Wireless Area Network Enabled Mobile Device Accessory
First Claim
1. A first device capable of mobile operation, said first device being operable to communicate information, wirelessly, directly to a wide area network (WAN) or indirectly, via a wireless connection to a second device capable of mobile operation and connected wirelessly to said WAN,said first device being further operable to selectively power-down duplicate functionality on said first device likewise found on said second device in connection with a wireless link being established between said first and second devices.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A wearable wireless portable device (“WWPD”) includes cellular/WAN communications circuitry for establishing a direct connection to a telecommunication network and a low-power short range radio for establishing an indirect connection to the telecommunication network via the communications circuitry of the more feature-rich mobile device. The WWPD may be configured to deactivate its cellular/WAN communications circuitry (and other resource such as GPS) to communicate with a more feature-rich mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) via low-power short range communication technologies when it is in close proximity to the mobile device, and activate its cellular/WAN circuitry to provide cellular and/or network connectivity when it is not in close proximity to the mobile device. The WWPD does not require the bulky battery systems, which enables the WWPD to be packaged into a small and lightweight device, such as a wrist watch or pendant and enables longer battery life for the battery of the WWPD.
266 Citations
57 Claims
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1. A first device capable of mobile operation, said first device being operable to communicate information, wirelessly, directly to a wide area network (WAN) or indirectly, via a wireless connection to a second device capable of mobile operation and connected wirelessly to said WAN,
said first device being further operable to selectively power-down duplicate functionality on said first device likewise found on said second device in connection with a wireless link being established between said first and second devices.
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7. A method of operating a wearable wireless portable device, the method comprising:
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establishing a low-power short range communication link to a mobile device having wide area network (WAN) capability; in response to establishing a low-power short range communication link with the mobile device, de-energizing WAN communications circuitry in the wearable wireless portable device and communicating with a WAN through the mobile device via the low-power short range communication link. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A method of communicating information between a wearable wireless portable device and a telecommunication network through a mobile device, comprising:
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determining whether a low-power short range communication link can be established to the mobile device; establishing a low-power short range communication link to the mobile device in response to determining that the low-power short range communication link can be established; in response to establishing the low-power short range communication link with a mobile device, de-energizing wide area network (WAN) communications circuitry in the wearable wireless portable device and communicating with the telecommunication network through the mobile device via the low-power short range communication link; and activating WAN communications circuitry in the wearable wireless portable device and communicating with the telecommunication network via the activated WAN communications circuitry when a low-power short range communication link cannot be established between the mobile device and the wearable wireless portable device. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A wearable wireless portable device, comprising:
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means for determining whether a low-power short range communication link can be established to a mobile device; means for establishing the low-power short range communication link to the mobile device in response to determining that the low-power short range communication link can be established; means for de-energizing wide area network (WAN) communications circuitry of the wearable wireless portable device and communicating with a telecommunication network via the low-power short range communication link in response to establishing the low-power short range communication link to the mobile device; and means for activating WAN communications circuitry and communicating with the telecommunication network via the activated WAN communications circuitry in response to determining that the low-power short range communication link cannot be established. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A wearable wireless portable device, comprising:
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wide area network (WAN) communications circuitry; low-power short range communication circuitry; and a processor coupled to the WAN communications circuitry and the low-power short range communication circuitry, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising; determining whether a low-power short range communication link can be established to a mobile device; establishing the low-power short range communication link to the mobile device via the low-power short range communication circuitry in response to determining that the low-power short range communication link can be established; de-energizing the wide area network (WAN) communications circuitry and communicating with a telecommunication network via the low-power short range communication link; and activating the WAN communications circuitry and communicating with the telecommunication network via the activated WAN communications circuitry in response to determining that the low-power short range communication link cannot be established to the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A communication device capable of mobile operation, comprising:
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a first transceiver suitable for communicating information, wirelessly, directly to a wide area network (WAN); a second transceiver suitable for communicating information indirectly to the WAN via a wireless connection to a second communication device capable of mobile operation and connected wirelessly to the WAN; and a processor coupled to the first and second transceivers, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising; selectively powering down duplicate functionality of the communication device in response to determining that the wireless connection has been established to the second communication device. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A communication device capable of mobile operation, comprising:
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means for wirelessly communicating information directly to a wide area network (WAN); means for communicating information indirectly to the WAN via a wireless connection to a second communication device capable of mobile operation and connected wirelessly to the WAN; and means for selectively powering down duplicate functionality of the communication device in response to determining that the wireless connection has been established to the second communication device. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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Specification