are of many types and Communication modes are many. One major advantage is that the invention encourages friends groups to exchange their contents more and proves to be useful even for the service Providers as the traffic is reduced in the communication channel. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a computer, rendering device or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. The invention is applicable to all the contents, which can be stored in a Mobile and not protected by any copyright. The content includes, but not limited to, Phone book record, SMS, Ring tone, Wallpaper, Camera Image, Animation, Bitmap, Game, Java application, etc. WE CLAIM 1. A method for providing access to the shared contents in a first remote mobile on request from a second mobile registered with the said first remote mobile, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving the request for content from the second mobile; b) verifying whether the requesting second mobile is present in the shared user list of the said first mobile. c) decrypting the said request if the requesting second mobile is registered; d) searching for the requested content in the said first mobile ; e) checking the content size and type; and f) sending the content to the requesting second mobile using a suitable communication mode. 2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the said communication mode selected is SMS when the requested content is text. 3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the said communication mode selected is MMS when the requested content comprises text, images, sounds and video. 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the said communication mode selected is GPRS. 5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the said communication mode selected is Voice call. 6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the said communication mode selected is data call. 7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the request for content is ignored when the requesting second mobile is not in the shared users list of the first mobile 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein a message indicating that the user is not registered is sent when the requesting second mobile is not in the shared users list. 9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the owner of the said remote first mobile is alerted to give the access permission to the requesting second mobile. 10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the access to the contents is restricted based on the type of contents chosen at the time of registration. 11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the message indicating that the 'data is not found' is sent to the requesting mobile when the requested content is not available in the mobile. 12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the request contains the different codes for identifying the requested content. 13. A method for providing access to the shared contents in a remote mobile on request from another mobile registered with it and listed in its shared user's list substantially as herein above described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1079-che-2004 abstract duplicate.pdf

1079-che-2004 abstract.jpg

1079-che-2004 claims duplicate.pdf

1079-che-2004 description (complete) duplicate.pdf

1079-che-2004 form-19.pdf

1079-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1079-che-2004-claims.pdf

1079-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1079-che-2004-correspondnece-po.pdf

1079-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1079-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1079-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1079-che-2004-form 13.pdf

1079-che-2004-form 26.pdf

abs-1079-che-2004.jpg