Patent ID: 7843333

Claim:
A system for controlling the operation of at least one electronic appliance within a local area, the system comprising: (a) a mobile terminal located within the local area and configured to transmit a short-range radio signal to a short-range device; (b) a plurality of short-range devices within the local area, wherein each short-range device of the plurality of short-range devices is configured to receive the short-range radio signal from the mobile terminal; perform a signal measurement of signal delay, signal strength, or both signal delay and signal strength of said short-range radio signal received from the mobile terminal; and transmit information about said measurement to a central server; (c) the central server configured to receive information about said signal measurement from the plurality of short-range devices within the local area; in response thereto determine the location of the mobile terminal; and control the operation of the at least one electronic appliance in dependence of the determined location of the mobile terminal.