|Veröffentlichungsdatum||22. Sept. 2009|
|Eingetragen||15. Sept. 2004|
|Prioritätsdatum||15. Sept. 2004|
|Auch veröffentlicht unter||CN1758548A, EP1637969A2, EP1637969A3, US20060073851|
|Veröffentlichungsnummer||10941374, 941374, US 7593755 B2, US 7593755B2, US-B2-7593755, US7593755 B2, US7593755B2|
|Erfinder||Christian J. Colando, Albert W. Tan, Dane M. Howard, Lorenzo Tessiore, Eric Glenn Lang|
|Ursprünglich Bevollmächtigter||Microsoft Corporation|
|Zitat exportieren||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patentzitate (52), Nichtpatentzitate (8), Referenziert von (6), Klassifizierungen (25), Juristische Ereignisse (5)|
|Externe Links: USPTO, USPTO-Zuordnung, Espacenet|
This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/336,228, entitled “Glanceable Information System and Method” which was filed on Jan. 3, 2003, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/336,240, entitled “Frame Protocol And Scheduling System” which was filed on Jan. 3, 2003, both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates generally to portable electronic devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method for collecting and displaying wireless data.
As society becomes increasingly mobile, mobile electronic devices are enjoying a tidal wave of popularity and growth. Cell phones, wireless PDAs, wireless laptops and other mobile communication devices are making impressive inroads with mainstream customers. Constraining this growth and limiting customer satisfaction, however, is the lack of a truly adequate high-coverage-area, inexpensive, small, battery-efficient wireless communication system. Cellular data-transmit telephony-based solutions are far from power-efficient, and impose (relative) cost and size burdens that make them unusable.
A range of new technologies including low-distraction user interfaces, a new operating system platform, and new communications capabilities are being developed. Smart Personal Objects are everyday objects, such as clocks, pens, key-chains and billfolds, that are made smarter, more personalized and more useful through the use of special software. These everyday objects already exist in huge numbers, and, of course, all of them already have primary functions that people find valuable. They could also be extended to display not just time, but timely information—traffic information, schedule updates, news—anything that is time-critical and useful to people.
The ability of these objects utilize the information is partially dependent upon the display capability of each object. These objects typically utilize a digital display for displaying the received information. Unfortunately, many potential customers are hesitant to purchase these objects, partially basing their purchasing decision on the inelegant digital display. That is, many potential customers are unwilling to wear digital watches or require/prefer a more elegant or fashionable watch.
A battery-powered, portable computer, such as watch device, is provided for receiving wireless transmissions and displaying information based at least in part on information contained in the wireless transmissions. The invention provides a device which allows device manufacturers a high degree of customization to display smart personal object data, thereby catering to higher-end brands and the related consumer base.
In one embodiment, the device receives and processes information from a wireless transmission. The device includes one or more mechanical indicators for displaying the information received via the wireless transmission. In another embodiment, the device operates to display information using a mechanical indicators or some combination of digital and mechanical indicators. Various mechanical indicators may be used for conveying the information to a user such as hands, sliders, dials, rings, disks, etc. for example. Alternatively, information may be conveyed using various mechanical indicators coupled with one or more digital displays (i.e. LEDs, LCDs, etc.). By using mechanical indicators to convey information, the device can be constructed in traditional high fidelity/quality. In certain embodiments, devices may be wrist-worn watches specially configured to receive transmissions from broadcast towers, or other signal transmission systems/devices. Thus, according to the invention, a device, such as a watch device, having a more elegant style and look, may display information received from a wireless transmission.
A more complete appreciation of the present invention and its improvements can be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, which are briefly summarized below, to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the invention, and to the appended claims.
