Communicating sensor data between electronic devices

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computing device communicably coupled with an accessory, cause the processor to execute a method comprising:

• receiving, by the computing device, a request from the accessory for sensor data produced from a sensor of the mobile computing device;
• receiving, by the computing device, a throttling criterion associated with the request, wherein the throttling criterion specifies one of a plurality of throttling categories and a throttling parameter specific to the throttling category;
• subsequently to receiving the throttling criterion, obtaining updated sensor data from the sensor and determining whether the updated sensor data satisfies the throttling criterion;
• and
• sending the updated sensor data to the accessory in the event that the sensor data satisfies the throttling criterion.

A computing device comprising:

• a plurality of sensors;
• an accessory interface;
• and
• a processor coupled to the plurality of sensors and the accessory interface, the processor being configured to:
• communicate to an accessory, via the accessory interface, information about the plurality of sensors;
• receive from the accessory, via the accessory interface, a first request for sensor data from a first one of the plurality of sensors and a first throttling criterion associated with the first request, wherein the first throttling criterion identifies a selected first throttling category from a plurality of throttling categories and a first throttling parameter specific to the first throttling category;
• receive updated sensor data from the first one of the plurality of sensors;
• determine whether the updated sensor data satisfies the first throttling criterion;
• and
• send the updated sensor data to the accessory via the accessory interface in the event that the updated sensor data satisfies the first throttling criterion.

A method for use in an accessory, the method comprising:

• establishing communication with a computing device;
• receiving from the computing device sensor information identifying a plurality of available sensors;
• requesting from the computing device a stream of sensor data relating to a selected sensor from the plurality of available sensors;
• instructing the computing device to throttle the sensor data in accordance with a throttling criterion that specifies one of a plurality of throttling categories and a throttling parameter specific to the throttling category, wherein instructing the mobile computing device to throttle the notifications includes providing the throttling criterion to the mobile computing device;
• receiving from the computing device a sequence of notifications, the notifications including sensor data for the selected sensor, wherein the notifications are sent in response to the throttling criterion being satisfied.

An accessory comprising:

• a component;
• a computing device interface;
• and
• a controller coupled to the component and the computing device interface, the controller being configured to:
• send to a computing device, via the computing device interface, a request to receive sensor data from a sensor of the computing device;
• send to the computing device, via the computing device interface, a throttling criterion associated with the request, wherein the throttling criterion specifies one of a plurality of throttling categories and a throttling parameter specific to the throttling category;
• and
• receive the sensor data from the computing device, via the computing device interface, wherein receipt of the sensor data corresponds to the throttling criterion being satisfied.