Method, device and storage medium for enhancing text transmission and reception of accessory devices

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods, devices and storage media for accessory device text transceiving enhancement. The present disclosure provides methods and devices for a wireless accessory device (AD) that includes a cellular radio component to communicate with a cellular network using the cellular radio component. The wireless AD establishes a text transceiving session with a network entity through the cellular network and using the cellular radio component. The wireless AD starts a countdown timer in response to establishing the text transceiving session. The wireless AD determines that the companion device of the wireless AD is reachable by the wireless AD. The wireless AD suppresses pairing with the companion device in response to determining that the companion device is reachable by the wireless device until the countdown timer expires. After the countdown timer expires, if the companion device is still reachable by the wireless AD, the wireless AD can pair with the companion device and / or power off its cellular radio component.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of invention patent application No. 202010473300.7, with an application date of May 29, 2020 and an invention name of “Method, device and storage medium for enhancing text transmission and reception of accessory devices”.

[0002] Priority claim

[0003] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 855,831, filed on May 31, 2019, entitled “Accessory Device Texting Enhancements,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as if fully and completely set forth herein. Technical Field

[0004] The present application relates to wireless communications, including providing improved text communication capabilities for small form factor devices such as smartphones or wearable devices (e.g., smart watches). Background Art

[0005] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In addition, wireless communication technology has evolved from only voice communication to also include the transmission of data (such as the Internet and multimedia content).

[0006] Mobile electronic devices may take the form of smart phones or tablet computers that are often carried or held by users. Smaller form factor devices such as smart watches are newer mobile electronic devices. These and other devices designed to be worn by users may be referred to as wearable devices. In the past, the wireless communication capabilities of wearable devices were generally limited; for example, some wearable devices were only able to communicate through a wired interface or through short-range point-to-point technology. In addition, wearable devices typically have smaller batteries and more limited input and output capabilities than larger portable devices such as smart phones and tablet computers. These hardware limitations present unique challenges to providing a good user experience in text messaging applications that utilize small form factor devices. Thus, improvements are desired in this area. Summary of the invention

[0007] In particular, this document proposes implementation schemes of a user equipment (UE) device, which may be a smart phone or a wearable device (such as a smart watch), and associated methods for enabling the device to improve the continuity of text messaging applications for basic services such as emergency scenarios and other important applications.

[0008] In some embodiments, a wireless accessory device (AD) such as a wearable device establishes a texting session with a network entity through a cellular network and using a cellular radio component of the wireless AD. The wireless AD then starts a countdown timer in response to establishing the texting session.

[0009] In some embodiments, the wireless AD determines that the companion device of the wireless AD is reachable by the wireless AD. In some embodiments, the wireless AD at least partially refrains from pairing with the companion device until a countdown timer expires in response to determining that the companion device is reachable by the wireless device.

[0010] The present invention is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the themes described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are only examples and should not be interpreted as narrowing the scope or essence of the themes described in this invention in any way. Other features, aspects and advantages of the themes described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] A better understanding of the present subject matter may be obtained when the following detailed description of the embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings.

[0012] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system including a wearable device according to some embodiments is shown;

[0013] Figure 2 An exemplary system is shown in which a wireless accessory device (AD) can selectively communicate directly with a cellular base station or utilize the cellular capabilities of an intermediate or proxy device such as a smartphone, according to some embodiments;

[0014] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary UE, such as a smart phone or a wearable device, according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 4 is an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments; and

[0016] Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for utilizing a timer by a wireless AD to delay pairing with a companion device during a text messaging session, according to some embodiments.

[0017] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit this document to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the purpose is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

[0018] As used herein, the term "configured to" implies a structure (e.g., circuitry) by indicating that a unit / circuit / component includes the structure to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, the unit / circuit / component is said to be configured to perform the task even when the specified unit / circuit / component is not currently operational (e.g., not turned on). The units / circuit / components used with the phrase "configured to" include hardware - e.g., circuitry, memory storing program instructions executable to perform the operation, etc. Stating that a unit / circuit / component is "configured to" perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke interpretation of 35 USC §112(f) with respect to the unit / circuit / component. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] the term

[0020] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

[0021] Storage medium - any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "storage medium" is intended to include installation media, for example, CD-ROM, floppy disk or tape device; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, for example, hard disk drive or optical storage device; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The storage medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or their combination. In addition, the storage medium may be located in the first computer system executing the program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "storage medium" may include two or more storage media that may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The storage medium may store program instructions (e.g., expressed as a computer program) that can be executed by one or more processors.

