Dynamic Baseband Management

• US 10,548,088 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2018
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Singh, Ajoy K., Grubb, Jared S., Chaudhary, Madhusudan, Krishnaswamy, Saran, Gutierrez Gomez, Jesus A., Pillalamarri, Sirisha, Miller, Samuel J., Malthankar, Rohan C., Sitnikov, Sergey, Wolkowicki, Ziv, Prodanos, Dimitrios, Schobel, Andreas E., Saari, Christopher P., Rauenbuehler, Keith W., Rivera-Barreto, Rafael L., Abdulrahiman, Najeeb M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US15/964,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20180352514A1
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

This disclosure relates to dynamic baseband management for a wireless device. The wireless device may be an accessory device. The accessory device may determine whether it has a short-range wireless communication link with a companion device. The accessory device may determine one or more proximity metrics relating to the companion device. The accessory device may further determine one or more metrics associated with user settings, user activity and/or application activity at the wireless device. The wireless device may select a (e.g., full, limited, or off) baseband operating mode based on any or all of these considerations.

Claims

1. An accessory wireless device, comprising:

wireless communication circuitry, comprising at least cellular communication circuitry and short-range wireless communication circuitry; and

one or more processors coupled to the wireless communication circuitry, wherein the one or more processing elements are configured to cause the accessory wireless device to;

determine whether the accessory wireless device is operating in a relay mode using a short-range wireless communication link with a companion user equipment device (UE), wherein operating in the relay mode includes using cellular functionality of the companion UE to communicate with a cellular base station;

determine one or more metrics associated with user activity or application activity at the accessory wireless device; and

determine whether to limit functionality of the cellular communication circuitry based at least in part on (a) whether the accessory wireless device is operating in the relay mode using the short-range wireless communication link and (b) the one or more metrics associated with user activity or application activity at the accessory wireless device.

2. The accessory wireless device of claim 1,

wherein, when the accessory wireless device is operating in the relay mode using the short-range wireless communication link with the companion UE, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the accessory wireless device to:

determine a type of the short-range wireless communication link; and

determine whether to limit functionality of the cellular communication circuitry further based at least in part on the type of the short-range wireless communication link.

3. The accessory wireless device of claim 1,

wherein if the accessory wireless device does not have a short-range wireless communication link with a companion UE, the one or more processors are further configured to cause the accessory wireless device to:

determine a length of time for which the accessory wireless device has not had a short-range wireless communication link with a companion UE; and

determine whether to limit functionality of the cellular communication circuitry further based at least in part on the length of time for which the accessory wireless device has not had a short-range wireless communication link with a companion UE.

4. The accessory wireless device of claim 1,

wherein the one or more metrics associated with user activity or application activity at the accessory wireless device comprise at least whether any application executing at the accessory wireless device is currently actively performing wireless communication.

5. The accessory wireless device of claim 1,

wherein the one or more metrics associated with user activity or application activity at the accessory wireless device comprise one or more of:

a physical position of the accessory wireless device relative to a user of the accessory wireless device;

or

a screen state of the accessory wireless device.

6. The accessory wireless device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the accessory wireless device to:

determine whether the accessory wireless device has a subscriber identity module that provides a cellular service plan,

determine whether to limit functionality of the cellular communication circuitry further based at least in part on whether the accessory wireless device has a subscriber identity module that provides a cellular service plan.

7. A method, comprising:

at an accessory device;

determining whether the accessory device has a short-range wireless communication link with a companion user equipment device (UE), wherein the short-range wireless communication link is useable for operating in a relay mode including using cellular functionality of the companion UE to communicate with a cellular base station;

determining, in response to a determination that the accessory device does not have the short-range wireless communication link with the companion UE, a length of time for which the accessory device has not had the short-range communication link with the companion UE;

comparing the length of time to a threshold; and

determining a cellular baseband operating mode based at least in part on the determination that the accessory device does not have the short-range wireless communication link with the companion UE and further based at least in part on said comparing the length of time for which the accessory device has not had the short-range communication link with the companion UE to the threshold.

8. The method of claim 7,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on one or more metrics associated with user settings, user activity or application activity at the accessory device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the cellular baseband operating mode further comprises:

determining to limit baseband functionality of the accessory device if a length of time for which the accessory device has not had a first type of short-range communication link with the companion UE is less than a first threshold or if a length of time for which the accessory device has not had a second type of short-range communication link with the companion UE is less than a second threshold.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based on a SIM state update.

11. The method of claim 7,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a determination that the accessory device is in a locked state, wherein the cellular baseband operating mode does not include telephony.

12. The method of claim 7,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a position of the accessory device relative to a user.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause an accessory device to;

determine that the accessory device does not have a short-range wireless communication link with a companion user equipment device (UE) useable for operating in a relay mode, wherein operating in said relay mode includes using cellular functionality of the companion UE to communicate with a cellular base station;

in response to the determination that the accessory device does not have the short-range wireless communication link with the companion UE useable for operating in the relay mode, determine a length of time for which the accessory device has not had the short-range communication link with the companion UE;

compare the length of time to a threshold; and

determine a cellular baseband operating mode based at least in part on the determination that the accessory device does not have the short-range wireless communication link with the companion UE and further based at least in part on said comparing the length of time for which the accessory device has not had the short-range communication link with the companion UE to the threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a minimum functionality level associated with user settings, user activity or application activity at the accessory device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14,

wherein, in response to a determination that the accessory device is in a locked state, the minimum functionality level associated with user settings, user activity or application activity at the accessory device does not include telephony.

16. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based on a SIM state update.

17. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a determination that the accessory device is in an unlocked state, wherein the cellular baseband operating mode includes telephony.

18. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a position of the accessory device relative to a user.

19. The apparatus of claim 18,

wherein the accessory device is worn by the user.

20. The apparatus of claim 13,

wherein the cellular baseband operating mode is further determined based at least in part on a type of short-range communication link, wherein the threshold is related to the type of short-range communication link.