Transmitting athletic data using non-connected state of discovery signal

• US 10,306,687 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Inventors: Folske, Keith, Schneider, Summer, Blackman, Rachel
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsvey, Gennadiy
• Application Number:
  US15/167,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20160353503A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,096 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A43B 3/34 with electrical or electronic arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/107 Measuring physical dimensions, e.g. size of the entire body or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4266 sweat secretion
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/50 Wireless data transmission, e.g. by radio transmitters or telemetry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Systems and methods for locating a wireless device in a “noisy environment” is provided. Embodiments relate to locating and wirelessly transmitting signals to a fitness device located proximate to other electronic devices is disclosed. In one embodiment, advertisement tokens and RSSI can be used for signal strength indication and then transmit a specific signal to the device. Examples include imprinting the fitness device to have a unique wireless identifier.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive electronic information via a direct connection with a second electronic device using a transmission protocol that can perform at least one of;

transmitting an advertising beacon that identifies the transceiver as associated with the electronic device;

or

receiving an advertising beacon that identifies a transceiver as associated with a second electronic device,

wherein identification of an advertising beacon is utilized in an establishment of a direct connection between the electronic device and the second electronic device; and

a computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor perform at least;

receive a plurality of advertising beacons from a plurality of electronic devices without establishing a direct connection with any of the plurality of electronic devices;

determine that each electronic device, of the plurality of electronic devices, is available for pairing based on a determination that each electronic device, of the plurality of electronic devices, is a first type of fitness device that utilizes a non-unique identifying string in its advertising beacon;

generate a first list of devices, the first list of devices comprising the plurality of electronic devices;

filter the first list of devices to generate a second list of devices, wherein the filtering comprises determining, from the plurality of electronic devices, a sub-set of electronic devices that each have a signal strength above a threshold value, and wherein the second list of devices comprises at least the second electronic device and a third electronic device;

select, from the second electronic device and the third electronic device, and based on a first signal strength associated with the second electronic device and a second signal strength associated with the third electronic device, a pairing device;

connect to the pairing device using a first communication protocol;

transmit a command to the pairing device, the command configured to provide an output on the pairing device;

responsive to transmitting the command, receive a user input indicating that the pairing device is not outputting a specific output signal;

responsive to the user input indicating that the pairing device is not outputting the specific output signal, disconnect from the pairing device and select, from the second list of devices, a second pairing device; and

connect to the second pairing device.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first signal strength and second signal strength are determined based on RSSI packets.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the command transmitted to the pairing device is configured to cause an illumination of a light source on the pairing device.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the command transmitted to the pairing device configured to provide an output on the pairing device comprises transmitting a command configured to alter a graphical user interface of the pairing device.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to at least:

receive a unique string from a user providing a user input into a user interface; and

transmit the unique string to the pairing device.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to at least:

determine a unique string comprising information derived from an athletic attribute of a user associated with the pairing device; and

transmit the unique string to the pairing device.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to at least:

during imprinting, request a platform identification for the pairing device;

receive the platform identification, and in response request an authentication key.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to at least:

during imprinting, create a discovery token for the pairing device.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that when executed, cause the processor to at least:

prior to finalizing imprinting, request demographic information from a user.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of electronic devices, a plurality of advertising beacons each identifying a transceiver associated with a respective electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices, without establishing a direct connection with any of the plurality of electronic devices;

determining that each electronic device, of the plurality of electronic devices, is available for pairing based on a determination that each electronic device, of the plurality of electronic devices, is a first type of fitness device that utilize a non-unique identifying string in its advertising beacon;

generating a first list of devices comprising the plurality of electronic devices;

filtering the first list of devices to generate a second list of devices, wherein the filtering comprises determining, from the plurality of electronic devices, a sub-set of electronic devices that each have a signal strength above a threshold value, and wherein the second list of devices comprises at least a first electronic device and a second electronic device;

selecting, from the first electronic device and the second electronic device, and based on a first signal strength associated with the first electronic device and a second signal strength associated with the second electronic device, a pairing device;

connecting to the pairing device using a first communication protocol;

transmitting a command to the pairing device, the command configured to provide an output on the pairing device;

responsive to transmitting the command, receiving a user input indicating that the pairing device is not outputting a specific output signal;

responsive to the user input indicating that the pairing device is not outputting the specific output signal, disconnecting from the pairing device and selecting, from the second list of devices, a second pairing device; and

connecting to the second pairing device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first signal strength and second signal strength are determined based on RSSI packets.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the command transmitted to the pairing device is configured to cause an illumination of a light source on the pairing device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the command transmitted to the pairing device configured to provide an output on the pairing device comprises transmitting a command configured to alter a graphical user interface of the pairing device.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a unique string from a user providing a user input into a user interface; and

transmitting the unique string to the pairing device.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a unique string comprising information derived from an athletic attribute of a user associated with the pairing device; and

transmitting the unique string to the pairing device.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

requesting, during imprinting, a platform identification for the pairing device;

receiving the platform identification; and

requesting an authentication key in response to receiving the platform identification.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

creating, during imprinting, a discovery token for the pairing device.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

requesting demographic information from a user.