Wearable electronic device accessory interface

Abstract

Systems and methods for establishing a communication link between two or more electronic devices are presented. A portable eye-mounted electronic device is configured to communicate with a handheld electronic device, such as a smart ring, secured by an auxiliary electronic device for establishing a wired communication link. The secondary electronic device may be secured or encapsulated in a second secondary electronic device, such as a remote controller or wearable device.

Description

This application is a divisional application for the invention patent with the invention name “Wearable electronic device accessory interface”, the application date is November 18, 2020, and the application number is 202080084494.X. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 944,625, filed on December 6, 2019, and entitled “WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE ACCESSORY INTERFACE,” and U.S. Utility Application No. 16 / 799,381, filed on February 24, 2020, and entitled “WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE ACCESSORY INTERFACE,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0002] Examples described in this disclosure relate to portable electronic devices, including wearable electronic devices, such as eye-mounted devices. More specifically, but not intended to be limiting, this disclosure describes systems and methods for communicating between a handheld electronic device such as a smart bracelet and one or more auxiliary electronic devices such as a charging station. Background Art

[0003] Currently, there are many types of computers and electronic devices available, including wearable devices that include auxiliary charging and communication systems. The auxiliary charging system is suitable for charging the computers and electronic devices. The communication system is suitable for exchanging information with these devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] From the following detailed description (with reference to the accompanying drawings), it is easy to understand the features of the various embodiments disclosed. In the several views of the specification and the accompanying drawings, each element corresponds to a reference numeral. When there are multiple similar elements, a single reference numeral can be assigned to the similar elements, and the added lowercase letters indicate the specific elements.

[0005] Unless otherwise specified, the various elements shown in the figures are not drawn to scale. The sizes of various elements may be enlarged or reduced for clarity. Several figures illustrate one or more embodiments, which are intended to provide examples and are not limiting. The figures include:

[0006] Figure 1 A perspective view of an example hardware configuration of a handheld electronic device that may be used with an eye-mounted electronic device according to an example embodiment.

[0007] Figure 2 for Figure 1 A cross-sectional view of a handheld electronic device is shown.

[0008] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 An example hardware configuration diagram of a handheld electronic device (such as a smart ring) is shown;

[0009] Figure 4 It is available with Figure 1 A perspective view of an example hardware configuration for an auxiliary electronic device for use with a handheld electronic device is shown.

[0010] Figure 5 is along Figure 4 A top view of the cross section taken along the midline 5-5.

[0011] Figure 6 is along Figure 4 A cross-sectional elevation view taken along the center line 6-6.

[0012] Figure 7 yes Figure 4 An example hardware configuration block diagram of the auxiliary electronic device is shown.

[0013] Figure 8 yes Figure 1 The handheld electronic device shown (using Figure 4 A perspective view of an example configuration of auxiliary electronic devices shown.

[0014] Fig. 9 is along Figure 8 A top view of the cross section taken along the midline 9-9.

[0015] Fig.10 is a side view of an example hardware configuration of an eye-mounted electronic device.

[0016] Fig.11 is a schematic diagram of an example communication system including a handheld electronic device, an eye-mounted electronic device, an auxiliary electronic device, a second auxiliary electronic device, and a server system connected through various networks. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] Various embodiments and details are described with reference to examples. As shown in the examples, the communication system includes an eye-worn electronic device, a handheld electronic device (such as a smart ring) having an electronic communication interface, and an auxiliary electronic device (such as an expansion port of the smart ring). The auxiliary device has a main body that can be basically engaged with the handheld electronic device, and includes an electronic communication interface that is complementary to the communication interface of the handheld electronic device, and is used to transmit signals and / or power between the two devices when the communication interfaces are in physical contact. The auxiliary electronic device can be incorporated into, packaged, or attached to a second auxiliary device, such as a wearable electronic device or a remote control device. In addition to communication systems, the systems and methods described herein can be applied to various systems, especially systems in which a user wishes to establish a direct communication connection with a handheld electronic device and an accessory device to transmit data and power.

[0018] The following specific embodiments include the systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computer program products exemplified in this disclosure. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter and its related teaching content, many details and examples are adopted. However, technicians in the relevant fields can understand how to apply the related teaching content without these details. Because the related teaching content can be applied or practiced in various ways, the aspects of the disclosed subject matter are not limited to the specific devices, systems, and methods described. The terms and nomenclature used in this article are intended only to describe specific aspects and are not restrictive. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques will not necessarily be shown in detail.

[0019] As used herein, the terms "connected," "coupled," and "connected" refer to any logical, optical, physical, or electrical connection, including links, etc., by which an electrical or magnetic signal generated or provided by one system element is transmitted to another coupled, connected, or paired system element. Unless otherwise specified, coupled or connected elements or devices are not necessarily directly connected to each other and may be separated by (one or more) intermediate components, elements, or communication media that can modify, manipulate, or carry light or signals. The term "on" refers to being supported directly by an element, or indirectly by the element through another element that is integrated into or supported by the element.

[0020] The following description will partially set forth other objects, advantages and novel features of the examples. Such other objects, advantages and novel features will be apparent to those skilled in the art after reviewing the following and accompanying drawings, or may be understood and grasped by making or operating the examples. The objects and advantages of the subject matter may be realized and obtained by the methods, means and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

[0021] Reference will now be made in detail to the examples illustrated in the accompanying drawings and discussed below.

[0022] Figure 1 1 is a perspective view of a handheld electronic device 100. In the example, the handheld electronic device (e.g., a smart ring) 100 includes an outer surface 102 and an inner surface 104, the distance between the inner surface and the outer surface determines the thickness, which can be varied, such as forming an interior space 106 as shown. The smart ring 100 further includes a first side 108 and a second side 110, with a width 112 between the two sides. The outer surface as shown includes a touch pad 116, and the inner surface 104 includes charging and communication pins 114.

[0023] Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of an example hardware configuration of the smart ring 100. The size and shape of the touch panel 116 shown can be set to closely fit a portion of the outer surface 102 of the smart ring 100. The smart ring 100 may also include a light 118. The size and shape of the battery 120 may be suitable for being inside the body of the smart ring 100, connected to one or more charging and communication pins 114. Figure 3 As shown, the internal space 106 (in this example, located below the pins 114) can accommodate various components, such as a touch screen driver 122, a touch controller 124, a short-range transceiver 126, a microcontroller 128, a memory 130, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) 132.

[0024] Figure 3 1 is a high-level functional block diagram of an example handheld electronic device such as a smart ring 100. As shown, the smart ring 100 includes an input device 116 (e.g., a touch pad), a light 118 (e.g., a light emitting diode), a touch screen driver 122, a touch controller 124, a short-range transceiver 126, a microcontroller 128, a memory 130, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) 132, a battery 120, and one or more charging and communication pins 114.

[0025] The smart ring 100 includes at least one short-range transceiver 126 configured for short-range network communication, such as NFC, VLC, DECT, ZigBee, Bluetooth TM , BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) or WiFi. The short-range transceiver 126 can be in the form of any available two-way wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver, the type of which is compatible with one or more standard communication protocols implemented in the wireless local area network. The handheld electronic device wireless communication interface is configured to communicate with the eyewear device communication interface.

[0026] The transceiver 126 (i.e., the network communication interface) complies with one or more digital wireless communication standards used by modern mobile networks. Examples of transceivers include, but are not limited to, transceivers configured to operate according to code division multiple access (CDMA) and third generation partnership project (3GPP) network technologies, such as, but not limited to, third generation partnership project 2 (or 3GPP2) and LTE, sometimes referred to as "4G". For example, the transceiver 126 provides two-way wireless information communication, including digitized audio signals, static images and video signals, web page information for display and web page related input, and various mobile message communications with the smart ring 100.

[0027] The smart ring 100 may also include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. Alternatively or additionally, the smart ring 100 may utilize one or two short-range transceivers 126 to generate location coordinates for positioning. For example, a positioning system based on GPS, a cellular network, WiFi, or Bluetooth TM Very accurate position coordinates can be generated, especially when used in combination. These position coordinates can be sent to one or more portable eye-mounted electronic devices 100 and / or auxiliary electronic devices 400 (see, for example, FIG. 1 ) via the transceiver 126 through one or more network connections. Figure 4 and Fig.11 ), and sent to one or more second auxiliary electronic devices 600 (eg, see Fig.11 ).

[0028] The smart ring 100 further includes a microcontroller 128 serving as a central processing unit (CPU) of the smart ring 100. Figure 3 As shown. A processor is a circuit whose elements are constructed and arranged to perform one or more processing functions, usually various data processing functions. Although discrete logic components can be used, components constituting a programmable CPU are used in the example. For example, a microprocessor includes one or more integrated circuit (IC) chips that integrate electronic components that perform microprocessor functions. Taking the microcontroller 128 as an example, it can be based on any known or available microprocessor architecture, such as a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) using the ARM architecture, which is very commonly used in today's mobile devices and other portable electronic devices. Of course, other arrangements of processor circuits can be used to constitute the microcontroller 128 or processor hardware in smart phones, laptops and tablets. The microcontroller 128 performs various operations by configuring the smart ring 100, such as acting as a programmable host controller according to instructions or programming executable by the microcontroller 128. For example, such operations may include various general operations of the smart ring 100, as well as operations related to the programming of applications on the smart ring 100. Although the processor can be configured by adopting hard-wired logic, the typical processor in the mobile device is a general processing circuit configured by executing programming.

[0029] The smart ring 100 includes one or more memory elements 130 for storing programs and data. The memory 130 may include flash memory, random access memory (RAM) and / or other memory elements as needed. The memory 130 stores the programming and instructions required to perform all or a subset of the functions described herein. If there is RAM, it can be used as a short-term memory for instructions and data processed by the microcontroller 128. Depending on the specific type of handheld electronic device, the smart ring 100 stores and runs an operating system, through which specific applications are executed. The operating system may be a mobile operating system, such as Google Android, Apple iOS, Windows Mobile, Amazon Fire OS, RIM BlackBerry OS, etc.

[0030] In some examples, the smart ring 100 includes a series of motion sensing components, referred to as an inertial measurement unit 132. The motion sensing component may be a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) with miniature moving parts, which is typically small enough to form part of a microchip. In some example configurations, the inertial measurement unit (IMU) 132 includes an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer, which are used to sense acceleration, angular velocity, and the direction of the smart ring 100 relative to magnetic north, respectively. The position of the smart ring 100 can be determined by a position sensor, such as a GPS receiver, one or more transceivers for generating relative position coordinates, an altitude sensor or a barometer, and other orientation sensors. The inertial measurement unit 132 may include or cooperate with a digital motion processor or program that collects raw data from the components and calculates multiple useful values ​​about the position, direction, and motion of the smart ring 100.

[0031] The smart ring 100 may optionally include additional peripheral sensors, such as biometric sensors, specialized sensors, or display elements integrated with the smart ring 100. For example, the peripheral device element may include any input / output component, consisting of an output component, a motion component, a position component, an indicator, or any other such component described herein. For example, the biometric sensor may include a component for detecting expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body postures, or eye tracking), measuring biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, sweating, or brain waves), or character recognition (e.g., recognition based on sound, retina, facial features, fingerprints, or electrical biosignals such as electroencephalogram data).

[0032] Figure 41 is a perspective view of an example hardware configuration of an auxiliary electronic device 400 (e.g., a smart base) for use with a handheld electronic device such as a smart ring 100. The smart base 400 includes a substantially rectangular body that includes a partial or full circumferential groove (e.g., an "annular groove") 402 that sizes a raised center 403 to at least partially accommodate the smart ring 100. The annular groove 402 includes an inner wall 404 and an outer wall 406. Figure 4 As shown in the example embodiment of the smart base 400, the smart base 400 may include at least one USB charging port 408, at least one charging pin 410, at least one general purpose input / output (GPIO) port 412, and a release mechanism (e.g., an eject button) 414, which is shown as being disposed inside the raised center 403. On the one hand, the bottom end 416 of the bottom of the annular groove may transition to a shoulder 418, against which one side (108 or 110) of the smart ring 100 may abut. On the other hand, the charging pin 410 may extend outward from the inner wall 404 to contact the charging and communication pin 114 of the smart ring 100. The pin 114 of the handheld electronic device 100 at least partially includes a first electronic communication interface that is complementary to the second electronic communication interface of the auxiliary electronic device 400.

[0033] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 A top plan cross-sectional view of the auxiliary electronic device is shown, detailing the relationship between the annular groove 402, the raised center 403 and the release mechanism 414 and the shoulder 418. Figure 6 yes Figure 4 A side cutaway view of the vehicle shows more details.

