Wearable Communication Device

• US 20140045480A1
• Filed: 08/12/2013
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WiSilica, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SilverPlus, Inc.
• Inventors: Hsieh, Jeffrey, Kwan, Dennis, Singamsetty, Suresh, Kinsey, Stanley
• Granted Patent: US 9,729,687 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/04 using radio waves radio-controlled time-pieces G04R
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/06 using voice
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/38 Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3861 carried in a hand or on fingers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0279 Improving the user comfort or ergonomics
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• 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

Wearable communication devices, e.g. implemented in a watch, using short range communication e.g. to a cell phone allow a user to talk and listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is nearby but not visible. Notification is performed with vibration, an LED light or OLED text display of incoming calls, texts, and calendar events. It allows communicating hands-free. The watches can be directly connected to a smartphone allowing using the watch as “remote control” for home appliances or any other devices via voice and buttons. Motion sensors such as accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope, together with audio generation device can be used for gaming applications.

Claims

1. A wearable communication device configured to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a mobile phone is nearby, comprising:

a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset, wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset is used for communication with the phone;

one or more buttons, which are assigned to functions of the communication device;

a speakerphone means configured to make and receive phone calls via the mobile phone comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker device and to accept voice commands; and

an alerting means to alert a user of the wearable communication device to consider an action.

2. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the communication device has also watch functions.

3. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the one or more buttons are programmable buttons.

4. The communication device of claim 3 wherein the one or more buttons are configured via a web portal.

5. The communication device of claim 4 wherein the one or more buttons are configured via a smartphone application.

6. The communication device of claim 4 wherein pre-programmed configurations of the one or more buttons can be activated by duration of pressing the one or more buttons.

7. The communication device of claim 4 wherein the one or more buttons comprise social, and/or messaging, and/or emergency, and/or further functions.

8. The communication device of claim 3 wherein two programmable buttons are deployed.

9. The communication device of claim 1 wherein a top button comprises:

default functions comprising voice command activation, activate phone call, receive phone call, terminate a phone call, and pairing with the phone;

social functions comprising reading and sensing text messages;

safety functions comprising start/stop calling pre-programmed numbers;

gaming and/or remote control functions comprising start/stop 3D motion reporting;

audio functions comprising start/stop playing audio files; and

recording functions comprising activating voice recordings.

10. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the communication device comprises voice recognition capability and a button of the one or more function buttons can be used for voice recognition activation.

11. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset is a chipset of a short distance wireless communication technology.

12. The communication device of claim 11 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset comprises a regular chip of the short distance wireless communication technology and/or a low energy chip of the short distance wireless communication technology.

13. The communication device of claim 12 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip are configured to allow two different communication protocols.

14. The communication device of claim 13 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip allow SMS notifications together with voice calls.

15. The communication device of claim 13 wherein the low energy chip is used for messages.

16. The communication device of claim 13 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip are in cooperation with each other.

17. The communication device of claim 16 wherein the communication device is configured to allow communication of the regular chip to the phone while the low energy chip communicates to sensors.

18. The communication device of claim 16 wherein the configuration of the regular chip and the low energy chip is used as bridge between sensors and smart phone applications.

19. The communication device of claim 18 wherein the sensors are used in home applications.

20. The communication device of claim 16 wherein the regular chip receives voice information and the low energy chip receives data, wherein the voice and data information are sent by the phone.

21. The communication device of claim 16 wherein the regular chip receives data from the phone and the low energy chip receives data from one or more sensors configured for near-field short distance wireless communication.

22. The communication device of claim 16 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip operate sequentially in order to obtain power savings.

23. The communication device of claim 1 wherein a single chip of the chipset is configured to support in dual mode regular and low energy mode operation, wherein the single chip assumes a first address for regular chip operation and a second address for low energy operation in order to appear as two different devices to the phone and allowing the phone to simultaneously maintain communication to the communication device in regular chip mode and in low energy chip mode.

24. The communication device of claim 1 wherein a single chip of the chipset simultaneously maintains in dual mode communication to the phone and to one or more sensors configured for near-field short distance wireless communication.

25. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset allows a bump-type feature to transfer data from the phone to the watch.

26. The communication device of claim 12 wherein the connection to the mobile phone is performed by the chipset using no-code pairing system according to a related protocol wherein this protocol allows a user to easily and rapidly pair a wearable communication device and a mobile phone without having the user entering a passcode and wherein pairing is done only once to allow connections between the communication device and the mobile phone

27. The communication device of claim 1 wherein said communication device further comprises means to support gaming applications.

28. The communication device of claim 1 further comprising a processor wherein the processor controls the operation of the communication device comprising the speakerphone means, a vibration motor, movement sensing means comprising a 3-axis accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, an infra-red proximity sensor, and a touch sensor connected to a capacitive touch panel.

29. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the processor further controls a watch function.

30. The communication device of claim 1 wherein the mobile phone is a smartphone which is connected to Internet.

31. The communication device of claim 30 wherein the communication device is directly connected to a smartphone application through a chipset of a short distance wireless communication technology and the smartphone is connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or mobile phone networks.

32. A method to achieve a wearable communication device configured for gaming applications, to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a mobile phone is nearby, comprising the steps of:

(1) deploying a mobile phone within reach of a near-field short distance wireless communication chipset used for communication between the wearable communication device and the mobile phone;

(2) deploying the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset in the wearable communication device;

(3) deploying one or more buttons, on the communication device which are assigned to functions of the communication device;

(4) connecting the mobile phone to the internet via Wi-Fi or to mobile phone networks; and

(5) deploying a speakerphone means in the wearable communication device configured to make and receive phone calls via the mobile phone comprising a microphone and a loudspeaker device and to accept voice commands; and

(6) deploying an alerting means to alert a user of the wearable communication device to consider an action.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the mobile phone is a smart phone.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein the one or more buttons are programmable buttons.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the one or more buttons are configured via a web portal.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the one or more buttons are configured via a smartphone application.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein pre-programmed configurations of the one or more buttons can be activated by duration of pressing the one or more buttons.

38. The method of claim 34 wherein the one or more buttons comprise social, and/or messaging, and/or emergency, and/or further functions.

39. The method of claim 34 wherein two programmable buttons are deployed.

40. The method of claim 34 wherein a top button comprises:

default functions comprising voice command activation, activate phone call, receive phone call, terminate a phone call, and pairing with the phone;

social functions comprising reading and sensing text messages;

safety functions comprising start/stop calling pre-programmed numbers;

gaming and/or remote control functions comprising start/stop 3D motion reporting;

audio functions comprising start/stop playing audio files; and

recording functions comprising activating voice recordings.

41. The method of claim 34 further comprising deploying voice recognition capabilities wherein a button of one or more function buttons can be used for voice recognition activation.

42. The method of claim 32 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset is a chipset of a short distance wireless communication technology.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset comprises a regular chip of the short distance wireless communication technology and/or a low energy chip of the short distance wireless communication technology.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip are configured to allow two different communication protocols.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip allow SMS notifications together with voice calls.

46. The method of claim 43 further comprising using the low energy chip for messages.

47. The method of claim 43 wherein the regular chip and the low energy chip are in cooperation with each other.

48. The method of claim 47 further comprising configuring the communication device to allow communication of the regular chip to the phone while the low energy chip communicates to sensors.

49. The method of claim 47 further comprising using the configuration of the regular chip and the low energy chip as bridge between sensors and smart phone applications.

50. The method of claim 48 further comprising using the sensors in home applications.

51. The method of claim 48 wherein the regular chip receives voice information and the low energy chip receives data, wherein the voice and data information are sent by the phone.

52. The method of claim 48 wherein the regular chip receives data from the phone and the low energy chip receives data from one or more sensors configured for near-field short distance wireless communication.

53. The method of claim 43 further comprising operating the regular chip and the low energy chip sequentially in order to obtain power savings.

54. The method of claim 32 wherein a single chip of the chipset is configured to support in dual mode regular and low energy mode operation, wherein the single chip assumes a first address for regular chip operation and a second address for low energy operation in order to appear as two different devices to the phone and allowing the phone to simultaneously maintain communication to the communication device in regular chip mode and in low energy chip mode.

55. The communication device of claim 54 wherein the single chip simultaneously maintains in dual mode communication to the phone and to one or more sensors configured for near-field short distance wireless communication.

56. The method of claim 32 wherein the near-field short distance wireless communication chipset allows a bump-type feature to transfer data from the phone to the watch.

57. The method of claim 32 wherein the connection to the mobile phone is performed by the chipset using no-code pairing system according to a related protocol wherein this protocol allows a user to easily and rapidly pair a wearable communication device and a mobile phone without having the user entering a passcode and wherein pairing is done only once to allow connections between the communication device and the mobile phone

58. The method of claim 32 wherein the mobile phone is a smartphone which is connected to Internet.

59. The method of claim 32 wherein the communication device is directly connected to a smartphone application through a chipset of a short distance wireless communication technology and the smartphone is connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or mobile phone networks.