[0022] Carrier Medium—storage media as described above, and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that transport signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals.

[0023] Programmable hardware element - includes various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGA (field programmable gate array), PLD (programmable logic device), FPOA (field programmable object array), and CPLD (complex PLD). Programmable function blocks can vary from fine-grained (combinational logic unit or lookup table) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic unit or processor core). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units".

[0024] Computer system - any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a storage medium.

[0025] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone TM , based on Android TM phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM , PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM , iPhone TM ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic device, computing device and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that can be easily transmitted by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0026] Base Station - The term "base station" (also referred to as "eNB") has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless cellular communication system.

[0027] Processing element - refers to various elements or combinations of elements. Processing elements include, for example, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and / or larger portions of systems including multiple processors.

[0028] Automatic-refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the need for user input to directly specify or perform the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatic" is contrasted with a user manually performing or specifying an action, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing in information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills out the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling out of a form, but not participate in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions taken by a user.

[0029] Figure 1 -Wireless communication system

[0030] Figure 1 An example of a wireless cellular communication system is illustrated. It should be noted that Figure 1 This represents one possibility among many, and features of the present disclosure may be implemented by any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0031] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a cellular base station 102A that communicates over a transmission medium with one or more wireless devices 106A, 106B, etc., and a small form factor device, which may be, for example, a wearable device 107. Wireless devices 106A, 106B, and 107 may be user equipment, which may be referred to herein as "user equipment" (UE) or UE devices.

[0032] Base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site and may include hardware to enable wireless communications with UE device 106A, UE device 106B, and UE device 107. Base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, as well as various possible networks). Thus, base station 102 may facilitate communications between UE device 106 and UE device 107 and / or between UE device 106 / UE device 107 and network 100. In other specific implementations, base station 102 may be configured to provide communications via one or more other wireless technologies, such as an access point supporting one or more WLAN protocols, such as 802.11a, b, g, n, ac, ad, and / or ax, or LTE in an unlicensed band (LAA). Base station 102 (or similar network infrastructure) may also support other communication technologies such as text messaging, for example SMS (Short Message Service), and similar text messaging technologies such as Message TM , Facebook Messenger TM , WhatsApp TM wait.

[0033] The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station 102 may be referred to as a "cell". The base station 102 and the UE 106 / UE 107 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs) or wireless communication technologies, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), 5G New Radio (NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc. An example of LTE or LTE-A communication may be VoLTE (Voice over LTE).

[0034] Thus, base station 102 and other similar base stations (not shown) operating according to one or more cellular communication technologies can be provided as a cell network that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services to UE devices 106A-106A N and UE device 107 and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication technologies.

[0035] Note that, at least in some cases, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may be capable of communicating using any of a variety of wireless communication technologies. For example, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may be configured to communicate using one or more of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, WLAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, WiMAX, one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H), SMS, etc. Other combinations of wireless communication technologies (including more than two wireless communication technologies) are also possible. Similarly, in some cases, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may be configured to communicate using only a single wireless communication technology.

[0036] UE 106A and UE 106B are typically handheld devices, such as smart phones or tablets, but they can be any of various types of devices with communication capabilities such as cellular communication capabilities. UE 106B can be configured to communicate with UE device 107, which can be referred to as a small form factor device, a wearable device, or a wireless accessory device (AD) 107. Wireless AD 107 can be any of various types of devices. Typically, wireless ADs have a smaller form factor and may have a battery, output power, and / or communication capabilities that are limited relative to UE 106. As a common example, UE 106B can be a smart phone carried by a user, and wireless AD 107 can be a smart watch worn by the same user (or possibly by different users). Therefore, as another example, in the operations described herein, UE 106B can be a smart phone carried by a first user, and wireless AD 107 can be a smart watch worn by a second different user. UE 106B and wireless AD 107 may communicate using any of a variety of short-range communication protocols, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and the like.

