US 6,664,892 B2 · Device inventory by sound

Abstract

When a person first enters an unfamiliar work space, it is useful for that person to know what devices are present in the space and often the person will spend the first few minutes looking around, effectively carrying out an inventory of the devices present. In order to simplify this process the devices are arranged to announce their existence by sound in response to a prompt, such as a handclap. To avoid the announcements being made all at once in an unintelligible manner, the devices interact with each other to order their announcements so that each device announcement is, at least in due course, made uninterrupted by announcements from other devices. Typically, this interaction involves the devices using a collision-detection and back-off protocol applied to the announcements themselves.

Claims29

Dependent claims

A method of effecting an inventory of local devices, comprising:

(a) issuing a prompt to the devices;
(b) at each device, responding to the prompt by announcing the presence of the device by sound;
(c) the devices interacting to order their announcements so that each device announcement is, at least in due course, made uninterrupted by announcements from other devices.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Device inventory by sound

Life of this patent

Device inventory by sound

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims29