Office device, office device system, control method using office device, and wireless device tracking method
AssigneeToshba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShinji KOIZUMI
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to one embodiment, an office device includes a communication unit to wirelessly communicate with a wireless device using a short-range wireless communication standard. A processor of the office device is configured to periodically search for wireless devices within a communication range of the communication unit, acquire identification information from each wireless device detected in the search for wireless devices, output search data including the identification information to a server. In some examples, the office device may be used as a monitoring sensor or the like to provide information for control of another apparatus.
Claims20
An office device, comprising:
- a communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a wireless device using a predetermined wireless communication standard;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- periodically search for wireless devices within a communication range of the communication unit;
- acquire identification information from each wireless device detected in the search for wireless devices;
- and
- output search data including the identification information to a server.
A control method for controlling a target apparatus, the control method comprising:
- controlling an office device to periodically search for wireless devices within a communication range of a short-range wireless communication unit of the office device and to acquire identification information from each wireless device detected in the search for wireless devices;
- output search data including the identification information to a server;
- collect, at the server, the search data output from the office device;
- determine whether each wireless device in the search data is a managed wireless device based on the identification information included in the collected search data;
- count the number of managed wireless devices in the search data;
- obtain the total number of wireless devices in the search data;
- and
- control a target apparatus based on at least one of the counted number of managed wireless devices or the total number of wireless devices in the search data.
A wireless device tracking method using an office device as a sensor, the method comprising:
- controlling an office device to periodically search for wireless devices within a communication range of a short-range wireless communication unit of the office device and to acquire identification information from each wireless device detected in the search for wireless devices;
- output search data including the identification information to a server;
- collect, at the server, the search data output from the office device;
- determine whether each wireless device in the search data is a managed wireless device based on the identification information included in the collected search data;
- and
- count the number of managed wireless devices in the search data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.