The present invention is described in the context of a wireless communication device for receiving and displaying information. In the described embodiments, the devices may be watch type devices that are specially configured to receive communication signals, as is described in greater detail below. As will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description, the devices display information using mechanical elements or mechanical elements coupled with digital indicators, based at least in part upon received wireless signals transmitted from a source. Minor deviations from the described embodiments will also become apparent without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Although described here in the context of a watch-based system, it will be apparent that the teachings of the application have equal applicability to any other mobile or non-mobile devices, such as portable and desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, clocks, etc. The use of a watch is for illustrative purposes only to simplify the following discussion, and may be used interchangeably with “mobile device.”
“Computer readable media” can be any available media that can be accessed by client/server devices. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by client/server devices.
Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above are included within the scope of computer readable media.
The term “content” can be any information that may be stored in an electronic device. By way of example, and not limitation, content may comprise graphical information, textual information, and any combination of graphical and textual information. Content may be displayable information or auditory information. Auditory information may comprise a single sound or a stream of sounds.
The overall operating environment for the present invention will be discussed as follows below with reference to
Example electronic devices that may include an electronic system that is arranged to operate according to the interaction model are illustrated in
Each broadcast transmission corresponds to the transmission of one or more frames. Each frame may include multiple messages, where some messages are public broadcast (aka “global” or “shared” messages), while other messages are client specific messages (aka “personal” or “private” messages). Every client that is located within the designated service region may receive shared messages, while a single client may decode a private message.
Electronic devices (e.g., a wireless watch device) receive message packets according to shared and private messages that are directed to the client device. Message packets are organized in groups according to logical slot (or channel) entry numbers. For example, a particular electronic device is configured to receive a selected group of channels from the available channels. The message packets associated with each of those channels is received, processed, and stored in the client device. The stored message packets can be reviewed using a user interface that employs an interaction model, in accordance with the present invention.
Example channels include: a time channel, a messages channel, a contact channel, a calendar channel, a weather channel, a stocks channel, a news channel, sports, and/or a games channel. Messages associated with each channel include message content that is based on the particulars of the channel. For example, the weather channel may include the current weather in a local region, the current weather in a national region, and the current weather in an international region.
The operating environment shown and described provides examples of suitable operating environments and are not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Other well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
Illustrative Electronic System
One or more application programs 266 are loaded into memory 262 and run on the operating system 264. Examples of application programs include phone dialer programs, email programs, scheduling/calendaring programs, PIM (personal information management) programs, Internet browser programs, and so forth. The electronic device 200 also includes a non-volatile storage 268 that is located within the memory 262. The non-volatile storage 268 may be used to store persistent information which should not be lost if the electronic device 200 is powered down. The applications 266 may use and store information in the storage 268, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, contact information used by a PIM, appointment information used by a scheduling program, documents used by a word processing application, and the like.
The electronic device 200 has a power supply 270, which may be implemented as one or more batteries. The power supply 270 might further include an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle that supplements or recharges the batteries.
The electronic device 200 is also shown with various types of external notification mechanisms: one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 240, an audio interface 274, a tactile interface 276, and one or more mechanical elements 278 included as part of the display 228. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 270 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 260 and other components might shut down to conserve battery power. The LEDs 240 may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 274 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, the audio interface 274 may be coupled to a speaker for providing audible output and to a microphone for receiving audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation, or as a user interface using voice recognition. In another example, as described further below, a vibration device (tactile interface 276) can be used to give feedback to the user such as for alerting the user of a newly arrived message and/or other information. The electronic device 200 may control each alert mechanism separately (e.g., audio, vibration, as well as visual cues).
The electronic device 200 also includes a radio interface layer 272 that performs the function of receiving and/or transmitting radio frequency communications. The radio interface layer 272 facilitates wireless connectivity between the electronic device 200 and the outside world, via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio interface layer 272 are conducted under control of the operating system 264. In other words, communications received by the radio interface layer 272 may be disseminated to application programs 266 via the operating system 264, and vice versa (described below).
