Temperature management in wearable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10551889-B2
Application number	US-201816236114-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2018
Priority date	Aug 31, 2017
Publication date	Feb 4, 2020
Grant date	Feb 4, 2020

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing temperatures of wearable device components are disclosed. In one aspect, a wearable electronic device includes glasses, a wireless transmitter, an ambient temperature sensor, hardware processing circuitry, and a hardware memory storing instructions that when executed configure the hardware processing circuitry to determine an ambient temperature using the ambient temperature sensor, determine a maximum temperature of the wearable electronic device based on the ambient temperature, determine a temperature of the wearable electronic device, determine a difference between the maximum wearable temperature and the determined temperature of the wearable electronic device, and adjust a transmission rate of the wireless transmitter based on the difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable electronic device, comprising:
glasses;
a wireless transmitter;
an ambient temperature sensor;
hardware processing circuitry;
electronic hardware memory storing instructions that when executed by the hardware processing circuitry, configures the hardware processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
determining an ambient temperature using the ambient temperature sensor;
determining a maximum wearable temperature of the wearable electronic device based on the ambient temperature;
determining a temperature of the wearable electronic device;
determining a difference between the maximum wearable temperature and the determined temperature of the wearable electronic device; and
adjusting a transmission rate of the wireless transmitter based on the difference.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the glasses comprise a frame, and the wearable electronic device further comprises a frame temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the frame, wherein the determining of the temperature of the wearable electronic device is based on the frame temperature sensor.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining a temperature of the wireless transmitter;
determining a rate of temperature change based on the determined temperature of the wireless transmitter;
determining whether to increase or decrease a transmission rate limit of the wireless transmitter based on the temperature of the wireless transmitter and the rate of the temperature change;
adjusting the transmission rate limit of the wireless transmitter based on the determination of whether to increase or decrease the transmission rate limit; and
further adjusting the transmission rate of the wireless transmitter based on the adjusted transmission rate limit.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
determining whether a temperature of the wireless transmitter is within a first temperature range or an adjacent second temperature range; and
adjusting a transmission rate limit based on the determination of whether the temperature of the wireless transmitter is within the first temperature range or the adjacent second temperature range.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 3 , the operations further comprising reading data indicating temperature of the wireless transmitter from the wireless transmitter, and determining the temperature of the wireless transmitter based on the data read from the wireless transmitter.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless transmitter temperature sensor, the operations further comprising reading data from the wireless transmitter temperature sensor, and determining the temperature of the wireless transmitter based on the data read from the wireless transmitter temperature sensor.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 3 , the operations further comprising:
comparing the rate of temperature change to a first rate threshold or a second rate threshold in response to the temperature of the wireless transmitter falling within a first temperature range or a second temperature range respectively; and
adjusting the transmission rate limit in response to the comparison.

8. The wearable electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the further adjusting of the transmission rate of the wireless transmitter based on the adjusted transmission rate limit comprises delaying transmissions to avoid exceeding the adjusted transmission rate limit.

9. The wearable electronic device of claim 3 , the operations further comprising:
transmitting an image;
determining a prospective completion time for transmission of the image; and
deferring limiting of the transmission rate in response to the prospective completion time meeting a criterion.

10. The wearable electronic device of claim 4 , the operations further comprising:
determining which of one of the first temperature range and the second adjacent temperature range the temperature of the wireless transmitter is within; and
adjusting the transmission rate limit based on the determination of which of one of the first temperature range and the second adjacent temperature range the temperature of the wireless transmitter is within.

11. The wearable electronic device of claim 7 , the operations further comprising increasing the transmission rate limit in response to the rate of temperature change exceeding the first or second rate threshold and decreasing the transmission rate limit otherwise.

12. The wearable electronic device of claim 11 , the operations further comprising increasing or decreasing the transmission rate limit by 2 Mbit/sec.

13. The wearable electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the first rate threshold is 15 degrees Celsius per minute, and the second rate threshold is 10 degrees Celsius per minute.

14. The wearable electronic device of claim 13 , wherein the first temperature range is 0° C. and 20° C. and the second temperature range is 21° C. to 49° C.

15. A method for managing temperature of a wearable electronic device, comprising:
determining an ambient temperature using an ambient temperature sensor;
determining a maximum wearable temperature of the wearable electronic device based on the ambient temperature;
determining a temperature of the wearable electronic device;
determining a difference between the maximum wearable temperature and the determined temperature of the wearable electronic device; and
adjusting a transmission rate of a wireless transmitter included in the wearable electronic device based on the difference.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the wearable electronic device comprises a glasses frame, and wherein the determining of the temperature of the wearable electronic device is based on output from a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the glasses frame.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining a temperature of the wireless transmitter;
determining a rate of temperature change based on the determined temperature of the wireless transmitter;
determining whether to increase or decrease a transmission rate limit of the wireless transmitter based on the temperature of the wireless transmitter and the rate of the temperature change;
adjusting the transmission rate limit of the wireless transmitter based on the determination of whether to increase or decrease the transmission rate limit of the wireless transmitter; and
further adjusting the transmission rate of the wireless transmitter based on the adjusted transmission rate limit.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed configured hardware processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
determining an ambient temperature using an ambient temperature sensor;
determining a maximum wearable temperature of a wearable electronic device based on the ambient temperature;
determining a temperature of the wearable electronic device;
determining a difference between the maximum wearable temperature and the determined temperature of the wearable electronic device; and
adjusting a transmission rate of a wireless transmitter included in the wearable electronic device based on the difference.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the wearable electronic device comprises a glasses frame, and wherein the determining of the temperature of the wearable electronic device

Assignees

• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Ashwood Andrea
• Wollman Michael
• Larson Nicholas
• Simons Patrick Timothy Mcsweeney

Classifications

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• H04B2001/3866

  carried on the head · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• H04B1/036

  Cooling arrangements · CPC title

• H04B1/385

  Transceivers carried on the body, e.g. in helmets · CPC title