Patent ID: 8180373

Claim:
In an environment including a plurality of appliances, a method comprising: accepting user input into a portable controlling device indicative of an operation to be performed by a one or more of the plurality of appliances; simultaneously receiving at the portable controlling device from each of a plurality of different signaling devices a wireless signal wherein the simultaneously received wireless signals function to provide a unique wireless signal fingerprint in each of a plurality of different locations of the portable controlling device relative to the plurality of appliances in the environment; using a unique wireless signal fingerprint received from the plurality of signaling devices to determine a current location of the portable controlling device relative to the plurality of appliances in the environment; selecting from a database of commands available to the portable controlling device one or more commands to be transmitted to the one or more of the plurality of appliances as a function of the user input accepted into the portable controlling device and the determined location of the portable controlling device relative to the plurality of appliances in the environment; and transmitting the selected one or more commands to cause the one or more of the plurality of appliances to perform the operation.