Systems and methods for providing one or more functionalities to a wearable computing device

• US 9,078,089 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2013
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Holman, Pablos, Hyde, Roderick A., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Richard T., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Tegreene, Clarence T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US13/961,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20150031291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.1, 455/556.1, 455/557, 455/63.4, 455/550.1, 455/66.1, 455/334
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/385 Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3861 carried in a hand or on fingers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3866 carried on the head
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/26 at least one of which is mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Computationally implemented methods and systems include detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user; determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being near the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device; and acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said detecting and said determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected as being near the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

Claims

1. A computationally-implemented method, comprising:

detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user;

determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device; and

acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said detecting and said determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities.

2. A computationally-implemented system, comprising:

means for detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user;

means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device; and

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities.

3. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user comprises:

means for detecting presence of the one or more electronic devices near the wearable computing device that are within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit one or more responding wireless signals from one or more electronic devices that detect the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices in response to the one or more electronic devices detecting the one or more low-power wireless signals.

4. The computationally-implemented system of claim 3, wherein said means for detecting presence of the one or more electronic devices near the wearable computing device that are within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit one or more responding wireless signals from one or more electronic devices that detect the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices in response to the one or more electronic devices detecting the one or more low-power wireless signals comprises:

means for transmitting, via the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices that detects the one or more low-power wireless signals by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, less than 0.7 milliwatt wireless signals to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices.

5. The computationally-implemented system of claim 3, wherein said means for detecting presence of the one or more electronic devices near the wearable computing device that are within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit one or more responding wireless signals from one or more electronic devices that detect the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices in response to the one or more electronic devices detecting the one or more low-power wireless signals comprises:

means for transmitting, via the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices that detects the one or more low-power wireless signals by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, one or more low-power signals having one or more frequencies from the 60 GHz band to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices.

6. The computationally-implemented system of claim 3, wherein said means for detecting presence of the one or more electronic devices near the wearable computing device that are within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device by transmitting, via the wearable computing device, one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit one or more responding wireless signals from one or more electronic devices that detect the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices in response to the one or more electronic devices detecting the one or more low-power wireless signals comprises:

means for transmitting, via the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices that detects the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices by transmitting the one or more low-power wireless signals through a directional antenna and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals through the directional antenna.

7. The computationally-implemented system of claim 6, wherein said means for transmitting, via the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power wireless signals to solicit the one or more responding wireless signals from the one or more electronic devices that detects the one or more low-power wireless signals and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals generated by the one or more electronic devices by transmitting the one or more low-power wireless signals through a directional antenna and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals through the directional antenna comprises:

means for transmitting the one or more low-power wireless signals through the directional antenna and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals through the directional antenna by transmitting the one or more low-power wireless signals through a metamaterial antenna and monitoring at the wearable computing device for reception of the one or more responding wireless signals through the metamaterial antenna.

8. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user comprises:

means for detecting the presence of one or more electronic devices near the wearable computing device that are within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device by detecting within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device presence of one or more other wearable computing devices.

9. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user comprises:

means for detecting the presence of the one or more electronic devices within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where less than 0.7 milliwatt wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary.

10. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities.

11. The computationally-implemented system of claim 10, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide one or more communication functionalities to communicate beyond the spatial pod.

12. The computationally-implemented system of claim 10, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide one or more global positioning system (GPS) functionalities.

13. The computationally-implemented system of claim 10, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide one or more sensor functionalities.

14. The computationally-implemented system of claim 10, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide access to one or more specific applications.

15. The computationally-implemented system of claim 14, wherein said means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide access to one or more specific applications comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the access to the one or more specific applications by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide access to one or more communication applications.

16. The computationally-implemented system of claim 10, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine which of the one or more electronic devices provide the one or more specific functionalities including querying each of the one or more electronic devices to determine when will the one or more specific functionalities become available for usage by the wearable computing device.

17. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by determining that a plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide at least one common functionality.

18. The computationally-implemented system of claim 17, wherein said means for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the one or more specific functionalities by determining that a plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide at least one common functionality comprises:

means for determining that the plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the at least one common functionality including selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality.

