Patent ID: 8787830

Claim:
A near-field communication (NFC) system comprising: a plurality of NFC devices each comprising a housing, a power source carried by said housing, at least one input device carried by said housing and assigned to a designated device function, an NFC circuit configured to wirelessly communicate using an NFC communications protocol, and a processor carried by said housing and coupled to said power source, said at least one input device, and said NFC circuit, the processor being configured to initiate the designated device function based upon a first input pattern of said at least one input device, switch said NFC circuit between a higher power state and a lower power state at a first frequency, said NFC circuit in the higher power state being configured to generate a radio frequency (RF) field to initiate NFC communications with another one of said NFC devices, switch said NFC circuit between the higher power state and the lower power state at a second frequency different than the first frequency based upon a second input pattern of said at least one input device different from the first input pattern, and lessen a security requirement for authorizing and communicating with another NFC device based upon the second manipulation pattern of said at least one input key.