US20080248750A1

US20080248750A1 - Componentization of mobile devices

Info

Publication number: US20080248750A1
Application number: US12/054,878
Authority: US
Inventors: Chi Ying Tsui; Ross David Murch; Roger Shu Kwan Cheng; Wai Ho Mow; Vincent Kin Nang Lau
Original assignee: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology HKUST
Current assignee: TUEN SOLUTIONS LLC
Priority date: 2007-04-04
Filing date: 2008-03-25
Publication date: 2008-10-09
Also published as: US8209275B2; US20080248779A1; US20080249969A1; US8786246B2; US20080261572A1; CN101711387A; CN101711387B; US20080246734A1; US20110320518A1; US8032472B2; KR20100015362A; KR101332462B1; US9055106B2; US20080250408A1; WO2008124399A1; US20130080616A1; CN101766015A; US8340658B2; US20080246629A1; US20080246439A1

Abstract

A mobile device with full functionality is comprised of two or more hardware components. Each hardware component provides a subset of mobile device functionality. Full functionality includes transceiver communications, processing, non-volatile memory, power, input and output. A communications interface, whether wired or wireless means, is used to link the two or more components together to produce a fully functionally mobile device. One or more of the hardware components can be advantageously embedded in or proximate to a piece of jewelry, a garment, or a fashion accessory. Other non-portable hardware components, when available, can also be linked to two or more components of the mobile device to provide additional functionality.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. provisional Application No. 60/910,109, filed Apr. 4, 2007.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject disclosure relates to componentization of computing devices, and more particularly to the componentization of mobile devices.

BACKGROUND

Conventional mobile devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, portable media players (e.g., MP3, video players), messaging devices, portable game players, and the like have generally been provided as integrated electronics and circuits as standalone devices. Thus, these devices have included power, processing, storage, display, input capabilities (e.g., keypad, touchpad, buttons, etc.), and output capabilities (sound, display, etc.) all in the same handheld device. These devices are also usually designed for a specific-purpose and thus many users carry multiple integrated devices with them.
However, these devices are inefficient. For example, since many users carry multiple mobile devices with them, users carry multiple hardware components that perform essentially the same function. Thus, a user may carry multiple keypads even though they often can only effectively use one keypad at the same time. In addition, since each mobile device has fully functionality, the failure of one piece of functionality can cause the entire device to become unusable and expensive to repair. For example, if one key on a keypad fails, the entire mobile device may be unusable to perform its purpose.
Each integrated mobile device also imposes administrative overhead. For example, users often need to backup data on each of the mobile devices separately to prevent data loss. As a second example, users often need to keep track of and carry the integrated device around. Thus, integrated mobile devices can be lost or stolen if a user is not careful.
In addition, since the functionality is integrated into the devices, the mobile device often cannot be personalized for a particular user of the device. Therefore, people with limited eyesight (or other disability), for instance, often have problems finding mobile devices with input and output capabilities to meet their needs.
The above-described deficiencies of integrated mobile devices are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of today's mobile devices, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art may become further apparent upon review of the description of various non-limiting embodiments that follows.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
As mentioned, conventional mobile devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, portable media players and the like have generally been provided as integrated electronics and circuits as standalone devices. Thus, these devices have included power, processing, storage, display, input capabilities (e.g., keypad, touchpad, buttons, etc.), and output capabilities (e.g., sound, display, etc.) all in the same handheld device. These devices are than carried by the user, such as in pockets or purses. Moreover, hardware that performs the foregoing functionalities is becoming smaller with increasing performance, and wireless capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth, WiMax) are becoming more powerful as well.
Accordingly, these disparate functions are separated into multiple components that are communicatively coupled by wired or wireless means. For example, according to one aspect, a mobile device is provided as a set of separate distributed components, each tailored for a particularly subset of functionalities, and together covering a desired superset of functionality traditionally offered by a mobile device. The components can be positioned on the body, in clothing, jewelry, etc. to make carrying the components seamless to the user and tailored to the functionality offered. Specifically, since the components can be positioned in clothing, jewelry, or fashion accessories that a user normally wears everyday, the mobile device does not need to be separately carried by the user. For example, a display may be incorporated into glasses, visor or headset. A local processing unit and memory can be provided as another component embedded in a necklace, for instance. A third component could be placed on the tips of fingers, on a ring, etc., and can be well suited for input characteristics. Yet another component can be included in a shoe, and may include power, additional processing and memory, transmitters, receivers, etc. The various components are connected via wired or wireless means to function as a single device. For example, with the onset of high speed wireless communications especially for short range wireless applications, componentizing different parts of a mobile device can be made seamless to the user experience.
Additional components can be added to add additional functionality, such as upgrading the system with additional memory. In at least one embodiment, these components can be hot-plugged and added to the mobile device without restarting one or more components. For example, a user can add additional memory to the mobile device by wearing an additional component in a ring that has additional memory. Similarly, in at least some embodiments, one or more components can be disconnected without restarting the mobile device or one or more components. According to one aspect, the various hardware components can be produced and/or marketed by disparate manufacturers and communicate via a known standard interface.
According to one aspect, by tailoring functional requirements to different positions relative to a user's body and usage of those components, the capabilities of the mobile device becomes unconstrained in contrast to forcing all of the functionality in a single device. For instance, processing and power for a mobile device are well suited to integrating into a component in a user's shoe soles or other protected article of clothing insulated from the body, whereas a display is desirably positioned near the eyes for ease of view.
In at least some embodiments, the mobile device can connect to one or more non-portable components to add additional functionality when available. For example, the mobile device may connect via a communication interface to a proximate television and use that that television as a large display instead of a head-amounted display. The communication interface used can be the same communication interface used to communicate between the components of the mobile device or another communication interface can be used instead.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and the present invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention may become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary non-limiting block diagram showing one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one component comprising a mobile device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another component comprising the mobile device according to one embodiment.

