Patent ID: 12222972

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

A digital resource hub (or simply hub herein) provides dissemination or distribution of digital resources (or simply resources herein) to its users. A user may rate resources to recommend them or otherwise increase their visibility to other users. A hub may limit its access to members. Membership may simply entail a registration (e.g., by email address) or criteria pertaining to a user's physical characteristics (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity), location (e.g., residence, current position), beliefs (e.g., religion, political views), ability (e.g., language, IQ test score), and so on. Membership may also be established or determined continually or per some session or operation, such as those based on GPS positions, personal interests at the moment, and so on. For example, a hub provider may create a plurality of multi-level hubs based on geographical positions for recommended beverage and food. The finest level may represent a radius of 50 meters or an area of 50 times 50 meters square, with a higher level being a composite of four of the previous level (i.e., 100 times 100, 200 time 200, and so on). The geographical extent or coverage of a hub (or its center and dimensions relative to the center) may be pre-assigned by the hub provider, or is determined relative to the position where the user is at the moment of his request for lists of relevant resources (i.e., those of recommend food and beverage), or some combination thereof. The hub provider may respond to a user's location-specific query with a plurality of resource lists, each comprising highly recommended food and beverage items at each level of area coverage, except at the lowest level, based at least in part on the hub-specific scores at the lower levels, whose score would be determined based at least in part on ratings given by users in the geographical area corresponding to that level.

Members may assume different roles as administrators, scouts, reviewers and observers, each of which might require a different set of membership criteria. Administrators or a hub authority may be creators or owners of a hub. Scouts are members who may submit or recommend resources to the hub. Reviewers are those who may provide ratings for resources available in the hub. Observers may access the resources but may neither bring resources into the hub nor provide any rating. Any type of membership role is within the scope of various embodiments. According to one embodiment, a member may assume multiple membership roles.

An authority of a hub may establish or otherwise choose rules for operation, administration and maintenance of the hub, such as those for membership, resource submissions, and resource import and export. There may be multi-tiered levels of authority, where the higher level may delegate some power to the lower level. For instance, a hub provider may assume the highest level of authority for all hubs under its jurisdiction while a hub administrator is responsible for a particular hub. For example, a local hub authority (e.g., a hub administrator) may choose for a hub the applicable membership roles as made available by the hub provider, and have each member assigned to its intended role, centrally or otherwise, while the hub provider may be responsible for rules in ranking resources in the hub based at least in part on ratings given by members of the hub. A hub authority may decide whether to make available to other hubs resources as discovered or otherwise submitted by the hub's members, and if so, under what criteria, if any. Likewise, a hub authority may decide if his hub would accept such public resources, and if so, under what criteria, if any. A hub authority may also decide the circumstances under which a member be removed from the hub. A hub authority may further be established by some voting scheme, where a new hub administrator or new rule may be elected or enacted by a majority of qualified members (e.g., where observers are not allowed to vote).

A hub may present or otherwise make available a plurality of lists of resources, such as the latest and the prize, which may be updated continuously, periodically, or from time to time. The latest list shows a list of resources whose order is mainly influenced by chronological considerations, e.g., from the most recent to the least. (The latest list may comprise resources submitted or otherwise recommended by the hub's members, imported from other hubs, or received as public resources). The prize list shows a list of resources whose order is mainly influenced by relevancy considerations, e.g., from most popular to the least, where the more recent may be considered more popular when all other factors are equal. In embodiments, a user or member may provide a rating against a resource on each of the two lists. According to one embodiment, only one rating is counted for a resource for each unique user or member, and should the user or member belong to more than one hub, then a home hub or a hub priority list would be established to determine which hub should receive the rating in question. A user's hub priority list identifies a plurality of hubs whose hub-level scores may include the user's rating. In one embodiment, the weight of the user's rating may decrease gradually for hubs on the lower order of the hub priority list.

For each hub, the prize list of resources would usually demand more attention from its members than the latest list. This may result in resources on the former list (namely prize resources) attracting more ratings from members who would have otherwise missed them, e.g., the members' not checking out resources on the latest lists (namely latest resources). Given the potential heterogeneity of hubs and their constituent members, a resource may be popular in one hub while barely known in another, even though it might have appeared on the latest lists of both hubs. A hub provider enables the existence of a plurality of hubs that may accommodate different interests and intents. No one single homogenous group of users may easily dominate the opinions about resources and take control of their dissemination under a single jurisdiction. As such, a resource has a much better chance of reaching an appreciative audience.

In addition, a resource may obtain different ratings or scores from a plurality of hubs, and an overall score may be derived based on these hub-level scores. In embodiments, the hub-level scores assigned to different hubs are normalized or otherwise made according to the same scoring system, such that they may be directly compared with each other, and combined to create an overall score. Such an overall score may help determine the relevancy of a resource to a population under a jurisdiction (e.g., that of a hub provider). Furthermore, a prize user, member or hub may be identified, when a user, a member or a hub's members are consistently discovering prize resources, at the hub or provider level.

According to one embodiment, a hub is regarded as an organization characterized by a culture realized via some membership criteria and agreements which may include considerations in beliefs, languages, age, gender, religion, professional affiliation, and so on. Users not compatible with or otherwise interested in one organization may have membership with other organizations (i.e., hubs). Existing members may lose their membership should they fail to fulfill the membership criteria or agreements imposed by the hub in question. Like minded would gradually gather at appropriate hubs, whose otherwise heterogeneous cultures would help not only to promote resources of interest to their peers and members, but also identify and select popular or prize ones for all users in the hub provider as a whole. According to one embodiment, the hub provider may be a social network, and hubs may be groups within the social network. According to another embodiment, the hub provider may comprise a collection of entertainment and news providers, and a hub may comprise individuals, a group, a company, or an organization subscribing to services of any of these entertainment and news providers.

FIG.1illustrates an exemplary environment for distributing digital resources and identifying prize resources and their contributors among heterogeneous users. A plurality of users102a,102bare communicatively coupled to a hub provider104via their respective user devices110a,110bto a network106. The hub provider104may comprise a plurality of hubs (not shown) each associated in membership with one or more of the plurality of users102a,102b. According to one embodiment, the hub provider104may interact with a plurality of users102a,102bat their devices via a website. A user may search, join, create and visit a hub on the website. According to some embodiments, an administrator may set up rules for membership subject to constraints, if any, by the hub provider104.

A hub may be realized as a website where any user102a,102bof the hub provider104may view or access content therein, including a list of most recent resources and a list of current prize resources, and where only authenticated users102a,102bmay submit or recommend resources to the hub of which they are a member. An authenticated user102a,102bmay submit a resource via a submission page of the website, a toolbar on a Web browser, a submission link for the hub provider104carried by a third-party website, or some other mechanisms whereby a resource or a reference (e.g., URL) to a resource may be submitted by a user102a,102balong with a user identity known to the hub provider104. Any type, scheme, or mechanism of submission is within the scope of various embodiments.

The hub provider104may cache or otherwise retrieve a copy of the resource in question, and create a new reference to the copy for backup or faster retrieval, while maintaining the original reference and making it available to its users102a,102b. In addition, a user102a,102bmay specify a submission as private, in that only a designated hub (e.g., a hub to which he is a member) may receive the submission.

In one instance, a user102a,102bassociated with a user device110a,110brequests a resource (e.g., via a reference such as a URL) from the latest resource list of a hub. Once authenticated as a member of the hub, the user102a,102bmay provide a rating against the resource. The resource may be made available on the current prize resource list of the hub should the hub provider104determine that the resource has attained a certain score, whether or not in relation to other resources available in the hub. On the prize resource list, the resource may continue to receive ratings (positive or negative) from members who have not rated it yet. The resource may be removed from both the prize and latest list if it no longer satisfies the criteria that govern the selection of resources for either of the lists.

An activity manager108is coupled to the hub provider104. The activity manager108monitors or receives user activities that may result in changes in availability of digital resources, in ratings or scores (e.g., those of resources, hubs, members, and users102a,102b) and if applicable, in memberships to hubs. In one instance, the activity manager108receives a reference to a digital resource from a user102a,102bassociated with a user device110a,110b. The activity manager108checks if the digital resource already exists in his hub(s) or the hub provider104, subject to the submitter's privacy preference, which may be set in a user profile or at the time of submission. If the resource is considered as publicly available (e.g., having been introduced to the hub provider), such a submission may be counted as a positive user or member rating for the resource, and the submitter may be notified of other users (as well as their hubs) who have submitted the same resource publicly, or of hubs (e.g., those to which the submitter is member) that already have the resource available, subject to their privacy settings, if any. Wherever applicable, the submitter may be credited as having made available the resource to his hub(s) or the hub provider104. According to one embodiment, original submissions themselves in relation to a hub or the hub provider104do not contribute to hub or overall ratings of their corresponding resources. The activity manager108may forward or otherwise distribute the newly submitted public resource to the submitter's hub(s) or hubs that accept public resources. According to some embodiments, the activity manager108comprises a module associated with the hub provider104.

FIG.2shows a block diagram of an exemplary hub provider104, such as the hub provider104shown inFIG.1. A hub database202is provided for storing data associated with each hub, such as membership rules, scores, ranks (e.g., those based on membership size and number of provider-wide prize resources originated), and resource import and export lists and constraints (e.g., hubs from and to which resources are received and forwarded respectively, and if a resource should be exported, and how many times an exportable resource originated from the hub may be forwarded by other hubs), and if public resources are to be received.

A user database204is provided for storing data associated with each user102a,102b(in a user account), such as his ranks (e.g., those based on numbers of hub-specific and provider-wide prize resources respectively), and user ID and password for the hub provider104.

A resource database206is provided for storing resources and/or their references, as well as other related data such as their time of availability, overall rating or score, and local copy and reference.

A relationship database208is provided for storing data associated with relationships among hubs, users and resources, as well as their attributes such as popularity or scores. For example, it may store the membership relationship between a user102a,102band one or more hubs, and a rating of his contribution for each hub (e.g., the number of prize resources that he submitted into the hub), and support query for the membership of a hub. It may store the availability relationship between a hub and one or more resources, and a rating for each resource in the hub, and support query for all hub-level ratings for each resource.

A communication interface210is provided for communicating with devices and users over a network106, such as a user102a,102bvia the user device110a,110bshown inFIG.1. A device or a user102a,102bvia a user device110a,110bmay send and receive data (e.g., rating and resource submissions, hub membership requests and responses, and personal preferences) to and from the hub provider104via the communication interface210. Any type of communications interface is within the scope of various embodiments.

A user interface212is provided for interacting with users or user devices110a,110b, and it includes the logic or procedures for user logon and logoff, presentation of hub-specific and provider-wide views having lists or selections of latest and prize resources, filtering and sorting of entities such as resources, hubs and the like, and hub creation and signup. Any layout, format, mode (e.g., audio), policy, scheme, or rules pertaining to presentation of resources and other entities such as hubs, users, relationships and the like are within the scope of various embodiments. The user interface212may also be equipped with a search engine or search module (not shown), or otherwise configured to provide indexing and searching services for entities such as resources, users, hubs, relationships and the like in the hub provider104. Corresponding indexes, if any, may be stored and maintained in the databases for the entities of interest (e.g., the hub database202, the user database204, the resource database206, and the relationship database208), or some other databases.

A list maker214is provided for creating and maintaining lists or selections of latest resources and those of prize resources for the hub provider104and each hub therein. For instance, the relationship database208may provide the list maker214with the latest (and historical) aggregate ratings or popularity scores for a resource in a particular hub, so that the list maker214may create and maintain a list of prize resources at a given time for a hub. The resource database206may provide the list maker214with the latest (as well as historical) overall scores or popularity ranks for a resource.

A submission handler216is provided to process submissions from users102a,102bor user devices110a,110b, namely resources (or their references) and ratings against resources. According to one embodiment, the submitted resources (including their references) and ratings may be stored in the resource database206and the relationship database208respectively. Resource entries in the resource database206may include a timestamp indicating time and date of the submission, identification of the user102a,102bproviding the submission (i.e., the submitter), his preference for whether to make the submission public (i.e., whether it be available to other hubs to which he is not a member), and the like. Rating entries in the relationship database208may include a timestamp of the submission, the submitter (or his ID), the hubs (or their IDs) to which the submitter is a member, and the like. These submissions and ratings (and other entities such as hubs, users, relationships, and the like) may be stored in a single or multiple databases, including the resource database206, the user database204, the resource database206, the relationship database208, and the like. One or more databases described herein may be located remotely and accessed by the hub provider104or any component, system or device coupled to the hub provider104, subject to any applicable authentication control and access policy. A timestamp or other chronological information may be associated with each entry in these databases. The user interface212may feed or otherwise provide the submission handler216with resources and ratings from a user102a,102bor user device110a,110b. The submission handler216may include modules or functions for processing these resources and ratings, or act as a proxy or agent to a component, system or device comprising such components and functions, or a combination thereof. According to some embodiments, the submission handler216may be optional.

