Patent ID: 7552265
Filing Date: 2009-06-23
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A system comprising: a plurality of devices, wherein devices within the plurality of devices communicate with incompatible protocols comprising: file system domain protocols and printer domain protocols; a first device in the plurality of devices having a universal contextual interface, a second device in the plurality of devices that invokes the universal contextual interface of the first device by executing the instructions to transfer the contextual data associated with the first device between the first device and at least one of the other devices in the plurality of devices, the plurality of devices having no prior knowledge of each other; wherein the universal contextual interface is directly invoked by the second device to allow the contextual data to be transferred to the second device; wherein the second device registers as a listener with the first device through a notification interface of the first device to receive event notifications with respect to changes in the contextual data associated with the first device; and wherein the universal contextual interface allows components using different operating systems, communication protocols, file formats, and data types to transfer context information between each other without requiring the components to use domain-specific interfaces, protocols, or data format.