Application State Continuity Across Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current application systems do not maintain a continuous state across multiple devices, requiring users to manually navigate and re-establish application states when switching between devices, which is disruptive and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method and apparatus that stores and shares the application state across devices, allowing seamless transitions by serializing and storing the current application state in a database, enabling automatic or manual restoration when switching devices or restarting, using a model-view-controller architecture and mechanisms like Savepoint for state management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If application state is stored separately on each device, then device independence is maintained, but application continuity across devices is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary component that stores application state data centrally. When users switch between devices, the server mediates the state transfer by providing the saved state to the new device, enabling seamless continuity without direct device-to-device communication.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of the application state data and stores them on the server. When a user switches devices, the state is copied from the server to the new device, allowing the user to resume the application exactly where they left off without manually re-navigating.
2Productivity
If manual re-navigation is required when switching devices, then data storage simplicity is maintained, but user productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically saving the application state to the server in the background before the user switches devices. This preliminary state capture eliminates the need for users to manually re-navigate, as the state is already prepared and waiting on the server for when they return.
Solution Approach 2:
The application automatically manages its own state by saving and restoring it without requiring user intervention. The system self-services the state transfer process between devices, eliminating manual re-navigation steps and improving user productivity.
3Ease of operation
If application state is synchronized across devices, then seamless transitions are enabled, but system resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous synchronization, the system uses periodic action by saving the application state at specific intervals or trigger points (such as when the user actually switches devices). This reduces unnecessary energy consumption while still maintaining ease of operation when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods and apparatuses to share application state across devices. This approach allows the user to switch devices and have the application on the new device share the same state as the previous device. In addition, this approach allows the user to shut down a device at a first point in time, and later be presented with the same state for the application at a second point in time on the same device when it is turned back on.