The activity manager108shown inFIG.1is such an exemplary component, system and device.FIG.3shows a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the activity manager108. The activity manager108comprises a resource analyzer302, a resource distributor304, a score generator306, and a membership controller308. According to some embodiments, the membership controller308may be optional.

The resource analyzer302determines if the submitted resource already exists in the provider hub (for instance, by checking the resource database206). It may also create a local copy of the resource along with a new reference, store them in the resource database206, and maintain the relationship between the copy and the original in the relationship database208. In addition, multiple resources may be related to one another, for instance, for the purpose of popularity rating. For example, multiple linguistic translations or versions to the same news reporting, while having different URLs, may be regarded as referring to the same news item. On the other hand, resources having the same URL might be regarded as different resources, for example, when a newer and distinguishable version has been made available via the same URL, such as a newer version of software or a news front page with a newer publication date. The resource analyzer302creates a resource entry in the resource database206when the submitted resource is considered new. In an embodiment where submission of an existing resource (at the hub or provider level) is considered as a positive rating from a user102a,102bwhen he has not yet rated the resource, the resource analyzer302may create an internal rating submission for the resource, and the user102a,102bmay then be considered as having rated it (at the hub or provider level, wherever applicable).

The resource distributor304identifies the hubs to which a submitted resource be made available based at least in part on hub membership of the submitter, and delivers the resource to the hub(s). Where an embodiment may support the creation and receipt of public resources, the resource distributor304determines whether the submitted resource should be made available to hubs which are configured or otherwise identified to accept public resources and to which the submitter is not a member. The submitter may provide a privacy setting that causes the resource be only made available to all his associated hubs (e.g., with membership), or some specific individual hubs or groups of hubs. Where an embodiment may support a private personal hub (i.e., to which no other users may have access except the user owner), the submitter may specify a privacy setting that causes the resource available to no hubs but his private personal hub. (A private personal hub, for example, may record all resources submitted and those rated positively by its owner, and highlight those being made prize at a hub or in the whole of the hub provider104.) Such a privacy setting may be specified as part of a user account in the hub provider104(e.g., in the user database204) and/or as part of a resource submission. The latter, if present, may override the former. The delivery of resources to their destination hubs may be realized via entries to the relationship database208, where an entry relates or associates a destination hub in the hub database202to or with the resource in the resource database206. The entry may comprise such a relationship, the date and time of association, the current and historical cumulative positive and negative ratings of the resource for the hub, and the like. The list maker214as shown inFIG.2would then be able to make it available to users of the hub via the user interface212.

In some embodiments, the resource distributor304may be configured to attach or otherwise associate advertising to or with a resource destined to a hub. Examples of advertising include, but are not limited to, a depiction of a product, a depiction of a logo, a display of a trademark, an inducement to buy a product, an inducement to buy a service, an inducement to invest, an offer for sale, a product description, trade promotion, a survey, a political message, an opinion, a public service announcement, news, a religious message, educational information, a coupon, entertainment, a file of data, an article, a book, a picture, travel information, and the like. In addition, the format of the advertising may include, singularly or in combination, an audio or animation or other multimedia element played at various times, banner advertising, network links, e-mail, images, text messages, video clips, audio clips, programs, applets, cookies, scripts, and the like. Furthermore, each instance, entity, or object of advertising itself may be regarded as a resource, and be maintained in the resource database206or some other databases. Its relationship with one or more resources (and/or with possibly other entities such as users, hubs, and the like) may be maintained in the relationship databases208or some other databases. The resource distributor304may deliver one or more advertising resources to a hub in response to a single resource submission (e.g., one carrying a primary resource). An advertising resource may also be rated by a user102a,102band selected as a prize resource (e.g., by the list maker214). It may be presented (e.g., by the user interface212) to a user in a pop-up window on a user device110a,110bwhen a primary resource is chosen by a user102a,102bfor view, or as part of the presentation of the primary resource. The user102a,102bmay not only view the primary resource and its associated advertising resource(s), but also provide ratings against each of them. Any advertising presentation policy, scheme, or rules are within the scope of various embodiments.

The score generator306interprets, updates and maintains scores and the like (such as ratings, rankings, votes, marks, yes/no answers, like/dislike, bless/damn/forget, mark as favorite/hide it, clicks, impression time, and so on) that may be associated with resources and other entities, such as hubs, users, relationships, and the like. It may store the scores in a central database, or in various databases such as the relationship database208, the resource database206, the user database204, and the hub database202. Based at least in part on a rating submission (including internal rating submissions, if applicable), the score generator306may create or retrieve a database entry (e.g., from the relationship database208) corresponding to the score for a resource at a hub, the hub having the submitter as member, and update the entry accordingly (e.g., the score and time of update). The score generator306may create or retrieve a database entry (e.g., from the resource database206) corresponding to the hub provider-wide score for a resource, and update the entry accordingly. Score update or assignment may be executed in accordance to some policy or rules. For example, if a submitter is allowed to provide (only once) either a positive or negative rating against a resource, then one point may be added to the score of a resource for a positive rating, while one point may be removed from the score for a negative rating, with the score starting from zero when the resource is first made available in a hub. The hub provider-wide score for a resource may then be the sum of all its individual scores from all hubs. Alternatively, a good score and a bad score may be maintained simultaneously for a resource (at both hub-level and provider-wide-level), each accumulating points from positive and negative ratings respectively. According to one embodiment, the list maker214as shown inFIG.2may then produce a list of popular resources for a hub using only the good scores, and a list of controversial resources based at least in part on both the good and bad scores (both of which may be regarded as list of prize resources). Yet another scoring scheme may be to regard a resource as prize at the hub level when the percentage of a hub membership that have given it a positive rating is twice or more than the percentage that have given the resource a negative rating. And a resource may receive at the hub provider level one point for every ten positive ratings within a hub, with a minimum of 100 positive ratings within the hub, regardless of any negative ratings. A scoring rule may also be that there may only be one hub or a limited number of hubs receiving the one and only one rating (positive or otherwise) given by a user102a,102bagainst a resource even though the user102a,102bmay be member to more than one hub (not counting his private personal hub, if any). The user102a,102bwould need to designate a home hub or a hub priority list for the score generator306to decide which hub should receive the rating in relation to the resource. Another scoring rule may be that ratings from a hub administrator do not count in hub-specific scores for resources in relation to the hub. While the score generator306may be responsible for updating and maintaining scores for resources (and for other entities such as users, hubs, and so on) in the hub provider104, the list maker214is responsible for selection of prize resources. A scoring policy or scheme may involve the collaboration of both the score generator306and the list maker214. Any scoring policy, scheme, or rules are within the scope of various embodiments.

The membership controller308monitors scores and statuses of resources and users102a,102b(and other entities wherever applicable) that may affect hub memberships and performs appropriate actions accordingly. For instance, there may be a rule for a particular hub that stipulates a member be removed or changed to become an observer if he has not voted for or against a resource for a specific period of time (e.g., one month) despite being eligible to do so. Another example rule may be that a member be removed if none of his submitted resources is picked as prize for the hub for a specific period of time, or three or more of his submitted resources have ever received a certain number or percentage of negative ratings from the membership in a given period of time (e.g., over 70% of membership giving negative ratings within three months of the submission of each of his submitted resources). Any membership control policy, scheme, or rules are within the scope of various embodiments.

The membership controller308may check the relationship database208and other databases whenever there is a score, status and/or time change, or be notified of such changes (e.g., by the score generator306, the resource distributor304, and/or an internal or external timer (not shown)). The membership controller308may also set up a condition and associate it with each entity of interest (e.g., in the database where the entity resides) so that the score generator306, resource distributor304, resource analyzer302would check if the condition is met prior or subsequent to its own operations. The databases may also be configured to perform some or all of this condition checking upon access, and provide the necessary notification when needed. Upon notification of such conditions, the membership controller308may perform its operations accordingly (e.g., further rules checking and/or subsequent member removal). In one embodiment, the membership controller may notify users of their membership being removed from a hub via the user interface212.

Any type of hub may be provided by the hub provider104shown inFIG.1. A hub may comprise people or users established or grouped according to any type of category, such as friendship, geopolitical boundaries, affiliation (e.g., having the same email domain), and so forth. A user102a,102bmay specify the hubs, the categories, subcategories, and so forth; and/or the hubs, the social networks, the categories, the subcategories, and so on may be predetermined by the hub provider104. A user102a,102bmay create a hub, join an existing hub, invite other people or users to join a hub, and cease to be a member of a hub, subject to the terms, rules and policies that may be set forth by the hub provider104and/or the hub owner. Such terms, rules and policies may include the provisions for hub creation, hub membership and resource submission and rating.

For instance, a user102a,102bmay connect via a desktop computer or a portable device (i.e., a user device110a,110bshown inFIG.1) to a website or system embodying the hub provider104. The device110a,110bis communicatively coupled with the website, namely the hub provider, over a network106via the communication interface210. The user102a,102bprovides his email address as his user ID and a string of characters as his password as part of the signup process with the hub provider (via the user interface212). Upon successful registration, the user interface212would create an entry (namely, a user account entry or simply a user entry) in the user database204for the user.

FIG.4shows an exemplary webpage400, which a user of the hub provider104may be presented with (by the user interface212) upon successful logon. For instance, such an webpage may comprise a list or selection of provider-wide or global prize resources402, a provider-wide or global view of latest resources404, a pair of lists of hub-wide prize resources406and latest resources for a hub408(e.g., hub “Friends123”), a pull-down list410of hubs to which the user102a,102bis a member (from which a user102a,102bmay select more hubs into view), a search interface416for resources and hubs in the hub provider104, and a resource submission interface418which also allows a user102a,102bto specify if the resource should be made public412. Each entry414a,414b,414c, in the selection or list of resources may comprise a URL to the resource in question, a summary or excerpt for the resource, a hub-level and/or overall score, and a control for receiving a good or bad rating. An authenticated user102a,102bmay locate a hub among a plurality of hubs retrieved via the search interface416(e.g., by school name, hobby description, organization name, a friend's name or user ID, and so on). The user102a,102bdecides to sign up with the hub (herein named “ABC”), and is presented with membership criteria (e.g., a minimum age of 18 and a pending IQ test passed with a score of 80 or above) and agreements (e.g., initial membership of scout, but be demoted to observer if no prize resources submitted by the user within three months of membership). Such criteria and agreements may be stored and maintained in the hub database202or some other databases, which may also maintain other membership rules such as those for invitation, as well as rules about resources such as those for prize resource selection, public resource acceptance, resource import and export, and the like.

If the user102a,102bpasses the criteria and accepts the agreements, then the user interface212may create a membership relationship between the user102a,102band the hub in the relationship database208, thereby realizing the adding of the user102a,102bas member to the hub. Otherwise, the signup process with the hub via the user interface212will be aborted, and the user102a,102bwill be notified as such. Upon successful signup with the hub, the user's hub list will now include the hub. As such, the user102a,102bin this example may now view up to six non-private-personal lists: two for global latest and prize resources, two for hub Friends123's latest and prize resources, and two for hub ABC's. The list maker214retrieves the appropriate resources from the resource and relationship databases208and produces the respective lists.

Later the user102a,102bdiscovers a webpage of interest (e.g., via the same or different user device110a,110b), and submits the URL to the webpage to the hub provider104(e.g., via the resource submission interface418on the hub provider104website, or a resource submission interface418on a third-party tool or website, or one on the webpage of interest itself). The user interface212receives the resource submission via the communication interface210, and passes it to the submission handler216. (In some instances, the submission handler216may also receive the submission directly without involvement of the user interface212.) The submission handler216invokes the resource analyzer302, which checks if the resource already exists in the resource database206. Assuming the resource already exists in the hub provider as a whole but not in hubs Friends123 and ABC, the resource distributor304will create a positive availability relationship between the resource (e.g., via its URL in the resource database206) and each of the two hubs in the relationship database208. Subsequently, other members of these two hubs may see the resource or a copy or excerpt of the resource along with its URL on the hubs' lists or selections of latest resources, which are updated by the list maker214. The submitter member or other members may add comments to the resource. These comments may be stored and maintained in the relationship database208or other databases, and made available for view to all members of the same hub. According to some embodiments, members of other hubs which happen to have already included the resource in their latest and/or prize resource lists may also view these comments if both parties agree to export and import comments respectively in relation to a common resource.

As other members of hub ABC provide their ratings against the resource, the score generator306is updating the hub as well as overall (i.e., provider-wide) scores for the resource in the relationship database208or the databases where the scores are kept. The popularity of the resource in hub ABC may soon promote the resource to become a global (i.e., provider-wide) prize resource (as determined by the list maker214) when it has so far been unable to attain such a status despite being available to many other hubs for quite a while. The resource may have also received little attention in hub Friends123.