[0037] The wireless AD 107 may include communication capabilities, such as cellular communication capabilities, and may therefore be able to communicate directly with the cellular base station 102. However, since the wireless AD 107 may have limitations in one or more of its communication capabilities, output power, and / or battery, the wireless AD 107 may selectively use the UE 106B as a proxy in some cases for the purpose of communicating with the base station 102 and thus with the network 100. In other words, the wireless AD 107 may selectively use the cellular communication capabilities of the UE 106B to conduct its cellular communications. The limitation on the communication capabilities of the wireless AD 107 may be permanent, for example due to limitations in output power or supported radio access technologies (RATs), or temporary, for example due to various conditions such as current battery status, inability to access the network, or poor reception.

[0038] Figure 2 - Example system with wireless accessory device

[0039] Figure 2 An exemplary small form factor device 107 is shown communicating with the base station 102. The small form factor device 107 may be a wireless AD, such as a smart watch or smart glasses. The wireless AD 107 may have cellular communication capabilities and can communicate directly with the base station 102 as shown. When the wireless AD 107 is configured to communicate directly with the base station, it is said that the wearable device is in "autonomous mode".

[0040] Wireless AD 107 may also be able to communicate with another device (e.g., UE 106) called a proxy device or an intermediate device using a short-range communication protocol and then use the cellular function of the proxy device for cellular voice / data communication with base station 102. In other words, wireless AD 107 can provide voice / data packets intended for base station 102 to UE 106 via a short-range link, and UE 106 can use its cellular function to transmit (or relay) the voice / data to the base station on behalf of wireless AD 107. Similarly, voice / data packets transmitted by the base station intended for wireless AD 107 can be received by the cellular function of UE 106 and then relayed to the wearable device via a short-range link. As described above, UE 106 can be a mobile phone, tablet or any other type of handheld device, media player, computer, laptop, or almost any type of wireless device. When wireless AD 107 is configured to use the cellular function of an intermediate device or proxy device to communicate indirectly with a base station, it can be said that wireless AD 107 is in "relay mode".

[0041] Various embodiments herein are described with respect to the wireless AD 107 selectively using its own cellular functionality (autonomous mode) to communicate with a base station or using the cellular functionality of the UE 106 (relay mode) for communication (e.g., for LTE or VoLTE). However, the embodiments described herein may also be used with other radio access technologies (RATs), such as to enable the wireless AD 107 to selectively use its own Wi-Fi functionality (autonomous mode) to communicate with a Wi-Fi access point or use the Wi-Fi functionality of the UE 106 (relay mode) for Wi-Fi communications.

[0042] Wireless AD 107 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. Wireless AD 107 may perform any method implementation in the method implementation described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, wireless AD 107 may include a processing element, such as a programmable hardware element (such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array)), an integrated circuit (IC), or other circuits configured to perform any method implementation in the method implementation described herein or any part of any method implementation in the method implementation described herein.

[0043] Wireless AD 107 may include one or more antennas for communicating using two or more wireless communication protocols or radio access technologies. In some embodiments, UE device 106 may be configured to communicate using a single shared radio component. The shared radio component may be coupled to a single antenna, or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Alternatively, UE device 106 may include two or more radio components. For example, UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE (or Advanced LTE) or Bluetooth, and may include a separate radio component for communicating using each of Advanced LTE and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0044] A small form factor device (e.g., wireless AD 107) may be any of a variety of types of devices that, in some embodiments, have a smaller form factor relative to a conventional smart phone and may have one or more of limited communication capabilities, limited output power, or limited battery life relative to a conventional smart phone. As described above, in some embodiments, wireless AD 107 is a smart watch or other type of wearable device. When UE 106 is capable of being used as a proxy by a proxy wireless AD 107, UE 106 may be referred to as a companion device of wireless AD 107.

