Patent ID: 8909356
Filing Date: 2014-12-09
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An appliance control device for controlling an operation of a plurality of appliances, the appliance control device comprising: a control unit configured to operate so as to: receive a request to register the appliance control device with any of the plurality of appliances, each of the plurality of appliances having a same respective identifier; select, in response to the request, a first appliance from the plurality of appliances each having the same respective identifier, the first appliance being selected based on a relative registration priority assigned to the first appliance; and, transmit a registration request to the selected first appliance for registration of the appliance control device with the selected first appliance, in which the control unit is further configured to assign a respective relative registration priority to each of the plurality of appliances determined to have the same respective identifier, the assigned respective relative registration priorities including the relative registration priority assigned to the first appliance, in which the respective relative registration priority assigned to each of the plurality of appliances is based on a prior registration history regarding one or more of the plurality of appliances, and in which the prior registration history identifies one or more appliances that are newly available for registration and one or more appliances for which registration has been previously cancelled, and the control unit is further configure to assign higher relative registration priorities to the appliances that are newly available for registration and lower relative registration priorities to the appliances for which registration has been previously cancelled.