19. The computationally-implemented system of claim 18, wherein said means for determining that the plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the at least one common functionality including selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality comprises:

means for selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality by selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality based, at least in part, on determining which of the electronic devices is or are nearest to the wearable computing device.

20. The computationally-implemented system of claim 18, wherein said means for determining that the plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the at least one common functionality including selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality comprises:

means for selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality by selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality based, at least in part, on determining which of the electronic devices provides earliest access to the at least one common functionality.

21. The computationally-implemented system of claim 18, wherein said means for determining that the plurality of electronic devices that were detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are designed to provide the at least one common functionality including selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality comprises:

means for selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality by selecting at least one of the plurality of electronic devices for providing the at least one common functionality based, at least in part, on determining which of the electronic devices provides access to one or more applications that supports the at least one common functionality.

22. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, of the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device by transmitting to the at least one electronic device, by the wearable computing device, one or more requests or one or more commands for at least accessing the one or more specific functionalities available through the at least one electronic device.

23. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device by transmitting to the at least one electronic device, by the wearable computing device, input data needed for executing the one or more specific functionalities available through the at least one electronic device.

24. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, access to one or more communication networks beyond the spatial pod.

25. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device.

26. The computationally-implemented system of claim 25, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to at least one global positioning system (GPS) that is available through the at least one electronic device.

27. The computationally-implemented system of claim 25, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more visual sensors and/or one or more audio sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device.

28. The computationally-implemented system of claim 25, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more movement sensors that are available through the at least one electronic device.

29. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said means for detecting and said means for determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more applications available through the at least one electronic device.

30. The computationally-implemented system of claim 29, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more applications available through the at least one electronic device comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more applications available through the at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more communication applications available through the at least one electronic device.

31. The computationally-implemented system of claim 29, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more applications available through the at least one electronic device comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more applications available through the at least one electronic device by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to one or more gaming applications available through the at least one electronic device.

32. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said detecting and said determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities.

33. The computationally-implemented system of claim 32, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, global positioning system (GPS) data provided by a GPS of the at least one electronic device that provides location information of the at least one electronic device.

34. The computationally-implemented system of claim 32, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of one or more sensing operations executed using one or more visual and/or audio sensors of the at least one electronic device.

35. The computationally-implemented system of claim 32, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of one or more sensing operations executed using one or more movement sensors of the at least one electronic device.

36. The computationally-implemented system of claim 32, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, the one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, data obtained through one or more communication links provided through the at least one electronic device.

37. The computationally-implemented system of claim 32, wherein said means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, at least access to the one or more specific functionalities that are available through the at least one electronic device including acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for acquiring, by the wearable computing device, one or more results of utilizing the one or more specific functionalities by acquiring, by the wearable computing device, data indicative of one or more hand or arm gestures of a user wearing the wearable computing device and provided by the at least one electronic device.

38. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, further comprising:

means for controlling the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on data obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities.

39. The computationally-implemented system of claim 38, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on data obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device by modifying at least one graphical user interface (GUI) that is being presented by the wearable computing device, the modifying being based, at least in part, on the data obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities.

40. The computationally-implemented system of claim 38, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on data obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on data obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities by controlling the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on data that was obtained through the acquired one or more specific functionalities and that is indicative of one or more hand or arm gestures of a user wearing the wearable computing device.

41. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, further comprising:

means for presenting, by the wearable computing device, one or more indicators that indicate that the one or more specific functionalities have been acquired by the wearable computing device, the one or more indicators being presented in response, at least in part, to the one or more specific functionalities being acquired by the wearable computing device.

42. A system, comprising:

circuitry for detecting presence of one or more electronic devices near a wearable computing device that are within a spatial pod of the wearable computing device, the spatial pod of the wearable computing device being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power wireless signals generated by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary, the wearable computing device being a computing device designed to be worn by a user;

circuitry for determining which of the one or more electronic devices that are detected as being within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device are at least designed to provide one or more specific functionalities that are being sought by the wearable computing device; and

circuitry for acquiring, by the wearable computing device based at least, in part, on said detecting and said determining, one or more specific functionalities that are available through at least one electronic device that was detected within the spatial pod of the wearable computing device and that was determined to provide the one or more specific functionalities.