INDICATORS FOR WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• US 20170084133A1
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Published: 03/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Cardinali, Steven P., Tong, Katherine E., Ness, Trevor J., Lukens, William C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,108,151 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/00 Input or output devices integrated in time-pieces
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/025 for measuring physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 9/0064 in which functions not related to time can be displayed digital output to display devices of digital computers G06F3/14

Abstract

A wearable electronic device includes a housing and a band attached to the housing. The band has an indicator with a variably and/or progressively illuminable portion. The indicator of the band conveys to a user an analog representation of the completion progress of an activity or task tracked by wearable electronic device. The wearable electronic device also includes a processing unit within the housing, and a sensor operatively coupled to the processing unit. In some cases, the sensor is a motion sensor such as an accelerometer or a gyroscope. In other examples, the sensor is a health sensor or a biometric sensor. Sensor data is used to update the indicator.

Claims

1. A wearable electronic device comprising:

a housing;

a band attached to the housing and comprising an indicator;

a sensor disposed within the housing; and

a processor coupled to the sensor, and configured to change an illumination state of the indicator;

wherein

the illumination state comprises at least one of an on state, an off state, an animated state, a brightness, a color, or a partially illuminated state.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to dynamically update the illumination state based on a progress value computed from a sensor input obtained from the sensor.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the progress value corresponds to a change in a physiological characteristic of a user over a period of time.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the progress value corresponds to an aggregation of a physical activity performed by a user over a period of time.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the indicator is a ring.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the indicator is linear.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the indicator is formed within the band; and

wherein the band is formed, at least partially, from an optically translucent material.

8. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the indicator is flush with a top surface of the band.

9. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the housing comprises a light emitting element; and

the light emitting element is optically coupled to the indicator.

10. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the indicator is formed from an electroluminescent wire.

11. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor is a first sensor; and

the wearable electronic device further comprises a second sensor.

12. The wearable electronic device of claim 11, wherein:

the first sensor is an accelerometer; and

the second sensor is a gyroscope.

13. The wearable electronic device of claim 11, wherein:

the sensor input is a first sensor input; and

the processor is configured to compute a progress value based on the first sensor input and a second sensor input obtained from the second sensor.

14. A band configured to couple a wearable electronic device to a user, the band comprising:

a progressively illuminable indicator; and

an end portion optically coupled to the progressively illuminable indicator and configured to optically couple to a light emitter within a housing of the wearable electronic device.

15. The band of claim 14, wherein the progressively illuminable indicator is formed within a sidewall of the band.

16. The band of claim 14, wherein:

the progressively illuminable indicator is disposed entirely within the band; and

the band is formed at least partially from an optically translucent material.

17. The band of claim 14, wherein the progressively illuminable indicator is disposed below a top surface of the band.

18. The band of claim 14, wherein the progressively illuminable indicator is formed within a mechanical coupling configured to attach a first band portion to a second band portion of the band to the user.

19. A method of progressively illuminating an illuminable portion of a band configured to couple a wearable electronic device to a user, comprising:

obtaining a sensor input from a sensor;

computing a progress value based, at least in part, on the sensor input; and

dynamically updating an illumination state of the illuminable portion based on the progress value.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein dynamically updating the illumination state of the illuminable portion comprises increasing a brightness of a light emitting element disposed within a housing of the electronic device.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the progress value is also based, at least in part, on an historical sensor input.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor is a first sensor and the sensor input is a first sensor input and the method further comprises:

obtaining a second sensor input from a second sensor; and

computing the progress value based, at least in part, on the first sensor input and the second sensor input.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the illumination state comprises illuminating a segment of the illuminable portion and illuminating a portion of a display of the electronic device based on the progress value.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the illumination state comprises illuminating a segment of the illuminable portion; and

the method further includes updating a display of the electronic device to indicate an activity represented by the progress value.