[0034] Figure 7 is a high-level functional block diagram of an example auxiliary electronic device, such as a ring base 400, for use with Figure 1 The handheld electronic devices shown transmit power and communicate digital data simultaneously. Electronic device 700 may include control circuit 702, memory 704, storage 706, input / output (I / O) circuit 708, communication circuit 710, battery 712, and battery charger 714. In some examples, one or more components of electronic device 700 may be combined or omitted (e.g., memory 704 and storage 706 may be combined).

[0035] In some examples, electronic device 700 may include devices that are not combined or included in Figure 7 Other components among the components shown (e.g., motion detection components, power components, displays, buses, positioning systems, etc.), or Figure 7 Several example components are shown. For simplicity, Figure 7 Only one of each component listed in .

[0036] The control circuit 702 may include any processing circuit or processor for controlling the operation and performance of the electronic device 700. For example, the control circuit 702 may be used to run an operating system application, a firmware application, a media playback application, a media editing application, or any other application. In some examples, the control circuit 702 may drive a display and process input received from a user interface.

[0037] For example, the memory 704 may include one or more storage media, including a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, a flash memory, a permanent memory such as a ROM, and any other type of suitable storage component or any combination thereof. For example, the memory 704 may store media data (such as images and video files), application data (such as for implementing functions on the electronic device 700), firmware, user preference information data (such as media playback preferences), authentication information, lifestyle information data, wireless connection information data (such as information that enables the electronic device 700 to establish a wireless connection), etc.

[0038] Memory 706 may include cache memory, semi-permanent memory such as RAM, and / or one or more memories for temporarily storing data. In some examples, memory 706 may also be used to store data used to operate electronic device applications, or any other type of data that may be stored in memory 704. In some examples, memory 706 and storage 704 may be combined into a single storage medium.

[0039] Input / output circuitry 708 may be used to convert (and, if necessary, encode / decode) analog and other signals into digital data. In some examples, input / output circuitry 708 may also convert digital data into any other type of signal, and vice versa. For example, input / output circuitry 708 may receive and convert physical contact input (e.g., input from a multi-touch screen), physical motion (e.g., motion from a sensor), analog audio signals (e.g., signals from a microphone), or any other input. Digital data may be provided and received by control circuitry 702, memory 704, storage 706, or any other component of electronic device 700. Although input / output circuitry 708 may be used to convert digital data into digital data, such as a touch screen, physical motion (e.g., motion from a sensor), analog audio signals (e.g., signals from a microphone), or any other input. Figure 7 A single component of electronic device 700 is shown, but several instances of input / output circuit 708 may be incorporated into electronic device 700 .

[0040] The electronic device 700 may include any suitable interface or component that allows a user to provide input to the input / output circuitry 708. For example, the electronic device 700 may include any suitable input mechanism, such as buttons, a touch pad, or a touch screen. In some examples, electronic device 700 may include a capacitive sensing mechanism or a multi-touch capacitive sensing mechanism.

[0041] In some examples, electronic device 700 may include dedicated output circuitry associated with output devices, for example, the output devices may be one or more audio output devices.

[0042] In some examples, input / output circuitry 708 may include display circuitry (e.g., a screen or projection system) to provide a display visible to a user. For example, the display circuitry may include a screen (e.g., an LCD screen) integrated into electronic device 700. In some examples, the display circuitry may include a coder / decoder (CODEC) to convert digital media data into analog signals. For example, the display circuitry (or other related circuitry within electronic device 700) may include a video coder / decoder, an audio coder / decoder, or any other suitable type of coder / decoder.

[0043] The display circuit may also include a display driver circuit, a circuit for driving a display driver, or both. The display circuit may operate to display various content (e.g., media playback information, an application screen for an application implemented on an electronic device, information about current communication operations, information about incoming communication requests, or information about a device operation screen) in accordance with the instructions of the control circuit 702. Alternatively, the display circuit may be used to send instructions to a remote display.

[0044] The communication circuit 710 may include any suitable communication circuitry for connecting to a communication network and transmitting communications (e.g., voice or data) from the electronic device 700 to other devices in the network 1104 via a wired connection 1114 or a wireless connection 1116 such as the second auxiliary device 600 (see Fig.11 ). The communication circuit 710 can be connected to any communication network using an appropriate communication protocol, which may include, for example, Wi-Fi (e.g., 802.11 protocol), Bluetooth, BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), radio frequency systems (e.g., 900 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHz communication systems), infrared, GSM, GSM plus EDGE, CDMA, LTE and other cellular protocols, VOIP, or any other suitable protocol.