In one example of the present invention, electronic device 200 is a mobile electronic device such as a watch device that includes a wireless interface. Exemplary user interfaces for a watch device are shown in
User Interfaces (UI)
The watch device 300 includes a series of selectors 308 a-c that are arranged to operate as a user interface (UI). Selector 308 c operates according to both translational and rotational movement, allowing multiple functions to be performed, as described further below. Each selector may be implemented to have default function, and/or a context determined function. The currently selected channel determines the context for each selector. The electronic watch device 300 is context sensitive in that the function that is associated with each selector may change based on the selected channel or display screen.
A first one of the selectors 308 a may control a first analog and/or digital display 310. In
As one example, activation of selector 308 a can reset the display to a default setting. Alternatively, activating selector 308 a may page up from a current displayed event/category to a previous event/category. The resetting of the display 310 may be accomplished by activating the first selector for a predetermined time period. For example, when the selector is a button as shown in
For the embodiment shown in
Selectors 308 a-c may also be replaced with a wheel type of device. The functions of the selectors may be activated by rotating the wheel device in a counterclockwise and/or clockwise manner and/or by pressing the wheel device towards the watch bezel. It will be appreciated that other examples of selector mechanisms may be employed and the present invention is not intended to be limited to any specific examples/embodiments described herein.
Displaying Wireless Data
According to the present invention, a device is provided for receiving and processing a wireless signal, preferably a radio signal, transmitted by a source. The device is operable to display various information extracted from the wireless signal. The device is operable to receive “real-time” information, such as stock, sports, weather, and other information and to display the information using, in part or solely, analog (mechanical) indicator mechanisms. The invention provides a solution for consumers who are unwilling to use or wear wireless electronic devices due to inelegant or undesirable display characteristics of the devices. For example, certain watch consumers will not wear watches that do not have certain user-oriented characteristics, such as quartz displays, chronograph features, perpetual calendars, kinetic winding, etc. Other users are dissatisfied with the rather inelegant digital displays associated with many electronic watch and other products. The present invention provides solutions to these and other problems associated with consumer satisfaction and preference. However, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to watch devices, and those skilled in the art will realize the benefits of the present invention for other mobile electronic devices.
In addition to the watch devices described above, yet another exemplary watch device 400 is shown in
The electronic system 402 is a computer-based system, including functionality of operating as either a receiver and/or transceiver type of device. As illustrated in the figure, the electronic system includes a transceiver 406, a microcomputer unit or microprocessor 408, and an analog radio 410. The antenna connects to, and is controlled by, the transceiver 406. Transactions between the microprocessor 408 and the radio components are mediated over a microprocessor-digital transceiver interface. The components of the watch device 400 are housed in a watch-sized enclosure and rely on battery power for operation.
The transceiver 406 generally includes a digital signal processor (DSP) 412, which performs control, scheduling, and post-processing tasks for the transceiver, and a real-time device (RTD) 414, which includes a digital radio, system timing, and real-time event dispatching. The DSP 412 is coupled to the microprocessor 408, and transceiver tasks are commanded by the microprocessor 408.
One of the DSP's tasks may process received data for such purposes as sub-carrier phase recovery, baud recovery and/or tracking, compensation for fading effects, demodulation, de-interleaving, channel state estimation and error-correction. The post-processing of packets may occur when an entire packet has been received, or another subsequent time. The DSP 412 analyzes the transmitted data packets to determine a broadcast station's signal timing with respect to a local clock of the RTD 414. The local clock is synchronized with the transmitter's clock signal to maintain signal sampling integrity. The receiver is periodically brought into symbol synchronization with the transmitter to minimize misreading of the received data.
The digital section of the RTD 414 may include system time-base generators, such as a crystal oscillator that provides a system clock for the microprocessor 408 and the DSP 412. The time-base also provides baud and sample timing for transmit and receive operations, start/stop control for radio operation, and controls the periods of clock suspension, when required. The RTD 414 also performs radio operations, and may perform additional operations as well. The radio 410 is arranged to receive segments of data that is arranged in packets.
