Patent ID: 7136914

Claim:
A method of remotely controlling wireless network devices comprising: broadcasting a wireless menu request from a hand held control device to electronic devices connected to a wireless local area network (LAN); receiving a wireless menu response from one of said electronic devices, said wireless menu response including an identifier and a menu location associated with said one of said electronic devices; displaying a representation of said one of said electronic devices on a display of said hand held control device; selecting said one of said electronic devices based on a user input to said hand held device; and establishing a control connection with said selected electronic device via said wireless LAN, wherein said step of broadcasting a wireless menu request comprises broadcasting said menu request to at least one incompatible electronic device connected to the wireless LAN using a communication protocol incompatible with said control device, and said step of establishing a control connection comprises establishing a control connection between said control device and said selected electronic device via a main server of said wireless LAN, the main server including protocol conversion software for translating communication messages between the control device and selected electronic device.