Mobile device case and method for use therewith

• US 9,521,223 B1
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Rajagopalan, Sreeram
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc M
• Application Number:
  US14/925,786
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/552.1, 455/557, 455/556.1, 455/419, 455/420
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0262 for a battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724092 Interfacing with an external cover providing additional functionalities
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/36 Memories
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• 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 mobile device case and method for use therewith are provided. In one embodiment, a mobile device case is provided with a controller configured to detect that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device and provide an indicator to a mobile device accordingly. In another embodiment, a mobile device is provided comprising a controller configured to send a request to a mobile device case for a listing of the stored in a memory of the mobile device case, receive the listing of data from the mobile device case, and categorize the data into different categories. Other embodiments are provided.

Claims

1. A mobile device case comprising:

a housing shaped to cover at least some surfaces of a mobile device;

an interface through which to communicate data between the mobile device and the mobile device case, wherein the interface is supported by the housing; and

a storage device in communication with the interface and supported by the housing, wherein the storage device comprises;

a memory; and

a controller in communication with the memory, wherein the controller is configured to;

detect whether the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device;

in response to detecting that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device, store an indicator indicating that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device; and

provide the indicator to the mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured to send a request to the mobile device case for a listing of data stored in the memory of the mobile device case only if the memory device is provided with the indicator from the mobile device case indicating that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device.

2. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to detect that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device when the controller detects that mating connectors of the mobile device and mobile device case were disconnected.

3. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to detect that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device when the mobile device is powered down.

4. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the indicator is provided to the mobile device in response to a request from the mobile device.

5. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the memory stores data from the mobile device and/or data from a device other than the mobile device.

6. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to provide information to the mobile device for the mobile device to index data stored in the memory.

7. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the memory device is embedded in the mobile device case.

8. The mobile device case of claim 1 further comprising a detachable battery.

9. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the interface comprises a wireless transceiver.

10. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a three-dimensional memory.

11. A mobile device comprising:

an interface through which to communicate with a mobile device case; and

a controller in communication with the interface, wherein the controller is configured to;

send a request to the mobile device case for a listing of the data stored in a memory of the mobile device case, wherein the request is sent to the mobile device case only if it is determined that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device;

receive the listing of data from the mobile device case; and

categorize the data into different categories.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the data received from the mobile device case comprises different file extensions, and wherein the controller is configured to categorize the data based on the different file extensions.

13. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to perform the sending, receiving, and categorizing by executing an app.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the app communicates with the mobile device case using an application program interface.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the app comprises a media player that plays the data, such that the media player in the app plays the data instead of a native media player of the mobile device.

16. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein a memory in the mobile device case stores data from the mobile device and/or data from a device other than the mobile device.

17. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein a memory in the mobile device case comprises a three-dimensional memory.

18. A mobile device comprising:

an interface through which to communicate with a mobile device case;

means for sending a request to the mobile device case for a listing of the data stored in a memory of the mobile device case, wherein the request is sent to the mobile device case only if it is determined that the mobile device case was possibly removed from the mobile device;

means for receiving the listing of data from the mobile device case; and

means for categorizing the data into different categories.