Indicators for wearable electronic devices

• US 10,108,151 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Cardinali, Steven P., Tong, Katherine E., Ness, Trevor J., Lukens, William C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Edun, Muhammad N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murphy, Jerold
• Application Number:
  US15/249,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20170084133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 3405391-53932
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/025 for measuring physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 9/0064 in which functions not related to time can be displayed digital output to display devices of digital computers G06F3/14

Abstract

A wearable electronic device includes a housing and a band attached to the housing. The band has an indicator with a variably and/or progressively illuminable portion. The indicator of the band conveys to a user an analog representation of the completion progress of an activity or task tracked by wearable electronic device. The wearable electronic device also includes a processing unit within the housing, and a sensor operatively coupled to the processing unit. In some cases, the sensor is a motion sensor such as an accelerometer or a gyroscope. In other examples, the sensor is a health sensor or a biometric sensor. Sensor data is used to update the indicator.

Claims

1. A watch comprising:

a housing comprising a display;

a band releasably attached to the housing and comprising an indicator for displaying illuminated segments;

a sensor disposed within the housing; and

a processor coupled to the sensor, and configured to dynamically update the illuminated segments based on sensor inputs from the sensor, such that an illumination appears to travel along the indicator and after the illumination travels along the indicator to an end of the indicator adjacent to the display, a portion of the display is illuminated.

2. The watch of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor is a first sensor; and

the watch further comprises a second sensor.

3. The watch of claim 2, wherein at least one of the sensor inputs is received from the first sensor and at least one of the sensor inputs is received from the second sensor.

4. The watch of claim 1, wherein the illumination corresponds to an aggregation of a physical activity performed by a user over a period of time.

5. The watch of claim 1, wherein the indicator is a ring.

6. The watch of claim 1, wherein the indicator is linear.

7. The watch of claim 1, wherein:

the indicator is formed within the band; and

wherein the band is formed, at least partially, from an optically translucent material.

8. The watch of claim 1, wherein the indicator is flush with a top surface of the band.

9. The watch of claim 2, wherein:

the first sensor is an accelerometer; and

the second sensor is a gyroscope.

10. The watch of claim 1, wherein the indicator is formed from an electroluminescent wire.

11. A method of progressively illuminating an indicator of a band and a display of a housing of a watch, the band being configured to releasably couple the watch to a user, comprising:

obtaining sensor inputs over a period of time and from a sensor within a housing of the watch;

computing a progress value based, at least in part, on the sensor inputs;

displaying illuminated segments on the indicator; and

dynamically updating the illuminated segments such that an illumination appears to travel along the indicator and after the illumination travels along the indicator to an end of the indicator adjacent to the display, a portion of the display is illuminated.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein dynamically updating the illuminated segments on the indicator comprises increasing a brightness of a light emitting element disposed within the housing.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the progress value is also based, at least in part, on an historical sensor input.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the sensor is a first sensor and the sensor input is a first sensor input and the method further comprises:

obtaining a second sensor input from a second sensor; and

computing the progress value based, at least in part, on the first sensor input and the second sensor input.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the indicator is a first indicator and the band comprises a second indicator; and

the method further comprises further updating the illuminated segments such that as the illumination travels to an end of the display, a portion of the second indicator is illuminated.