[0045] Figure 3 -Exemplary block diagram of UE device

[0046] Figure 3 A possible block diagram of a UE device 106 or a wireless AD 107 is shown. As shown, UE 106 / UE 107 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, SOC 300 may include one or more processors 302 that can execute program instructions for UE 106 / UE 107, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. Processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 302 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306 and read-only memory (ROM) 350, flash memory 310). MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table conversion or setting. In some embodiments, MMU 340 may be included as part of processor 302.

[0047] UE device 106 / UE device 107 may also include other circuits or devices, such as display circuitry 304 , radio 330 , connector I / F 320 , and / or display 360 .

[0048] In the illustrated embodiment, ROM 350 may include a boot loader that may be executed by processor 302 during startup or initialization. Also as shown, SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of UE device 106 / UE device 107. For example, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may include various types of memory, connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), display 360, and wireless communication circuits (e.g., for communicating using LTE, 5GNR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, WiFi, NFC, GPS, etc.).

[0049] UE device 106 / UE device 107 may include at least one antenna, and in some embodiments may include multiple antennas, for performing wireless communications with base stations and / or other devices. For example, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may use antenna 335 to perform wireless communications. As described above, UE device 106 / UE device 107 may be configured in some embodiments to use multiple wireless communication standards or radio access technologies (RATs) for wireless communications.

[0050] As described herein, the UE device 106 and / or the wireless AD 107 may include hardware components and software components for implementing the methods according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 / UE device 107 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit).

[0051] Figure 4 - Exemplary block diagram of a base station

[0052] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a base station 102 according to some embodiments is shown. Note that Figure 4 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0053] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 Multiple devices of the telephone network described in, such as UE device 106.

[0054] The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0055] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. One or more antennas 434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including but not limited to LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0056] Base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In some cases, base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for performing communications according to LTE and a Wi-Fi radio component for performing communications according to Wi-Fi. In such cases, base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a Wi-Fi access point. As another possibility, base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio component capable of performing communications according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., LTE and Wi-Fi).

[0057] Base station 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting specific implementations of the features described herein.

[0058] Enhanced text messaging for accessory devices

[0059] Modern small form factor wireless devices (such as wearable devices, accessory devices, smart watches, and other types of wireless devices) may be equipped with both a short-range radio configured to pair with and communicate with a companion device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) device such as a smart phone) and a cellular radio that communicates independently with a cellular base station. For example, a modern accessory device may be configured to independently connect to a base station for transmission and reception of voice, text, and data with a network, even when it is not paired with a companion device. In some embodiments, an accessory device may have a telephone number independent of its companion device, which telephone number may be used to communicate with the network when the accessory device acts as a standalone cellular device. Alternatively, when paired with a companion device, the accessory device may simply act as a repeater to convey voice and data to the user, while the companion device's telephone number is used to communicate with the network.

[0060] As used herein, an accessory device (AD) such as Figures 1 to 3The wireless AD 107 shown in FIG. 1 is considered to refer to any of a variety of small form factor devices with or without a separate cellular radio component and with or without an associated companion device such as UE 106 .

[0061] During typical use, the AD may dynamically change its connection to its companion device and its position relative to its companion device. Embodiments herein present enhancements to texting applications such as short message service (SMS) applications or other texting applications operating through or on an accessory device to address the complexities that may arise in these environments.

[0062] Emergency text messaging in roaming environments

[0063] In some embodiments, the AD and / or UE may operate in a roaming environment, in which the text transceiving application may not operate properly, and / or in which the use of the text transceiving application may incur additional charges. For example, a typical short message service (SMS) message may first be sent to the SMS service center (SMSC) of the local operator. However, if the device is roaming, the SMS may arrive at different SMSCs (possibly in different countries / regions), which may cause confusion and / or rejection of the service by the user, as well as cause unnecessary load on the network. Additionally, in some embodiments, the AD and / or UE may be configured with a "save our ship" or "SOS" feature, in which the user may present input to the device to indicate that the user is in distress. In these embodiments, the activation of the SOS feature may cause the device to periodically transmit text messages to emergency contacts, such as emergency agencies (e.g., 911, 112, etc.), or to one or more customized emergency contacts configured on the device. However, if the device is in a roaming scenario, the emergency text may not be successful, or it may cause unpredictable behavior. To address these and other issues, according to various embodiments, various texting enhancements may be implemented as described below.

