US 11,968,087 B2
Unused device repurposing system
William Holroyd, Holly Springs, NC (US); and Girishpurushottam Holabasappa Hoogar, Apex, NC (US)
Assigned to LENOVO (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD., Singapore (SG)
Filed by Lenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore (SG)
Filed on Mar. 31, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/710,060.
Prior Publication US 2023/0318918 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. H04L 41/0823 (2022.01); H04L 41/0816 (2022.01); H04L 67/1061 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 41/0823 (2013.01) [H04L 41/0816 (2013.01); H04L 67/1061 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, the method comprising:
detecting, using a device repurposing system, at least one device, connected to a network comprising at least one other device, is currently unused by a user, wherein the detecting comprises determining the at least one device is not actively used by the user for a predetermined length of time;
determining, using the device repurposing system, one or more attributes of the at least one device;
identifying, using the device repurposing system and based upon the one or more attributes of the at least one device and responsive to detecting the at least one device as being currently unused by the user, at least one use for the at least one device within the network while the at least one device is unused, wherein whether the at least one device is identified as unused is based upon the at least one use and a use time length requirement of the at least one use, wherein the use time length requirement varies between possible uses of the at least one unused device, wherein the identifying is based upon determining one or more attributes of the at least one device meet identified requirements of the at least one use, wherein the at least one use comprises a task to be performed by the at least one device in conjunction with at least another device as a unified service and that utilizes a resource of the at least one device and the at least another device; and
providing, using the device repurposing system and responsive to determining the at least one device meets the identified requirements, a recommendation to the user to employ the at least one device for the at least one use while the at least one device is unused by the user.