Communication device, electronic timepiece, time correcting method and recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10324422-B2
Application number	US-201715442933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2017
Priority date	May 27, 2016
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, a device capable of wireless communication includes a counter for counting current time, and a processor for setting a communication mode of the device to one of a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence and a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal sent from other device. In the case that the processor changes the communication mode of the device from the notification mode to the detection mode and the second notification signal received in the detection mode includes first time information, the processor corrects time of the counter based on the first time information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device capable of wireless communication comprising:
a counter for counting current time; and
a processor for setting a communication mode of the device to one of a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence and a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal sent from another device,
wherein, in the case that the communication mode of the device is the notification mode, the processor includes, in the first notification signal, time interval information indicating a time interval from when the other device stops detection to when a communication mode of the other device is to be changed from a detection mode to a notification mode, and
wherein, in the case that the processor changes the communication mode of the device from the notification mode to the detection mode and the second notification signal received in the detection mode includes first time information, the processor corrects time of the counter based on the first time information.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor changes the communication mode of the device a predetermined period of time before the other device changes the communication mode of the other device.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor starts sending of the first notification signal when the current time counted by the counter is a predetermined time.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the processor stops detection in the case that the second notification signal including the first time information is not received within a predetermined period of time after the communication mode of the device is changed from the notification mode to the detection mode.

5. The device of claim 4 further comprising a display unit,
wherein the processor controls the display unit to display a message indicating that the first time information is not received.

6. The device of claim 1 further comprising a communication unit,
wherein the processor instructs the communication unit to start sending the first notification signal if an instruction of a user is input.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the processor stops detection in the case that the second notification signal including the first time information is not received within a predetermined period of time after the communication mode of the device is changed from the notification mode to the detection mode.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device communicates with the other device via a short-distance wireless communication protocol, and the first notification signal is an advertising signal.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device communicates with the other device via a short-distance wireless communication protocol, the first notification signal is an advertising packet, and the time interval information is included in a data field of a payload of a protocol data unit (PDU) of the advertising packet.

10. An electronic timepiece comprising a device of claim 1 .

11. A time correcting method performed by a device capable of wireless communication and having a time counting function comprising:
setting a communication mode of the device to a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence which includes time interval information indicating a time interval from when another device stops detection to when a communication mode of the other device is to be changed from a detection mode to a notification mode;
changing the communication mode of the device from the notification mode to a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal sent from the other device;
receiving the detected second notification signal; and
in the case that the received second notification signal includes time information, correcting time of the device based on the time information.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program controlling a device capable of wireless communication and having a time counting function, the program causing the device to perform steps of:
setting a communication mode of the device to a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence which includes time interval information indicating a time interval from when another device stops detection to when a communication mode of the other device is to be changed from a detection mode to a notification mode;
changing the communication mode of the device from the notification mode to a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal sent from the other device;
receiving the detected second notification signal; and
in the case that the received second notification signal includes time information, correcting time of the device based on the time information.

13. A device capable of wireless communication comprising:
a counter for counting current time; and
a processor for setting a communication mode of the device to one of a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence and a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal sent from another device,
wherein, in the case that the second notification signal is detected in the detection mode and includes time interval information indicating a time interval from when the device stops detection to when the communication mode of the device is to be changed from the detection mode to the notification mode, the processor changes the communication mode from the detection mode to the notification mode according to the time interval information included in the second notification signal and generates the first notification signal including data indicating the current time acquired from the counter.

14. A time correcting method performed by a device capable of wireless communication and having a time counting function comprising:
setting a communication mode of the device to a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal from another device;
receiving the detected second notification signal;
changing the communication mode of the device from the detection mode to a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence according to time interval information included in the second notification signal which indicates a time interval from when the device stops detection to when the communication mode of the device is to be changed from the detection mode to the notification mode;
acquiring data indicating current time; and
generating the first notification signal in which the acquired data indicating the current time is included.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program controlling a device capable of wireless communication and having a time counting function, the program causing the device to perform steps of:
setting a communication mode of the device to a detection mode in which the device detects a second notification signal from another device;
receiving the detected second notification signal;
changing the communication mode of the device from the detection mode to a notification mode in which the device sends a first notification signal for informing of its existence according to time interval information included in the second notification signal which indicates a time interval from when the device stops detection to when the communication mode of the device is to be changed from the detection mode to the no

Assignees

• Casio Computer Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kyou Kazuho
• Nakagawa Makoto
• Iwamiya Hiroshi
• Tomida Takahiro
• Terazaki Tsutomu
• Okumura Ryo
• Takahashi Toshihiro

Classifications

• H04W52/0229

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• H04W52/0212 Primary

  managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is leader and terminal is follower · CPC title

• H04B7/2678

  Time synchronisation · CPC title

• G04R20/26

  the radio signal being a near-field communication signal · CPC title

• G04R20/30 Primary

  Decoding time data; Circuits therefor · CPC title