Data Transfer Tool Extracts Siloed User Data via Accessibility API
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Solution Overview
Problem
User data entered into applications is typically siloed and not accessible to other unrelated applications, limiting interactivity and user efficiency across different apps.
Innovation Solution
A Data Transfer Tool that uses accessibility APIs to extract and format user data from the presentation layer of operating systems, allowing sharing of structured and semantically meaningful information across authorized applications without modifying source application code, enabling data sharing between source and destination apps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is siloed within individual applications, then application independence and security are maintained, but user data accessibility and inter-application efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component (data transfer tool/accessibility API) that mediates between source applications and destination applications. This intermediary extracts data from the presentation layer of source apps without modifying them, and delivers it to authorized destination apps, thus maintaining application independence while enabling data accessibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If accessibility APIs are used to extract data from the presentation layer, then data sharing across applications is enabled, but system complexity and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs universal accessibility APIs that can extract data from multiple different application types through a common interface. The data transfer tool is designed to work with various source applications without requiring application-specific modifications, reducing system complexity while maintaining versatile data sharing capability.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual data entry is required for each application, then data accuracy is maintained, but user time and productivity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary data extraction from the source application's presentation layer before the user needs to enter the same data in destination applications. The data transfer tool automatically captures and delivers relevant data fields in advance, eliminating redundant manual entry while preserving data accuracy through direct extraction rather than user re-entry.
Data Source
AI summary
A “Data Transfer Tool” extracts, labels and stores user data or information that may be confined within application silos during user interaction with arbitrary apps. The Data Transfer Tool enables sharing of this otherwise siloed data shared across and between authorized apps. The Data Transfer Tool provides a task-centric approach to define and extract structured and semantically meaningful information from source applications by providing multiple semantic models that are individually tailored to particular source apps. The Data Transfer Tool applies an accessibility API or the like of the OS in combination with the semantic model for the source app to scrape user entered or selected data or information from the source app. The Data Transfer Tool enables and creates new user experiences and increases user efficiency when interacting with various apps by making the scraped data or information available to subscribing destination apps approved to receive that data or information.