Patent ID: 7110779

Claim:
A wireless communications system comprising: a plurality of wireless communications devices each having a device type associated therewith from among a plurality of different device types, each WLAN device having a unique identifier (UID) associated therewith, and each device type having a known device latency associated therewith; and a wireless device locator comprising at least one antenna and a transceiver connected thereto, and a controller for cooperating with said transceiver for transmitting a plurality of location finding signals to a target wireless communications device from among said plurality of wireless communications devices and inserting the UID for said target wireless communications device in each of the location finding signals; said target wireless communications device transmitting a respective reply signal for each of said location finding signals based upon the UID in the location finding signals; said controller of said wireless device locator also for cooperating with said transceiver for receiving the reply signals, determining a propagation delay associated with the transmission of each location finding signal and the respective reply signal therefor based upon the known device latency of said target wireless communications device, and estimating a range to said target wireless communications device based upon a plurality of determined propagation delays.