Wireless directional identification and subsequent communication between wearable electronic devices

• US 8,184,983 B1
• Filed: 06/09/2011
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ho, Harvey, Amirparviz, Babak, Prada Gomez, Luis Ricardo, Starner, Thad Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Hanh
• Application Number:
  US13/156,895
• Time in Patent Office: 348 Days
• Field of Search: 398/130, 398/131, 398/129, 398/135, 398/136, 398/137, 398/138, 398/139, 398/122, 398/115, 398/118, 398/121, 398/41, 398/141, 398/156, 398/158, 398/164, 398/42, 398/72, 398/66, 398/67, 398/68, 398/162, 398/116, 398/166, 398/127, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.6, 370/310, 370/311, 370/338, 370/252, 370/331, 370/336, 370/328, 370/350, 370/329, 345/7, 345/8, 345/9, 345/156, 345/158, 345/157, 345/169, 345/173
• US Class Current: 398/130
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/1143 Bidirectional transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, devices, and systems for exchanging information between a first wearable electronic device and one of a second wearable electronic device and an account at a remote computing device associated with a user of the second wearable electronic device. The first wearable electronic device intermittently emits directed electromagnetic radiation comprising a beacon signal, and receives, via a receiver coupled to the first wearable electronic device, a signal from the second wearable electronic device identifying one of the second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device. An input may then be detected at the first wearable electronic device, and in response to receiving the signal and detecting the input, the first wearable device may transmit additional data to one of the second wearable electronic device and the remote computing device associated with the second user.

Claims

1. A method for exchanging information, the method comprising:

intermittently emitting, via a transmitter coupled to a first wearable electronic device, directed electromagnetic radiation comprising a beacon signal, wherein the beacon signal comprises an indicator of at least one communication mode of the first wearable electronic device;

receiving a beacon response from at least one additional wearable electronic device, wherein the beacon response comprises an indicator of at least one communication mode of the at least one additional wearable electronic device;

selecting a second wearable electronic device with which to communicate by aiming the directed electromagnetic radiation at the second wearable electronic device so as to include the second wearable electronic device within a limited beam width of the directed electromagnetic radiation;

receiving, via a receiver coupled to the first wearable electronic device, a signal from the second wearable electronic device identifying one of the second wearable electronic device and an account at a remote computing device associated with a user of the second wearable device;

detecting, via an input interface coupled to the first wearable electronic device, a predefined input associated with an instruction to transmit additional data to one of the identified second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device associated with the user; and

responsive to receiving the signal and detecting the predefined input, transmitting the additional data from the first wearable electronic device to one of the second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device associated with the user, wherein transmitting the additional data from the first wearable electronic device to the second wearable electronic device comprises selecting a communication mode from at least one communication mode of the first wearable electronic device and at least one communication mode of the second wearable electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a modulated infrared beam emitted from an infrared transmitter device, wherein the infrared device is one of a light emitting diode device and a laser device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises radio frequency waves emitted from a directed antenna.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the directed antenna is one selected from a yagi antenna, a log-periodic antenna, a corner reflector antenna, a patch antenna, and a parabolic antenna.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the input interface comprises one or more input elements selected from the group consisting of a touch-sensitive surface, a microphone, a movement sensor, a button, and a switch, and

wherein detecting the predefined input comprises sensing a particular input pattern via one or more of the input elements.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a content of the additional data transmitted varies dependent upon the particular input pattern detected via the one or more input elements.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the content of the additional data is one of audio data, video data, image data, and contact information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data is transmitted to the one of the second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device associated with the user via a second omni-directional transmitter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signal received from the second wearable electronic device includes information indicating omni-directional communications capabilities of the second wearable electronic device, and wherein the additional data is transmitted via the second omni-directional transmitter using a protocol selected in accordance with the indicated communications capabilities of the second wearable electronic device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the omni-directional transmitter is one selected from a Bluetooth transmitter, an IEEE 802.11 transmitter, a WiMAX transmitter, a ZigBee transmitter, and a cellular transmitter.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal received from the second wearable electronic device includes information identifying the account at the remote computing device associated with the user;

the method further comprising transmitting the additional data from the first wearable electronic device to the identified account at the remote computing device associated with the user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, at an inside part of the first wearable electronic device, a first indication of a signal strength associated with the signal received from the second wearable electronic device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, at an outside part of the first wearable electronic device, a second indication of the signal strength associated with the signal received from the second wearable electronic device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data comprises information associated with a second user of the first wearable electronic device including at least one selected from an e-mail address associated with the second user, a phone number associated with the second user, a social-networking account identifier associated with the second user, and a mailing address associated with the second user.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data comprises first and second identifiers identifying a second user of the first wearable electronic device and the first user of the second wearable electronic device, and

wherein the remote computing device is a social networking server having the account associated with the first user;

the method further comprising transmitting the additional data from the first wearable electronic device to the social networking server so as to link respective accounts associated with the first and second identifiers.

16. A wearable electronic device comprising:

a processor;

an input interface;

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to emit directed electromagnetic radiation; and

a receiver;

wherein the processor is configured to;

select a second wearable electronic device with which to communicate with by causing the transmitter to intermittently emit directed electromagnetic radiation comprising a beacon signal, the directed electromagnetic radiation configured to transmit the beacon signal to one or more receiving devices disposed within a limited beam width of the directed electromagnetic radiation, wherein the beacon signal comprises an indicator of at least one communication mode of the first wearable electronic device;

receive, via the receiver, a beacon response from the second wearable electronic device, wherein the beacon response comprises an indicator of at least one communication mode of the second wearable electronic device, and a signal from a second wearable electronic device identifying one of the second wearable electronic device and an account at a remote computing device associated with a user of the second wearable device;

detect a predefined input via the input interface associated with an instruction to transmit additional data to one of the identified second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device associated with the user; and

responsive to receiving the signal and detecting the predefined input, cause the transmitter to transmit the additional data to one of the second wearable electronic device and the account at the remote computing device associated with the user, wherein cause the transmitter to transmit the additional data to one of the second wearable electronic device further comprises the selection of a communication mode from the at least one communication mode of the first wearable electronic device and the at least one communication mode of the second wearable electronic device.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the transmitter is an infrared transmitter, and the directed electromagnetic radiation comprises a modulated infrared beam emitted from the infrared transmitter.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the input interface comprises one of a touch-sensitive surface, a microphone, a movement sensor, a button, and a switch.

19. The device of claim 16, further comprising a first signal strength display disposed at an inside part of the wearable electronic device;

wherein the processor is further configured to cause the first signal strength display to indicate a signal strength associated with the signal received from the second wearable electronic device.

20. The device of claim 16, further comprising a second signal strength display disposed at an outside part of the wearable electronic device;

wherein the processor is further configured to cause the second signal strength display to indicate the signal strength associated with the signal received from the second wearable electronic device.