As described above, the user interface is configured as a means for selecting one or more services. In one example, a wireless client device user interacts with the user interface to select services such as news, stock prices, weather, and other features such as a personal calendar, address book, and the like. Selected services are entered in a database for broadcast transmission at a later time. At the designated time (or time interval) the scheduling interface communicates with the broadcast server to begin a transmission sequence of data for the selected services. The broadcast server subsequently formats the data for reception by one or more wireless client device, queues the data for transmission, and communicates the queued data to the FM broadcast tower for transmission. In an alternative example, the scheduling interface communicates the selected services to the broadcast server. The broadcast server schedules the time interval for transmission of the selected service.
Each broadcast transmission corresponds to the transmission of one or more frames that are arranged in accordance with a frame protocol. Each frame may include multiple messages, where some messages are public broadcast (aka “global” or “shared” messages), while other messages are client specific messages (aka “personal” or “private” messages). Each frame includes a table of contents that indicates the extent of messages that are found within the next transmitted frame. Every client that is located within the designated service region may receive shared messages, while a single client may decode a private message.
Each frame includes a header, a table of contents, and a message payload that includes the content for one or more selected services as previously described. The header also includes other information such as authentication data, identified service region, language, available stations for the identified service region, frame number, and time stamp. Control information may also be included in one of the headers to indicate broadcast conditions such as a change in available channels, an assignment of a service region to a particular wireless client device, and an assignment of a particular channel (frequency). In one example, each frame includes a change counter in one of the headers to indicate a change has taken place in the system. Wireless client devices (clients) may use the change counter to determine when to initiate a failover (when a broadcast tower becomes unavailable).
Client devices may be organized in a series of layers that are similar to the OSI networking model. The layers include a physical layer, a link layer, a network layer, a transport layer, and an application layer. The physical layer receives the FM subcarrier transmitted information and provides symbols to the link layer. The link layer divides the symbols into segments, and handles viterbi coding, data whitening, and interleaving functions. The network layer receives the segments and creates logical packets. The network layer also handles cyclic redundancy check (CRC), encryption, and Reed-Solomon coding. The transport layer decodes the logical packets to retrieve a table of contents (TOC), and includes data handlers that handle communication to the application layer. The application layer includes a series of applications that are resident on the client device, and associated with subscriptions to broadcast services.
Applications on the client device are registered with the transport layer. The transport layer maintains the data handlers for each registered application, and retrieves the TOC from the logical packets that are received from the network layer. The transport layer notifies the registered applications that data streams will be available in the next frame transmission as identified with the service ID. Each application program applies a series of metrics to determine priority for the receipt of data streams, which are submitted to the transport layer in the client device. Prioritization is performed independently by each application on the client device based on any criteria such as preferred data, error correction requirements, as well as base and elevated priority levels. The transport layer reviews all of the requests, decides which requests will be accepted, and translates the accepted requests into packet requests to the network layer. The network layer retrieves the relevant packets in the next frame transmission and passes the packets to the relevant registered applications via the data handlers.
The lowest layer in the architecture is the Mechanical/Electrical layer 426 and operates to, among other things, gather raw input from the wireless signals, here the received FM transmission and/or the user. This layer 426 also operates to present a user with formatted information in response to raw input and/or the user interaction itself. To enable operation in this software driven environment, the mechanical or analog display outputs require a mechanical to electrical built in conversion whose result is going to be handled by a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) 428. The HAL layer 428 serves as an interface layer between raw electrical signals and bit encoded information. The HAL layer 428 offers generalization over underlying hardware, so that different hardware components that present similar characteristics can be treated in a homogeneous way by the Common Language runtime (CLR) layer 430.