[0064] In some embodiments, when using the SOS feature, the device may notify the user about the possibility of additional roaming charges for automatically generated SMS notifications to emergency contacts. In some embodiments, when in a roaming environment, the device may prematurely fail the SMS to inform the user in advance that the SOS service may not function properly in a roaming environment.

[0065] In other embodiments, when activated, the SOS service may periodically send emergency beacons to emergency contacts. In a roaming environment, such repeated transmissions may incur significant expenses to the user due to roaming data and / or service usage charges. Therefore, in these embodiments, the device may be configured to send the emergency beacon only once or another predetermined number of times (e.g., 3 or 5 times) to avoid the additional costs of continuously retransmitting the emergency beacon.

[0066] Multiple SIM interruption avoidance

[0067] In some embodiments, the AD may be a dual subscriber identity module (SIM) device configured with multiple SIMs, such as a dual SIM dual standby (DSDS) device or another type of multi-SIM device. In these embodiments, the multi-SIM device may participate in an emergency texting session or another important texting session on the first SIM, and the device may receive an incoming call or text on the second SIM, thereby potentially interrupting the ongoing texting session. For example, an incoming call or text may interrupt the ongoing texting session at the baseband or user interface (e.g., by presenting a pop-up notification). To avoid such interruptions, when the device initiates an emergency texting session or other important or high priority texting session, the device may automatically deactivate (OOS) the second SIM or enter a low power mode, in which the second SIM no longer receives incoming calls.

[0068] Dynamic SIM switching

[0069] In some embodiments, during an emergency texting session or another texting session, a particular outgoing text message may fail due to a fatal error at the baseband, a routing protocol error, and / or other reasons. According to various embodiments, if the device is a multi-SIM device, the device may automatically retry sending the text message on another SIM, with or without input from the user.

[0070] Although retrying to send the text message on the other SIM may increase the likelihood of a successful transmission, it may adversely affect the continuity of the texting session. For example, if a dual SIM device successfully sends one or more text messages to establish a texting session, switching SIMs in the middle of the session may change the number associated with the outgoing session and interrupt the continuity of the session. Particularly in an emergency texting session or another important or high priority texting session, it may not be desirable to switch the outgoing number (e.g., by switching SIMs) in the middle of the session. Therefore, in these embodiments, if a message fails to be sent after one or more messages have been successfully sent on the first SIM to establish the texting session, the device may refrain from switching SIMs to maintain the continuity of the session.

[0071] Prevent pairing and / or baseband deactivation

[0072] In some embodiments, the AD may initiate an emergency texting session or another type of high priority texting session over the network while operating in standalone mode (e.g., when it is not paired with a companion UE and is utilizing its own cellular radio to communicate with the network). In current implementations, if during a texting session the AD moves to a proximity where it can be paired with its companion UE, the AD may be configured to automatically power down its cellular baseband and pair with the companion UE in order to conserve battery power. This behavior may be undesirable because it may interrupt the ongoing texting session by switching numbers in the session (e.g., from a phone number associated with the AD to a phone number associated with the companion UE), and may cause the AD to lose one or more incoming text messages and / or fail to send one or more outgoing text messages associated with the ongoing texting session. Therefore, in some embodiments, the AD may be configured to start a countdown timer (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour, or another duration) when an emergency or other texting session is initiated, wherein if the companion UE does not become available until before the timer expires, the AD will not pair with its companion UE or power down its cellular baseband. In some embodiments, each transmitted and / or received text message associated with the texting session may cause the AD to reset the countdown timer.

