iWatch To Maintain Network Connection with iPhone and iPad In a Low-Energy State

It is similar to the Wi-Fi hotspot feature in iOS, but much better when it comes to battery saving. Another benefit is that the iPhone can wake up the host phone immediately. The patient also sheds line on a method of zero-configuration networking, which shows a remote network connection being established with a prime device, the iWatch perhaps, and another device with a radio transceiver, the iPhone or iPad. The prime device doesn’t need a radio receiver.

After the two device make a connection through Bluetooth LE, the prime device maintains a connection in a low energy state. All iDevices feature Bluetooth low-power tech as Apple adopted Bluetooth 4.0 since iPhone 4s.

According to Apple:

In this manner, users can leverage their mobile radio communication devices, such as their cell phones, to provide network access to their other devices without having to manually enable such connections. In turn, the other devices can benefit from the network access while remaining in low-power mode during a short-range connection that uses a low-power enabled connection.

And the second device can also interact with other Bluetooth LE devices.

The proximity profile defines a proximity notification alert that the supporting device sends to the device to advertise its shared access service to the network for devices within range. In one embodiment, upon receiving the proximity notification alert the device joins the supporting device’s shared access service and briefly connects to the network to receive push notifications or other messages, before disconnecting.

This patient was filed by Apple engineers Michael Larson, Michael Jason Giles and Daniel Borges in March 2013.

The chart shows that wireless data transfer of Bluetooth LE doesn’t match Wi-Fi hotspot or iOS 7 AirDrop wireless sharing. But a small device like a smart watch doesn’t need that much capability anyway. Moreover, a low energy network would be good for M7 chip inside the iWatch.

Bottom line: The iWatch may be able to access low-bandwidth operations after connecting to an iPad and iPhone with ease.