Patent ID: 8583039

Claim:
A method for operating a computing device, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising: receiving data from a plurality of wireless computing devices within a first distance of the computing device; presenting a plurality of alphanumeric device identifiers corresponding to the plurality of wireless computing devices on a display of the computing device, wherein presenting the plurality of alphanumeric device identifiers includes (i) enabling a user to configure one or more alphanumeric device identifiers that is presented on the display by assigning one or more names for the corresponding one or more wireless computing devices using input received from a user interface of the computing device, and (ii) displaying the one or more assigned names of the one or more wireless computing devices; enabling a user to select a subset of devices, from the plurality of wireless computing devices that have been determined to be within the first distance of the computing device and that have a corresponding alphanumeric device identifier presented on the display, by receiving a selection input of a second distance that is smaller than the first distance from a user via a user input mechanism of the computing device, the selection input identifying the subset of the plurality of wireless computing devices that are within the second distance in which to send a communication to; and in response to receiving the selection input that corresponds to the second distance, sending a communication to the subset of the plurality of wireless computing devices.