The same user102a,102bin this example may join another hub (herein named “XYZ”), with the same membership criteria and agreements as hub ABC (e.g., membership status changed from scout to observer if no prize resource submissions within three months of membership). Later when the user102a,102bfails to meet the criteria or fulfill the agreements (as determined by the membership controller308), the membership of the user102a,102bin the hub XYZ will be removed (e.g., as executed by the membership controller308via the removal of the corresponding membership relationship entry in the relationship database208). The user interface212may also notify the user102a,102bof such membership removal.

According to some embodiments, one or more hubs may be provided for each user102a,102bin a hub provider104. For example, a user102a,102bmay have a hub comprised of membership established or otherwise grouped according to university attended, to the user's residence or geographical position (e.g., via location sensing modules or devices), to the user's professional status or position, to a business or organization, and so forth. In one embodiment, a common or global hub may establish or otherwise group all users102a,102bin a hub provider104.

Although the hub provider104is described as being comprised of various components (the hub database202, the user database204, the resource database206, the relationship database208, the communication interface210, the user interface212, the list maker214, and the submission handler216), fewer or more components may comprise the hub provider104shown inFIG.1and still fall within the scope of various embodiments. Likewise, fewer or more components than those shown inFIG.3may comprise the activity manager108shown inFIG.1and still fall within the scope of various embodiments.

FIG.5shows a representation of a hub provider such as the hub provider104inFIG.1, and a hub-level prize resource list for five hubs502a,502b,502c,502d,502e, as well as the provider-wide prize resource list506. There are two external channels of resources504a,504bthat hubs in the hub provider may subscribe to or otherwise obtain resources from. These two channels504a,504bhave Resource3233and Resource432respectively. Hub1502aand Hub3502creceive resources from the former channel while Hub1502aand Hub2502breceive resources from the latter channel. Hubs may also subscribe to or otherwise obtain resources from other hubs. For example, Hub2502band Hub4502dreceive resources from Hub3502c, while Hub5502ereceives resources from Hub1502a. Hub1502aand Hub3502care referred to as internal channels. A user may belong to more than one hub. For example, User1belongs to Hub1502aand Hub3502c, while User3belongs to Hub1502a, Hub2502b, and Hub4502d. According to one embodiment, a hub may specify criteria for selecting incoming resources from an external or internal channel. For example, a hub may only import prize resources from another hub. According to another embodiment, a hub may perform export control on its resources, whether created internally, or imported from external or internal channels. For example, a hub may make available only a subset of resources to other hubs for subscription, while restricting other resources for internal consumption only. The former may be referred to as public resources, while the latter as private resources with respect to the hub. All members of the hub may designate individual resources as private or public, or only those with certain privileges such as the hub owner or administrator may make resources public.

FIG.6shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process for selecting more than one set of digital resources among a plurality of resources via a hub provider104. For instance, a user102a,102bvia a user device110,110bsuch as one shown inFIG.1may make available602one or more resources to a hub provider by sending or submitting their references (e.g., URLs) over a network106. The hub provider104may comprise a plurality of hubs each having members, where the user102a,102bmay be member to one or more of the hubs, subject to membership criteria and agreements, and other applicable constraints. The submitting may include sending a user ID (and password if not yet authenticated as a user102a,102bof the hub provider104), and other information, such as comment or some initial rating.

The hub provider104may then make available the resource (and/or its representative reference, copy, or other equivalent entities or objects) to all the members of the hubs to which the resource is destined604, e.g., by the membership of the user102a,102bin the hubs, the policy in public resource acceptance of the other hubs, and the like. For example, the user interface212of the hub provider104, upon receipt of the submission, may pass it to the submission handler216which invokes the resource analyzer302. The resource analyzer302may determine that the resource is not yet available to the hubs to which the user102a,102bis member, so it adds the resource to the hubs via positive resource availability entries in the relationship database208. The list maker214may then make the resource available on the list of latest resources for each of the hub.

The hub provider104may accept ratings from members whose hubs have the resource in question available606, and determine a hub-level or hub-specific score against the resource for each of the hubs608, based at least in part on these member ratings. For example, the user interface212may receive a rating submission from a user102a,102bor user device110a,110bvia the communication interface210. The user interface212then passes it to the submission handler216which invokes the score generator306. The score generator306may update the score for the relationships between the resource and each of the applicable hubs in the relationship database208.

The hub provider104may also determine an overall score610against the resource based at least in part on its hub-level or hub-specific scores. Such overall scores associated with resources in the hub provider104may drive, enable or otherwise facilitate the hub provider104to select more than one set of prize digital resources612, the more than one set of prize digital resources comprising a set based at least in part on the overall scores, and another set based at least in part on the hub-level scores in relation one of the hubs in the hub provider104, wherein the set and the other set include an ordered list of references to digital resources, the references comprising URLs each accompanied by a score, the score being an overall score or a hub-level score. For example, the score generator306may calculate and maintain an overall score (e.g., in the resource database206) for each of the resources in the hub provider104, in addition to updating their hub-level scores. The list maker214may identify global prize resources402based at least in part on these overall scores, and produce a selection or list of global prize resources402accessible (e.g., via the user interface212) to all members of the hub provider104. Generation or production of such a selection or list may take place continuously, on-demand, periodically, or from time to time.

Similar to prize resources, a prize member may be determined at the hub level, for instance, based at least in part on his contribution to making available prize resources to the hub in question, and a prize user102a,102bbased at least in part on the hub-level scores the resources that he has made available to the hub provider104have received. (In an embodiment, a user may receive points towards his obtaining a prize status for resources he has made public that other hubs, i.e., those to which he is not a member at the time of submission, have then considered as prize.) A prize hub may be determined, for instance, based at least in part on the number or percentage of provider-wide prize resources made available by the hub in question over a given period of time, or based on the number or percentage of hubs per some category whose prize lists have included resources that originated from the hub.

A plurality of embodiments are specifically illustrated and/or described herein. However, it will be appreciated that modifications and variations are covered by the above teachings and within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit and intended scope thereof. For example, a hub provider104may provide a set of rules or rule templates for various aspects of a hub-related maintenance and operations, such as those for membership admission, invitation and removal, and those for resource submission and (hub-specific) resource rating and list making. A hub owner or authority (e.g., the creator of the hub, one or more members elected by others in the hub, and so on) may choose among these rules or rule templates to form a specific membership policy for the hub. Rules or rule templates for changing existing rules may also be provided by the hub provider104. A hub may also be associated with an external or third-party component or system for conducting membership admission testing, such as an IQ test. The user interface212may be configured to invoke such a component or system upon a user request for membership to a specific hub, cause the user102a,102bor the user device110a,110bto interact with the component or system, and then receive the testing result from the component or system. The user interface212may also monitor how a user interacts or otherwise selects resources in the hub provider104to generate (internal) rating submissions. A user102a,102bmay also send the hub provider104via a user device110a,110ba single submission comprising more than one resource and/or rating. The user interface212may provide a search interface416whereby a user may perform personalized queries against the resources in the hub provider104. For example, he may enter queries comprising keywords against only the resources he has submitted or rated positively. A user102a,102bor a hub authority may also specify criteria for filtering and sorting resources available to him or the hub. For example, a user102a,102bmay hide a resource from his personal view either for his own private personal hub or another hub. Such a request and another subsequent change may cause the user interface212to generate a rating submission against the resource, e.g., for the calculation of the overall score for the resource in question. A hub provider104embodying the present invention may provide hubs in a specific category, including but not limited to advertising, retail goods and services, or news and journalism. A hub provider104may also specify various categories of hubs (e.g., lifestyle, politics, science and technology, literature, and the like), where a user102a,102bmay create a new category. A hub provider104may stipulate that a user102a,102bmay only join one hub per category, or become a voting or rating member to one hub (per category or per hub provider104) while being allowed to be observer to all other hubs. A hub provider104may detect or determine hubs common in interest and thereby suggest merging of these hubs. Users may also be recommended for membership to hubs or review of resources based on his interests that may be deduced or induced from his memberships with other hubs, his resource and rating submissions, or some other observations or testing, including but not limited to questionnaires and personality profiling. The hub provider104may also identify and publicly recognize a user102a,102bor hub for his or its ability to discover prize resources, and award or otherwise assign a title or rank to the user102a,102bor the hub. Ratings or scores of such a prize user or prize hub may receive more weight than other non-prize users or hubs for hub-level or overall score generation. In embodiments, a user in a hub provider may not need to join or belong to any hub. He or she may be presented with a list of provider-wide prize resources.

A hub provider104may comprise a plurality of hub providers104. For example, a system or website may be a hub provider104for a number of news publishers each being a hub provider104for its subscribers, who may join or create hubs of their interest. A hub may also comprise a plurality of hubs. For example, a hub may refer to a country and have state or province hubs, each further comprising city or town hubs. Ratings or scores may be amalgamated or consolidated for each higher level (e.g., by the summation of lower-level scores or some other schemes) for entities or objects of interest, such as resources, hubs, users and the like. A system or service may be equipped or otherwise embodying the features of the present invention in addition to its inherent functionality. For example, a search service or engine may initially partition or assign its users102a,102binto different geographical areas or locations each area or location being a hub, and allow them to join other hubs (of types other than geographical area or location, e.g., shopping, health, entertainment, travel, and so on). The users may join and quit any of these hubs freely in relation to their queries. The search engine may monitor or track resources selected by the users from search results, and the queries responsible for the search results. The user-selected resources may be considered as having better ratings than those not selected from the search results. Each resource may then be associated with a relevancy score for the hub(s) in question, while having a global relevancy score. In response to queries, the search engine may present the users with search results comprising groups of relevant resources or their references, one group corresponding to their overall relevancy scores, while each of the others corresponding to a specific hub. Relevant resources in more than one hub of interest (e.g., geographical location hub “Seattle” and context hub “Travel”) may further be consolidated to produce a selection or list of resources based on their consolidated hub-level scores. For example, a logical hub of “Travel from Seattle” may be created (e.g., on the fly in response to queries from users having membership in both “Travel” and “Seattle”) to account for resources that are applicable to both hub “Travel” and hub “Seattle”, and assume their consolidated hub-level score (e.g., by summation of their individual hub-level scores, or some other schemes). A social networking website or system, or an application on the website or system, may provide its members with the provision to create hubs based on friendship, topic, organization or professional affiliation, brand, and so on. A peer-to-peer resource sharing website or system may allow its users to share music, videos or retail offers among groups or circles of friends or people, each group or circle being a hub. A member may share the availability of a song, video or retail offer with his peers in the group or circle, and provide indication or action interpretable as a rating, such as its being his favorite, a good deal, a purchase, a watched video, and so on. Some action or indication may result in a higher rating than another, e.g., a purchase resulting in a higher rating than being a favorite.

In addition to selections or lists of latest, prize, or controversial resources, a hub provider104or individual hubs in a hub provider104may include other types of selections or lists. For example, a list of pending prize resources may include resources that have attained some intermediary level of scores, so that users102a,102bor members may be led or otherwise suggested to view or review such pending prize resources so to obtain better consensus or more ratings on their way to being included in a prize selection or list. According to some embodiments, a hub provider104could determine a resource that has a high negative score in one hub while a high positive score in another hub to be a prize resource for the latter hub and not the former, and yet consider both scores as a positive contribution to the overall score of the resource, for example, for a list of controversial resources.

Furthermore, a hub provider104may also be equipped with facilities or components to allow users to generate their own digital resources, which may be derived from resources submitted from other users. For example, a user may create a resource comprising an incoming resource, and his editorial or opinion about that resource. A digital resource may also be specific to a certain type of resources and be created in accordance to some templates or guidelines. For example, an offer of goods and services may include an item name, seller information, price, and optional quantity. Membership to hubs or delivery of resources may require payment. A hub provider104may be equipped with a component or otherwise configured to trigger a component or system to handle such payment. A submitter may also receive payments for resource submissions whose resources or their related or associated ads that have received a certain level of attention, e.g., becoming a prize resource. For example, an online newspaper may register as or otherwise become a hub, with subscribers as members and other content distributors/aggregators being hubs that receive news items from the online newspaper. Resource usage (e.g., impressions, clicks, transactions, and the like) may also be metered, e.g., for payment or revenue. A portion of such revenue may be distributed to users responsible for submitting or otherwise making available those resources.

