Direct input from a nearby device

Abstract

The subject technology provides a system of server and client devices, of which at least one server device includes an application configured to receive data directly from another one of the client devices. The application is configured to obtain a list of available client devices and associated features and provide input options for display based on the list. When one of the input options is selected, the application activates a component and/or an application of the client device for generation of the desired data. When the desired data has been generated by the client device, the generated data is directly input from the client device into the running application on the server device, without storage of the generated data at the client device, and without operation of the same application on the client device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 a server electronic device configured to activate, from within a content-editor application running on the server electronic device, a component of a client electronic device; and the client electronic device, wherein the client electronic device is configured to:   control the component of the client electronic device to generate data for the content-editor application; and   modify a content-editing view of the content-editor application of the server electronic device using the data.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the client electronic device is a smartphone or a tablet device, wherein the component of the client electronic device is a camera, and wherein the client electronic device is configured to control the component by operating the camera to capture an image, responsive to selection of an image capture option at the client electronic device. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the client electronic device is configured to modify the content-editing view using the data by transmitting the captured image from the client electronic device to the content-editor application of the server electronic device, responsive to the selection of the image capture option at the client electronic device, and without further input to the client electronic device or the server electronic device. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the content-editor application comprises a word processing application with a displayed document for editing in the content-editing view, and wherein the client electronic device is configured to transmit the captured image for display in the displayed document, without storing the captured image at the client electronic device. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the server electronic device is further configured to, prior to the selection of the image capture option:
 provide, for display at the client electronic device, a preview image stream from the camera; and   provide, for display within the displayed document at the server electronic device, the preview image stream from the camera.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a third electronic device, wherein the server electronic device is further configured to:
 prior to activating the component of the client electronic device:   obtain, at the content-editor application, a list of communicatively coupled devices and an indication of one or more data-generating features for each of the communicatively coupled devices;   provide, for display with the content-editor application, a list of remotely obtainable content types based on the one or more data-generating features;   receive, with the content-editor application, a selection of one of the remotely obtainable content types; and   identify, with the content-editor application, the client electronic device and the third electronic device as available devices for providing the one of the remotely obtainable content types; and   activate, concurrently with activating the component of the client electronic device, a component of the third electronic device, responsive to the selection of the one of the remotely obtainable content types.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the server electronic device is further configured to:
 receive, with the content-editor application from the client electronic device, an indication that the client electronic device has been selected for obtaining the one of the remotely obtainable content types; and   deactivate, responsive to the indication, the component of the third electronic device.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises an indication of motion of the client electronic device. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises an indication of an image capture operation on the client electronic device. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises an indication of motion of a stylus associated with the client electronic device. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the indication comprises touch input to a touchscreen of the client electronic device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the client electronic device is configured to:
 receive an image from the server electronic device;   display the image;   receive image markup input via a touchscreen of the client electronic device; and   provide image markup metadata based on the image markup input to the server electronic device, without storing the image or the image markup metadata, and without sending the image to the server electronic device, wherein the data comprises the image markup metadata.   
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 controlling, by a client device, a component of the client device to generate data for a content-editor application running on a server device, the component having been activated from within the content-editor application running on the server device; and   modifying, by the client device, a content-editing view of the content-editor application of the server device using the generated data.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the client device is a smartphone or a tablet device, wherein the component of the client device is a camera, and wherein the controlling comprises operating the camera to capture an image, responsive to selection of an image capture option at the client device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the modifying comprises transmitting the captured image from the client device to the content-editor application of the server electronic device, responsive to the selection of the image capture option at the client device, and without further input to the client device or the server device. 
     
     
         16 . A server device comprising:
 a memory; and   at least one processor configured to:   provide, for display using a theme, a user-interface view of an application, the user-interface view including one or more selectable options for modifying the user-interface view, wherein the one or more selectable options include at least one option to obtain data from a client device that is communicatively coupled to the server device;   receive, via the application, a selection of the at least one option to obtain the data from the client device;   activate, via the application, a component of the client device to generate the data;   receive the data from the client device; and   modify the theme of user-interface view using the data.   
     
     
         17 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein:
 the at least one option to obtain the data from the client device comprises an option to obtain mood data using a camera or a sensor of the client device; and   the data comprises the mood data, the mood data indicative of a mood of a user of the client device.   
     
     
         18 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
 discover the client device;   identify one or more available features of the client device; and   identify one or more types of input that are obtainable using the one or more available features, at least one of the one or more types of input corresponding to the data.   
     
     
         19 . The server device of  claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the one or more selectable options based on the one or more types of input. 
     
     
         20 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the component of the client device comprises a camera, a touch screen, a stylus, a light sensor, a motion sensor, an activity sensor, or a location sensor. 
     
     
         21 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the data from the client device comprises an image, a video, augmented reality content, image markup metadata, handwriting recognition data, freehand sketch data, steps data, heart rate data, electro-cardio data, calorie data, blood pressure data, or mood data. 
     
     
         22 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the component of the client device is activated and the data is received without execution of the application on the client device. 
     
     
         23 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the component of the client device is unrelated to the server device or to the application. 
     
     
         24 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the component of the client device comprises at least one of a camera of the client device, a stylus of the client device, or a sensor of the client device, or a health monitoring application associated with the sensor of the client device. 
     
     
         25 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein the application comprises at least one of a word processor, a presentation editor, an email editor, a spreadsheet, an image editing application, or a messaging application. 
     
     
         26 . The server device of  claim 16 , wherein receiving the data comprises:
 generating commands for operating the component of the client device; and   providing the generated commands to the client device with communications circuitry of the server device.