[0045] In some examples, the communication circuit 710 can be used to create a communication network using any appropriate communication protocol. For example, the communication circuit 710 can use a short-range communication protocol to create a short-range communication network to connect to other devices. For example, the communication circuit 710 can use a Bluetooth protocol to create a local communication network to achieve coupling between the electronic device 700 and a Bluetooth headset or other Bluetooth devices.

[0046] The electronic device 700 may include one or more communication circuits 710 to simultaneously perform multiple communication operations using different communication networks, but to avoid overly complex drawings, Figure 7 Only one example is shown in the figure. For example, electronic device 700 may include a first instance of communication circuit 710 for communicating via a cellular network, and a second instance of communication circuit 710 for communicating via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. In some examples, the same instance of communication circuit 710 can be used to implement communication in multiple communication networks.

[0047] In some examples, the electronic device 700 can be coupled to a host device for data transfer, synchronization of communication devices, software or firmware updates, providing performance information to a remote data source (e.g., providing ride characteristics to a remote server), or performing any other appropriate operation that may require the electronic device 700 to be coupled to a host device. Multiple electronic devices 700 can be coupled to a single host device using the host device as a server. Alternatively or in addition, the electronic device 700 can be coupled to multiple host devices (for one of the multiple host devices to act as a backup device for data stored in the electronic device 700).

[0048] In some examples, the electronic device 700 includes a digital interface (eg, I 2 C) a power line communication IC module, and optionally, additional electronic devices, such as a remote controller that communicates with the smart base 400 for operation.

[0049] The battery 712 may be sized and shaped to fit within the body of the smart base 400 , connecting to one or more charging and communication pins 410 and a battery charger 714 .

[0050] Figure 8 yes Figure 1 The handheld electronic device shown is Figure 4-6 A perspective view of an auxiliary device shown in a secured (ie docked) position. Fig. 9 yes Figure 8 , further illustrating the relationship of the touch pad 116 when the smart ring 100 is in its docked position. The touch pad 116 faces outward and is substantially coextensive with the shoulder 418, allowing the user to use the touch pad 116 when in a fixed (i.e., docked) position during charging and / or communication.

[0051] exist Figure 8 and Fig. 9In the exemplary embodiment shown, when the smart ring 100 and the smart base 400 are in a fixed (i.e., docked) position, one or more contacts 410 forming the second electronic communication interface maintain close contact with the first electronic communication interface of the smart ring 100, wherein the first electronic communication interface includes at least one charging / communication contact or pin 114 of the smart ring 100 for providing auxiliary power, recharging the power supply, and communicating between the smart ring 100 and other devices (e.g., eye-mounted electronic device 1000 or second auxiliary device 600 (see Fig.10 and Fig.11 When docked, a two-way communication link is established so that the smart ring 100, the smart base 400 and (optionally) other devices that may communicate with the smart base 400 (such as Fig.11 Data is transmitted between the second auxiliary electronic device 600 as shown.

[0052] As stated in this article, Fig.10 is Figure 1 1000 is a side view of an example hardware configuration of an eye-mounted electronic device 1000 used in an example of a handheld electronic device. The eye-mounted electronic device 1000 includes an optical assembly 1002 having an image display and a block 1004, the block 1004 including a camera 1006 that captures image information. The camera 1006 is coupled or arranged on the flexible printed circuit board 140B and is covered by a visible light camera cover lens, which is aligned through an opening formed in the frame 1008. For example, the frame 1010 of the frame 1008 is connected to the block and includes an opening for the visible light camera cover lens. Suitable examples of the camera 1006 include a high-resolution complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor and a digital VGA camera (video graphics array). The eye-mounted electronic device 1000 can capture image sensor data and geographic location data from the visible light camera, digitized by an image processor, and stored in a memory.

[0053] Various interconnected circuit boards, such as a printed circuit board or a flexible printed circuit board, are arranged inside block 1004, which include controller circuits for camera 1006, a microphone, a low-power wireless circuit (e.g., for wireless short-range network communication via Bluetooth), and a high-speed wireless circuit (e.g., for wireless local area network communication via WiFi).

