SYSTEM AND METHOD OF ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20140237123A1
• Filed: 02/20/2013
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dave, Swapnil R., Rao, Kaustubh M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,270,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A contactability of a user can be maintained by identifying a secondary device and causing a contact device to establish a communication session with the secondary device when a primary device becomes unavailable. In some embodiments, when a power level of a primary device falls below a threshold, the primary device can identify a secondary device previously associated with the primary device. The secondary device can receive a signal periodically from the primary device. In response to ceasing to receive the signal that is being sent periodically from the primary device, the secondary device in some embodiments can send a notification to a contact device to inform the contact device to send a communication request to the secondary device. The secondary device can receive the communication request from the contact device and establish a communication session with the contact device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a secondary device, a signal periodically from a primary device based on a power level of the primary device, wherein a previous association exists between the primary device and the secondary device;

in response to the secondary device ceasing to receive the signal that is being sent periodically from the primary device, sending, by the secondary device, a notification to a contact device to inform the contact device to send a communication request to the secondary device;

receiving, by the secondary device, the communication request from the contact device; and

establishing, by the secondary device, a communication session with the contact device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an original communication session is established between the primary device and the contact device prior to receiving the signal periodically from the primary device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the original communication session between the primary device and the contact device is established via a first type of network connection and the communication session between secondary device and the contact device is established via a second type of network connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first type of network connection is a cellular network connection and the second type of network connection is an Internet network connection.

5. A computer readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed, cause a processor in a secondary device to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving a signal periodically from a primary device based on a power level of the primary device, wherein a previous association exists between the primary device and the secondary device;

in response to the secondary device ceasing to receive the signal that is being sent periodically from the primary device, sending a notification to a contact device to inform the contact device to send a communication request to the secondary device;

receiving the communication request from the contact device; and

establishing a communication session with the contact device.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the signal is received periodically from the primary device in response to the power level of the primary device falling below a threshold, the method further comprising:

in response to receiving an indication that the power level of the primary device is above the threshold for a period of time, sending another notification to the contact device to inform the contact device that the primary device is available for communication.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a message from the primary device when the power level of the primary device reaches a specified minimum threshold, wherein the message includes identifying information associated with the primary device.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the method further comprising:

receiving a message from the primary device based on the power level of the primary device, wherein the message further includes a protocol that indicates when the secondary device should inform the contact device to send the communication request.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the protocol specifies for the secondary device to cause the contact device to send the communication request when the secondary device ceases to receive the periodic signal from the primary device after a threshold period of time.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the notification includes a list of communication services available on the secondary device, wherein the communication session established with the contact device uses a communication service in the list of communication services.

11. A method comprising:

detecting, by a primary device, a power level of the primary device, the primary device being in a communication session with a contact device;

determining, by the primary device, a secondary device associated with the primary device when the power level has been detected to reach a predetermined threshold;

sending, by the primary device, a message to the secondary device, the message indicating that the secondary device should notify the contact device when a set of criteria has been satisfied; and

causing the secondary device to notify the contact device and establish a new communication session when the set of criteria has been satisfied.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically pinging the secondary device, wherein the set of criteria has been satisfied when the secondary device ceases to receive the pinging from the primary device beyond a threshold period of time.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending a message to the contact device, wherein the message includes identifying information of the secondary device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending the secondary device a request for a set of communication services available on the secondary device; and

sending communication capability information associated with the secondary device to the contact device, the communication capability information including the set of communication services available on the secondary device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying the secondary device in response to determining that the power level of the primary device reaches the specified minimum threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying the secondary device includes:

determining one or more devices associated with a user of the primary device;

presenting a set of options representing the one or more devices; and

receiving a selection of one of the set of options, wherein the one of the set of options represents the secondary device.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying the secondary device includes:

determining a set of electronic devices associated with a user of the primary device by accessing profile information associated with the user of the primary device; and

identifying a subset of the electronic devices in the set of electronic devices that is within a threshold distance of the primary device, wherein the subset of the electronic devices includes the secondary device.

18. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server, an indication that a power level of a primary device has reached a threshold value, the primary device being in a communication session with a contact device;

determining, by the server, a secondary device associated with the primary device;

periodically sending a pinging signal to the primary device and receiving a response signal from the primary device; and

upon ceasing to receive the response signal from the primary device, sending, by the server, a notification to the contact device to cause the contact device to send a communication request to the secondary device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining communication capability information associated with the secondary device, the communication capability information including a set of communication services available on the secondary device;

sending the communication capability information to the contact device, wherein the communication request sent by the contact device is based on the communication capability information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the set of communication services includes at least one of a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service or a cellular service.