Moreover, a resource may be a composite, comprising a plurality of resources, including resources of different categories or sources, e.g., ads on a new article, or still photos in a video, and so on. A reference to a resource may involve different scopes, e.g., a URL may refer to a single webpage or a website including all URLs comprising the URL. A resource submission may include annotations, tags and other information to qualify or otherwise annotate the resource, such as whether the URL refers to a webpage or a website, the topic to which the resource is relevant to, a summary of item, seller, quantity, and price to an offer, and so on. A reference to a resource needs not be explicitly available or accessible online to a user102a,102b. For instance, a brick-and-mortar retail offer comprising an item name, seller information and price may be presented or otherwise accessible via a list of offers, where a user102a,102bmay choose one among the list, where the hub provider104would maintain internal references to such offers. Answers from a user102a,102bto a series of questions may also help determine a resource without revealing the resulting resource(s), e.g., a personality profile or characterization, to the user102a,102b. How the chosen or resulting resources correspond to one another may be established or otherwise determined by the hub provider104.

Note that a hub or a group may comprise one or more devices instead of, for instance, individual users, and a resource to be rated or assessed may represent a service or a quality of service, such as download speeds of an internet connection. For instance, in a multi-access point Wi-Fi network, wireless devices or clients associated with an access point in the network may be regarded as a group or belonging to a group or hub. Each group or hub may be associated with a score or rating, such as an average download speed over a period of time across the associated clients, that indicates the quality of the connection. An overall score or rating for the Wi-Fi network may be calculated or otherwise derived from these individual scores or ratings associated with the Wi-Fi access points in the network.

Disclosed also are methods, systems, and apparatuses for selecting a product among a plurality of products. For instance, a user may make a payment in exchange for trying, using, or possessing more than one product (e.g., an e-book) in a set or collection, and only to keep one from among the available products in the set or collection later. For example, a system such as an online marketplace may group three e-books in a collection, and present them to a user. The system enables the user to download or otherwise access all three e-books upon receiving a payment from him. Within a predefined or agreed-upon period of time, the user may select which e-book to keep, with the other e-books becoming unavailable or inaccessible, being removed from devices associated with the user, or becoming unlicensed. In one embodiment, should the user fail to make the selection within such a timeframe, the system may choose one for the user, for example, based on a default setting, randomly, or based on the most popular selection near the time of selection expiry. In another embodiment, a user may rate or vote for a selection, where all users participating the rating or voting would receive the same selection based on the outcome of the rating or voting. In another embodiment, the available selections in a set or collection may be provided by different retailers, seller, or providers. In one embodiment, a retailer, seller or provider whose product is not selected still receive a part of the revenue generated from a selected product from another retailer, seller or provider. In another embodiment, a plurality of users may pledge or commit a sum for a project, endeavor or business enterprise involving more than one contender, without any contender being first selected to undertake the project, endeavor or business enterprise. Upon given an access to a product or presentation from one or more contenders (e.g., a prototype related to the project of interest). these users or a subset of these users would then rate or vote in relation to the available contenders. As a result, a contender would be selected to undertake the project, endeavor or business enterprise based on the results of this rating or voting, and the contender would receive the money pledged or committed, or a portion thereof.

Disclosed also are methods, systems, and devices for restricting access to one or more apps on a device. For instance, a method for restricting access to one or more apps and their data is described, the method comprising providing an area; accepting a request to associate one or more functions with the area; associating the one or more functions with the area; accepting a request for access to the area; requesting for authentication; providing access to the one or more functions, if the authentication is successful; and denying access to the one or more functions, if the authentication is not successful. According to another embodiment, a computing device provides an area, the area including a folder, an icon, a screen page, or a virtual screen. The device accepts a request to associate one or more functions with the area. The device associates the one or more functions with the area, and makes invisible the one or more functions outside the area. The device then accepts a request to access the area. It requests authentication. It provides access to the one or more functions if the authentication is successful, and denies access to them if not successful.

FIG.7shows a block diagram700of an exemplary device702equipped with the present invention. The device702comprises a processing unit720, a memory704, and a user interface722. The device702(e.g., a mobile phone, personal digital assistant, computing tablet, desktop phone, a portable or desktop computer, a control terminal, and so on) is communicatively coupled to a user via the user interface722(e.g., a display, a speaker, a microphone, a keyboard, a touch screen, and so on). Any type of user interface is within the scope of various embodiments.

The user interface722is provided for interacting with a user, including receiving requests for designating an app for restricted access and accessing the app or a restricted area, view or screen in or with which the app is protected or associated, as well as indications that another user or a device of another user may access applications or services on the device.

The memory704is provided for storing programs and data for the operation of the device702. It includes an authenticator706, a user request handler708, one or more apps710, and a data store712, the data store comprising user credentials714, app data706, and secure access definitions718. The user request handler708is responsible for interpreting requests sent by a user via the user interface722, such as associating apps with a secure or restricted area, assigning apps to a secure or restricted area, view or screen, deciding if authentication is required in relation to accessing the secure or restricted area so to run or make visible the one or more apps and their data installed or otherwise accessible through the device, and communicating with the one or more apps710about requests from one or more users, the requests for granting access to the one or more apps710on the device702to one or more devices associated with the one or more users. The authenticator706is responsible for prompting for and accepting input from the user, for example, to decide if a secure area comprising the apps in question should be made visible or available to the user, as well as other authentication-related activities, such as creating or changing user credentials. If the authentication is successful, the authenticator may then allow the requested operation or effect to proceed. Otherwise, the user is notified of such denial. The user credentials714in the data store712are used for such authentication purpose (e.g., as executed by the authenticator706), while the secure access definitions718there provides the rules or boundaries under which an authentication is required. The app data716provides data storage for the one or more apps710. The authenticator706may also facilitate identification and/or authentication of an external device or an application on an external device based on identification and/or authentication of the user of the application or the external device.

The processing unit720is provided for executing the programs (e.g., the authenticator706, user request handler708, and apps710) in the memory704, and the user interface712for interacting with a user.

In some embodiments, the secure access definitions718may be part of the user request handler708, or the authenticator706may be part of the user request handler708. As such, although the device702is described as being comprised of these various components, fewer or more components may comprise the device shown inFIG.7, and still fall within the scope of various embodiments.

In one embodiment, a user via the user interface722selects an app for configuration (e.g., by touching and holding for a pre-determined period of time an icon for the app on a touch screen), and specifies that the app be associated with a secure area, such as a folder, a screen view or page, or a virtual screen available on the device. (E.g., the user may gesture to the device via screen scrolling that he wants to access to the next screen view or page to the right of the current screen view or page, or an out-of-sight virtual screen positioned virtually at the top of the current screen, the next screen view or page, or the out-of-sight virtual screen being designated or configured as a secure area.)

Such specification or association may be performed via a configuration file, settings page, or the selected icon (e.g., dragging the icon to the secure area). The user request handler708or its equivalent stores this configuration in the secure access definitions718. If the user does not yet have credentials established for such authentication, then the user request handler708causes the authenticator706to prompt the user to establish one, and to handle the subsequent interaction with the user. Alternatively, the user request handler708may do so with the user via the user interface712. Successfully established, the credentials are stored in the user credentials714in the data store712. The user may also change the credentials via the authenticator706independent of any app invocation or configuration for access. If the user wishes to no longer restrict access to the app, then he may be first authenticated by the authenticator706before being granted the permission to make such change. (E.g., to disassociate an app with a secure area, the user may touch, hold, and drag the icon for the app in the secure area to outside.) The user request handler708updates the secure access definitions718accordingly.

Upon receiving a request from a user to access an area or screen through the user interface712, the user request handler708checks if there is any applicable data in the secure access definitions718for the area or screen. If so, it causes the authenticator706to interact with the user and authenticate him against the data in the user credentials714in the data store712. Otherwise, the area or screen may be accessible without further permission or credentials checking. Should the authentication in the former case be successful, the area or screen may be accessible, thereby making the apps therein available to the user.

In an embodiment, a touch-screen device presents a list, view or inventory of available apps on one or more visual pages or areas, where a user may go from one page or area to another. For example, a so-called home screen on the device may comprise more than one set of apps, where each set of apps is displayed or otherwise presented independently from the other sets. The user may gesture to the device (e.g., by swiping across the screen) to select the previous or next set or sets in relation to the current set of apps. Each set of apps so display or presented makes up a view, each of which may extend beyond what the physical screen of the device can show at any one point in time. For example, individual views may be organized horizontally while the icons of the apps vertically. Animations such as that of sliding from one page to the previous or next, either horizontally or vertically, may accompany this change of view. In addition, a secure area may change in size and/or color, for example, depending on the status of protection and the number of apps therein. The user interface712is responsible for such interaction with the user.

In one instance, the user indicates via the user interface712to the user request handler708that one view is configured to become a restricted area, in that access to it would require authentication of the user by the authenticator706. Upon successful authentication, the user may access this restricted area or view, and assign apps to it (e.g., by moving their icons into the area or view), thereby removing these apps from authentication-free access at the app execution level even when the device-level authentication, if any, has been successfully performed or otherwise been disabled. That is, to gain access to apps with restricted access, the user needs to be authenticated by the authenticator706. Successful authentication enables the user to access all apps in the restricted view or area for which the authentication is performed. Such authentication may be required every time access to the restricted area or view, or to the individual apps within it, is requested by the user, or when there is some inactivity of the device or apps in question since the last successful authentication. Or the user may open and close restricted areas or views manually via the user interface712, so that the user request handler708may then decide in accordance to this manual setting if access to the restricted areas is granted and whether authentication is needed.

The user may also designate two or more sections of views, one or more of which comprising one or more restricted areas or views. Between any two sections may be a demarcation or partition point, line or interface (visible or otherwise), where authentication will be required if the user requests access to a section of restricted areas or views, and not required if he requests access to a section of non-restricted areas or views. Different sections of restricted areas or views may have different passwords or credentials for authentication. In addition, the same app with different data sets may also appear in different sections. For example, a phone app may appear in both the non-restricted and restricted areas, where the phone app in the restricted area has access to different contact data and call logs compared to the one in the non-restricted area. Another example app is a photo album app. That is, the data that an app may have access to defines the function of the app and distinguish it from the otherwise same app that does not have access to the data (but perhaps to other data). In one embodiment, a Secure Access Definition such as the one shown inFIG.7stores and maintains the relationships between the apps and their respective data in relation to the sections that they are applicable to. For instance, the user may specify an email address for which messages received will be associated with an email app in a section of restricted areas, while messages received for all other email addresses will be associated with an email app in another section.

FIG.8shows an exemplary display800of screen that may be presented on a device embodying the one depicted inFIG.7. There are two screen shots802,804, each representing an area or view of apps or their icons. The one on the right is a restricted area whereas the on the left is not. As such, the left screen, area or view will be accessible to the user without the need for authentication, while the data associated with the apps whose icons appearing in this screen, area, or view (i.e., SMS806, Phone810, and Photo808) are available to the user also without any authentication. On the other hand, since the right screen, area, or view is restricted, a user will not gain access or visibility to it until successful authentication. As such, the apps (i.e., Mail812and Contact Book814) in this screen, area, or view will be protected from unauthorized access. The data associated with these apps are likewise unavailable to the user or other apps that the user may be using or capable of invoking without authentication.

FIG.9shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process900for configuring an app for authentication on a device, such as the one shown inFIG.7, with a display or screen an example of which is depicted inFIG.8. For instance, per the example process900, the user interface722provides a restricted area, view or screen (902), which may be disabled, enabled or otherwise configurable by the user. If there are no user credentials available yet, the user request handler708will cause the authenticator706to interact with the user via the user interface722, so to obtain them, before the restricted area, view or screen may be activated, enabled or otherwise created. (In one embodiment, the user password for the device, if available, will be used as the initial user credentials for restricted areas, views, or screens.) The authenticator706(or in some embodiments, the user request handler708) will store the information in the user credentials in the data store. The user request handler708accepts a request via the user interface722to move an app to or otherwise associate it with the restricted area (904), such as having the user pressing, holding and dragging the app icon from an unrestricted area, view or screen, to the restricted one. The handler708causes the user interface to remove the app icon from the unrestricted area to the restricted one (906), and stores in the secure access definitions718this membership in or association with the restricted area, view or screen. (Such setting in the secure access definitions718, for example, may cause the data maintained by or otherwise associated with the app to become unavailable to other apps that may otherwise have access to them, such as the data in Contact Book app being available to the Phone app.) Then the user request handler708receives a request from the user via the user interface (e.g., by gesturing the intent to access the restricted area from the unrestricted one, such as those shown inFIG.8) to access the restricted area (908). The handler causes the authenticator to request user credentials (e.g., password) or otherwise authenticate with the user (910). If the authentication is successful (912), then the authenticator causes the user request handler to make visible or otherwise accessible the restricted area to the user via the user interface (916), thereby enabling access to the apps therein, as well as making available the data of these apps to other apps. Otherwise, the secured area access request is denied (914).

