Patent ID: 8478193

Claim:
A device-identifying system, comprising: a controlling device capable of communicating with external devices via a network, the controlling device using a different wireless communication method limited in at least one of a directivity and a transmittable communication range to transmit an device-identifying signal, for identifying one of the external devices capable of communicating by the wireless communication method, to the one of the external devices without relying on the network; and a controlled device capable of communicating with the controlling device both via the network and via the different wireless communication method, and when the controlled device receives the device-identifying signal from the controlling device via the wireless communication method, the controlled device transmitting, not via the wireless communication method but instead via the network by multicast or broadcast, a response indicating that the controlled device has received the device-identifying signal, wherein in response to the controlling device receiving the response from the controlled device via the network within a predetermined period of time after transmitting the device-identifying signal, the controlling device determines that the controlled device having transmitted the response via the network has received the device-identifying signal transmitted via the wireless communication method from the controlling device, and in response to the controlling device receiving the response from the controlled device after the predetermined period of time, the controlling device does not determine that the controlled device having transmitted the response has received the device-identifying signal from the controlling device and instead disregards the response.