[0073] Activate cellular data during texting sessions

[0074] In some embodiments, a texting session such as T-911, SOS or another type of texting application active on a device may utilize a network-initiated location query (NILR) or require cellular data to be active on the device to operate normally for another type of service. For example, if the device can access data, the positioning accuracy of the device can be greatly improved, because in the case where it is important for the network to determine the location of the device in a short period of time, the data channel may be able to facilitate access to a hybrid emergency location (HELO) service or another data-based location service. Additionally, the user of the device may have disabled the cellular data on the device to reduce data charges or for other reasons. In these embodiments, if the user attempts to initiate a high-priority texting session or another type of texting session requiring cellular data, the device may be configured to automatically turn on cellular data to ensure that the session is successfully run. For example, it may be important that an emergency texting service such as T-911 can utilize NILR to identify the location of the device, and the user of the device may not have the time or the appropriate mentality to reconfigure the cellular data of the T-911 session. It may also be important that the SOS service can also utilize NILR to, for example, provide the location of the device to the user's emergency contact. Therefore, it may be desirable to automatically enable cellular data when initiating a T-911 session to ensure that the emergency service provider can locate the device.

[0075] Alternatively, in some embodiments, automatically activated cellular data may be user configurable from a user interface of the device on a per application and / or per SIM basis.

[0076] Figure 5 - Flowchart for countdown timer for texting session

[0077] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for utilizing a countdown timer during a texting session by a wireless accessory device (AD) according to some embodiments. Figure 5 The scheme shown in the figure can be combined with the computer system or device shown in the above figure (such as Figures 1 to 3 The wireless AD 107 shown in the figure can be used together with any computer system or device. In various embodiments, some of the components of the illustrated scheme can be executed simultaneously in an order different from the order shown, or can be omitted. Additional elements can also be executed as needed. As shown in the figure, the scheme can be operated as follows.

[0078] At 502, the wireless AD establishes a texting session with a network entity through a cellular network and using a cellular radio component. For example, the wireless AD may act as a standalone cellular device to establish a texting session with a network entity without relaying the texting session through a companion device such as UE 106. The texting session may be any of a variety of texting sessions, including an SOS session, an SMS session, or a high priority texting session.

[0079] In some embodiments, the wireless AD may determine that the texting session is a high priority texting session. In these embodiments, if the wireless AD is a dual SIM device operating the texting session through the first SIM, the wireless AD may deactivate the second SIM during the high priority texting session to prevent an incoming call on the second SIM from interrupting the high priority texting session.

[0080] In some embodiments, the wireless AD may determine that the texting session requires access to cellular data to operate normally. For example, as described in more detail above, the texting session may involve transmitting the location information of the wireless AD through a data-driven service. In these embodiments, the wireless AD automatically enables cellular data for the texting session at least in part in response to determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to operate normally.

[0081] At 504, the wireless AD initiates a countdown timer in response to establishing the texting session. The countdown timer duration may be selected based on a typical length of time for completing a texting session, such as 30 minutes, one hour, or another duration.

[0082] At 506, the wireless AD determines that the companion device of the wireless AD is reachable by the wireless AD. For example, the wireless AD and / or the companion device may move close enough to each other so that the wireless device can communicate with the wireless AD via Bluetooth. TM Or another short-range wireless communication technology for establishing a connection between the wireless AD and the supporting device is connected to the supporting device. The wireless AD may periodically monitor the signal from the supporting device, and may determine that the supporting device is reachable based on the signal strength of the signal from the supporting device exceeding a threshold. The supporting device may be a UE 106 associated with the wireless AD, such as a smart phone or a tablet.

[0083] At 508, at least in part in response to determining that the companion device is reachable by the wireless device, the wireless AD suppresses pairing with the companion device until a countdown timer expires. For example, the wireless AD may be configured to automatically pair with the companion device when the companion device is reachable. However, if the countdown timer has not expired, the wireless AD may delay pairing with the companion device until the countdown timer expires to maintain continuity of the texting session. For example, the wireless AD may establish a texting session using a first phone number, while the companion device is configured to establish a connection with a network using a second, different phone number. Therefore, if the wireless AD is paired with the companion device during the texting session, the texting session may be interrupted if the wireless AD is unable to seamlessly migrate the texting session from the first phone number to the second phone number. Advantageously, the countdown timer can be used to grant the wireless AD sufficient time to complete the texting session before pairing with the companion device to prevent the texting session from being interrupted. In particular, if the texting session is a high priority texting session such as an SOS session or another high priority session, the user experience may be improved by delaying the pairing process until the countdown timer expires to prioritize the continuity of the texting session over the benefits of pairing with a companion device (e.g., by using a larger and / or more powerful radio component of the companion device to preserve the battery life of the wireless AD and / or improve the reliability of the network connection). For example, in some embodiments, starting the countdown timer and suppressing pairing with the companion device until the countdown timer expires are further performed in response to determining that the texting session is a high priority texting session.