FIG.10shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1000for assigning a data entry (e.g., a contact entry, a photo, an email address) to a section of restricted areas available on a device, such as the one shown inFIG.7. For instance, per the example process1000, the user interface722provides a section of restricted areas, views or screens (1002). It accepts from a user a request to associate a data entry with the section (1004). The User Request Handler708identifies one or more apps that can handle the type of the data entry or are otherwise associated with the type, and associates the data entry with the one or more apps (1006). It stores this association information in Secure Access Definitions718. The User Interface712accepts a request to view or access a restricted area in the section (1008). The Authenticator performs user authentication (1010). If successful (1012), it grants access to the area (1016); otherwise it denies the access (1014). When the User Request Handler708accepts a request to invoke one of the one or more apps in the area upon successful authentication (1018), it makes available the data entry or data related to the data entry to the invoked app (1020).

The embodiments as described above enables a user to restrict access to an app that may not have any authentication capability itself, without the need for the device-wide authentication. For example, a parent may create a secure visual area, and place a phone app in that area, so that his kids cannot access the app without successful authentication. Or he may place a video browsing app or a Web browser in the secure area, which only requires authentication outside a certain period during a day, given that access to the date setting function for the device is also restricted. In the other words, an embodiment of the present invention enables a user to organize and manage invocation or execution-level authentication for a group of apps collectively even when the apps are not capable of doing so.

In some embodiments, data from restricted apps may not be visible or accessible to apps whose access is otherwise unrestricted. For example, if a contact book app is restricted while a phone app is not, then the phone app although functional (e.g., for making calls) cannot access to the data provided or otherwise maintained by the contact book app, and history information that the phone app may maintain should hide or otherwise omit entries that are derived from or otherwise related to the data of the contact book app.

The embodiments discussed herein are illustrative of the present invention. As these embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to illustrations, various modifications or adaptations of the methods and or specific structures described may become apparent to those skilled in the art. All such modifications, adaptations, or variations that rely upon the teachings of the present invention, and through which these teachings have advanced the art, are considered to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Hence, these descriptions and drawings should not be considered in a limiting sense, as it is understood that the present invention is in no way limited to only the embodiments illustrated. For instance, method steps described herein may be performed in alternative orders. Various embodiments of the invention include logic stored on computer readable media, the logic configured to perform methods of the invention. The examples provided herein are exemplary and are not meant to be exclusive.

In addition, a service or application available on a user device may be made accessible to a compatible service or application on another user device for purposes of relaying a message or data sent by or addressed to a user on the other user device. For example, a user of a service (e.g., an electronic messaging service provided by one or more computing systems comprising a messaging system and a user device) may indicate to the service (e.g., via an application associated with the service where the application is running on a device of the user) that another user of the service is authorized to use a device of the user to relay, send, or receive messages or data sent by or addressed to the other user. This authorized access to such functions or capabilities on a device of the user is limited to a device of the other user whose user identity can be authenticated or otherwise ascertained.

For instance,FIG.11illustrates an exemplary environment1100, according to an embodiment, for enabling a device1110of User A1104to make use of a device1108of User B1102to send and receive messages or data to and from User C1106, when a network1114(e.g., the Internet) through which User C, his device1112, or a messaging system1118can be reached is unavailable to the device1110of User A. For example, the device1110of User A may be communicatively connected or linked to, or otherwise reachable by the device1108of User B via another network1116, e.g., a Bluetooth connection or a Wi-Fi network in non-infrastructure mode. Any type, mode or form of presence discovery and data transfer among devices is within the scope of the present invention, such as those utilizing near-field communication (NFC), Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, or a peer-to-peer connectivity protocol or system.

As part of a signup process or user account configuration for the service, User B1102may specify or otherwise indicate to the messaging system1118that User A1104is permitted to receive and/or send messages (or data) through a user account of User B or a device associated with User B1102. In one embodiment, User A may also indicate to the messaging system1118that messages sent by or addressed to him may be relayed through a device of User B. In one embodiment, such a permission or authorization in itself neither allows User A1104to interact directly with a device of User B, nor enables User B1102to gain visibility or access to these messages.

In one embodiment, when the messaging system1118receives a message addressed to User A, for example, received from the device1112of User C, it determines if a device of User A is available (e.g., by not receiving a periodic poll from an application or device associated with User A1104, or by sending asynchronously or unilaterally such as via Web Socket a notification to an application or device associated with User A1104). Should a device of User A be deemed unreachable, the messaging system1118may identify a device of another user, e.g., by consulting with a user and device directory (UDD)1120, which, in one embodiment, is a database system that maintains information on one or more devices that are associated with each user of the service, and information on one or more users who are permitted to use devices associated with a particular user for relaying messages. In relation to that User A1104is permitted to use devices associated with User B1102and that the device1108is associated with User B1102, the messaging system1118may deliver the message whose sender is User C1106to the device1108of User B, which forwards or otherwise sends it to the device1110of User A for presentation to User A1110or consumption by a compatible application associated with User A1110. In one embodiment, the device1108of User B or the application receiving the message on the device does not disclose the message to User B1102. In another embodiment, the device1108of User B or the application receiving the message may disclose the information in the message and any attachments or media associated with the message to User B1102when User B1102is also a recipient of the message. This mechanism or arrangement may save or otherwise reduce data usage of transmission or transfer bandwidth through the network1114with respect to User A1104and User B1102together, as it would otherwise take two payloads of similar size and format to deliver the content in the message to two users of the service.

Whereas an application on a device should reject or would otherwise not receive a message addressed to users that do not have an account with the application running on the device, an application in one embodiment may accept such a message and identify these recipients. The application may maintain a local list of users that User B1102has authorized their associated devices to receive and send messages via his device1108, and it may obtain, receive, or update such a list of users at the messaging system1118(which may store and maintain this information at UDD1120). In one embodiment, these users also agree to use a device associated with User B1102, such as the device1106of User B, to relay their messages to and from their individual devices.

In one embodiment, while a device such as the device1110of User A1104may maintain its own list of authorized users, the messaging system1118, in connection with UDD1120, may provide and maintain a service or system-wide database for such information for all users of the service. For example, when a messaging application on the device1110of User A detects that there is no connectivity or communication path at the device to the network1114(e.g., the Internet) that would have enabled its messages or data to reach the messaging system1118, it searches for connectivity to other devices that may reach the messaging system1118, where these other devices may have a compatible message application running thereon. For example, in one embodiment, the messaging application may detect presence of another device through the network1116(or via a means of connectivity not necessarily regarded as a network, such as NFC) and exchange user identity information with the compatible messaging application on the other device. In one embodiment, the compatible messaging application may send the user identity information about User B1102to the messaging application on the device1110for presentation to User A1104, who may then, for example, confirm the identity of User B1102and trust the device1108of User B to relay his messages. In another embodiment, the compatible messaging application may request user identity information about User A1104for presentation to User B1102who may then, for example, permit the device1108of User B to relay messages for the device1110of User A.

In one embodiment, User A1104may interact with his messaging application on his device1110so to indicate via the device1102of User B to the messaging system1118that the device1108of User B or the compatible messaging application on the device1108of User B is allowed to receive and send messages on behalf of User A1104. For instance, User A1104may authorize the sending by his device1110to the device1108of User B1102of a code or token uniquely identifying User A1104to the messaging system1118, or any messaging service-specific identification information about User A1104that cannot easily be tempered with by User B1102or other users. In one embodiment, such identity information or credential may be one-time use. In another embodiment, such identity information or credential may be exchanged securely between the two devices or the two applications on these devices. In one embodiment, the device1108of User B may use this identity information about User A1104to register with the messaging system1118over the network1114that messages addressed to User B may now be sent to the device1108of User B, and that messages whose sender is User A1104may now come from the device1108of User B. While the application on the device1108of User B may handle these messages, it may not allow access to them to User B1102. In another embodiment, User B1102may have access to content contained in such messages if he is also a recipient of the messages.

In one embodiment, the information provided to the messaging system1118for assigning or otherwise associating the device1108of User B as a message relaying means to the device1110of User A may comprise identification information of User A1104, the device1110of User A, User B1102, and the device1108of User B. In another embodiment, identification information of User A1104may be derived or otherwise looked up, e.g., by the messaging system1118, via identification information of the device1110of User A, or vice versa. Likewise, identification information of User B1102may be derived or otherwise looked up via identification information of the device1108of User B, or vice versa. In one embodiment, each piece of such information may be provided by its respective device to the messaging system1118. In another embodiment, each piece of such information may be first collected by the other device that may then forward it to the messaging system1118.

Any mode, form, or mean of user identification and authentication as well as resource authorization, such as adopting or adapting an OAuth protocol for granting access to select resources (e.g., messages addressed to User A1104) to a third party (e.g., the device1106of User B), is within the scope of various embodiments of the present invention.

In one embodiment, a compatible application, which may be running as a background service or in an active mode on the device1108of User B, may report to the messaging system1118that a device associated with User A1104, such as the device1110of User A, is communicatively coupled, linked, or otherwise associated with the application, and that the device associated with User A requests the messaging system1118to send from now on to the device1108of User B those messages addressed to User A1104, and to receive messages whose sender is User A1104from the device1106of User B. In one embodiment, such a message relaying setup or arrangement can be manually requested by either User A1104or User B1102, or either user device based on some calendar time information or a timer.

In one embodiment, when the compatible application on the device1108of User B receives a message addressed to User A, it may send it to the device1110of User A, for example, via the network1116from the messaging system1118, for presentation to User A1104. In another embodiment, when the compatible application on the device1108of User B receives from the device1110of User A a message whose sender is User A with, for example, User C1106as recipient, it may send it to the messaging system1118via, for example, the network1114. The messaging system1118may then forward it to the device1112of User C for presentation to User C1106. In one embodiment, such an application may belong to a secure area. Identities of users whose device may be granted access to the application may also be associated with the secure area.

In one embodiment, the device1108of User B (namely, the relaying device) may receive or continue to receive messages addressed to User A while the device1110of User A (namely, the relayed device) is unreachable to the relaying device, whether temporarily or otherwise. When later the reachability is established, the relaying device may then forward those messages to the relayed device. In one embodiment, this message storing and forwarding relationship between these two devices is one to one, and can be made temporary, e.g., the relaying device not being a server configured to receive and store messages for a user (e.g., User A1104) without the need of consent from another user (e.g., User B1102).

In one embodiment, the relayed device may establish or restore connection or connectivity with the messaging system1118over the network1114. Such establishment or restoration may be detected by the relayed device, the relaying device, and/or the messaging system1118, and made known to the messaging system1118, so the messaging system may choose a desirable communication path (e.g., over the network1114or via the relaying device) to deliver the next messages. In one embodiment, the relayed device may receive duplicate messages that may come from different networks1116,1114. The application receiving these messages on the relayed device may remove the duplicate messages from presentation to its user (e.g., User A1104) based on, for example, a message identifier or some sequence number that is unique across messages, whether alone or in combination with other readily available information, such as time information.

Unlike technologies that enable multiple devices to share a network connection or to work together to bridge different payload protocols, such as peer-to-peer mobile internet connection sharing or tunneling protocols, a particular embodiment would make it possible for a device to receive a message or data addressed to another user of a common or compatible application running on the device, and forward or otherwise relay the message or data to another device communicatively coupled to the other user, where the application or another instance of the application is also running on the other device. The other device may also send messages or data via the device where the other user is a sender of the messages or data, and the user is not a recipient. The selection of or permission for this communicative channel, path, or link between the device (or the application on the device) and the other device (or the application on the other device) for receiving and sending user messages or data is based on user identity and consent.

FIG.12shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1200for relaying a message to a user through an intermediary device of another user where, for example, the process or the steps as described may be performed under the control of one or more computing systems of a service, such as a real-time messaging service for text and multimedia. A computer system may be configured with executable instructions and may comprise a device local to a user, such as a mobile phone, and a device non-local to a user, such as a messaging system. Per the example process1200, the computer system may receive from a device an indication of another user, such as an identification of the other user, where the device is associated with a user (e.g., an application with the user logged on is running on the device), the other user has access to a device that was, is, or will be known to the computer system, and the device is communicatively connected to the computer system over a network (1202). In one embodiment, the indication of the other user may include identification information that is inaccessible to or un-modifiable by the user and may originate from the other device or from the other user. In another embodiment, the two users may have their own accounts with the computer system or the service, and each user cannot access the account information of another user unless he obtains the logon credential of the account.

The computer system may then associate the other user with the user (1204), for example, for alternative message delivery paths, should the device of the other user become unreachable. For instance, the computer system may receive an incoming message whose recipients include the other user, or identify an outgoing message in a database or another device (e.g., a server), the message having the other user as recipient (1206). In one embodiment, the computer system may receive an indication of the user from the other user or a device associated with the other user, so to permit a device of the user to relay messages addressed to the other user or whose sender includes the other user. In another embodiment, such a message may be specific to or otherwise associated with an application or a type of application that is configured to receive or send the message or messages of similar type. In one embodiment, a device in the computer system, such as a mobile phone of the user or the other user, may receive an indication of a user and present it to the user of the other use for acknowledgment or confirmation so to grant the association of the device with another device associated with the indicated user, for the purpose of relaying messages, e.g., the device being a message relayed device or a message relaying device.