FIGS. 4A-4D are block diagrams of a component embedded in or proximate to various articles of clothing, fashion accessories, or jewelry according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the mobile device connecting to one or more non-portable hardware components according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile device system according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of forming a fully-functionally mobile device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of hot-plugging additional components according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of communicating with a non-portable component according to one aspect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Conventional mobile devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, portable media players and the like have generally been provided as integrated electronics and circuits as standalone devices. Thus, these devices have included power, processing, storage, display, input capabilities (e.g., keypad, touchpad, buttons, etc.), and output capabilities (sound, display, etc.) all in the same handheld device. However, hardware that performs the foregoing functionalities is becoming smaller with increasing performance, and wireless capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth, WiMax, wireless Universal serial bus, wireless Ethernet) are becoming more powerful as well. Accordingly, with the invention, these disparate functions are separated into multiple components that are communicatively coupled by wired or wireless means.
Since the mobile device has different components, each component can have different functional requirements. By tailoring the functional requirements to different positions relative to the user's body and usage of those components, the capabilities of the mobile device becomes unconstrained in contrast to forcing all of the functionality in a single device. For instance, processing and power for a mobile device are well suited to integrating into a component in a user's shoe soles or other protected article of clothing insulated from the body, whereas a display is desirably positioned near the eyes for ease of view. A protected article of clothing is defined as an article of clothing that includes a shell, encasement, body, housing, etc. that surrounds or otherwise shields one or more potentially damageable components of the mobile device.
Turning to FIG. 1, mobile device 110 is provided as a set of separate components (C1-C4), each tailored for a particular proper subset of functionalities, and together covering a desired superset of functionality traditionally offered by mobile device 110. By way of definition, if A is a subset of B, but A is not equal to B (i.e. there exists at least one element of B not contained in A), then A is also a proper (or strict) subset of B. One can appreciate that more or less components can be used in alternative embodiments and that different locations of the components are possible.
The illustrated components C1, C2, C3 and C4 can be positioned on the body, in clothing, jewelry, etc. to make carrying the components C1 to C4 seamless to the user and tailored to the functionality offered. For instance, a display component C4 may be incorporated into glasses, visor or headset. A local processing unit and memory can be provided as component C2 embedded in a necklace, for instance. A third component C3 could be placed on the tips of fingers, on a ring, etc., and may be well suited for input characteristics. The fourth component C1 can be included in the shoe, and can include power, additional processing and memory, transmitters, receivers, etc.
Unlike peripherals to some of today's integrated devices, each component substantially lacks one or more functionalities to operate as an autonomous mobile device. For example, the display component C4 may lack processing power or non-volatile memory while component C1 in the shoe lacks substantial input and output capabilities—except for the functionality needed to communicate via the communication interface used to communicatively couple the components together.
Advantageously, by distributing the functionality of a mobile device over multiple components, a non-functioning component (e.g., a component is out of battery or out of order) can be replaced with another functioning component and the mobile device system can continue to operate. For example, the user can replace a non-functioning necklace component with another necklace component that provides similar functionality.
One can appreciate that, in some embodiments, substantially all of a particular functionality can be centralized in one component. Advantageously, this reduces or eliminates administrative overhead. For example, non-volatile memory can be centralized in a component in the user's shoe. As a result, encryption of data or backups of substantially all of the data from the mobile device, for example, are easier to perform.
Two components that gain an advantage from componentization are the limited keyboard or keypad and the limited display for today's mobile devices. In particular, the keypad can be customized for the user. Thus, seniors or people with limited eyesight can have keypads with large keys. As mentioned, a display can be integrated into a set of glasses or as a clip on to the brim of a hat. The display is thus more efficient in supplying a display to user's eyes and can be more private than the integrated display of a current mobile phone.
Turning to FIGS. 2 and 3, a block diagram showing the functionality of exemplary components in greater detail is illustrated. Specifically, FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams of exemplary distributed components that together comprise the functionality of a mobile device according to one embodiment. FIG. 2 thus illustrates an example of one distributed component of a mobile computing device. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with any of combination of functionality in which the full functionality of a mobile device be implemented and the mobile computing system environment 200 is only one example of a suitable computing environment.
With reference to FIG. 2, an example of a distributed component for implementing the full functionality of a mobile device is illustrated. Sub-components of component 210 may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit 220, a system memory 230, and a system bus 225 that couples various system components including the system memory 230 to the processing unit 220. The system bus 225 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.
Component 210 can includes a variety of non-volatile, computer storage media 235. Computer storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by component 210. Computer storage media includes removable and non-removable media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by component 210.
The component 210 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. For example, component 210 could include a flash memory that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatile media, and/or a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, CD-ROMs, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM and the like.
