Granted Patent B2

US 12,749,389 · App. 18/773,257 · Granted Sep 29, 2026

Inventors: Benjamin A. Detwiler (Menlo Park, CA); Siva Ganesh Movva (Cupertino, CA); Katherine K. Ernst (San Francisco, CA); Richard Akira Heru (Mountain View, CA); Johan O. Bergerengen (San Francisco, CA); Langford M. Wasada (San Francisco, CA); Ernst Thomas Erdmann, IV (San Francisco, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

G08B21/24H04W4/023H04W4/029H04W76/19H04W76/14

Abstract

Claims (48)

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by an electronic device, that the electronic device has moved beyond a threshold distance from a first location to within a geofence boundary of a second location;

in response to determining that the electronic device is within the geofence boundary of the second location for a threshold period of time, increasing, by the electronic device, a rate of a beacon scan for beacon data indicating a status of a wireless connection between at least one accessory device and the electronic device;

determining, by the electronic device, that the status is indicative of a lost wireless connection between the electronic device and the at least one accessory device; and

sending, by the electronic device based at least in part on the lost wireless connection, a separation notification.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second location includes a characterization for a type of location by a classifier.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

upon determining that the status is indicative the lost wireless connection between the electronic device and the at least one accessory device, setting, by the electronic device, a first timer for a first defined period of time;

upon expiry of the first timer, requesting, by the electronic device, first information on whether the lost wireless connection is reestablished;

updating, by the electronic device, based at least in part on the first information, second information stored on the status of the wireless connection; and

sending, by the electronic device, the separation notification unless the wireless lost connection is reestablished.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an indication that the at least one accessory device is nearby the electronic device, wherein the indication comprises at least one of an indication of the wireless connection with the at least one accessory device or an indication that the at least one accessory device is near the electronic device.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the rate of the beacon scan is performed every N seconds for M minutes at a higher duty cycle.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising increasing the rate of the beacon scan to be performed every P times more than an expected rate of packets received from the at least one accessory device.

7 . One or more non-transitory machine-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:

determining, by the electronic device, that the electronic device has moved beyond a threshold distance from a first location to within a geofence boundary of a second location;

when the electronic device is within the geofence boundary of the second location, monitoring, by the electronic device, a status of a wireless connection between at least one accessory device and the electronic device;

determining, by the electronic device, that the status is indicative of a lost wireless connection between the electronic device and the at least one accessory device;

upon determining that the status is indicative of the lost wireless connection, setting, by the electronic device, a first timer for a first defined period of time; and

after expiration of the first timer:

requesting, by the electronic device, first information on whether the lost wireless connection is reestablished; and

updating, by the electronic device, based at least in part on the first information, second information stored on the status of the wireless connection to generate updated information; and

sending, by the electronic device based at least in part on the lost wireless connection and the updated information, a separation notification unless the wireless connection is reestablished.

8 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the second location includes a characterization for a type of location by a classifier.

9 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , further comprising additional computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to perform additional operations comprising receiving an indication that the at least one accessory device is nearby the electronic device, wherein the indication comprises at least one of an indication of a wireless connection with the at least one accessory device or an indication that the at least one accessory device is near the electronic device.

10 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , the operations further comprising additional computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to perform additional operations comprising upon detection of crossing the geofence boundary of a last known location for a threshold period of time, increasing a rate of a beacon scan.

11 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the rate of the beacon scan is performed every N seconds for M minutes at a higher duty cycle.

12 . The one or more non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising increasing the rate of the beacon scan to be performed every P times more than an expected rate of packets received from the at least one accessory device.

13 . A data processing system comprising:

a memory to store computer-executable instructions;

one or more processors to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:

determining, by the data processing system, that an electronic device has moved beyond a threshold distance from a first location to within a geofence boundary of a second location;

in response to determining that the electronic device is within the geofence boundary of the second location for a threshold period of time, increasing, by the data processing system, a rate of a beacon scan for beacon data indicating a status of a wireless connection between at least one accessory device and the electronic device;

determining, by the data processing system, that the status is indicative of a lost wireless connection between the electronic device and the at least one accessory device; and

sending, by the data processing system based at least in part on the lost wireless connection, a separation notification.

14 . The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the second location includes a characterization for a type of location by a classifier.

15 . The data processing system of claim 13 , wherein the memory comprises additional computer-executable instructions and the one or more processors are further configured to access the memory and execute the additional computer-executable instructions to perform additional operations comprising receiving an indication that the at least one accessory device is nearby the electronic device, wherein the indication comprises at least one of an indication of the wireless connection with the at least one accessory device or an indication that the at least one accessory device is near the electronic device.

16 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by an electronic device, that the electronic device is within a geofence boundary of a known location;

upon detection that the electronic device is within the geofence boundary for a threshold period of time, increasing a rate of a beacon scan for beacon data;

after increasing the rate of the beacon scan, receiving, by the electronic device from at least one accessory device, first beacon data indicating that the electronic device is within a range to reply to the at least one accessory device in response to receiving the first beacon data;

determining, by the electronic device, that the electronic device crosses the geofence boundary for the known location;

after determining that the electronic device crossed the geofence boundary, receiving, by the electronic device from the at least one accessory device, second beacon data indicating that the at least one accessory device is outside of the range; and

upon receiving the beacon data, sending, by the electronic device, based at least in part on the at least one accessory device being outside of the range, a separation notification.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the rate of the beacon scan is performed every N seconds for M minutes at a higher duty cycle.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , further comprising increasing the rate of the beacon scan to be performed every P times more than an expected rate of packets received from the at least one accessory device.

19 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the known location includes a characterization for a type of location by a classifier.

20 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising receiving an indication that the at least one accessory device is nearby the electronic device, wherein the indication comprises at least one of an indication of a wireless connection with the at least one accessory device or an indication that the at least one accessory device is near the electronic device.

Continuity (4)

References Cited (331)