The computer system may detect that there is no device that is reachable and has the other user logged on an applicable program running on the device (1208). In one embodiment, the computer system may detect that there is no device that has an applicable program or application running with the other user logged on, where the program or application is configured to receive or send the message or messages of similar type.

In relation to the association of the other user with the user, it may locate or otherwise identify a device that is reachable (1210). In one embodiment, the computer system may locate or otherwise identify in a database a device that has an applicable program running with the user logged on.

The computer system may then send the message to the applicable program running on the device of the user, which may in turn send via a communications link, channel, or path, the message to the applicable program on the device of the other user, for example, for presentation to the other user (1212). In one embodiment, the message may be stored in a third device, from which the computer system may cause the message to be delivered from the third device to the device of the user, and then from the device of the user to the device of the other user. A compatible program or application, for example, may run on the device of the user and the device of the other user to receive and/or send the message, and is associated with its respective user who is deemed to have logged on the program or application, where the user or the other user may change to another device running another compatible program or application. In one embodiment, the computer system may then cause delivery of the message to or from the other device automatically upon determining that the user or other user is deemed to have logged on the other compatible program or application.

In one embodiment, a message-relayed device may detect a message-relaying device and send a message through the latter when it loses communication to the messaging system, or connectivity to the network that may enable it to reach the messaging system. For instance, in accordance with one embodiment,FIG.13shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1300for sending a message through a message-relaying device. A computer system may be configured with executable instructions and may comprise a device local to a user, such as a mobile phone, and/or a device non-local to a user, such as another mobile phone local to another user. Per the example process1300, the computer system may determine that connectivity to a network or a server, e.g., a message system, is no longer available (1302). The computer system may then detect a device that it may reach (e.g., a nearby device that can be connected via a peer-to-peer connectivity or protocol), and that the device belongs to a user that the user of the computer system trusts, or is otherwise associated with an authenticated user that he trusts (1304). For instance, a first application on the computer system may request a compatible second application on the device to provide an identification of its user, which may match the identification information of the other user that the user has indicated to the first application that the user trusts the other user, devices associated with the other user, or a specific device associated with the other user. In relation to identifying the device as being associated with the other user, the computer system may send a message to the device, where the sender of the message is attributable to the user of the system, a recipient of the message is attributable to yet another user, but does not include the other user (1306).

In one embodiment, a message-relaying device may detect a message-relayed device or a device that is requesting to have another device to relay its messages. For instance, in one embodiment,FIG.14shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1400for receiving a message on behalf of another device where the message is addressed to a user on the other device. A computer system may be configured with executable instructions and may comprise a device local to a user, such as a mobile phone, and/or a device non-local to a user, such as another mobile phone local to another user. Per the example process1400, the computer system may receive an indication of a first user from a second user, where both users have an individual account with a common messaging service (1402). For example, the computer system may be local to the second user. It may receive from another device a request to use an application on the computer system to relay messages, where the request identifies the first user making the request or otherwise being associated with the other device. The second user may then decide to accept this request based on the identity of the first user, and indicate to the computer system as such. In one embodiment, the computer system may then send a request to a server associated with the message service, where the request identifies the first user whose messages are acceptable to devices associated with the second user for relaying (1404). The computer system may also identify the other device associated with the first user for purposes of receiving from the messaging service the future messages addressed to the first user and sending to the messaging service the incoming messages whose sender is attributable to the first user (1406). For instance, the computer system may receive a message addressed to the first user but whose recipient does not include the second user (1408). In relation to that connectivity to the other device (e.g., one that is local to the first user and has the first user authenticated) is available, the computer system may send the message to the other device (1410), for example, for presentation to the second user. In one embodiment, should connectivity to the other device be unavailable, the computer system may store the message. It may then send the message to the other device when such connectivity is available.

In another embodiment, a computer system equipped with the present invention may receive an indication of a first user from a second user, wherein the first user and the second user are associated with a messaging service, and the first user is associated with a device. (For instance, a generous user, i.e., the second user, with a mobile phone. i.e., the computer system, can help out his friend, i.e., the first user, to receive the latter's messages even when the latter (i.e., his friend) has his own communication device, i.e., the device. For example, the friend's device might have no connectivity to its service provider or it may incur roaming charges that the generous user's won't. The generous user enters on his mobile phone an identification of his friend, where the identification could be the user name of his friend with the messaging service, or a secret code unique to his friend provided by the messaging service.) The computer system may send a request to a server, wherein the server is associated with the messaging service, and the request comprises information about the first user. (For instance, the generous user's mobile phone sends a request to a server associated with the messaging service, where the request identifies the friend whose messages may be forwarded to any device associated with the generous user.) The computer system may identify the device associated with the first user. (For instance, the generous user's mobile phone identifies a wireless device, e.g., another mobile phone within the vicinity, the wireless device being associated with the friend.) The computer system may receive a message, wherein the first user is a recipient of the message, and the second user is not a recipient of the message. (For instance, the generous user's mobile phone receives a message, e.g., via or from the messaging service, where the friend is a recipient but the generous user is not.) The computer system may send the message to the device, in relation to that connectivity to the device or between the computer system and the device is available. (For instance, the generous user's mobile phone forwards the message to the friend's wireless device, provided that there is connectivity to the wireless device or between the mobile phone and the wireless device.)

In one embodiment, a user who requests a messaging service or a computer system equipped with the present invention to deliver his messages via a device associated with an account of another user may do so on or via a device associated with the other user. For instance, upon receiving an instruction from the user, the user's device may send a request to the other user's device which in turns delivers it to the messaging service that would then deliver messages addressed to the user to the other user's device which in turn may send the messages to the user's device. In another embodiment, the user may also perform such a request on the other user's device. In one embodiment, a messaging system equipped with the present invention may require that a first device associated with a beneficiary user (e.g., having the beneficiary user successfully been authenticated on the device) be in vicinity of or communicatively reachable via a second device associated with a helping user, in order to accept or authorize a request from the beneficiary user and/or the helping user to deliver messages addressed to the beneficiary user to the first device via the second device. For such determination, the messaging service may, for example, cause the second device (e.g., via software or an application on the first device and/or the second device) to retrieve or otherwise receive information from the first device, wherein the information identifies the beneficiary user who may have access to the first device. In another embodiment, an authorization scheme or technique such as OAuth may be used or adapted to authorize temporary or revocable access to a message-forwarding device (i.e., one associated with a helping user) and/or a message-forwarded device (i.e., one associated with a beneficiary user), or access to software or an application on the device that is responsible for the message-forwarding and/or message-forwarded functionality. In yet another embodiment, the first device and the second device may, with a permission from the beneficiary user and/or the helping user, exchange such identification information or equivalent (e.g., a user identifier, account password, and device identifier), and send it to a server associated with the messaging service in a secure manner (e.g., information exchange in encrypted form). The messaging service may then determine based on at least the received information whether that the helping user has authorized the use of his device to forward messages addressed to the beneficiary user to a device of the beneficiary user, and that a device of the beneficiary user is reachable via a helping user's device.

In one embodiment, the messaging service may require a “direct” authorization from the beneficiary user where, for instance, a permission or authorization is to be sent comes from a device or account not accessible to the helping user but the beneficiary user. It may be in contrast to a manner where, for instance, a secret or unique code specific to a beneficiary user (or a communication session pertaining to the beneficiary user) is generated by the messaging system (or a device or application having authenticated the beneficiary user), given to a helping user, and then submitted to the messaging system by the helping user, thereby making messages addressed to the beneficiary user to be available to another device not previously or normally associated with the beneficiary user (i.e., for the purpose of forwarding the messages via the other device to a device associated with the beneficiary user). In one embodiment, a submission of such a secret or unique code to the messaging service from a device or application having authenticated the helping user is sufficient to establish authorization from both the helping and beneficiary users, thereby activating such message forwarding that involves a central control (such as a server associated with the messaging service), an intermediary or a third-party device (such as a helping user's device), and a destination device (such as a beneficiary user's device). Any type of authentication and authorization is within the scope of various embodiments. In one embodiment, a message forwarding setup or arrangement from one device to another device may expire, for example, upon a period of time from the successful authorization or authentication associated with the message forwarding service or arrangement. In one embodiment, a beneficiary user may receive and/or conduct real-time communication, e.g., voice call or video call, on his device through facilitation by another device associated with the helping user, based on the same, similar or adapted techniques or steps described herein.

The access to a relaying device associated with a user by a relayed device associated with another user may also be controlled or otherwise managed based on time information, e.g., time of day, a time range, a calendar time, or a combination thereof.FIG.15shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1500for presenting time information based on a time zone-independent time in a time zone-aware context, where, for example, the process or the steps as described may be performed under the control of one or more computing systems, such as a calendar application on a mobile device. A computer system may be configured with executable instructions and may comprise a device local to a user, such as a mobile phone, and/or a device non-local to a user, such as a messaging system. Per the example process1500, the computer system may receive an indication of a time information from a user (1502), where, for example, the time information may comprise a time when the computer system or an application on the computer system is accessible to a device associated with another user.

The computer system may then determine that a corresponding application on the computer system is accessible to a device associated with another user based on the time information and a time zone (1504). In one embodiment, the time zone may be associated with the current time zone of the computer system. In another embodiment, the time zone may be associated with the current time zone of the device. In one embodiment, the time information may be a local time pertaining to the computer system. In another embodiment, the time information may be a local time pertaining to the device. In one embodiment, the computer system may determine a time based on a time zone and the time information that is independent of a time zone (e.g., a local time), such that the time reflects the intended time of the time information in the time zone or the context of the time zone.

The computer system may also receive an indication of a second time information, for example, from the user, where the second time information comprises an indication of a time zone (1506). For example, such a second time information may indicate when access to the device by the other device associated with the other user is to begin or to end. In one embodiment, the computer system may determine a time zone to interpret the first time information and/or the second time information (1508). In one embodiment, such a time zone may be the current time zone of the computer system, the device, or the other device.

In relation to a time zone information, a first time information that is independent of a time zone, and a second time information that is specific to a time zone, the computer system may present to the user, e.g., via a schedule, calendar, or time table, an indication, e.g., a view, of a time and another time (1510). For instance, in one embodiment, the time may be determined based on the first time information and the time zone information and the other time may be determined based on the second time information and the time zone, where both the time and the other time are presented correctly in relation to each other and in accordance with the time zone. In another embodiment, a user may enter into a device (or an application on a device) a first entry (e.g., a reminder, event or to-do item) that is of a local time (e.g., 12 pm, with the present time zone being GMT), and later a second entry of a time specific to a time zone (e.g., 1 pm GMT). When the user travels to a new location where his new time zone on the device, or the application on the device, is set (e.g., automatically via a GPS-based detection mechanism, or manually by the user himself), the device or the application would present the first and second entries correctly in relation to the new time zone (e.g., HKT) based on, for instance, the original time information and the new time zone information, e.g., the first entry being displayed with the same local time in the new time zone (e.g., 12 pm, with the present time zone being HKT), and the second entry being displayed with a different time based on the new time zone (e.g., 9 pm HKT). In one embodiment, in addition to setting an entry as a local time (i.e., non time zone-specific), a user may explicitly set or otherwise associate the time zone of a time zone-specific entry to or with one that is different from the time zone that the device or application currently operates or is set at. The device or the application would likewise be able to present the entry correctly along with other entries in relation to the current time, or any present time zone.

The identity of a user of a message-relayed device or a message-relayed application on a device may also be indicated with a personalized font for text information in a message.FIG.16shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1600for generating and/or presenting a message based on font information that is specific to a sender of the message, where, for example, the process or the steps as described may be performed under the control of one or more computing systems, such as a messaging application on a mobile device. A computer system may be configured with executable instructions and may comprise a device local to a user, such as a mobile phone, and/or a device non-local to a user, such as a messaging system. Per the example process1600, the computer system may receive a message whose sender is attributed to a first user and whose recipients include a second user, where a first font information, e.g., Helvetica, is associated with the first user (1602). In one embodiment, such a font information may contain a font that corresponds to the handwriting of the first user. In another embodiment, the first font information and its association with the first user may be maintained at a device associated with the second user, the device having received the message. In one embodiment, the message may comprise the first font information, or a device associated with the second user may receive an indication of a message, where the indication may include the first font information. In relation to receiving the message, the computer system may generate an indication of the message based on the first font information (1604). For example, a text in the message may be formatted in accordance with the first font information.

