Smart covering for mobile communications device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602645-B2
Application number	US-201313895681-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2013
Priority date	May 16, 2013
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

NFC-enabled systems and devices 110, 120, 950 , and related methods 1400 , for determining the orientation of an NFC-enabled mobile device within a covering 10 . The orientation determination may include determining which way each face of an NFC-enabled mobile device 110, 120 is facing in the covering 10 , and which end of the NFC-enable device is oriented in which way in the covering, through the use of particular arrangements of at least one NFC device attached to the covering and at least one NFC antenna of the NFC-enabled mobile device. By determining the orientation of the NFC-enabled device within the covering, the NFC-enabled device may then be configured for executing a particular command, such as to optimize some aspect of the NFC-enabled device based on the device orientation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled case for holding an NFC-capable mobile device, the case comprising:
a plurality of NFC tags, each tag attached to the case proximate a respective face of the case, each of the plurality of NFC tags including a NFC-readable data storage device, the NFC-readable data storage device comprising persistent memory readable by the NFC-capable mobile device, the persistent memory comprising data stored therein, the data configured to enable a processor of the NFC-capable mobile device to:
determine, based at least partly on at least one data transfer between the NFC-capable mobile device and the NFC-readable data storage device resulting in identification of the respective face proximate the tag used for the at least one data transfer, an orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device within the case, the orientation indicating an up/down orientation and a front/rear orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device relative to the case; and
based at least partly on the determined orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device within the case, execute a device control command.

2. The case of claim 1 wherein execution of the device control command modifies a function of at least one component of the NFC-capable mobile device.

3. The case of claim 2 wherein the function modification comprises modifying power delivered to the at least one component.

4. The case of claim 2 wherein the function modification comprises modifying a control function of the at least one component.

5. The case of claim 2 wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of an antenna, an output device, and a heat dissipation system.

6. The case of claim 2 wherein the at least one component comprises at least one of a plurality of output devices comprising at least one of a speaker, a light, and a display.

7. The case of claim 1 wherein execution of the device control command deactivates at least one higher-power antenna and activates at least one lower-power antenna of the NFC-capable mobile device.

8. The case of claim 1 wherein execution of the device control command modifies tuning of at least one antenna of the NFC-capable mobile device.

9. The case of claim 1 wherein execution of the device control command modifies an operational state of at least one heat dissipation system of the NFC-capable mobile device, the at least one heat dissipation system comprising at least one front heat pump disposed proximate a front face of the NFC-capable mobile device and at least one rear heat pump disposed proximate a rear face of the NFC-capable device, and the modification of the operational state comprises activating at least one of the heat pumps and deactivating another of the heat pumps.

10. The case of claim 1 wherein execution of the device control command activates a reflex LCD skin device of the NFC-capable mobile device to change a displayed color of the reflect LCD skin device based at least partly on the determined orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device.

11. A Near Field Communication (NFC)-capable mobile device comprising:
a housing;
at least one processor; and
at least one NFC communication system, comprising at least one antenna disposed in a known juxtaposition relative to the housing,
the processor configured to execute machine-readable instructions to cause the NFC-capable mobile device to:
determine an orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device within a NFC enabled case for holding the NFC-capable mobile device, the case having a plurality of NFC tags, each tag having at least one NFC-readable data storage device and being attached to the case proximate a respective face of the case, based at least partly on at least one data transfer between the NFC communication system and at least one of the plurality of NFC tags, the orientation indicating an up/down orientation and a front/rear orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device relative to the case; and
based at least partly on the determined orientation execute a device control command.

12. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the at least one NFC communication system comprises a plurality of antennas, at least one of the plurality of antennas is disposed proximate a front face of the NFC-capable mobile device, and at least one of the plurality of antennas is disposed proximate a rear face of the NFC-capable mobile device, wherein the orientation is determined based at least partly on the antenna used for the at least one data transfer.

13. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the at least one antenna comprises a directional antenna.

14. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the NFC-capable mobile device comprises a front face, and the at least one antenna is shielded for enabling the at least one data transfer in a generally frontwards facing direction of the NFC-capable mobile device.

15. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the NFC-capable mobile device comprises a rear face, and the at least one antenna is shielded for enabling the at least one data transfer in a generally rearwards facing direction of the NFC-capable mobile device.

16. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the orientation is determined based at least partly on:
at least one data transfer between the NFC communication system and at least one of the at least one NFC-readable data storage devices while the NFC-capable mobile device is only partially placed within the case; and
at least one data transfer between the NFC communication system and at least one of the at least one NFC-readable data storage devices while the NFC-capable mobile device is fully placed within the case.

17. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the orientation is determined based at least partly on a measured duration of detection of the at least one NFC-readable data storage device by the NFC communication system.

18. The NFC-capable mobile device of claim 11 wherein the orientation is determined based at least partly on at least two detections of respective ones of the at least one NFC-readable data storage device by the NFC communication system, and on a measurement of elapsed time between the at least two detections.

19. A method, performed by at least one processor of a Near Field Communication (NFC)-capable mobile device, comprising:
determining, based at least partly on at least one data transfer between the NFC-capable mobile device and at least one NFC-readable data storage device, an orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device within a NFC enabled case for holding the NFC-capable mobile device, the case having a plurality of NFC tags, each NFC tag having at least one NFC-readable data storage device and being attached to the case proximate a respective face of the case, the orientation indicating an up/down orientation and a front/rear orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device relative to the case; and
based at least partly on the determined orientation of the NFC-capable mobile device within the cover case, executing a device control command.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the orientation is determined based at least partly on:
at least one data transfer between a NFC communication system of the NFC-capable mobile device and at least one of the at least one NFC-readable data storage devices while the NFC-capable mobile device is only partially placed within the case; and
at least one data transfer between the NFC communication system and at least one of the at least

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Eaton Eric Thomas
• Hayes David Jeffery

Classifications

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04M2250/04

  including near field communication means, e.g. RFID · CPC title

• H04M1/04 Primary

  Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title