Patent Publication Number: US-2012047274-A1

Title: Method for managing data between mobile devices and personal computer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/374,690 filed on Aug. 18, 2010, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a file management technology, and more particularly to a file management technology for a mobile device. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The technological progress until now, the computer unifies early with people&#39;s life. No matter is on the basic necessities of life, the assistance from the computer is seen everywhere, so as to make the computer becoming an indispensable helper. In addition, because the technology adds fuel to the flames, it is usually seen that people use the computer everywhere, especially the smart phone combining the cell phone and the tablet computer as a real book. 
     Since the smart phone and the tablet computer developed currently have almost the same functions with normal notebook computer and have light and thin design, those are more suitable for the environment requiring immediate, so as to be loved by users. Although the storage spaces of the smart phone and tablet computer is less than normal desktop computer and notebook computer, the problem of insufficient storage capacitance is solved by integrating the cloud computing technology which also allows the user accessing other information anytime. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of current file sharing system. Referring to the  FIG. 1 , in the file sharing system  100 , when a user need to backup some data saved in the smart phone  102 , the user can operate the smart phone  102  linking with the internet  104 . Then, the user can upload the data requiring backup to a cloud server  106  via the internet. Therefore, when the user want to use other apparatus to access the backup data saved in the cloud server  106 , the user can use the apparatus, such as the tablet computer  108  or a personal computer  110 , to link with the internet  104 , so as to download the backup data from the cloud server  106  to the tablet computer  108  or the personal computer  110 . 
     Although the current file sharing system  100  seems to solve the insufficient storage capacitance of the smart phone  102  and provide a platform to different computing apparatus to share data, the network security is a key problem. Because the domination of the cloud server  106  is not belonging to the user, the user may worry about the security of the cloud server, so as to affect the user&#39;s willing to backup data on the cloud server  106 . Therefore, the problem of insufficient storage capacitance of the smart phone  102  is still existed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the present invention is to provide a plurality of operation methods for a mobile device, which can manage the file on a mobile device. 
     In addition, the present invention provides a method for controlling a personal computer, for dealing with a file from a mobile device. 
     An operation method for a mobile device is provided by the present invention. First, a data transmission link is established with a personal computer installing into a personal computer via a network. When a operation is executed, it is checking whether or not a predetermined folder in the mobile device has a predetermined data to be saved into the personal computer. When the predetermined data to be saved into the personal computer, the predetermined data is transmitted to the personal computer. Then, a requirement command is sent to the personal computer through the data transmission link, so as to control the personal computer to save the predetermined data. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of transmitting the predetermined data comprises copying the predetermined data in the mobile device to generate a copied data, when the requirement operation is a mapping requirement operation. Then, moving the copied data to the personal computer through the data transmission link, so as to save the copied data into the personal computer. 
     In addition, the step of transmitting the predetermined data comprises moving the predetermined data to the personal computer through the data transmission link directly, when the requirement operation is a archive requirement operation, so as to save predetermined data into the personal computer. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of establishing the data transmission link is to establish the data transmission link to an application program installed into the personal computer. 
     From another viewpoint, a method for controlling a personal computer is provided that a plurality of data transmission links are established through a network with a plurality of mobile devices respectively. Therefore, the personal computer is controlled according to a requirement command sent from at least one of mobile devices through corresponding data transmission link. 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the personal computer can save a transmitted data from the corresponding application program into a predetermined folder according to the requirement command. 
     Since the computer can save the transmitted data from the corresponding application program, the storage capacitance of the mobile device can be extended. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of current file backup system. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system for managing data according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a mobile device according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the file management menu according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a system for managing data according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system  200  comprises a plurality of application programs  202  and an application program  204 . The application programs  202  are installed into a plurality of mobile devices, such as  212 ,  214 , and  216 , respectively. In addition, the application program  204  is installed into a personal computer  218 , such like a desktop computer, or a notebook computer. In this embodiment, a plurality of data transmission links are established between the mobile devices  212 ,  214  and  216  are the personal computer  218  through the network  220 . In some embodiments, the network  220  is the internet. 
     In this exemplary embodiment, the application programs  202  could transmit a requirement command to the application program  204  through the data transmission links  202 . Therefore, the personal computer  218  would work according to the requirement command. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a mobile device according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the  FIG. 3 , the mobile device  300  of this embodiment can be any of the mobile devices  212 ,  214  and  216  shown in the  FIG. 2 . The mobile device  300  is probably a smart phone, a tablet computer, a packet computer, a multi-media player, etc. The mobile device  300  has a processing module  302 , a storage unit  304  and a link module  306 . Wherein, the processing module  302  is coupled to the storage unit  304  and the link module  306 . The storage unit  304  is probably a flash memory or a memory card. Furthermore, the link module  306 , such as a WiFi link module, a mobile 3G link module, a LTE link module, a TD-LTE link module, and a WiMax link module, is linked to the network  220 . 
     In some embodiments, the application program  202  is installed into the storage unit  304 . In addition, the storage unit  304  has a predetermined folder  312 , in which a predetermined data  314  is saved. In this exemplary embodiment, the predetermined data  314  can be a sub-folder or a single file, such like a video file, a photographic file, a music file, a document file, or an e-mail. 
     Furthermore, the mobile device  300  has an operation module  308  and a screen  310 . The operation module  308  has at least one of operation unit, such as a real key, a touch-control panel, a joystick, a roll wheel, or a track ball. In addition, the screen  310  is probably a touch-control screen panel. 
