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

Claim 12:
13. 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 is known to each of the devices and usable for initiating a learning interchange during which the devices exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and are thereby associated with each other; and/or
using a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) known to each of a plurality of devices to initiate a learning interchange that includes the devices exchanging their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and thereby associating the devices with each other;, wherein:
the devices comprise a machine control unit (MCU) having a unique Public MAC address and an operator control unit (OCU) having a unique Public MAC address;
after the OCU and the MCU have exchanged their unique Public MAC addresses with each other such that the OCU is associated with the MCU, the OCU is operable for transmitting commands input by a user to the MCU for controlling operation of a machine;
the OCU includes a switch to allow a user to initiate the learning interchange and have the OCU and MCU exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other to thereby associate the OCU with the MCU;
the MCU includes a switch to allow a user to prioritize the MCU for association with the OCU; and
the method includes:
associating the OCU to the MCU when the switch of the OCU and the switch of the MCU have both been activated; or
associating the OCU to an MCU having a highest received signal strength when the switch of the OCU is activated but the switch of the MCU is not activated.