With continuing reference to
According to this embodiment, libraries are implemented in high NET framework languages and are compiled into IL code. Libraries are object oriented APIs and are the only layer exposed to application programmers, offering a safe execution environment. The device 420 utilizes a number of libraries including Hardware libraries and managed driver libraries offering an object oriented API capable of driving the underlying hardware while listening and reacting to the hardware events, such as a button press or a wireless signal capture event. According to other embodiments, the libraries and drivers may be extended to fit to various H/W characteristics.
As described above, each client device includes a processor having an ARM 7 (or 9) core with additional functionalities such as: general purpose I/O (GpIO), VTU (Versatile Timer Unit); SPI and others features meant to drive and communicate with hardware; VTU exposes distinct Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) functionalities as well as input capture functionalities. The external hardware, including the various analog (mechanical) indicators described herein, is abstracted into a set of objects in the Shell 422 and H/W 424 libraries. Those objects expose the feature of interest of the H/W to the managed application and leverage the processor capabilities to communicate and drive the hardware. The hardware and the application preferably provide 2 way interaction: the application can collect data from the H/W by mean of both push and pull mechanisms and can force H/W to enter a particular state, therefore driving it. Thus, the communication to and from the hardware layer 432 and the application layer 434 is bidirectional built on top of the API object model.
As described above, Application inputs though the H/W may consist of user input and wireless signal data received over the wireless signal channel, radio for example, or through a connection (COM or USB) to a host PC or again through direct user input. The output of the application consist of elaborated data directed to an application running on the host PC or to the electrical and/or mechanical media designed to present the user with the information.
The object API and its interaction with the CLR and the underlying HAL layer allow the application programmer to express the information with a very wide variety of mechanisms. The presentation layer may use visual, tactile and acoustic mechanisms which may be electrical or mechanical, LED and LCD displays, hands, dials, rings, disks and in general any motion or motionless mechanism that can be driven out of an electrical modulated source and produce a tactile, visible, and/or acoustic feedback. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the various mechanisms useful for conveying information to a user and the invention is not intended to be limited by any examples or illustrations described herein.
The mechanisms are programmable by controlling the production and modulation of an electrical signal from the object API layer. For example, one implementation uses general API capable of driving the GpIO and VTU circuits of the core or by using more sophisticated and peculiar drivers that may use those underlying APIs or call directly into special purpose routines in the CLR and HAL layers. The libraries are designed to allow both push and pull programming paradigm: the CLR layer can call back into the libraries in response to a H/W event or libraries can poll the CLR layer 430 which in turn polls the HAL layer 428 to extract the H/W state and act upon a change.
Referring again to
As described above, the watch device 300 includes analog or mechanical display features 310 and/or a digital display 314 for displaying information received from wireless signals transmitted from a radio-frequency (RF) driven source, preferably a frequency modulated source. The information contained in the wireless signals may include stock information, sports information, weather information, and other desired user information. The inventive watch device allows information received from wireless signals to be conveyed to a user using the analog and/or mechanical display features, described in detail below.
As depicted in
In alternative embodiments, channels may be automatically displayed as part of a rotating schedule. For example, the analog and digital displays 310 and 314 may update and convey stock information based a stock channel transmission for a predetermined time period. It is also possible to independently update each display. After the predetermined time period, two minutes for example, the analog and digital displays 310 and 314 may convey sports-related information based a sport channel transmission for a predetermined time period, which may be a different period as compared to other display periods. The timing and update features are applicable to the embodiments discussed below.
According to the example depicted in
The analog display 310 includes a pointer 312 and “plus” and “minus” indicators 313 a and 313 b. The “plus” and “minus” indicators correspond to positive and negative changes in the stock index according to the current channel displayed in the digital display 314. In another example, the “plus” and “minus” indicators may correspond to positive and negative changes relative to a contender in a sporting contest, such as a football game. A positive indication conveys to the user that the particular stock, team, etc. is up based on the current display.
