Establishment and detection of breakage of wireless leash between devices
Companion and accessory devices can be wirelessly leashed together in a manner that enables the devices to estimate their proximities to each other. One device can periodically attempt to detect a signal from the other device. For each attempt, the attempting device can store an indication of whether the signal was detected. If a number of times that the signal was undetected exceeds a threshold, then the attempting device can perform specified operations, such as alerting a user that the wireless leash was broken. As another example, one device can detect that a strength of a signal from the other device exceeds a threshold. In response, the detecting device can measure signal strengths more frequently. If the measuring device then detects that the signal strength exceeds another threshold, then the measuring device can cause specified operations to be performed, such as data synchronization between the devices or unlocking a device.
1. A method comprising:
at a first device comprising one or more processors:
establishing a wireless connection with a second device;
after establishing the wireless connection, determining that the wireless connection with the second device is broken;
in response to determining that the wireless connection with the second device is broken, determining that the first device has physical contact with a user of the first device;
in response to determining that the first device has physical contact with the user, generating an alert; and
sending a first message to the second device to perform a lock operation on the second device.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that the first device does not have physical contact with the user, performing a lock operation on the first device; and
sending a second message to the second device to generate the alert.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining that the wireless connection with the second device is broken comprises determining that a signal strength between the first device and the second device exceeds a predetermined threshold distance.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a sensor of the first device determines that the first device has physical contact with the user of the first device.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein determining that the first device has physical contact with the user comprises determining, by the sensor, that a surface of the sensor is in physical contact with skin of the user.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the sensor detects the physical contact with the user based on one from a group consisting of an electrical impulse, a temperature, a humidity, a pressure, a pulse, and a texture sensed by the sensor.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first message comprises one of a WiFi message and an Internet message.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the alert comprises one from a group consisting of a visual alert, an audible alert and a tactile alert.
9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the tactile alert comprises a vibration.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the lock operation comprises displaying a user interface requesting user credentials.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first device is a wearable device.
12. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
determining that the wireless connection has been reestablished with the second device; and
sending a third message to the second device to perform an unlock operation on the second device.
13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors of a first device to cause the one or more processors to:
establish a wireless connection with a second device;
after establishing the wireless connection, determine that the wireless connection with the second device is broken;
in response to determining that the wireless connection with the second device is broken, determine that the first device has physical contact with a user of the first device;
in response to determining that the first device has physical contact with the user, generate an alert; and
send a first message to the second device to perform a lock operation on the second device.
14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
in response to determining that the first device does not have physical contact with the user, perform a lock operation on the first device; and
send a second message to the second device to generate the alert.
15. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , further comprising instructions to cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the wireless connection has been reestablished with the second device; and
send a third message to the second device to perform an unlock operation on the second device.
16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein determining that the first device has physical contact with the user comprises determining, by a sensor, that a surface of the sensor is in physical contact with skin of the user.
17. A first device comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors configured to:
establish a wireless connection with a second device;
after establishing the wireless connection, determine that the wireless connection with the second device is broken;
in response to determining that the wireless connection with the second device is broken, determine that the first device has physical contact with a user of the first device;
in response to determining that the first device has physical contact with the user, generate an alert; and
send a first message to the second device to perform a lock operation on the second device.
18. The first device according to claim 17 , further comprising one or more processors configured to:
in response to determining that the first device does not have physical contact with the user, perform a lock operation on the first device; and
send a second message to the second device to generate the alert.
19. The first device according to claim 17 , further comprising one or more processors configured to:
determine that the wireless connection has been reestablished with the second device; and
send a third message to the second device to perform an unlock operation on the second device.
20. The first device according to claim 17 , wherein determining that the first device has physical contact with the user comprises determining, by a sensor, that a surface of the sensor is in physical contact with skin of the user.