Likewise, the computer system may receive another message whose sender is attributed to the second user and whose recipients include the first user, where a second font information, e.g., Arial, is associated with the second user (1606). In relation to receiving the other message, the computer system may generate an indication of the other message based on the second font information (1608). For example, a text in the other message may be formatted in accordance with the second font information.

In relation to the two indications each comprising a message from a different user, the computer system may present them to a user via a device screen (1610), where, for example, the two messages are displayed in two different fonts, each being associated with its respective user. In one embodiment, an indication of a font for association with a user from the user himself would cause a message sent from the user to include information related to the font, and a recipient device would display or otherwise render the message in accordance with the font. In another embodiment, subsequent messages may not comprise any font information and the recipient device would continue display or render the messages in accordance with the font, until it receives new information related to another font and the sending user. For instance, the recipient device may store the font information in its local database for each of its senders or group of senders. It may also retrieve the font information from a server which has received identification and font information related to a user and provides an interface (e.g., a RESTful API) for the recipient device to fetch or query for this information based on some user identity.

When composing or editing a message, a user may select from existing text, whether from the message being composed or another message.FIG.17shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1700for selecting a portion of text from text being displayed on a touchscreen of a computing device via user contact. For instance, such text selection may highlight the text to be copied, cut or otherwise included for further manipulation or operation. Per the example process1700, a computing device such as a mobile phone may identify, detect, or recognize user contact with a touchscreen display of the computing device, wherein, for example, the user contact may include or otherwise be associated with a finger that initiated contact with the touchscreen display in a specific location where text is shown or displayed (1702). The computing device may determine that the contact has remained with, or the finger has remained in contact with, the touch screen display for a pre-defined period of time, without the contact having left from, or without the finger having released from the contact with, the touchscreen display (1704). In other words, the computing device has detected a press gesture, or a touch held in the same location beyond a time threshold, e.g., one that is longer than what may constitute a tap gesture, on a touch screen display where the text is being shown.

In relation to determining that the user contact has remained with, or the finger has remained in contact with, the touch screen display, the computing device may show at the touchscreen display an indication of text selection, wherein, for example, a subset of characters in the text is selected based on at least the location of the contact in the text, the subset of characters comprises one or more characters, and the text selection increases temporally or over time to include one or more additional characters in the text, without user contact with, or the finger or another finger having had contact with, the part of the touchscreen display where the one or more additional characters are visually positioned or otherwise shown (1706). For example, such an indication may include highlighting of the selected text on the touchscreen display, or capturing of the selected text to another location, visually or otherwise, that may provide feedback to the user. Any mode or mechanism of indicating text selection or identifying text in a text selection is within the scope of the various embodiments.

For instance, in one embodiment, the initially selected text upon a press gesture detection may include a single character. In another embodiment, it may include a single word. Any direction, rate, or scope of adding additional characters to the selection during the press gesture is within the scope of the various embodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the process may be unidirectional towards the right starting from the user contact related to the press gesture (e.g., for left-to-right languages), and include one character at a time continually or in discreet steps, traversing horizontally (or vertically) from line to line (or from column to column). In one embodiment, after a predefined period of time, each new addition to the text selection would comprise a word delimited by space or some other punctuation. In another embodiment, it may also include the punctuation(s) before and/or after the word. Any letter to the left of the user contact but otherwise belongs to the same word of the letter(s) already in the text selection may then be added or otherwise included in the text selection. In one embodiment, the directionality (e.g., left, right, or both), rate (e.g., number of characters or words per second), and scope (e.g., character-based, word-based, punctuation inclusion, and their selection criteria) may be user-configurable.

In relation to determining, by the computing device, that the user contact is no longer with, or the finger has released from the contact with, the touchscreen display, the computing device may cause the text selection to stop increasing (1708). For instance, according to one embodiment, when the press gesture is detected to be over, the text selection would stop growing or increasing, and the indication of text selection may highlight or be a highlighting of the character(s) in the text selection. An indication of text selection may change in size, position, or color during or after text is selected or deselected, so may the selected characters and words when the selection process is paused, stopped, or completed. Any form of indication of text selection is within the scope of various embodiments.

In one embodiment, the computing device may present options, choices or a menu for operation to the user in relation to the text selection or characters included in the text selection. For example, the user may gesture to the computing device to cut the selected text from the source text (thereby removing it from the source text and saving it to a memory location or clipboard associated with the computing system), and gesture again to have it pasted onto another message or document. In another embodiment, the text selection or characters included in the text selection may automatically captured in a memory location, such as the clipboard, or by an application that is accepting as input a text selection from the user, wherein the application might have initiated the text selection process earlier.

In another embodiment, a mobile device with a touchscreen display may receive an indication of a press gesture in relation to a location in text, wherein the text is presented on the touchscreen display and the press gesture is distinct from a tap gesture as far as the mobile device is concerned. The mobile device may present at the touchscreen display an indication of text selection in relation to detecting the presence of the press gesture (or determining that the press gesture remains valid), where the text selection increases temporally or over time to comprise additional characters or text, without having received another gesture, and the indication of text selection may change in shape, size, font, and/or color, wherein the additional characters or text may include punctuations and are adjacent to the characters or text already in the selection. The mobile device may then present at the touchscreen display an indication of the text selection, wherein the text selection stops increasing, in relation or response to detecting the absence of the press gesture, or in relation to determining that the press gesture has been modified or an additional gesture or touch at the touchscreen display. For instance, according to one embodiment, the press gesture may become a drag gesture, or something similar or equivalent, where a finger that resulted in the press gesture may move over the surface of the touchscreen without losing contact with the touchscreen. In another embodiment, a change in gesture, such as from a press to drag, may signal to the mobile device to stop or pause the text selection from increasing or stop adding new characters to the text selection, which can be resumed when, for example, the finger has moved back to the proximity of the original point of contact by the finger. In one embodiment, the direction or directionality of change to the press gesture may indicate or signal a different instruction to the mobile device regarding the text selection. For example, for a left-to-right language, a drag gesture (e.g., horizontally) to the right originating from a proximity of the original point of contact of the press gesture (i.e., without losing contact with the touch screen display) may indicate pausing of text selecting or selection. A drag gesture (e.g., horizontally) back to the proximity of the original point of contact of the press gesture may indicate resuming of text selecting or selection (i.e., adding more characters or words to the text selection). A drag gesture (e.g., horizontally) to the left of and away from the proximity of the original point of contact of the press gesture may indicate text deselecting or deselection (e.g., having one or more characters or words deselected or otherwise removed from the text selection). A drag gesture (e.g., vertically) towards to the bottom of the touchscreen display and away from the proximity of the original point of contact of the press gesture may indicate speeding up the text selection (or deselection) from the current rate of adding (or removing) characters or words. A drag gesture (e.g., vertically) towards to the top of the touchscreen display and away from the proximity of the original point of contact of the press gesture may indicate slowing down the text selection (or deselection) from the current rate.

In one embodiment, a device equipped with a touchscreen display enables a user to select a subset of text shown on the display with a touch that does not lose contact with the screen or display, without the need of the user to touch or apply touch to the area, location or proximity of the screen or display where the characters or words in the text being added or to be added to the user selection of text are rendered, displayed or shown. For instance, upon receiving a touch gesture from a user, such a device may then determine that the touch gesture is, or may be deemed to be, a press gesture (or a gesture made by a finger or pointing object that remains in contact with the same screen or display location, or a pre-defined proximity of it, longer than what constitutes a tap gesture). The device may then indicate an initial set of text for the text selection (e.g., a character, several characters, a word, or several words including punctuations are highlighted on the screen or display). Upon detecting relocation of the touch that originated or resulted in the touch or press gesture, the touch having remained in contact with the screen or display throughout the relocation, the device may increase the text selection from the initial set towards one or more consecutive characters or words next to or adjacent to the existing characters or words in the current text selection. Where the available text for selection is not fully shown or rendered on the screen or display (e.g., when the text of a document is zoomed in on the screen or display), additional characters or words that are not visible on the screen or display but are otherwise next or adjacent to the existing characters or words in the current text selection may be added to the selection, until the end of line is reached. Then the first character or word on the following line, if any, may be added to the selection, even if it is not visible on the display or screen.

In addition, the directionality of the text selection (e.g., left, right or both) may be pre-configured and it may be based on the directionality of a language or script of interest (e.g., left-to-right, top-to-bottom). For example, for English, the text selection may start and expand towards the right edge or side of the display. Upon detecting relocation of the touch back to the vicinity of the point or location of contact of the original touch gesture that triggered or otherwise resulted in the initial text selection (e.g., press gesture), the device may pause the text selection, thereby allowing the user to resume increasing the text selection by dragging away from the point of contact of the original touch, or through a similar or equivalent gesture. Upon detecting that the touch has left the display or screen, or the finger that resulted in the touch is found to have lost contact with the display or screen, the device may stop the text selection, and proceed with the next operation regarding the selected text accordingly, such as storing the selected text in a memory location (e.g., clipboard), and/or presenting a menu of action or delivering the selected text to an application on the device or another device.

Moreover, while the user touch remains in contact with the screen or display of the device, the device may be responsive to subsequent indications or gestures from the user, so to control the text selection and its process. For instance, in one embodiment, the device may interpret a subsequent drag gesture towards the bottom of the display or the available text that it receives as a request to resume (or, in one embodiment, to start) the text selection. The distance between the point of contact of the touch gesture (e.g., press gesture) that triggered the initial text selection and the resting position or location of the subsequent drag gesture (e.g., the user contact having not lost contact with the screen or display and remaining in place at the resting position or location, thereby, according to one embodiment, transitioning to or causing the device to interpret it as another press gesture which is to be distinguished from the original press gesture) may also inform the device an intended speed or relative speed of the text selection. It may also interpret a subsequent drag gesture towards the top of the display (or the top of the available text) that it receives as a request to decrease the speed or relative speed of text selection. The device may also interpret a subsequent upward drag gesture arriving at or close to the point of contact of the original press gesture that it receives as a request to pause the text selection. Likewise, a subsequent drag gesture travelling from the point of contact of the original press gesture (or from an imaginary line horizontally across the point of contact of the original press gesture) towards the top of the display (or the top of the available text) may cause the device to deselect text (i.e., removing one or more characters or words from the text selection), and the distance between the point or location of contact of the original press gesture and the resting location of the drag gesture may inform the speed of text deselection. A subsequent drag gesture that rests on or near the point of contact of the original press gesture would cause the device to stop the text deselection. Note that the area or location on the display where additional characters, words and/or punctuations may be shown, the additional characters, words and/or punctuations being selected or deselected in response or relation to these drag gestures, does not need to correspond to the same area(s) or location(s) of the contact with the display made by or during the drag gesture responsible for adding to or removing them from the current text selection. In one embodiment, drag gestures towards the bottom of the display (or the bottom of the available text) from the point of contact of the original press gesture may cause a device equipped with a touchscreen display to select text in increments of word, and drag gestures towards the top of the display (or the top of the available text) from the contact point of the original press gesture may cause it to deselect text in increments of words, while drags gestures towards the right and those towards the left may cause it to select and deselect text in increments of character respectively. In another embodiment, a downward drag gesture from the point of contact of the original press gesture may result in incremental text selection towards the (e.g., not yet selected, consecutive) characters, words, and/or punctuations in the available text that are adjacent to the end of the currently selected text, and those in any of the following lines in the available text. An upward drag gesture from the point of contact of the original press gesture may result in incremental text deselection, starting from the end of the currently selected text. A rightward drag gesture from the point of contact of the original press gesture may cause the device to select text incrementally towards the (e.g., not yet selected, consecutive) characters, word and/or punctuations in the available text that are adjacent to the beginning of the currently selected text, and those in any of the preceding lines in the available text. A leftward gesture from the point of contact of the original press gesture may cause the device to deselect text incrementally, starting from the beginning of the currently selected text.

According to one embodiment, a threshold or range of distance between the resting location of a subsequent drag gesture and the point of contact of the original press gesture may cause the device to select or deselect in increments of character, while another threshold or range of distance may cause it to select or deselect in increments of word. There may be yet another range for increments of line. In one embodiment, the threshold or range for increments of character is closer to the point of contact of the original press gesture than the threshold or range for increments of word. In another embodiment, the threshold or range for increments of word is closer to the point of contact of the original press gesture than the range for increments of line.

Many variations in embodiments may be developed or otherwise derived based on the disclosure herein, such as drag gestures that travel in arc, or text selection control based on recognizable patterns made by user touch that originated from a press gesture and stayed in contact with the display, or a touch or pattern gesture that triggers the initial text selection and subsequently loses contact with the display, while anticipating or accepting one or more drag gestures to control the text selection and its process. As such, any derivation or adaptation is within the scope of various embodiments.

For instance, a non-transitory computer-readable storage device is also disclosed, wherein the device may comprise instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more programmable processors, cause the one or more programmable processors on a computing device to (a) identify an indication of a first gesture, wherein the first gesture comprises user contact with a touch-sensitive surface associated with the computer device; (b) determine that the user contact stays within a pre-defined distance from a location on the touch-sensitive surface, wherein the location is associated with text that is displayed on a display, and the location is associated with the first gesture; (c) in relation to determining that the user contact stays within the pre-defined distance, present at the display an indication of text selection, wherein the text selection increases temporally to comprise additional text, independently of additional user contact with the touch sensitive surface; and (d) in relation to determining that the touch sensitive surface is free of the user contact, present at the display an indication of the text selection, wherein the text selection stops increasing. According to an embodiment, the computing device is capable of identifying a tap gesture. In another embodiment, the computing device is further capable of identifying or distinguishing among two or more types or kinds of tap gesture. For instance, there may be a first kind of tap gesture that is associated with lighter or heavier touch or degree of touch with the touchscreen display than a second kind of tap gesture, where the second kind of tap gesture is interpreted by the computing device as a regular tap gesture, and the first kind as a special tap gesture. In one embodiment, a special tap gesture may cause the computing device to provide an initial text selection and enable the user to use drag gestures (such as those described above) to further select or deselect text and control the process (e.g., the speed of text selection and deselection).

In one embodiment, a special tap gesture may take the place of, or act equivalently to, a press gesture that may initiate the text selection and deselection process, where the special tap gesture would entail loss of contact with the display, and the computing device may receive for new user contact (such as a drag gesture) to continue. In one embodiment, the point of contact on the display made by the original special tap gesture provides a reference for the device to interpret downward, upward, rightward and leftward gestures (such as drag gestures). In another embodiment, the initial point of contact on the display made by a drag gesture (or the point of contact on the display made by a press gesture) that was made after the special tag gesture may establish such a reference. In yet another embodiment, each subsequent drag or press gesture causes the device to re-establish such a reference based on its initial point of contact on the display, and the computing device would pause the text selection or its process when the user contact associated with the current drag or press gesture is lost. Upon receiving or detecting a gesture other than the gesture(s) that the computing device interprets as resuming or pausing text selection (e.g., in one embodiment, a drag or press gesture to pause or resume, and a regular tap or special tag gesture to start or end), the device may indicate to the user that the text selection process is complete, for example, by prompting the user for further instructions regarding the selected text. For instance, for a text selection from the text of a message associated with a sender, the device may store the selected text and the sender or author information in a memory location (e.g., clipboard), for example, by looking up the metadata associated with the message in a file or database embedded in or local to the device. Upon receiving a request from the user (e.g., via a pop-up menu on the display) to paste the text selection to a document (e.g., another text message or draft), the device may place not only the selected text, but also the sender or author information to the location of the document indicated by the user (e.g., as part of the request), along with a textual or visual hint or indication that the selected text is from another message. In one embodiment, the device may also capture and store the time information of the message, and make it available for further operation (e.g., pasting). In another embodiment, the device may present the user an option of pasting just the selected text, and another option of pasting the additional information (such as sender and time information). In yet another embodiment, the device may identify the originator, author, or sender of selected text as “I” or “me” (e.g., when pasting the selected text and adding additional information to the document), if the message from which the text was extracted was originated from, authored by, or sent by the user.

With the mobility and the limited battery capacity of a portable wireless device and the different cost or cost structure between a cellular data plan and a home or mains electricity-powered Wi-Fi service comes the changing priority of desirability of Internet connection or connectivity for a mobile device or mobile client. For example, a mobile hot-spot device may provide a Wi-Fi connection to a mobile client via a cellular data connection between the mobile hot-spot and a cellular base station. It may no longer be a desirable connection, however, when the mobile client is in the vicinity of a home Wi-Fi service that the mobile client has access to.FIG.18shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1800for causing such a mobile client to choose a desirable connection among two or more possibilities. Per the example process1800, a computer system such as the mobile hot-spot device may determine that a condition is met, wherein the condition is associated with presence of a device capable of wireless transmission (1802). For instance, the computer system may determine that a connectivity or a network connection is available. For example, the mobile hot-spot device may detect a network identifier (e.g., ESSID) of the home Wi-Fi service, and this condition or detection indicates presence of a router capable of wireless transmission or communication. In one embodiment, such a network identifier is provided or otherwise identified by the user of the computer system (e.g., the mobile hot-spot device) or mobile client, and stored in the system, so that the system may recognize the identifier as indicating the presence of a service which may also provide an internet connection to the mobile client. In another embodiment, the mobile client or an application on the mobile client, with the permission or input from the user, may provide this information to the computer system.

The computer system may cause a first connectivity to be unavailable to a client, wherein the first connectivity is associated with the computer system, and the client is external to the computer system (1804). For instance, the computer system may cause another connectivity or another network connection to be unavailable, wherein the other connectivity or the other network connection is associated with the computer system. For example, the computer system (e.g., the mobile hot-spot device) may unilaterally disconnect an existing connection with or refuse a connection or association request from the mobile client, thereby forcing the mobile client to switch to, or attempt to switch to, the home Wi-Fi service. In one embodiment, the computer system may stop advertising its service (e.g., stop broadcasting its network identifier). In one embodiment, when the computer system determines that the home Wi-Fi service is no longer available, accessible, or reachable, it may re-establish a connection or connectivity with the mobile client, for example, by accepting a connection or association request from the mobile client. It may also rebroadcast its network identifier if it has previously stopped doing so.

In one embodiment, in relation to disconnecting or refusing connection with the mobile client, the computer system (e.g., a Wi-Fi hotspot device) may disconnect its cellular connection or connectivity, or shut or power down the component(s) responsible for it, so to conserve power or battery. In another embodiment, the computer system may disconnect its Wi-Fi connection or connectivity, or shut or power down the component(s) responsible for it. In yet another embodiment, the computer system may turn off itself completely (e.g., requiring tactile control from the user on the computer system to turn it back on), or put itself in a sleep or standby mode that could wake up periodically or receive an external stimulus, signal, or request.

In one embodiment, the computer system (e.g., a Wi-Fi hotspot device) may determine a wireless network provided by or otherwise associated with the home Wi-Fi service is indeed available to the mobile client, for example, by attempting to connect to the wireless network. For instance, the computer system may connect to the internet or the Web via the wireless network associated with the home Wi-Fi service, so to determine if the service is functional (e.g., successfully associating with the service, receiving an IP address from the service, and/or receiving a response from a request sent to a server on the Web), before disconnecting the mobile client, or refusing its request to associate or connect.

In another embodiment, the computer system may determine that a connectivity with the home Wi-Fi service is available based on at least information provided by a user. For instance, the computer system may attempt to access the service by being authenticated with the service using credentials specified beforehand by the user and stored in a non-volatile memory on the computer system. (In one embodiment, such credentials may comprise a user identifier and password against a network identifier associated with the service.) Should the authentication fail, the computer system may not disconnect its Wi-Fi connection with or reject a request to connect from the mobile client. For example, the computer system may receive one or more requests from a Wi-Fi access point or router associated with the service, wherein the one or more requests may comprise an authentication request. The computer system may send one or more responses to the Wi-Fi access point or router, wherein the one or more responses may comprise an authentication response, wherein, for example, the authentication response comprises credentials provided by the user and stored on the computer system. Upon successfully authentication, the computer system and the Wi-Fi access point or router may exchange one or more association requests and responses.

In one embodiment, the computer system (e.g., a Wi-Fi hotspot device) may monitor the viability or health of the home Wi-Fi service, for example, by sending a request to a server available on the Web periodically, and expecting a response. Should it determine that the service is not viable or otherwise inaccessible, the computer system may connect with the mobile client, for example, by broadcasting its network identifier and accepting a request to connect or associate from the mobile client.

In another embodiment, the computer system (e.g., a Wi-Fi hotspot device) may rely on an external stimulus or request to enable a connection with the mobile client.FIG.19shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process1900for a computer system that may respond to such an external stimulus or request. Per the example process1900, a computer system may determine that a first network or connection is available (1902). For instance, the computer system may detect a recognizable network identifier associated with a wireless network, and has successfully connected to the network. The computer system may cause a second network or connection to be unavailable, wherein the second network or connection is associated with the computer system (1904). For instance, the computer system may disconnect or reject a connection request from the mobile client, thereby creating a condition where the mobile client would request a connection or association with the service. The computer system may later receive a request or an external stimulus via a third network or connection (1906). For instance, the computer system may receive a request (e.g., a Wake-On Bluetooth request, a Wake-On LAN request, or something similar from the mobile client) via a different network or communication interface, such as Bluetooth, which may require meaningfully less power than a Wi-Fi network or connection, while it might provide less coverage in distance. In one embodiment, the computer system equipped with a Wi-Fi interface, a Bluetooth interface and a cellular interface may choose to disable the Wi-Fi interface and the cellular interface when it has detected the presence of a Wi-Fi network accessible to the mobile client. In such a mode or at such a setting, the computer system may preserve a great deal of power while enabling the mobile client to request for an internet connection (e.g., when the client loses connection or connectivity with the Wi-Fi network). The computer system may then cause the second network or connection to be available (again) (1908). In one embodiment, after having received the request through the alternative or different interface (i.e., the third network or connection), the computer system may wait for a pre-configured, pre-defined, or algorithmically determined or generated amount of time before attempting to detect or determine the presence of a home or free Wi-Fi network accessible to the mobile client. In one embodiment, an application on the mobile client may monitor the viability or health of the home or free Wi-Fi network, and send a request to the computer system so to activate its Wi-Fi interface or network (i.e., the second network or connection).

A wireless client such as a mobile phone or a mobile hot-spot device may have more than one access point choice in a wireless network or more than one wireless network choice to associate with or connect to, and it often relies on signal strengths or link quality as the primary factors in choosing the access point or the network, given that the wireless client has access rights to these available access points and networks.FIG.20shows a flow diagram of an exemplary process2000for a wireless network to optimize the overall throughput or quality of service in relation a plurality of access points and a plurality of wireless clients. Per the example process2000, a wireless network may associate a first set of wireless clients with a first Wi-Fi access point, and a second set of wireless clients with a second Wi-Fi access point (2002). For instance, one or more wireless clients may be connected to an access point, while another set of one or more wireless clients be connected to another access point. The wireless network may determine a performance score for each Wi-Fi access point based on performance information from each wireless client (2004). For instance, the wireless clients may track and log the download speed over a period of time, and send the information to a server accessible through the wireless network, and the server may in turn determine an average download speed (e.g., per wireless client) for each Wi-Fi access point for a given time period or span. The wireless network may determine an overall performance score based on at least the performance score for the first Wi-Fi access point and the performance score for the second Wi-Fi access point (2006). For instance, the server may determine an overall download speed for the whole network for the given time period or timespan. The wireless network may cause at least one wireless client to switch from one of the two Wi-Fi access points to the other one based on the performance information from the wireless client and the performance score associated with the Wi-Fi access point (2008). For instance, the server may identify one or more wireless clients whose individually reported download speed is less than the average speed associated with the access point that the one or more wireless clients are using, and disconnect or otherwise force these wireless clients to connect to another access point. The wireless network may then determine another overall performance score based on at least another performance score for the first Wi-Fi access point and another performance score for the second Wi-Fi access point (2010). For instance, after the switching of Wi-Fi access point for some of the wireless clients in the network, and the lapse of another period or span of time, the server may determine a new average download speed, score, or rating for each Wi-Fi access point, and a new overall performance score based on these new Wi-Fi access point speeds, scores, or ratings. The wireless network may determine if the switched wireless client should stay with the other Wi-Fi access point based on at least the other overall performance score (2012). For instance, the server may determine that the switching should be reverted because the new overall score is worse than the old overall score. In one embodiment, the server may continually or periodically optimize the overall network speeds, scores or ratings by switching wireless clients against different access points. In another embodiment, such determination or decision may also be based on the individual Wi-Fi scores in lieu of or in addition to the overall network speed, score or rating.

As indicated earlier, the embodiments discussed herein are illustrative of the present invention. The various procedures described herein may be implemented with hardware or software, or a combination of both. The invention may be implemented with non-transitory computer-readable storage media and/or computer-readable communication media. Computer programs incorporating various features or aspects of the present invention, or portions thereof, may be encoded on various computer readable media for storage and/or transmission, or take the form of program code (i.e. instructions) embodied in a tangible media; suitable media include magnetic disk or tape, optical storage media such as compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory, hard drive, and any other machine-readable storage medium. Computer readable media encoded with the program code may be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately from other devices (e.g., via Internet download). Likewise, the invention, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may be embodied in propagated signals, or any other machine-readable communications medium. Where the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus configured for practicing the disclosed embodiments. In addition to the specific implementations explicitly set forth herein, other aspects and implementations will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and illustrated implementations be considered as examples only. Thus, although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of any applicable claim.