Systems and methods for communicating beyond communication range of a wearable computing device

• US 9,167,407 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2013
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• 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): Pham, Tuan
• Application Number:
  US14/043,395
• Publication Number:
  US 20150031286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/63.4, 455/66.1, 455/550.1, 455/556.1, 455/551, 455/134, 455/135, 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: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• 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 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

Computationally implemented methods and systems include determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device, and directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

Claims

1. A computationally-implemented method, comprising:

determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device; and

directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device.

2. A computationally-implemented system, comprising:

means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device; and

means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device.

3. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices including means for determining that the one or more signals that were transmitted by the one or more external linking devices are one or more responsive signals that were transmitted by the one or more external linking devices after the one or more external linking devices received one or more low-power prompting signals from the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power prompting signals that were transmitted by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary.

4. The computationally-implemented system of claim 3, wherein said means for determining the presence of one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices including means for determining that the one or more signals that were transmitted by the one or more external linking devices are one or more responsive signals that were transmitted by the one or more external linking devices after the one or more external linking devices received one or more low-power prompting signals from the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power prompting signals that were transmitted by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals in order to prompt the one or more external linking devices to transmit the one or more responsive signals, the one or more low-power prompting signals being discernible over background noise within the communication range of the wearable computing device and not discernible over background noise outside the communication range of the wearable computing device.

5. The computationally-implemented system of claim 4, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals in order to prompt the one or more external linking devices to transmit the one or more responsive signals, the one or more low-power prompting signals being discernible over background noise within the communication range of the wearable computing device and not discernible over background noise outside the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals in order to prompt the one or more external linking devices to transmit the one or more responsive signals including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers.

6. The computationally-implemented system of claim 5, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals in order to prompt the one or more external linking devices to transmit the one or more responsive signals including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers not greater than 0.8 milliwatt of transmit power.

7. The computationally-implemented system of claim 5, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals in order to prompt the one or more external linking devices to transmit the one or more responsive signals including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more low-power prompting signals at different levels of transmit powers and pausing following each transmission of the one or more low-power prompting signals at each different level of transmit power in order to monitor for the one or more responsive signals.

8. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices including means for determining that the one or more signals that were transmitted by the one or more external linking devices are one or more beacon signals that were received by the wearable computing device having one or more signal strengths that were determined to be greater than a predefined amount of signal strength, the one or more beacon signals having been transmitted by the one or more external linking devices with one or more predefined amounts of transmit powers.

9. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for determining which one or more specific external linking devices of a plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device is or are nearest to the wearable computing device based, at least in part, on determined signal strengths of a plurality of signals transmitted by the plurality of external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device.

10. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for determining which one or more specific external linking devices of a plurality of external linking devices determined to be present within the communication range of the wearable computing device require least amount of power by the wearable computing device to communicate with among the plurality of the external linking devices that were determined to be present within the communication range of the wearable computing device, the determination as to which of the one or more specific external linking devices requiring least amount of power by the wearable computing device to communicate with being based, at least in part, on determined signal strengths of a plurality of signals transmitted by the plurality of external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device.

11. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for determining presence of at least one external linking device within the communication range of the wearable computing device and that is determined to be associated with a common user who is also associated with the wearable computing device.

12. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of a wearable computing device, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals generated by the wearable computing device with less than 0.8 milliwatt of transmit power being discernible over background noise within the enveloping boundary and not discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary.

13. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of a wearable computing device, the communication range being spatial communication range of the wearable computing device using one or more low-power wireless signals with one or more frequencies from a frequency band between 57 GHz and 64 GHz.

14. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for determining that the one or more external linking devices provide one or more communication links to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device.

15. The computationally-implemented system of claim 14, wherein said means for determining presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for determining that the one or more external linking devices provide one or more communication links to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals to obtain from the one or more external linking devices, if the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range, one or more confirmations via one or more confirmation signals that confirms that the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range; and

means for controlling the wearable computing device to receive the one or more confirmation signals.

16. The computationally-implemented system of claim 15, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals to obtain from the one or more external linking devices, if the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range, one or more confirmations via one or more confirmation signals that confirms that the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range comprises:

means controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals to obtain from the one or more external linking devices, if the one or more external linking devices provide one or more wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) links to beyond the communication range, one or more confirmations via one or more confirmation signals that confirms that the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more Wi-Fi links to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device, the one or more low-power query signals transmitted by the wearable computing device being discernible over background noise within the communication range of the wearable computing device and not discernible over background noise outside the communication range of the wearable computing device.

17. The computationally-implemented system of claim 15, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals to obtain from the one or more external linking devices, if the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range, one or more confirmations via one or more confirmation signals that confirms that the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more queries via the one or more low-power query signals including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals that queries the one or more external linking devices to provide through the one or more confirmation signals one or more indications as to when, if ever, will the one or more communication links be available for use by the wearable computing device.

18. The computationally-implemented system of claim 15, wherein said means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals to obtain from the one or more external linking devices, if the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range, one or more confirmations via one or more confirmation signals that confirms that the one or more external linking devices provide the one or more communication links to beyond the communication range comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices the one or more queries via the one or more low-power query signals including means for controlling the wearable computing device to transmit to the one or more external linking devices one or more queries via one or more low-power query signals that queries the one or more external linking devices to provide one or more indications as to data transfer rate or rates of the one or more communication links.

19. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for determining the presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of a wearable computing device based, at least in part, on the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices including means for controlling the wearable computing device to receive the one or more signals through a directional antenna of the wearable computing device.

20. The computationally-implemented system of claim 19, wherein said means for determining the presence of the one or more external linking devices within the communication range of a wearable computing device based, at least in part, on the one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices including means for controlling the wearable computing device to receive the one or more signals through a directional antenna of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for controlling the wearable computing device to receive the one or more signals through a directional antenna of the wearable computing device including means for controlling the directional antenna to point away from the body of a user wearing the wearable computing device in order to receive the one or more signals from the one or more external linking devices.

21. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

22. The computationally-implemented system of claim 21, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to the one or more external linking devices via one or more low-power data signals, the one or more low-power data signals not being discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary of the communication range of the wearable computing device.

23. The computationally-implemented system of claim 22 wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to the one or more external linking devices via one or more low-power data signals, the one or more low-power data signals not being discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary of the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the one or more low-power data signals to the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit one or more low-power data signals to the one or more external linking devices through an antenna of the wearable computing device and using less than 0.8 milliwatt of transmit power.

24. The computationally-implemented system of claim 22 wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the data to the one or more external linking devices via one or more low-power data signals, the one or more low-power data signals not being discernible over background noise outside the enveloping boundary of the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit the one or more low-power data signals to the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit one or more low-power data signals to the one or more external linking devices having one or more frequencies from a frequency band having a frequency range from 57 GHz to 64 GHz.

25. The computationally-implemented system of claim 21, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data that indicates one or more addresses to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

26. The computationally-implemented system of claim 21, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data that embodies one or more electronic messages to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

27. The computationally-implemented system of claim 21, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means directing the wearable computing device to transmit data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to transmit audio and/or image data to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

28. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to receive data from beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

29. The computationally-implemented system of claim 28, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least the one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for directing the wearable computing device to receive data from beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to receive data from beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices including means for directing the wearable computing device to receive data associated with one or more electronic messages from beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device via the one or more external linking devices.

30. The computationally-implemented system of claim 2, wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting at least one external linking device from a plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device.

31. The computationally-implemented system of claim 30 wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting at least one external linking device from a plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for selecting the at least one external linking device from the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that requires least amount of power to communicate with by the wearable computing device from amongst the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device.

32. The computationally-implemented system of claim 31, wherein said means for selecting the at least one external linking device from the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that requires least amount of power to communicate with by the wearable computing device from amongst the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, the at least one external linking device that requires least amount of power to communicate with by the wearable computing device from amongst the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device by selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that transmitted one or more signals that were received by the wearable computing device with greatest signal strength or strengths compared to the signal strength or strengths of one or more other signals received by the wearable computing device that were transmitted by one or more other external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device.

33. The computationally-implemented system of claim 31, wherein said means for selecting the at least one external linking device from the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that requires least amount of power to communicate with by the wearable computing device from amongst the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, the at least one external linking device that requires least amount of power to communicate with by the wearable computing device from amongst the plurality of external linking devices including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, the at least one external linking device based, at least in part, on responsive signals transmitted by the plurality of external linking devices in response to the external linking devices detecting one or more low-power prompting signals that were transmitted by the wearable computing device at different levels of transmit powers.

34. The computationally-implemented system of claim 30 wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting at least one external linking device from a plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for selecting the at least one external linking device from the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that was determined to provide earliest access to one or more communication links to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device amongst the plurality of external linking devices.

35. The computationally-implemented system of claim 30 wherein said means for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting at least one external linking device from a plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device comprises:

means for selecting the at least one external linking device from the plurality of external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device for communicating beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device including means for selecting, from the plurality of external linking devices, at least one external linking device that was determined to provide access to one or more communication links with highest data transfer rate to beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device amongst the plurality of external linking devices.

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

means for operating the wearable computing device to present one or more results of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices.

37. The computationally-implemented system of claim 36 wherein said means for operating the wearable computing device to present one or more results of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means for operating the wearable computing device to present the one or more results of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices including means for operating the wearable computing device to present one or more electronic messages obtained as a result of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices.

38. The computationally-implemented system of claim 36 wherein said means for operating the wearable computing device to present one or more results of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices comprises:

means operating the wearable computing device to present the one or more results of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices including means for operating the wearable computing device to present content obtained as a result of the communication beyond the communication range using the at least one of the one or more external linking devices.

39. A system, comprising:

circuitry for determining presence of one or more external linking devices within communication range of a wearable computing device designed to be worn by a person, the communication range being a spatial volume that includes the wearable computing device and being externally defined by an enveloping boundary, where low-power signals transmitted 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 determining being based, at least in part, on one or more signals transmitted by the one or more external linking devices and received by the wearable computing device, and the one or more external linking devices designed to communicate beyond the communication range of the wearable computing device; and

circuitry for directing the wearable computing device to communicate beyond the communication range via at least one of the one or more external linking devices that were determined to be within the communication range of the wearable computing device.