BLUETOOTH ALERT NOTIFICATION SERVICE

• US 20140364089A1
• Filed: 06/09/2014
• Published: 12/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lienhart, Renaud, Conn, Jason C., Prats, Augustin
• Granted Patent: US 10,136,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• 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 central wireless communication device communicates with a peripheral wireless communication device to provide an interactive alert notification service. The central wireless communication device obtains alert notification settings for application categories for the peripheral wireless communication device. In response to receiving an alert notification belonging to an application category enabled for the peripheral wireless communication device, the central wireless communication device sends an alert notification message that includes a unique identifier associated with the alert notification to the peripheral wireless communication device. In response to receiving an information request message that includes the unique identifier and one or more parameters, the central wireless communication device sends one or more information response messages that include the unique identifier and values for at least one of the one or more parameters to the peripheral wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A method for providing an alert notification service over a Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) connection between a central wireless communication device and a peripheral wireless communication device, the method comprising:

at the central wireless communication device;

obtaining one or more alert notification settings for the peripheral wireless communication device, each alert notification setting applying to one or more categories of applications that can generate alert notifications on the central wireless communication device;

receiving a signaling message associated with a communication service from a cellular network;

generating a first alert notification associated with a first application belonging to a first category in response to the signaling message;

when an alert notification setting for the first category indicates alert notifications are enabled for the peripheral wireless communication device;

sending a first alert notification message over the BTLE connection to the peripheral wireless communication device, wherein the first alert notification message includes a first unique identifier associated with the first alert notification;

receiving over the BTLE connection from the peripheral wireless communication device a first information request message, wherein the first information request message includes the first unique identifier associated with the first alert notification and includes at least one parameter that specifies additional information requested about the first alert notification; and

sending over the BTLE connection to the peripheral wireless communication device a set of one or more information response messages that include the first unique identifier and one or more values for the at least one parameter for the first alert notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling message indicates an attempted or actual connection for the communication service, and wherein the communication service includes a voice service, a messaging service, or a data service provided by the cellular network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more alert notification settings for the peripheral wireless communication device comprises:

receiving the one or more alert notification settings over the BTLE connection from the peripheral wireless communication device in one or more alert setting messages.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining one or more alert notification settings for the peripheral wireless communication device comprises:

receiving the one or more alert notification settings through an input/output interface of the central wireless communication device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first alert notification message further comprises one or more of:

a category field that includes a value for the first category, a count field that includes a numerical value for alert notifications associated with the first category, or an event identifier field that includes a value for a status of the first alert notification within the first category.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the event identifier field includes a value that indicates the first alert notification is added to, modified within, or removed from the first category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter includes one or more of:

a caller identifier, a sender identifier, a message title, a portion of content of a message, or an application identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first alert notification message includes an application identifier for the first application and the at least one parameter in the first information request message received from the peripheral wireless communication device specifies additional information requested about the first application.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the central wireless communication device;

receiving over the BTLE connection from the peripheral wireless communication device a command message, wherein the command message includes the first unique identifier associated with the first alert notification and includes at least one command parameter that specifies an action for the central wireless communication device to execute in response to the first alert notification;

executing the action specified by the command message; and

updating a status of the first alert notification based at least in part on the action.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

at the central wireless communication device;

receiving a second alert notification associated with the first application belonging to the first category; and

sending a second alert notification message over the connection to the peripheral wireless communication device, wherein the second alert notification message includes a second unique identifier associated with the second alert notification;

wherein the first and second unique identifiers are not identical.

11. A wireless communication device comprising:

wireless circuitry configured to send data to and receive data from a second wireless communication device in accordance with a wireless communication protocol;

processing circuitry coupled to the wireless circuitry, the processing circuitry configured to control the wireless communication device to;

establish a connection with the second wireless communication device in accordance with the wireless communication protocol;

generate an alert notification associated with a first application;

send an alert notification message to the second wireless communication device, wherein the alert notification message includes a unique identifier associated with the alert notification;

receive an information request message from the second wireless communication device, wherein the information request message includes the unique identifier associated with the alert notification;

determine at least a portion of content for one or more information response messages based on the unique identifier; and

send the one or more information response messages to the second wireless communication device in response to the information request message.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to control the wireless communication device to:

obtain an alert notification setting from the second wireless communication device through the connection, the alert notification setting providing an indication to enable alert notifications to communicate to the second wireless communication device for a first application, wherein the first application belongs to a first category of applications.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the wireless communication protocol is a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless personal area network (WPAN) communication protocol.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the alert notification message includes a category field that specifies the first category of applications or an application field that specifies the first application associated with the alert notification, and the information request message includes a request for additional information about the first application associated with the alert notification.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the additional information requested about the first application includes an application name, an application category, or both.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the information request message includes a list of parameters, and the at least a portion of content for the one or more information response messages includes values for each parameter in the list of parameters.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein the list of parameters includes one or more of:

a caller identifier, a sender identifier, a message title, a portion of content of a message, or an application identifier.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the alert notification message includes a category field that includes a value for the first category of applications, a count field that includes a numerical value for a number of alert notifications associated with the first category of applications, and an event identifier field that includes a value for a status of the alert notification within the first category of applications.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 18, wherein the event identifier field includes a value that indicates the alert notification is added to, modified within, or removed from the first category of applications.

20. (canceled)

21. A method, comprising:

at a wireless communication device;

sending an alert notification message to a second wireless communication device, wherein the alert notification message includes a unique identifier associated with an alert notification;

receiving an information request message from the second wireless communication device, wherein the information request message includes the unique identifier associated with the alert notification; and

sending one or more information response messages to the second wireless communication device, wherein the one or more information response messages are responsive to the information request message.