[0054] The eye-mounted electronic device 1000 may include circuits including a processor and memory and wireless circuitry that forms part of an eye-mounted communication interface for communicating with the handheld electronic device 100, the auxiliary electronic device 400, or both. The processor may be any processor that can implement any general-purpose computing system communication and operation required by the eye-mounted electronic device 1000. The processor includes a wireless circuit that uses wireless circuitry to communicate with the wireless connection 1112 (see Fig.11) to manage data transmission to a wireless local area network (WLAN). In some examples, the wireless circuitry is configured to implement the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication standard, also referred to herein as Wi-Fi. In other examples, other high-speed communication standards may be implemented by the wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry of the eye-mounted device 100 may include a short-range transceiver (Bluetooth TM ) and wireless wide area, local area, or wide area network transceivers (e.g., cellular or WiFi).

[0055] Fig.11 1 is a functional block diagram of an example system 1100, which includes a handheld electronic device 100 (e.g., a smart ring), an auxiliary electronic device 400 (e.g., a base), a second auxiliary device 600, an eye-mounted electronic device 1000, and a server system 1102 connected via various networks 1104 (e.g., the Internet). The eye-mounted electronic device 1000 includes components that allow it to collect data about the position, orientation, and movement of the eye-mounted electronic device 1000 and cooperate with the smart ring 100 to perform the desired functions. As described above, the eye-mounted electronic device 1000 includes wireless communication circuitry that can form an eye-mounted device communication interface, enabling it to communicate with the handheld electronic device 100 via a wireless connection 1110 and / or communicate with the auxiliary electronic device 400 via a wireless connection 1112.

[0056] The system 1100 may further utilize components of the auxiliary electronic device 400, the second auxiliary electronic device 600, and the server system 1102 to execute, process, or communicate communication data with the eye-mounted electronic device 1000. In this regard, the functions of the system 1100 may be shared or distributed with the eye-mounted electronic device 1000, the smart ring 100, the auxiliary electronic device 400, the second auxiliary electronic device 600, or other auxiliary devices and / or the server system 1102.

[0057] Any functions of the eye-mounted electronic device 1000, the smart ring 100, the auxiliary electronic device 400, the second auxiliary electronic device 600 or other auxiliary devices and the server system 1102 may be embodied in one or more computer software applications or programming instruction groups. According to some examples, "functions", "applications", "instructions", or "programming" are programs that execute functions defined in programs. Various programming languages ​​can be used to create one or more applications constructed in various ways, such as object-oriented programming languages ​​(e.g., Objective-C, Java, or C++) or programming languages ​​(e.g., C or assembly language). In a specific example, a third-party application (e.g., an application created by an entity other than a vendor of a specific platform using ANDROID TM or IOS TMSoftware Development Kit (SDK) for developing applications) can be included in IOS TM ANDROID TM , Mobile software running on a mobile operating system such as iOS or other mobile operating systems such as Android phones. In this example, the third-party application can call API calls provided by the operating system to facilitate the functions described in this article.

[0058] Therefore, the machine-readable medium may be a tangible storage medium in various forms. Taking non-volatile storage media as an example, it includes an optical disk or a magnetic disk, such as all storage devices in any computer device, etc., which can be used to implement the client device, media gateway, transcoder, etc. shown in the figure. Volatile storage media include dynamic memory, such as the main memory of a certain computer platform. Tangible transmission media include coaxial cables; copper wire and optical fiber, including the wires that make up the bus within a computer system. Carrier transmission media can take the form of electrical or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Therefore, common forms of computer readable media include: floppy disks, diskettes, hard disks, magnetic tapes, any other magnetic media, CD-ROMs, DVDs or DVD-ROMs, any other optical media, punch cards, paper tapes, any other physical storage media with patterns of holes, RAM, PROMs and EPROMs, FLASH-EPROMs, any other memory chips or cassettes, carrier waves that transport data or instructions, cables or links that transport such carrier waves, or any other medium from which a computer can read programming code and / or data. Among the many forms of computer readable media may be involved in transmitting one or more sequences of one or more instructions to a processor for execution.

[0059] Except as described above, what is described and shown is not intended and should not be construed to cause any component, step, function, object, benefit, advantage or equivalent to be exclusive to the public regardless of whether it is recited in the claims.

