Wearable Communication Device

Wearable communication devices, e.g. implemented in a watch, using short range communication e.g. to a cell phone allow a user to talk and listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is nearby but not visible. Notification is performed with vibration, an LED light or OLED text display of incoming calls, texts, and calendar events. It allows communicating hands-free. The watches can be directly connected to a smartphone allowing using the watch as “remote control” for home appliances or any other devices via voice and buttons. Motion sensors such as accelerometer, magnetometer and gyroscope, together with audio generation device can be used for gaming applications.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure present a wearable communication device, which can be, for example, a watch (and hereinafter referred to, though not limited to, as a watch), comprising functions enabling to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is nearby but not visible, as when it is in the user's pocket or purse or, in other words, within the reach of a near-field communication short-distance wireless communication module of the communication device for exchanging data.

Simple notification watches, in communication with a nearby cell phone, exist in the art, but a disadvantage of them is that they don't have the ability to actually answer, reply and connect to a caller without having to look at the cell phone.

It is a challenge to designers of communication devices to achieve a watch that allows a user to talk and to listen, place and answer calls, send and receive text messages, initiate voice commands to mobile search for information and to find locations, and be notified of incoming calls, texts, and events, all while a phone is in a pocket or purse.

FIG. 1shows a top view of a preferred embodiment of the disclosure. The watch1has an always-on analog watch movement. Alternatively a digital watch display, instead of an analog clock, can be used; there is no need to touch the screen to see the time. The upper half shows the hands of an analog Quartz watch. The watch comprises two physical buttons3and4. Knob2can be used to adjust the time of day. Button3is an upper command button; button4is a lower select button.

The buttons3and4are programmable buttons, configured by the user via either (a) a web portal or (b) a smartphone application. Pre-programmed configurations can include “social”, “messaging/tweet”, or “emergency”. Other pre-programmed configurations are possible, such as for example: in idle state, short press a button to activate voice recognition, long press to call last number dialed, OR, short press to read new texts or messages, long press to send new texts or messages.

The table below shows examples of such pre-programmed configurations. The functions in the table are determined by the state of the watch, together with the duration and number of times the button is pressed:

The preferred embodiment has an OLED display and an RGB LED light. Alternatively an LCD display, as e.g. one line LCD dot matrix, can be used. The one-line digital display ofFIG. 1shows a phone number because the most basic function is just to show the number of an incoming call. It should be noted that the display can also show alphanumeric messages, icons, and the like.

The communication is performed using a Bluetooth, or other near-field short distance wireless communication technology, chip. Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short-wavelength radio transmissions in the ISM band from 2400-2480 MHz) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization. For example, a chip meeting the specifications of Bluetooth 4.0 can be used, together with a microphone and speaker. Speakerphone capabilities are built into the watch such as echo cancellation and make/receive calls. In the preferred embodiment a piezo speaker has been deployed. Other types of speakers are possible as well.

The two buttons3and4control all functions of the wearable communication device1other than setting time, which is performed by knob2. In one exemplary application, one button can be used to activate voice recognition, and be used to, for example, initiate a call, by the user speaking the command “call home”.

In order to communicate an alert a vibrating motor is deployed inside the watch. Furthermore the watch comprises a 3-axis accelerometer.

Moreover motion sensors such as a magnetometer and gyroscope, together with an audio generation device can be used for gaming applications.

FIG. 4shows a summary of the main components of the watch and their interconnections. There is the watch40having an analog or a digital display. The watch comprises two physical buttons3and4. Knob2can be used to adjust the time of day. Button3is an upper command button; button4is a lower select button. Furthermore there is a one-line digital display41, which can display a phone number, alphanumeric messages, icons, and the like. The display may be an LCD or an OLED display. Furthermore there may be a LED42providing by different colors status information.

In the case of an analog watch display, the analog watch movements may contain mechanisms for the watch hands to be adjusted according to signals sent by the Processor43. it may also contain mechanisms for the hand positions to be sensed by the Processor. The analog watch may therefore be set accurately by the Processor, which receives time information over Bluetooth from the phone.

The processor43controls the operation of the watch disclosed including a microphone44, a speaker45, a vibration motor500, motion sensors as a 3-axis accelerometer46, a magnetometer47, a gyroscope48, an IR proximity sensor405, and a touch sensor406connected to a capacitive touch panel407.

Furthermore the processor43controls a Bluetooth (BT) chipset49which may comprise a regular BT chip and/or a Bluetooth low energy chip. Both used for communication to a phone, smartphone or another BT-device401.

Moreover a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip402can be provided in the watch disclosed. It allows “bump”-type feature to transfer data from a cell phone to the watch, for instance for admission control, as used e.g. on subways in Taiwan, China, or Tokyo subways to eliminate the need for a separate subway card.

For the power supply of the watch is a micro USB-port403provided, which enables charging of the main battery404. The main battery404provides power to all components of the watch requiring power.

Multiple similar devices can be synchronized via star or mesh network for multi-point motion sensing. For example, an arm-swing movement detected can cause a punching sound to be produced, in a “hand-combat” game. Two players may be networked with their watches synchronized, and depending on the velocity and 3-D locations of the watches, may be playing against each other with suitable sounds being generated to simulate the opponents being hit. Another example may be simulation of musical instrument sounds such as drum and guitar, and multiple players may engage in generating sounds synchronized with their watch movements, in a kind of “air-instruments” game, while background music is being played.