The pointer 312 conveying the relative information is controlled in part by the information received from the wireless broadcast signals. As discussed above, after processing the wireless signals, the electronic system converts the information to control inputs for controlling the movement of the pointer 312. The electronic system also converts the information to control the output of the digital display 314. The gradated analog display alerts the user as to whether a major change, no change, or a minor change has occurred with respect to the currently displayed channel. The further the pointer 312 extends into the “plus” or “minus” sectors, the greater the change. As shown in
For example, the watch device 300 may receive a transmitted message including a stock quote from a stock channel broadcast service. The broadcast service for the stock channel may have a series of subscribed stock quotes (e.g., MSFT, IBM, ORCL, etc.) that are indexed for an application on the client device. For this type of data stream, the stream locator identifies the starting location for the stock quote messages on the stock channel application for the client device. Each subsequent stock quote is a separate message that follows in sequence after the starting location identified by the stream locator. The client gathers all of the packets of the message before deserializing the content for the application layer.
Referring now to
As depicted in
The analog display 334 includes a pointer 340 and “plus” and “minus” indicators 340 a and 340 b. The “plus” and “minus” indicators correspond to positive and negative changes in the stock index according to the current channel displayed in the digital display 336. In another example, the “plus” and “minus” indicators may correspond to positive and negative changes relative to a contender in a sporting contest or to temperature changes, etc. The “plus” and “minus” indicators may also correspond to the potential for bad/good weather or financial conditions.
The pointer 340 conveying the relative information is controlled in part by the information received from the wireless broadcast signals. After processing the wireless signals, the electronic system converts the information to control inputs for controlling the movement of the pointer 340. The electronic system also converts the information to control the output of the digital display 336. The gradated analog display alerts the user as to whether a drastic change, no change, or a minor change has occurred with respect to the currently displayed channel, as described above. As shown in
According to the examples depicted in
Referring now to
The watch device 500 includes a bezel 502, which preferably contains an electronic system. The bezel 502 includes a plurality of analog displays 504 and 506. The bezel also includes analog-type watch hands 508 a-c for tracking hours, minutes, and seconds. In alternative embodiments, the watch hands may be used to track or draw attention to other information. For this embodiment, it is preferred that the hour and minute hands 508 a and 508 b also each include a light-emitting diode (LED) 510 a and 510 b, respectively. Each hour mark 512 also preferably includes an LED. The watch device 500 utilizes the LEDs, alone or in combination to convey information to a user of the device, as described further below. The watch device 500 also includes at least one selector 514 operable as a user interface (UI). The selector 514 operates according to both translational and rotational movement, allowing multiple functions to be performed based on how the selector is manipulated by the user (see the description with respect to
As shown in
The first and second analog displays 504 and 506, in conjunction, convey information to a user based upon a currently selected channel. For this embodiment, the analog displays 504 and 506, each include a window fabricated as part of the watch face and an information indicator mechanism including a plurality of informational icons, described below. The first analog display includes window 504 a and information indicator mechanism 504 b. As depicted in
The second analog display 506 also includes a window 506 a and an informational indicator mechanism 506 b including a plurality of informational icons. An informational icon 518 of the second analog display provides additional information to the user based on the icon displayed in the first analog display 504. For example, the second analog display 506 is currently displaying an informational icon having an upwardly pointing arrowhead or right-side-up triangle, thereby providing a relative value. The informational icon 518 alerts the user of the watch device 500 that DOW stock index is up for the day or positive, based on the symbols displayed by the first and second analog displays.
With additional reference now to
For example, as shown in
The first analog display 504 also includes other stock indicator icons 516 c-d and 516 f-g which are associated with different stock information. Stock indicator icon 516 b corresponds to the New York stock exchange (NYEX), stock indicator icon 516 c corresponds to the American stock exchange (AMEX), stock indicator icon 516 f corresponds to the NASDAQ stock exchange (NASD), and stock indicator icon 516 g corresponds to the Standard & Poor's (S&P). As described above, informational icons 518 a-c may be used in conjunction with informational icons 516 a-c and 516 f-g to convey relative and/or specific stock information to a user of the watch device 500.