     When the application program  202  is started, the application program  202  would establishes a data transmission link with the personal computer  218  basis on the network  220 . When the data transmission link is established, the application program  202  can communicate with the application program  204 . Then, the control means  212  would provide a file management menu on the screen  310 . 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the file management menu according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. The file management menu  400  of this embodiment has a plurality of items, such as a mapping item  402  for a mapping requirement operation, an archive item  404  for an archive requirement operation, a print item  406  for a print requirement operation, and a power saving item  408  for a power saving requirement operation. 
     Mapping Requirement Operation 
     The following description is more detail to describe the mapping, the archive, the print, the power saving requirement operations. Referring to the  FIGS. 2 to 4 , when the mapping item  402  in one of the mobile devices is selected, the mapping requirement operation is executed. Meanwhile, the corresponding application program  202  would search whether or not a predetermined folder in the corresponding mobile device has at least one predetermined data to mapped to the personal computer  218 . 
     In this embodiment, if the predetermined folder  312  has the predetermined data  314  require mapping to the personal computer  218 , the corresponding application program  202  would copy the data  312  to generate a copied data. Then, the corresponding application program  202  controls the processing module  302  moving the copied data of the predetermined data  314  to the personal computer  218  via the data transmission link  222  from the link module  306 . Additionally, the corresponding application program  202  further sends a mapping requirement command to the application program  204 . So that, the application program  204  would control the personal computer  218  saving the copied data of the predetermined data  314  for responding the mapping requirement command. In some embodiment, the application program  204  would control the personal computer to save the copied data of the data  314  into a predetermined folder, such as the folder  230 . 
     For example, when a user uses the smart phone taking some photographic, and saving into the smart phone. The user can execute the mapping requirement operation to make a copied data into self&#39;s personal computer  218  without passing another server. Therefore, the present invention can improve the network security and extend the storage capacitance of the mobile devices. 
     In addition, when the application program  204  receives the mapping requirement command from corresponding application program  202 , the application program  204  also search whether or not a predetermined folder in the personal computer  218 , such as the folder  230 , has a predetermined data to be mapped the corresponding mobile device which sends the mapping requirement command. When the application program  204  determines that the predetermined folder  230  has a predetermined data, such as the data  232 , to be mapped to the corresponding mobile device, the application program  204  also copies the data  232  to generate a copied data and sends the copied data to the corresponding application program  202  via the corresponding data transmission link  222 . Meanwhile, the corresponding application program  202  would control the processing module  302  to save the copied data of the data  232  into the storage unit  304 . Wherein, the type of the data  232  likes the type of the data  314 . 
     As the above mentioned, the mapping action in the present embodiment is bi-direction between the mobile devices and personal computer. Moreover, the embodiment can implement the mapping action of one-to-many (i.e. the computer  218  to all of the mobile devices). 
     As the above maintain, a user can uses a fist mobile device, such as a smart phone, to map the predetermined data to the personal computer. Then, the user can obtain the predetermined data through a second mobile device, such like the tablet computer. Therefore, the present invention can implement sharing data among different mobile devices. Furthermore, applying the above technology, the present invention also can recovery a damage data of the mobile device, because the backup of the predetermined data is saved into the personal computer  218 . 
     Archive Requirement Operation 
     When the archive item  404  is selected, the archive requirement operation is executed. Similar with the mapping requirement operation, the application program  202  also searches whether or not the predetermined folder  312  has a predetermined data to backup to the personal computer  218 . Different from the mapping requirement operation, when the application program  202  determine the data  314  to backup to the personal computer, the application program  202  would control the processing module moving the predetermined data  314  to the personal computer  218  via the network  220  from the corresponding data transmission link  222 . In addition, the application program  202  also sends an archive requirement command to the personal computer. Meanwhile, the application program  204  would control the personal computer saving the data  314  for responding the archive requirement command. 
     The difference between the mapping requirement operation and the archive requirement operation is that the predetermined data is still saved into the corresponding mobile device. In the mapping requirement operation, both the mobile devices and the personal computer have the predetermined data. On the contrary, when the archive requirement operation is executed, the predetermined data is moved from the mobile devices. Meanwhile, only the personal computer  218  has the predetermined data. Therefore, the storage spaces of the mobile devices can be saved. 
     Print Requirement Operation 
     When the print item  406  is selected by the user, the print requirement operation is executed. Meanwhile, the application program  202  also searches whether or not the predetermined folder  312  has a predetermined data to be printed out. If the application program  202  determines that the folder  312  has the predetermined data, such as the data  314 , to be printed, the application program  202  would copy the data  314  to generate a copied data. Then, the application program  202  controls the processing module  302  sending the copied data of data  314  to the personal computer  214  through the corresponding data transmission link  222  from the link module  306 . 
     In addition, the application program  202  further sends a print requirement command to the application program  204 . Therefore, the personal computer  218  is controlled by the application program  204  to perform a print procedure, for example, driving a printer to print the copied data of the data  314 . Therefore, a user can remote controls the personal computer to print the photographic, picture, image, document, or e-mail. 
     Power Saving Requirement Operation 
     When the power saving item  408  is selected, the application program  202  would generate a power saving requirement command. The power saving requirement command is sent to the personal computer  218  via the network  220 . When the application program  204  receives the power saving requirement command, the personal computer  218  is controlled by the application program  204  to enter a power saving mode. 
     In some embodiments, when the personal computer  218  enters the power saving mode, the application program  204  makes the personal computer  218  maintaining that the mobile devices can access data with the personal computer  218  anytime. Therefore, even the personal computer  218  enters the power saving mode, the mobile devices can execute other requirement operation with the personal computer  218 . 
     In summary, the present invention can solve the problem of finite storage space of the mobile device through copying or moving the predetermined between the mobile device and the personal computer. Since the personal computer is belonging to the user self, the network security is improved. In addition, the present invention further provides the user to remote control the personal computer. 
     While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.