Temperature management in wearable devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11886261-B2
Application number	US-202318104115-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2023
Priority date	Aug 31, 2017
Publication date	Jan 30, 2024
Grant date	Jan 30, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing temperatures of wearable device components are disclosed. In one aspects, a method includes determining a temperature of an electronic component of the wearable device, determining a rate of temperature change of the electronic component, and determining whether to increase or decrease a transmission rate limit of the electronic component based on the temperature and the rate, adjusting the transmission rate limit based on the determination, and limiting a rate of transmission of the electronic component based on the adjusted transmission rate limit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
a memory storing instructions that when executed by at least one processor, configures the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
computing an amount of time for exchanging data;
computing a completion temperature based on the amount of time for exchanging the data and a given temperature of the device; and
performing a transmission rate function in response to computing the completion temperature.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is a wearable electronic device, the transmission rate function being associated with exchange of the data.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise performing the computing of the completion temperature in response to determining that a transmission rate of the device should be decreased.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise determining a current rate of temperature change, wherein the transmission rate function comprises decreasing a transmission rate of the device.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the given temperature is a current temperature, wherein the device comprises glasses that comprise a frame, and the device further comprises a frame temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the frame, and wherein the temperature of the device is determined based on the frame temperature sensor.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting the data to a remote device from the device;
determining an amount of data that remains unacknowledged by the remote device to which the data is being transmitted; and
determining a current transmission rate of the device based on the amount of data that remains unacknowledged by the remote device.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
computing a remaining time for transmission of the data by dividing an amount of data that remains unacknowledged by a remote device by a current transmission rate; and
computing the completion temperature by adding a current temperature of the device to the remaining time multiplied by a rate of temperature change.

8. The 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 given temperature of the device based on the data read from the wireless transmitter temperature sensor.

9. The device of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:
comparing a current rate of temperature change to a first rate threshold or a second rate threshold in response to a current temperature of the device falling within a first temperature range or a second temperature range, respectively; and
adjusting a transmission rate limit in response to comparing the current rate of temperature change to the first rate threshold or the second rate threshold.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise adjusting the transmission rate limit of the device by delaying transmissions to avoid exceeding the adjusted transmission rate limit.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining whether the given temperature of the device is within a first temperature range or a second adjacent temperature range; and
adjusting a transmission rate limit based on determining that the given temperature of the device is in the first temperature range or the second adjacent temperature range.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise increasing a transmission rate limit in response to a current rate of temperature change exceeding a first or second rate threshold or decreasing the transmission rate limit in response to the current rate of temperature change of the device not exceeding the first or second rate threshold.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the first rate threshold is 15 degrees Celsius per minute, and the second rate threshold is 10 degrees Celsius per minute.

14. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise increasing or decreasing a transmission rate limit by 2 Mbit/sec.

15. A method comprising:
computing, by one or more processors, an amount of time for exchanging data;
computing a completion temperature based on the amount of time for exchanging the data and a given temperature of a device; and
performing a transmission rate function in response to computing the completion temperature.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the device is a wearable electronic device, the transmission rate function being associated with exchange of the data.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising performing the computing of the completion temperature in response to determining that a transmission rate of the device should be decreased.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining a current rate of temperature change, and wherein the transmission rate function comprises decreasing a transmission rate of the device.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the given temperature is a current temperature, wherein the device comprises glasses that comprise a frame, and the device further comprises a frame temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the frame, and wherein the given temperature of the device is determined based on the frame temperature sensor.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, configure hardware processing circuitry to perform operations comprising:
computing an amount of time for exchanging data;
computing a completion temperature based on the amount of time for exchanging the data and a given temperature of a device; and
performing a transmission rate function in response to computing the completion temperature.

Assignees

• Snap Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · 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

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title