Sony Ericsson Invents Drag and Drop Bluetooth

A new patent application published last week shows an innovative method of transferring files between mobile phones. The Portable device with short range communication function patent discusses a mobile phone with a “simplified procedure” for sending and receiving data using a drag and drop interface.

At present sending a photo or music file isn’t particularly straightforward in most handsets. A user has to select an item from the menu, select the “send item” option, select the communication method or channel, and possibly activate a the communication function such as Bluetooth. In the Sony Ericsson invention a drag and drop touch screen utility allows a user to simply drag an item off the side of their screen in the direction of the phone they want to transfer the file to. The action of dragging the item initiates an automatic data transfer procedure using short range communication.

Basically, the user of a touch screen phone can simply use a finger/pen to touch and drag an item to be shared in the direction of the other phone. When he reaches the edge of the screen, a question will pop-up: “Send to yyy phone?” In case of NFC and short range radio, it does not matter in which direction the other user’s phone is as long as the devices are within range for communication. The user will intuitively drag the item in the direction of the other user’s phone, but in reality it could work equally well to drag the item in any direction on the display.