[0060] It should be understood that, unless otherwise specified herein, the terms and expressions used herein have the general meanings assigned to them by their respective fields of investigation and study. Relational terms such as "first" and "second" may be used only to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action, without requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms "comprise", "include", "contain", "included" or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article or device comprising or including a series of elements or steps includes not only these elements or steps, but also other elements or steps that are not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, articles or devices. Without further limitation, an element preceded by "a" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device comprising the element.

[0061] Unless otherwise stated, any and all measurements, values, ratings, positions, magnitudes, dimensions, etc., described in this specification (including the claims that follow) are approximate values, not exact values. Such quantities are intended to have a reasonable range consistent with the functions to which they are related and consistent with the practices in the field to which they belong. For example, unless otherwise expressly stated, parameter values, etc. may vary from the specified amount by ±10%.

[0062] Furthermore, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various examples group various features together in order to simplify this disclosure. This method of disclosure should not be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than those expressly recited in each claim. On the contrary, as reflected in the following claims, the subject matter to be protected does not lie in all the features of any single disclosed example. Therefore, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

[0063] Although the foregoing describes what are believed to be the best modes and other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made in such modes and examples, that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that such modes and examples may be applied to a variety of applications, only some of which are described herein. The following claims are intended to claim any and all modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present concept.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising: An eye-worn electronic device including an eye-worn communication interface; a handheld electronic device comprising a handheld electronic device wireless communication interface and a first electronic communication interface, the wireless communication interface being configured to communicate with the eye-mounted electronic device, wherein the handheld electronic device comprises an outer surface, the outer surface comprising an input device; An auxiliary electronic device, wherein the auxiliary device includes a body for engaging the handheld electronic device and contains a second electronic communication interface complementary to the first electronic communication interface for transmitting at least one signal or power therebetween when the handheld electronic device is releasably engaged with the auxiliary electronic device, wherein during engagement, the input device remains accessible to a user.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device and the auxiliary electronic device can communicate electronically without a wireless connection.

3. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary electronic device further comprises a wireless communication interface, the auxiliary communication interface being configured to communicate with the eyewear communication interface.

4. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary electronic device includes a housing, and the handheld electronic device is releasably engageable with the auxiliary electronic device or is at least partially contained within the housing.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary electronic device is in electronic communication with a second auxiliary electronic device.

6. The communication system according to claim 5, wherein the second auxiliary electronic device belongs to a remote control electronic device.

7. The communication system of claim 5, wherein the second auxiliary electronic device is in electronic communication with the eye-mounted electronic device and is configured to remotely control the eye-mounted electronic device.

8. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the electronic communication interface includes at least one contact that engages at least one corresponding contact on the handheld electronic device.

9. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary electronic device further comprises: Batteries for storing electricity; as well as A retention mechanism releasably engages the handheld electronic device.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the body of the auxiliary electronic device includes a generally circumferential recess sized to receive and releasably engage a circumferential handheld electronic device.

11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the handheld electronic device is a smart ring configured to be worn on a finger of a user.

12. The communication system of claim 10, wherein the smart ring comprises one or more of an input device, a transceiver, and an inertial measurement unit.

13. The communication system of claim 12, wherein the generally circumferential groove includes a portion lacking an outer wall.

14. A method for establishing a communication link for an eye-mounted electronic device, comprising: An eye-mounted electronic device configured for wireless communication; a handheld electronic device configured for wireless communication with the eye-mounted electronic device, the handheld electronic device further comprising an electronic communication interface having at least one electrical contact, wherein the handheld electronic device comprises an outer surface, the outer surface containing an input device; an auxiliary electronic device having an electronic communication interface, wherein the electronic communication interface has at least one electrical contact that engages at least one contact on the handheld electronic device; releasably engaging the handheld electronic device by inserting the handheld electronic device into the auxiliary electronic device, wherein the input device remains accessible to a user during the releasable engagement; as well as A communication link is established between the eye-mounted electronic device and the auxiliary electronic device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of: Signals and power are transmitted between the handheld electronic device and the auxiliary electronic device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the auxiliary electronic device is in electronic communication with a second auxiliary electronic device to form a second communication link. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second communication link is a wired link.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the second auxiliary electronic device is a remote control electronic device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the second auxiliary electronic device is in electronic communication with the eye-mounted electronic device.

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