Patent ID: 11943840
Assignee: CATTRON NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method relating to associating diverse devices each including a unique public media access control address (Public MAC address), the method comprising:
providing a plurality of devices with a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) such that the Shared Private MAC address in a broadcast mode is known to each of the devices and usable for initiating a learning interchange during which each of the devices securely exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and are thereby associated with each other; and/or
using the Shared Private MAC address in the broadcast mode known to each of the plurality of devices to initiate the learning interchange that includes the devices securely exchanging their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and thereby associating the devices with each other;
wherein:
the method is triggered upon user request that is input via at least one of the devices;
the devices comprise wireless remote control devices of an industrial wireless remote control system including a machine control unit (MCU) having a unique Public MAC address and an operator control unit (OCU) having a unique Public MAC address; and
after the OCU and the MCU have securely exchanged their unique Public MAC addresses with each other such that the OCU is associated with the MCU, the OCU is operable for wirelessly transmitting commands input by a user to the MCU for wireless remote controlling operation of a machine, whereby the MCU is only responsive to operator control units that are associated with the MCU.