Power 215 can be used to supply to power for the component as well as other components via a wired-based communication interface. The component 210 communicates with one or more other remote components, such as remote component 1 250 and remote component 2 260, via communication interface 240. These components in turn have different functionality from component 210. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 2 include a network. The network 171 can include a wired or wireless network, such a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Other non-network type interfaces can be used, such as a Universal Serial Bus or Firewire.
When used in a PAN networking environment, the component 210 is connected to other components via the PAN through communication interface 240, such as a Bluetooth or Wireless USB adapter. When used in a LAN networking environment, the component 210 is connected to the LAN through a network interface or adapter. When used in a WAN networking environment, the component 210 typically includes a communications subcomponent.
One can appreciate that although the communication interface is shown as a single box connecting to each of the remote components, in other embodiments, different communication interfaces can be used to communicate between different sets of components. For example, a wired-based communication interface can be used when a component needs a steady supply of power (e.g., a head-mounted display) and a wireless interface can be used to communicate with another component. In some embodiments, the interface to use can also be selected based on the security of the information to be transmitted, such as using wires for highly-sensitive data.
FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a complementary distributed component 250, such as a head-mounted display. The component 330 includes a communication interface 360 to communicate with other remote components, such as remote component 210.
The limited system memory 330 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM). A basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help facilitate communications between the components, may be stored in limited system memory 330. Memory 330 typically also contains temporary data that to be sent or just received from the communication interface 360 used to communicatively couple the two components together.
A display may connected to the system bus 325 via output functionality 350, which may in turn communicate with the limited system memory to receive the video data to display. The video data can be processed by the limited processing unit 320, which provides minimal processing to properly display the video data and process information sent or received via the communication interface 360. Other processing can be performed by the other components of the mobile device, such as component 210.
The component can optionally have input functionality 340 or power functionality 345. However, this functionality can instead be provided by other distributed components (not shown). For example, a user may enter commands and information into a component through one or more input devices. These input devices are often connected to the component through input functionality 240 and associated interface(s) that are coupled to the system bus 325, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, in a wired or wireless manner, such as a parallel port, game port, a universal serial bus (USB), wireless USB, or Bluetooth.
Various components can be advantageously placed in or attached to jewelry, such as a rings, watches or necklaces, garments (e.g., shoes, pants), or fashion accessories, such as belts, headbands, or hats. FIGS. 4A-4D illustrate block diagrams of various components embedded in various jewelry and fashion accessories. In particular, FIG. 4A illustrates a component C3 placed into a ring 400, such as to provide input functionality. FIG. 4B illustrates a component C6 embedded in a watch, such as to receive health information (e.g., pulse) about the user. FIG. 4C illustrates a component C7 embedded in a belt buckle of a belt 440, which can provide for example processing power. FIG. 4D illustrates a component C4 placed proximate a pair of glasses. The component C4 can include a display that is advantageously placed near the eye. These components can be embedded upon manufacture of the jewelry, garment or fashion accessories or can be attached subsequently, such as by the user or a retailer (e.g., jewelry retailer, clothing retailer, or mobile device retailer).
In one embodiment, one component of the mobile device dynamically discovers alternative, non-portable I/O devices. For example, the mobile device can discover a television. The TV can provide a richer rendering experience for videos and photos than the mobile device, but is not portable and thus not always available. A user can then advantageously switch from a glasses display to the television to display the photos and videos.
This aspect is illustrated in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 illustrates components C1-C4 on or proximate to user 500. These components comprise mobile device 510. Mobile device 510 is then communicatively coupled to at least one non-portable I/ O device 520, 525, such as a television, computer monitor, printer or telephone, via a communication framework 515. Upon detecting the availability of the non-portable component, a component of the mobile device 510 can initiate communication with and control the non-portable I/O device 520. In at least some embodiments, the user can be altered about the availability and decide whether to receive the supplemental functionality the non-portable device can provide. The communication from the can include commands to perform on the non-portable device 520 and may also include identifying information for one or more components of the mobile device 510.
The communicative coupling of the components of the mobile device can be different from the communicative coupling of the mobile device 510 to the non-portable component. For example, the components of the mobile device can be connected together via Bluetooth or wireless Universal Serial Bus (USB) and the non-portable component connected to the mobile device via wireless Ethernet (IEEE 802.11x, such as 802.11n, 802.11b, 802.11g, etc.).
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile device according to one embodiment. In this illustrated system, the mobile device is comprised of two hardware components (602, 604) that provide the functionality of the mobile device 510. The mobile device also includes a new component detection subcomponent 606 that detects and connects additional components to add supplemental functionality to the mobile device. The unavailability component detection subcomponent 608 detects whether one or more components of the mobile device are no longer available and, if so, disables the functionality associated with those components. The non-portable component detection subcomponent 610 detects the availability or non-availability of non-portable components and connects/disconnects the mobile device from the non-portable component. Each of the subcomponents can be implemented in a single component of a mobile device, such as the component with substantially all of the processing power.
