Devices and methods for portable processing and application execution

• US 10,416,712 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Usquare Soft Inc.
• Original Assignee: Usquare Soft Inc.
• Inventors: Brawer, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Binh B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Burtner, Douglas R
• Application Number:
  US14/608,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20150220110A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 11/00 Producing optical signals at preselected times
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/04 using radio waves radio-controlled time-pieces G04R
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1633 Constructional details or arrangements of portable computers not specific to the type of enclosures covered by groups G06F1/1615 - G06F1/1626
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/165 the additional display being small, e.g. for presenting status information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0252 Improving the response speed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/02 Flexible displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4122 additional display device, e.g. video projector digital output for controlling a plurality of local displays G06F3/1423
• 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

A portable computing device, such as a wristwatch, is described. The portable computing device contains ample processing, battery and memory resources for executing applications, but provides insufficient display output capability to render a graphical user interface during application execution. Instead, the device includes a short-range wireless communication system for relaying real-time display data to an external display device for rendering a graphical user interface on the external device. By not incorporating power-hungry display technology, speakers, other communication components, such as cellular, or other battery-draining components, the portable computing device avoids the need for bulky batteries and maintains a suitable charge over a reasonable period of time. In addition, the easy portability of the device means that it can turn any external display device into its own user input/output device such that users need not mirror their applications and data to multiple devices.

Claims

1. A wristwatch to wirelessly connect to an external display device to view applications executed by the wristwatch, comprising:

a wearable casing, containing

a processor to provide a run-time environment for the execution of an application including generating a graphical user interface for the application,

memory storing the application to be executed by the processor,

a battery,

an output interface insufficient for displaying the graphical user interface during execution of the application, and

a short-range communication system to connect wirelessly to the external display device and transmit the graphical user interface from the processor to the external display device for display of the graphical user interface on the external display device and to concurrently wirelessly receive user input detected by an external device having one or more user input devices; and

the wearable casing including a face plate having a time display.

2. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, excluding a long-range communication system.

3. The wristwatch claimed in claim 2, wherein the long-range communication system comprises a cellular communication system.

4. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the time display is an analog time display.

5. The wristwatch claimed in claim 4, wherein the face plate includes a mechanical time piece including mechanically movable hands.

6. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, further comprising a local user input device.

7. The wristwatch claimed in claim 6, wherein the local user input device comprises a button and wherein the wristwatch excludes any touch-sensitive user input devices, voice-based user input devices, or motion-based user input devices.

8. The wristwatch claimed in claim 6, wherein the user input device comprises a touch-sensitive bezel.

9. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a video.

10. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a menu of selectable icons.

11. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a game interface.

12. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the application to be executed by the processor comprises a browser, and wherein the graphical user interface comprises a browser interface window.

15. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the short-range communication system is to relay the received user input to the processor for run-time interaction with the application to be executed by the processor.

17. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the external display device and the external device having said one or more user input devices are the same peripheral device.

18. The wristwatch claimed in claim 1, wherein the external display device and the external device having said one or more user input devices are separate peripheral devices.

13. A system for portable execution of applications, the system comprising:

an external display device having a short-range wireless system for communication and a display screen;

an external device having one or more user input devices; and

a wearable portable computing device including,

a processor to provide a run-time environment for the execution of an application including generating a graphical user interface for the application,

memory storing one or more applications to be executed by the processor,

a battery,

an output interface insufficient for displaying the graphical user interface during execution of the application,

a short-range communication system to connect wirelessly to the external display device and transmit the graphical user interface from the processor to the external display device for display of the graphical user interface on the external display device and to concurrently wirelessly receive user input detected by the external device having the one or more user input devices and

wherein the wearable portable computing device excludes a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or e-reader.

14. The system claimed in claim 13, further comprising a general purpose computer connected wirelessly to the portable computing device, wherein the portable computing device is to offload a processing task for execution of the application to the general purpose computer, and wherein the general purpose computer is to transmit a result of the processing task to the wearable portable computing device.

19. The system claimed in claim 13, wherein the wearable portable computing device comprises a pendant or a wristwatch.

16. A wristwatch to wirelessly connect to an external display device to view and interact with applications executed by the wristwatch, the external display device having a display screen, a user input device and a short-range wireless system, the wristwatch consisting essentially of:

a wearable casing, containing

a processor to provide a run-time environment for the execution of an application that generates a graphical user interface for real-time interaction with the application during run-time,

memory storing the application to be executed by the processor,

a battery,

an output interface incapable of displaying the graphical user interface during execution of the application, and

a short-range communication system to connect wirelessly to the external display device, to transmit the graphical user interface from the processor to the external display device for display of the graphical user interface on the external display device, and to receive user input data from the external display device obtained from its user input device; and

the wearable casing including a face plate having a time display.