Method for transmitting data synchronously from an electronic device to an electronic watch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10972186-B2
Application number	US-201816499638-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2018
Priority date	Apr 25, 2017
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A method for transmitting data from an electronic device to an electronic watch, including the following steps: emitting a sequence of light signals with a light source of the electronic device, each signal having a light-intensity level belonging to a set of at least four light-intensity levels, said sequence corresponding to a code of the data to be transmitted; detecting successive light-intensity levels with a phototransistor of the watch, so as to reconstitute the sequence; and decoding the sequence in order to reconstitute the data, the set of at least four intensity levels being divided into a first portion and a second portion, one light signal in two of the sequence having a light-intensity level belonging to the first portion, the other signals having a light-intensity level belonging to the second portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transmitting method for transmitting data from an electronic device to an electronic watch, the method comprising:
emitting a sequence of light signals with a light source of the electronic device, each light signal having a light-intensity level belonging to a set of at least four light-intensity levels, the sequence of light signals corresponding to an encoded data to be transmitted;
detecting successive light-intensity levels with a phototransistor of the electronic watch, so as to reconstitute the sequence of light signals; and
decoding the sequence of light signals in order to reconstitute the transmitted data,
wherein the set of at least four light-intensity levels is divided into a first portion and a second portion, one light signal in two of the sequence of light signals having a light-intensity level belonging to the first portion, other signals of the sequence of light signals having a light-intensity level belonging to the second portion.

2. The transmitting method according to claim 1 , the light-intensity level of the set of at least four light-intensity levels being regularly distributed over a brightness scale.

3. The transmitting method according to claim 1 , further comprising an additional step of generating feedback on transmission of the data.

4. The transmitting method according to claim 3 , the step of generating the feedback on the transmission of the data comprising emitting a light signal with a light-emitting diode of the watch.

5. The transmitting method according to claim 3 , the step of generating feedback on the transmission comprising positioning displaying means of the watch.

6. The transmitting method according to the claim 5 , further comprising an additional step of analysing an image of the dial of the watch, the image being taken by a video camera of the electronic device following the positioning of the displaying means of the watch.

7. The transmitting method according to claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is portable.

8. The transmitting method according to claim 1 , wherein the light source is a zone of a display screen of the electronic device.

9. The transmitting method according to claim 1 , wherein the light source is a light-emitting diode that also serves as a flash for the electronic device.

Assignees

• Eta Sa Mft Horlogere Suisse

Inventors

• Bonnet Thierry

Classifications

• H04N7/22

  Adaptations for optical transmission · CPC title

• H04B10/6165

  Estimation of the phase of the received optical signal, phase error estimation or phase error correction · CPC title

• H04B10/541 Primary

  Digital intensity or amplitude modulation · CPC title

• H04B10/1143

  Bidirectional transmission · CPC title

• H04B10/114 Primary

  Indoor or close-range type systems · CPC title