Establishment and detection of breakage of wireless leash between devices

• US 10,089,853 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2016
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hawkins, Tyler D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US15/331,734
• Publication Number:
  US 20170039837A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0247 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0277 Communication between units on a local network, e.g. Bluetooth, piconet, zigbee, Wireless Personal Area Networks [WPAN]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Companion and accessory devices can be wirelessly leashed together in a manner that enables the devices to estimate their proximities to each other. One device can periodically attempt to detect a signal from the other device. For each attempt, the attempting device can store an indication of whether the signal was detected. If a number of times that the signal was undetected exceeds a threshold, then the attempting device can perform specified operations, such as alerting a user that the wireless leash was broken. As another example, one device can detect that a strength of a signal from the other device exceeds a threshold. In response, the detecting device can measure signal strengths more frequently. If the measuring device then detects that the signal strength exceeds another threshold, then the measuring device can cause specified operations to be performed, such as data synchronization between the devices or unlocking a device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a first mobile device having one or more processors;

establishing a wireless connection with a second mobile device;

after the wireless connection is established, failing, at a first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

storing, in a buffer, an indication of failure at the first moment;

failing, at a second moment after the first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

storing, in the buffer, an indication of failure at the second moment;

determining, based on indications stored in the buffer, a number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect a signal from the second mobile device during a specified time period;

determining that the number exceeds a specified threshold; and

in response to determining that the number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect the signal from the second mobile device during the specified time period exceeds the specified threshold, generating an alert.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the alert comprises:

at the first mobile device;

determining whether contact with skin is detected; and

in response to determining that contact with skin is detected, generating the alert.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to determining that contact with skin is not detected, locking the first mobile device to restrict use of the first mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the first mobile device;

maintaining a history of motion of the first mobile device using an accelerometer of the first mobile device;

determining, based on the history of motion, whether the first mobile device has moved within a particular period of time; and

in response to determining that the first mobile device has moved within the particular period of time, generating the alert.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the first mobile device;

receiving, from the second mobile device, at different times, indications of different locations of the second mobile device;

storing the locations in association with the times;

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, selecting, from the locations, a particular location that is associated with a most recent time of the times; and

displaying information that identifies the particular location.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

at the first mobile device;

determining, at the different times, strengths of signals received from the second mobile device;

storing the strengths of the signals in association with the times;

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, selecting, from the strengths of the signals, a particular strength that is associated with a most recent time of the times; and

determining a radius based on the particular strength;

wherein displaying comprises displaying a circular area having the radius and centered on the particular location.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising in response to selecting the particular location, re-establishing a wireless leash with the second mobile device based on the selected particular location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the first mobile device;

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, emitting one or more sounds in a particular pattern; and

generating the alert in response to a determination that the one or more sounds were not detected by the second mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, displaying a last known location of the second mobile device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting the signal from the second mobile device is performed at a predetermined frequency.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of failure at the first moment includes a timestamp at a time that the signal detection occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert comprises one of a visual alert, an audible alert and an audiovisual alert.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless connection is established between the first mobile device and the second mobile device in order to pair the first mobile device and the second mobile device.

14. A computer product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors of a first mobile device to cause the one or more processors to:

establish a wireless connection with a second mobile device;

after the wireless connection is established, fail, at a first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

store, in a buffer, an indication of failure at the first moment;

fail, at a second moment after the first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

store, in the buffer, an indication of failure at the second moment;

determine, based on indications stored in the buffer, a number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect a signal from the second mobile device during a specified time period;

determine that the number exceeds a specified threshold; and

generate an alert in response to determining that the number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect the signal from the second mobile device during the specified time period exceeds the specified threshold.

15. The computer product of claim 14, further comprising:

one or more processors communicably coupled with the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer product is the first mobile device.

16. The computer product of claim 14, wherein generating the alert comprises:

determining whether contact with skin is detected; and

in response to determining that contact with skin is detected, generating the alert.

17. The computer product of claim 14, further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

maintain a history of motion of the first mobile device using an accelerometer of the first mobile device;

determine, based on the history of motion, whether the first mobile device has moved within a particular period of time; and

in response to determining that the first mobile device has moved within the particular period of time, generate the alert.

18. The computer product of claim 14, further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

receiving, from the second mobile device, at different times, indications of different locations of the second mobile device;

storing the locations in association with the times;

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, selecting, from the locations, a particular location that is associated with a most recent time of the times; and

displaying information that identifies the particular location.

19. The computer product of claim 18, further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

determining, at the different times, strengths of signals received from the second mobile device;

storing the strengths of the signals in association with the times;

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, selecting, from the strengths of the signals, a particular strength that is associated with a most recent time of the times; and

determining a radius based on the particular strength;

wherein displaying comprises displaying a circular area having the radius and centered on the particular location.

20. The computer product of claim 14, further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

in response to determining that the number exceeds the specified threshold, emit one or more sounds in a particular pattern; and

generate the alert in response to a determination that the one or more sounds were not detected by the second mobile device.

21. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors configured to;

establish a wireless connection with a second mobile device;

after the wireless connection is established, fail, at a first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

store, in a buffer, an indication of failure at the first moment;

fail, at a second moment after the first moment, to detect a signal from the second mobile device;

store, in the buffer, an indication of failure at the second moment;

determine, based on indications stored in the buffer, a number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect a signal from the second mobile device during a specified time period;

determine that the number exceeds a specified threshold; and

in response to determining that the number of times that the first mobile device failed to detect the signal from the second mobile device during the specified time period exceeds the specified threshold, generate an alert.