Patent ID: 9167408
Filing Date: 2015-10-20
Classification: G06K,G08B,G08C,H04L,H04Q,H04W,H05B,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying an individual electrical device among a plurality of spatially-distributed electrical devices, each of the devices having associated therewith its own RF transceiver and its own microprocessor and associated memory for storing (i) an identification number and (ii) category information, where category information is: (a) information other than the device's identification number by which the device can be selectively communicated with, and (b) information that can be changed from time-to-time, the method comprising: (A) broadcasting, from a portable device, an RF discovery request to the spatially-distributed electrical devices requesting RF transmissions comprising identification numbers from the devices; (B) receiving, at the portable device, RF transmissions comprising identification numbers returned by devices as a result of step (A) and determining a perceived proximity for each received RF transmission from time of flight, received signal strength, or both time of flight and received signal strength; (C) ordering the identification numbers received in step (B) by perceived proximity; (D) selecting an identification number from the ordered identification numbers of step (C), the selected identification number corresponding to the device having the closest perceived proximity; and (E) transmitting an RF signal to the device associated with the selected identification number so as to cause the device to produce a human-perceivable visual or audible signal for identifying the device to an operator of the portable device.