In summary general features of the wearable communication device for smartphones are that incoming Call Alerts are provided via Vibration, RGB LED and Caller ID Display, Furthermore incoming calls can be accepted or declined by a push of a button. Voice communication (Talk and Listen) is performed by using the wearable communication device's speaker and microphone. The connection to a mobile phone is performed by Bluetooth wireless technology using no-code pairing system according to the Bluetooth 4.0 protocol. This protocol allows a user to easily and rapidly pair a wearable communication device and a smartphone without having the user entering a passcode. Pairing is done only once to allow connections between the device and the phone

In a preferred embodiment of the invention a wearable communication device of the present disclosure has about 3 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby time.

Watch1can be directly connected to a smartphone application through Bluetooth, and the smartphone can then connected to the internet “cloud” via Wi-Fi or mobile networks such as 3G or LTE.

Wi-Fi is a popular technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data wirelessly (using radio waves) over a computer network, including high-speed Internet connections. The Wi-Fi Alliance defines Wi-Fi as any “wireless local area network (WLAN) products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity as a service to a community of end-recipients. The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts services with a user's data, software and computation over a network. Using Cloud Software as a service, users rent application software and databases. The cloud providers manage the infrastructure and platforms on which the applications run.

This allows using the watch as “remote control” for home appliances, other home devices, or any other devices via voice and buttons. The connection would be:

FIG. 2illustrates these connections between watch and appliances using Bluetooth between watch and smartphone, using Wi-Fi between smartphone and a home Wi-Fi router, and using Wi-Fi or another communication protocol as e.g. Ethernet between the home Wi-Fi router and a home appliance as e.g. refrigerator, heating, or air-conditioner.

Another function built in the watch1is a GPS—or Global Positioning System—processor. This GPS processor can be used e.g. for sports and fitness, such as to track a route when hiking, running, record-keeping—and other movement tracking applications.

FIG. 3shows the integration of the BT headset to the watch.FIG. 3shows the BT headset30including one or two ear buds with a small speaker31and a microphone32. The BT headset30is connected to the main speaker33of the watch and to the main battery34of the watch. A small battery35may be incorporated into the BT headset30.

Another embodiment of the watch1integrates a Bluetooth (BT) headset. This headset could be implemented, as shown inFIG. 3, additionally to a watch having speaker and microphone in the watch body, or could be implemented instead incorporating a speaker and microphone in the watch body. The BT headset may be removable and separately powered, so that if, for example, the watch battery dies, or for the reason of privacy, the BT headset can be used. One embodiment of the watch integrates both a microphone/speaker and also a removable Bluetooth speaker ear bud. When the Bluetooth speaker ear bud is removed, the speaker switches from the watch to the ear bud. When replaced in the watch, the ear bud recharges and audio goes back to the watch known in the art typically have a quartz movement and are powered by a small battery. An analog embodiment of the watch can be integrated with Bluetooth features such that the same rechargeable battery drives both the analog watch and electronic components. Furthermore a rechargeable battery could shut down with a fixed percentage of power remaining to allow the analog watch to continue to operate for a greater length of time even though other electronic functions are shut down.

An analog watch with LED light may signal whether an alert is for an incoming call, text, or other purpose. The LED may be tri-(RGB) or multi-color, with each color signifying different types of information—text, email, voice mail, reminder, and social and the like.

Furthermore the watch is capable to transfer data sets as e.g. a contact list from one phone to another phone.

Moreover application program interfaces (API's) are provided to control the watch as e.g. to set the display on the watch, to read peripheral components as e.g. gyroscope, accelerometer, or magnetometer data, or to play/record audio using the speaker of the communication device as, and a smart phone.

The watch allows also reading sensor data using BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), and sending the sensor data to applications on a smartphone via Bluetooth communication.

It is also possible to remotely re-configure the watch to multi-display format, i.e. to configure different language fonts, font sizes, graphical icons, orientations, and combinations thereof—all on one display.

Moreover additional features for the communication with smartphones are provided. These features include accessing a connected phone's Voice Command functions, allowing a user to place Calls, to send Voice-to-Text SMS messages, to listen to Text messages, to set calendar notifications, and to use all other voice command functions for controlling music, searching the web, setting reminders and appointments, etc.

Furthermore incoming Text messages and Calendar entries are alerted via vibration, blue LED and caller ID Display. Other colors for incoming text messages or voice calls can be used as well. Incoming notifications can be processed, such as for popular web- or phone-based applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Weather, Foursquare, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail, and the like.

In another embodiment, a wireless leash option can be provided, notifying the user via the watch when the user's phone is inadvertently left behind and goes out of range of the watch.

The wearable communication device is enabled to support following smart-phone functions. They can be executed by the communication device if they are supported by the smart phone also. These functions comprise voice command functions allowing a user to place Calls, to send Voice-to-Text SMS messages, to listen to Text messages, to set Calendar notifications, and use all other voice command functions for controlling music, searching the web, setting reminders and appointments, etc.