[0084] In some embodiments, further in response to determining that the companion device is reachable by the wireless device, the wireless AD may refrain from powering off the cellular radio component until a countdown timer expires.

[0085] In some embodiments, the wireless AD may receive incoming text messages and / or may send outgoing text messages through the texting session. In these embodiments, the wireless AD may restart the countdown timer in response to determining that an incoming text message has been received or an outgoing text message has been sent through the texting session. In other words, the wireless AD may wait until no outgoing text message is sent or no incoming text message is received, respectively, for the duration of the countdown timer before pairing with a companion device and / or powering off the cellular radio component of the wireless AD.

[0086] In some embodiments, when the countdown timer expires, the wireless AD may pair with the companion device and / or power off the cellular radio component of the wireless AD at least in part in response to determining that the countdown timer has expired and the companion device is still reachable by the wireless AD.

[0087] In some embodiments, the wireless AD is a dual SIM device configured with a first subscriber identity module (SIM) and a second SIM. In these embodiments, the wireless AD may determine that a first outgoing text message failed to be sent through a text transceiving session using the first SIM. In response to determining that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent, the wireless AD may determine whether the first outgoing text message is a first attempted outgoing text message of the text transceiving session, or whether the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages have been successfully sent through the text transceiving session using the first SIM. In these embodiments, if it is determined that the first outgoing text message is the first attempted outgoing text message of the text transceiving session, the wireless AD may attempt to transmit the first outgoing text message using the second SIM based at least in part on determining that the first outgoing text message is the first attempted outgoing text message of the text transceiving session. On the other hand, if it is determined that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages have been successfully sent using the first SIM via the text transceiving session, the wireless AD may suppress attempting to send the first outgoing text message using the second SIM based at least in part on determining that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more other outgoing text messages have been successfully sent using the first SIM via the text transceiving session.

[0088] As described above, one aspect of the present technology is to collect and use data available from specific and legitimate sources to, for example, improve the reliability of location information associated with a user for emergency text messaging or other text messaging applications. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, the collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to identify a specific person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, online identifiers, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, data or records related to a user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital signs measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other personal information.

[0089] The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present invention technology can be used to benefit users. For example, personal information data can be used to more accurately identify the user's location based on the user's preferences.

[0090] The present disclosure envisions that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities will be expected to implement and consistently apply privacy practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding the requirements of the industry or government that maintain user privacy. Such information about the use of personal data should be highlighted and easily accessible to users, and should be updated as the collection and / or use of data changes. The user's personal information should be collected only for legal use. In addition, such collection / sharing should only occur after receiving user consent or other legal basis specified in applicable law. In addition, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and safeguard access to such personal information data and ensure that others who have access to personal information data comply with their privacy policies and processes. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate that they comply with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted for specific types of personal information data collected and / or accessed, and applied to applicable laws and standards, including considerations that are exclusive to jurisdictions that can be used to impose higher standards. For example, in the United States, collection or access to certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly.

[0091] Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates implementation schemes in which users selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates providing hardware elements and / or software elements to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology may be configured to allow users to choose to "opt in" or "opt out" of collecting personal information data at any time during or after registration for a service. As another example, a user may choose not to provide location data for a text messaging application. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified that their personal information data will be accessed when downloading an application, and then be reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

[0092] In addition, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risks can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data once it is no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect the privacy of users. De-identification can be facilitated by removing identifiers, controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at a city level rather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users), and / or other methods such as differential privacy, where appropriate.

[0093] Thus, while the present disclosure broadly covers the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may also be implemented without access to such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology will not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data. For example, content may be selected and delivered to a user based on aggregated non-personal information data or an absolute minimum amount of personal information, such as content processed only on the user's device or other non-personal information that may be used for content delivery services.

