Switching between watches or other accessories

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017201612-A1
Application number	US-201615273440-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 22, 2016
Priority date	Jan 10, 2016
Publication date	Jul 13, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems, methods and non-transitory computer readable media for allowing a user to switch between watches that have been paired with a device such as a smartphone are described. In one embodiment, the watches automatically detect a removal of a first watch from a user's wrist and an attachment of a second watch to the user's wrist. Messages from the watches are transmitted to the device to allow the device to switch the active watch from the first watch to the second watch. The switch can occur while the device is in a locked state, and the device can synchronize the second watch with data received from the first watch. Other embodiments are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving, at a companion device, data from a first paired device that is paired with the companion device, the first paired device being the active paired device when the data is received; storing the received data in a first store of the companion device, wherein once the data is stored in the first store, the data cannot be accessed when the companion device is locked; storing the received data in a second store of the companion device, the received data in the second store for use in synchronizing a second paired device with the companion device when the second paired device becomes the active paired device and the first paired device is no longer the active paired device.

2 . The medium as in claim 1 , the method further comprising:
transmitting at least a portion of the data in the second store to the second paired device in response to the second paired device becoming the active paired device.

3 . The medium as in claim 2 wherein the second paired device decrypts the portion of the data in response to unlocking the second paired device.

4 . The medium as in claim 2 wherein the first paired device is a first watch that is treated as the active paired watch when the data is received and wherein the first store and the second store are different databases.

5 . The medium as in claim 4 wherein the data comprises health data and wherein the second paired device is a second watch and the companion device is one of either a smartphone or a tablet computer.

6 . The medium as in claim 5 wherein the first paired device transmits its wrist state when it is the active paired device and the second paired device transmits its wrist state in a Bluetooth advertisement message.

7 . The medium as in claim 6 wherein the data is stored in the first store in an encrypted state.

8 . The medium as in claim 7 wherein when the companion device is unlocked from the locked state, the health data in the second store is updated with at least synchronization anchors for use in synchronizing inactive watches.

9 . The medium as in claim 7 wherein the health data in the second store does not include synchronization anchors.

10 . The medium as in claim 7 wherein access to data in the first store is prevented when the companion device is locked by discarding the key used to decrypt the data.

11 . The medium as in claim 7 wherein the companion device is locked when the data is stored in the second store and when the at least a portion of the data in the second store is transmitted to the second paired device.

12 . The medium as in claim 11 wherein the companion device is unlocked from the locked state by a user's security input which is one of: a password; a numeric passcode; a 2-D gesture on a touch screen; or a biometric input.

13 . A non-transitory machine readable medium storing executable program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method comprising:
scanning, by a companion device, for one or more wrist states from one or more paired accessories; determining, based on a difference in wrist states, that a switch between accessories has occurred, the switch being to a second accessory from a first accessory; starting a timer in response to determining that the switch occurred; ceasing, during a period of time before the timer expires, scanning for wrist states of other accessories; determining, during the period of time before the timer expires, whether the second accessory has established a communication connection for data exchange with the companion; reverting, in response to the timer's expiring, to scanning for one or more wrist states from the one or more paired accessories.

14 . The medium as in claim 13 wherein the one or more wrist states indicate a state of a position of the corresponding accessory relative to a body of a user of the companion device.

15 . The medium as in claim 13 wherein the scanning is for Bluetooth advertisements which include the one or more wrist states.

16 . The medium as in claim 15 wherein the companion device transmits synchronization data to the second accessory in response to determining that the second accessory has established the communication connection.

17 . The medium as in claim 16 wherein if the second accessory has not established the communication connection by the time the timer expires then the companion device continues to determine whether a switch has occurred.

18 . The medium as in claim 16 wherein the companion device transmits the synchronization data while the companion device is locked.

19 . The medium as in claim 1 wherein the synchronization data is transmitted automatically to the second accessory in response to the switch.

20 . The medium as in claim 19 , wherein the companion device is one of a smartphone or a tablet computer and wherein the first accessory and the second accessory use the same advertising identifier.

21 . The medium as in claim 20 wherein the companion device prevents a race condition between the one or more accessories by ceasing of the scanning during the period of time before the timer expires.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Donley David C
• Poumailloux Julien A
• De Filippis Pierre J
• Hawkins Tyler D
• Dooley Craig P
• Pollack Daniel B
• Grandy James C
• Novick Gregory B
• Shortlidge Todd A
• Pahwa Aroon
• Wilson David T
• Yang Yan
• Circosta Nicholas Joseph

Classifications

• G06F1/163

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

• H04M2250/02

  including a Bluetooth® interface · CPC title

• G06F21/6245

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title

• G06F2221/2107

  File encryption · CPC title

• H04M1/67

  by electronic means · CPC title