Turning briefly to FIGS. 7-9, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the present invention are illustrated. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the present invention is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may, in accordance with the present invention, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from that shown and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an exemplary non-limiting flow diagram showing a method for use in connection with a mobile device in accordance with the invention. At 710, at least a first and second subset of functionality for the mobile device are performed by at least two separate components, respectively. The first and second subset of functionality include any one or more of functionality of a transceiver communications, power, processing, memory, input or output. At 720, the at least two components communicate with each other enabling an integrated superset of the first and second subset of functionality for the mobile device.
FIG. 8 is an exemplary non-limiting flow diagram showing hot-plugging of additional components to provide supplemental functionality and hot-unplugging of the component later on. For example, the new component detection subcomponent 606 and the unavailable component detection subcomponent 608 of FIG. 6 can implement the illustrated method.
At 810, the availability of a new component is detected. The new component can be detected based on the component being auto-discovered, such as when the user puts on a piece of jewelry or a fashion accessory having a component embedded in or proximate to the jewelry or fashion accessory. At 820, the mobile device communicates with the new component enabling additional functionality on the mobile device without requiring a reboot.
Eventually, the non-availability of the new component is detected at 820. For example, this can correspond with the user removing a piece of jewelry or a garment containing the new component. At 840, the device stops communicating with the new component, if necessary, and disable the supplemental functionality associated with that component.
FIG. 9 is an exemplary flow diagram of communicating with a non-portable component, such as a non-portable input or output device. The method can be implemented as part of the non-portable detection subcomponent 610 of FIG. 6. The non-portable component can be, but is not limited to, a printer, a television, a computer monitor, or a telephone. At 910, the availability of a non-portable component is detected. For example, this could be detected by receiving a pair request via Bluetooth or detecting a new wireless Ethernet device within range. Additional communication can occur to determine if the device is currently being used and if not whether permission is granted to use the non-portable component. At 920, at least one of the distributed components of the mobile device communicates with the non-portable component. In at least some embodiments, this occurs after a user has indicated he wants to connect to the non-portable component.
After using the non-portable component, eventually, the unavailability of that component is detected at 930. For example, the user may have moved away from the non-portable component and thus communication via the communication interface is no longer possible. As a second example, the non-portable component could be used by another user and hence no longer available to the mobile device. As a result, at 940, the component of the mobile device disconnects from the non-portable component, if necessary, and the functionality of the non-portable component is lost.
As mentioned, in one embodiment, the full functionality of a device includes transceiver communications, power, processing, memory, input and output. Any permutation or combination of the items in the foregoing list are contemplated for the various subsets of the full functionality that may be performed by one or more components of the invention. For instance, one component may include power and transceiver communications, while another component can include memory, while yet another might include processing, power, input and/or output; however, for the avoidance of doubt, such embodiment should be considered a non-limiting example.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements.
Various implementations of the invention described herein may have aspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in hardware and partly in software, as well as in software. As used herein, the terms “component,” “system” and the like are likewise intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on computer and the computer can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
Thus, the methods and apparatus of the present invention, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device generally includes a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device.
Furthermore, the disclosed subject matter may be implemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer or processor based device to implement aspects detailed herein. The terms “article of manufacture”, “computer program product” or similar terms, where used herein, are intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick). Additionally, it is known that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN).
The aforementioned systems have been described with respect to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated that such systems and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components communicatively coupled to other components rather than included within parent components, e.g., according to a hierarchical arrangement. Additionally, it should be noted that one or more components may be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and any one or more middle layers, such as a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Any components described herein may also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but generally known by those of skill in the art.
In view of the exemplary systems described sura, methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the disclosed subject matter will be better appreciated with reference to the various flowcharts represented by the Figures. While for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flow is illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various other branches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented which achieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies described hereinafter.
Furthermore, as will be appreciated various portions of the disclosed systems above and methods below may include or consist of artificial intelligence or knowledge or rule based components, sub-components, processes, means, methodologies, or mechanisms (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers . . . ). Such components, inter alia, can automate certain mechanisms or processes performed thereby to make portions of the systems and methods more adaptive as well as efficient and intelligent.
While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom.