[0094] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0095] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein if the program instructions are executed by a computer system, the computer system is caused to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0096] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., UE 106) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute program instructions from the storage medium, wherein the program instructions can be executed to implement a method, such as any method implementation in the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementation in the method implementations described herein or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0097] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A wireless accessory device AD, comprising: Cellular radio components; a first subscriber identity module SIM and a second SIM; and a processing element coupled to the cellular radio, wherein the wireless AD is configured to communicate with a cellular network using the processing element and the cellular radio, wherein the wireless AD is configured to: establishing a texting session with a network entity via the cellular network and using the cellular radio component; determining that a first outgoing text message cannot be sent through the texting session using the first SIM; determining that the first outgoing text message could not be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages had been successfully sent via the texting session using the first SIM; and Attempting to send the first outgoing text message using the second SIM is refrained from based at least in part on determining that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages have been successfully sent over the texting session using the first SIM.

2. The wireless AD according to claim 1, wherein the wireless AD is further configured as: determining that a third outgoing text message cannot be sent through the texting session using the first SIM; determining that the third outgoing text message is a first attempted outgoing text message of the texting session; and Based at least in part on determining that the third outgoing text message is the first attempted outgoing text message for the texting session, attempting to transmit the third outgoing text message using the second SIM. 3 . The wireless AD of claim 1 , wherein establishing a texting session comprises sending the one or more second outgoing text messages.

4. The wireless AD according to claim 1, The text transceiving session comprises a high priority text transceiving session.

5. The wireless AD according to claim 4, The wireless AD is further configured to deactivate the second SIM when the high priority texting session is initiated.

6. The wireless AD according to claim 4, The wireless AD is further configured to place the second SIM in a low power mode when initiating the high priority text transceiving session.

7. The wireless AD according to claim 1, wherein the wireless AD is further configured as: determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly; and In response at least in part to determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly, the cellular data is automatically enabled for use with the texting session.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a wireless accessory device AD ​​to: Establishing a text transceiver session with a network entity via a cellular network using a cellular radio component of the wireless AD and a first subscriber identity module SIM; determining that a first outgoing text message cannot be sent through the texting session using the first SIM; determining that the first outgoing text message could not be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages had been successfully sent via the texting session using the first SIM; and Attempting to send the first outgoing text message using a second SIM of the wireless AD is refrained from based at least in part on determining that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages have been successfully sent over the texting session using the first SIM.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the wireless AD to: determining that a third outgoing text message cannot be sent through the texting session using the first SIM; determining that the third outgoing text message is a first attempted outgoing text message of the texting session; and Based at least in part on determining that the third outgoing text message is the first attempted outgoing text message for the texting session, attempting to transmit the third outgoing text message using the second SIM.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein establishing the texting session comprises sending the one or more second outgoing text messages.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 8, The text transceiving session comprises a high priority text transceiving session.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the wireless AD is further configured to deactivate the second SIM when the high priority texting session is initiated.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the wireless AD is further configured to place the second SIM in a low power mode when the high priority texting session is initiated.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the wireless AD is further configured to: determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly; and In response at least in part to determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly, the cellular data is automatically enabled for use with the texting session.

15. A method for operating a wireless accessory device AD, the method comprising: Establishing a text transceiver session with a network entity via a cellular network using a cellular radio component of the wireless AD and a first subscriber identity module SIM; determining that a first outgoing text message cannot be sent through the texting session using the first SIM; determining that the first outgoing text message could not be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages had been successfully sent via the texting session using the first SIM; and Attempting to send the first outgoing text message using a second SIM of the wireless AD is refrained from based at least in part on determining that the first outgoing text message failed to be sent after one or more second outgoing text messages have been successfully sent over the texting session using the first SIM.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein establishing the texting session comprises sending the one or more second outgoing text messages.

17. The method according to claim 15, The text transceiving session comprises a high priority text transceiving session.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: The second SIM is deactivated during the high priority texting session.

19. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: The second SIM is placed in a low power mode during the high priority texting session.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly; as well as In response at least in part to determining that the texting session requires access to cellular data to function properly, the cellular data is automatically enabled for use with the texting session.

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