Tap and Do use cases

Windows provides several use cases to support the Tap and Do gesture. Each use case initiates a particular action between devices. The following table lists the use cases available.

Categorization

NFP use cases generally belong in one of two categories.

• Personal

  This category of use cases involves the user of the system only.

  • No other person is involved.
    • The user is directly manipulating the Windows system with another device such as a tag, a card, a peripheral wireless device, or a smaller smart device such as a mobile phone.
    • The user has complete control over the use case from trust, confidence, and physical perspectives.

• Interpersonal

  This category of use cases involves two users working together, with at least one user using a Windows system.

  • Another user is always involved.
  • The other user may also be using a Windows system, or they may be using another device such as a mobile phone.
  • The two users must work cooperatively to carry out the use case. That includes aligning the devices to trigger actions to occur.

Tap and Setup

Tap and Setup is a wireless device installation experience for peripheral devices. The category includes keyboards, mice, headphones, and printers. Tap and setup supports three different types of device installations: Bluetooth unidirectional pairing, network printer installation, and Wi-Fi Direct printer pairing. Windows will only install devices, which support unidirectional communication over NFC. Smart devices that require bidirectional communication over NFC are not supported. Using this experience, a user can tap compatible devices to Windows to initiate the device setup experience.

Use category: personal or enterprise (interpersonal).

Use case example: Tap and Setup

1. An NFP-enabled device is placed near a computer to trigger device setup.
2. Windows detects the device and presents a toast user interface (UI) inviting the user to proceed with installing the device. If the user accepts, device pairing and setup proceed. If the user declines, pairing does not occur and device setup does not proceed. In such a case, the user must tap again to initiate pairing if desired.
3. When device setup has finished, Windows may invoke AutoPlay if specified by the device. Otherwise, no device experience is shown.

Tap and Reconnect

Tap and Reconnect is a wireless connection experience for peripheral devices supporting the Tap and Setup scenario. Using this experience, a user can tap compatible devices to Windows to reestablish the connection with the computer that has already been set up with the computer using the Tap and Setup use case. This use case is typical for peripherals that cannot remember more than one pairing relationship and that are used across multiple machines.

Use category: personal.

Use case example: Tap and Reconnect

1. An NFP-enabled device is placed near a computer to trigger device reconnection.
2. Windows detects the device and presents a toast UI inviting the user to proceed with installing the device. If the user accepts, device pairing proceeds. If the user declines, pairing does not occur. In such a case, the user must tap again to initiate pairing if desired.
3. When device pairing has finished, Windows may invoke AutoPlay if specified by the device. The user's previous choice will be remembered. Otherwise, no device experience is shown.

Tap and Use

Tap and Use is a developer experience that supports using an API to trigger collaboration between apps running on two different computers. A user running an app on their computer that is enabled for NFP will be able to trigger collaboration with the same app running on another machine when the two users tap their machines together. The API can also be used with compatible apps and compatible apps on machines other than the computer, where compatibility is handled through the underlying NFP technology.

Use category: personal or interpersonal.

Use case example: Tap and Use

1. A user wants to play a game with their friend. They both start apps that are designed for NFP. The app may prompt both users to tap their computers together.
2. Once the users tap their computers together, the API is triggered and information set to be transmitted is exchanged between the computers. That may include setting up a channel over a wireless link so that the apps are able to communicate with each other.

Tap and Launch

Tap and Launch is an interaction for launching apps. A user running an app that is enabled for NFP can invite another user to run the same app by tapping their computer to another device. The second user will be invited to launch the same app.

Use category: personal or interpersonal.

Use case example: Tap and Launch

1. A user wants to play a game with their friend. They both start apps that are designed for NFP. The app may prompt both users to tap their computers together.
2. The second user is not running the app but has it installed. They are invited to launch the app. If they decline the invitation, nothing happens.
3. If second user accepts the invitation, the app starts. The users are now able to play the game together.

Tap and Acquire

Tap and Acquire is an interaction for app acquisition. Using this experience, a user running an app on their computer will be able to invite a friend to obtain the same app if they do not have it installed.

Use category: personal or interpersonal.

Use case example: Tap and Acquire

1. A user wants to play a game with a friend and starts an app. The app may prompt them to tap their computer to another computer.
2. The second user does not have the app installed. They are invited to acquire the app the friend is inviting them to use. If they decline the invitation, nothing happens.
3. If they accept the invitation, they can acquire the app. The app will not start automatically. To do that, they will either need to run it directly and tap again with their friend (the Tap and Use use case), or simply tap again with their friend to launch the app (the Tap and Launch use case).

Tap and Send

Tap and Send is a content-sharing interaction. Using this experience, a user can tap their computer to another device to send content such as the URL of a webpage, a document, or a collection of pictures.

Use category: personal or interpersonal.

Use case example: Tap and Send

1. A user viewing a web page within an Internet browser on their computer taps their computer to the computer of another user.
2. The sending user is presented with a UI to send the URL of the webpage they are viewing.
3. The user sees that their friend has accepted the content transfer and the transfer UI is presented.

Tap and Receive

Tap and Receive is an interaction for users to receive content. Using this experience, a user can tap their computer to another device (such as a computer or phone) or object (such as a tag) that is sharing content. Windows will initiate a receive experience upon user confirmation to help the user obtain and make use of the received content.

Use category: personal or interpersonal.

Use case example: Tap and Receive

1. A user taps their computer to a device that their friend is holding that is sharing content. Or they tap their computer against a poster on a wall that contains an embedded tag. The tag has content available to be read.
2. The user is invited to receive the content. If they decline the invitation, nothing happens. If they accept the invitation, they are presented with the progress of the receive action.
3. Once the content is received, they are then invited to launch an app to handle the content. The app is launched and handed the content.