Claims

1. A componentized mobile device, comprising:

at least two components that perform at least a first and second proper subset of full functionality for the mobile device, respectively, the full functionality including transceiver communications, power, processing, memory, input and output; and

a communications interface for communicating between the at least two components for providing the full functionality of the mobile device.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is by wireless means.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the components is embedded in or proximate to a piece of jewelry.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the components is embedded in or proximate to at least one of a garment or fashion accessory.

5. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein at least one of the components is embedded in footwear and the functionality of the component embedded in the footwear includes at least power, processing, and non-volatile memory.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the components is embedded in a protected article of clothing.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least two components are manufactured by at least two disparate hardware manufacturers.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least two components comprise at least three components, and the communication interface comprises at least two disparate communication interfaces such that a first communication interface is used to communicate among a first set of components and at least a second communication interface is used to communicate among another set of components.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, further comprising a non-portable component that performs supplemental functionality for the mobile device and a communications interface for communicating between at least one component of the mobile device and the non-portable component to facilitate utilization of the supplemental functionality.

10. A method for use in connection with a mobile device, comprising:

performing at least a first and second proper subset of functionality for the mobile device by at least two separate components, respectively, the first and second subset of functionality including any one or more of functionality of a transceiver communications, power, processing, non-volatile memory, input or output; and

communicating between the at least two components enabling an integrated superset of the first and second subset of functionality for the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communicating between the at least two components comprises communicating wirelessly.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the performing of the at least a first and second proper subset of functionality for the mobile device by at least two separate components comprises performing at least a first and second proper subset of functionality for the mobile device by at least two separate components located proximate to a body of a user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the communicating between the at least two components comprises communicating via wired means, the wired means is at least one of Ethernet, Universal System Bus connections, or Firewire.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the performing of at least a first and second proper subset of functionality for the mobile device comprises performing the functionality of non-volatile memory in one component of the at least two components.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the performing of at least a first and second proper subset of functionality for the mobile device comprises performing the functionality of substantially all of the processing in one component of the at least two components.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

detecting if a non-portable component is available to supplement functionality of the mobile device; and

when the non-portable component is available, communicating with the non-portable component to supplement the functionality of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising adding an additional component to the mobile device to supplement the functionality of the mobile device without restarting one or more components of the mobile device.

18. A computing device system comprising:

at least two means proximate to a body of a user that each perform a subset of functionality for a mobile device, the functionality including transceiver communications, power, processing, non-volatile memory, input and output;

a communications means for communicating between the at least two means proximate to a body of a user such that full functionality of the mobile device is provided;

at least one non-portable means for providing supplemental functionality to the mobile device; and

a communication means for communicating between the non-portable means and at least one of the at least two means proximate to the body of the user.

19. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the non-portable means is at least one of a television, computer monitor, telephone or printer.

20. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the communications means for communicating between the non-portable means uses a different type of communication than the communications means for communicating between the at least two means proximate to the body of the user.