With continuing reference to
For this embodiment, each information indicator mechanism may be in the form of a disk or wheel located behind the watch face 520, so that the user only sees an icon displayed through the windows 504 a and 506 a. It will be appreciated that other mechanisms may be utilized for the information indicator mechanism 504 b, such as a rotating drum, rotating tape, etc. Whatever mechanism is used for the information indicator mechanism, it should be designed to be pleasing to the eye, i.e. elegant. The information indicator mechanism 504 b, a disk for this embodiment, may be driven by a motor, piezoelectric devices, and the like, based on wireless signals received and processed by the electronic system. Each disk may be rotated to display a particular icon based upon the information processed from the wireless signals by the electronic system.
Referring now to
According to the invention, a watch device may be tailored to a particular consumer's requirements, a particular sports team, for example. Referring to
According to this example, a user ordered the watch device 700 based on his/her zeal as a New York Yankee fan. Based on this, the watch device 700 is fabricated with the New York Yankee logo 703. The first analog display 702, informs the user of the current inning of a baseball game, the top of the third inning for this example. The second analog display 704 informs the user that the Yankees have 3 runs. Third analog display 706 informs the user that the Yankees are playing Boston, who currently have 1 run, according to fourth analog display 708. Based on information received from a wireless sports channel transmission, the analog displays inform the user of a favorite team's game status, for example.
As shown in
It will be appreciated that the analog displays may be tailored to a variety of events, such as football, hockey, golf, etc. according to a user's preference. Optionally, the watch device 700 may be fabricated having a number of LED 710 a-f, for alerting the user to various events of a game, etc., in addition to the analog displays. Thus, a common module may be produced and re-used for similar applications, that is, for other teams, etc. For example,
In various alternative embodiments, one or more of the LEDs may be used to convey information to the user of the watch device. For example, the LEDs may be caused to display “red” when a particular stock index or team is down for the day, or if the weather is severe or threatening. The LEDs may be caused to display “green” when a particular stock index or team is up for the day, or if the weather is pleasant, for example. Vibration and/or sound output from the tactile interface 276 and/or audio interface 274 may also be used to convey information to a user of the watch device based on received and processed wireless signals. For example, the watch device may be caused to vibrate and/or emit a sound if the user's team wins a game or if a significant change has occurred in a stock portfolio. The vibration and/or sound may be modulated at different frequencies according to different events, for example a loss, win, stock up or down, extra innings or periods, etc. It will be appreciated that each information indicator mechanism may be fabricated to include greater or fewer informational icons operable to convey different types of content, and the invention is not intended to be limited by any examples and/or embodiments disclosed herein.
The present invention is not limited to a watch device. For example, the arrows in
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
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|US-Klassifikation||455/566, 455/414.3, 455/145, 455/158.4, 455/412.1, 455/158.5, 455/154.2, 455/414.2, 455/412.2, 455/414.4|
|Internationale Klassifikation||H04H20/00, G04G99/00, H04M1/00|
|Unternehmensklassifikation||G04G21/04, G06F1/1698, G06F1/163, G04G9/0064, G06F1/1613, G06F1/1637|
|Europäische Klassifikation||G06F1/16P9D, G06F1/16P9P9, G06F1/16P, G06F1/16P5, G04G9/00F, G04G21/04|
|9. Nov. 2004||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: MICROSOFT CORPORATION, WASHINGTON
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:COLANDO, CHRISTIAN J.;TAN, ALBERT W.;HOWARD, DANE M.;ANDOTHERS;REEL/FRAME:015356/0294;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040915 TO 20041021
|3. Mai 2013||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|22. Sept. 2013||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|12. Nov. 2013||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20130922
|15. Jan. 2015||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, WASHINGTON
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MICROSOFT CORPORATION;REEL/FRAME:034766/0001
Effective date: 20141014