Self-associating wireless personal area network

A system of intercommunicating elements adapted to automatically form a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) from all or part of said elements, comprising:

• a plurality of the elements, wherein an element of the plurality of elements each include a first communicator associated with primary functions of the element;
• a second communicator coupled to the first communicator, wherein the second communicator include a range measuring transceiver having radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag components, wherein the range measuring transceiver is addressable by one or more other elements of the plurality of the elements, and is adapted to be addressed by the one or more other elements in order to exchange identifiers with at least some of the one or more other elements, and wherein the element is also adapted to determine ranges and relative motions of at least some of the one or more other elements using RFID measurements, and automatically to associate with the WPAN that includes a subset of the one or more other elements that satisfy predetermined association criteria that include range and relative motion.

A wireless Personal Area Network (PAN) element, comprising:

• a primary function subsystem;
• and
• a wireless personal area network (WPAN) association function subsystem coupled to the primary function subsystem, wherein the WPAN association function subsystem includes a range measuring transceiver having a WPAN radio, wherein the range measuring transceiver is addressable by one or more other PAN elements and is adapted to be addressed by the one or more other PAN elements in order to exchange identifiers with at least some of the one or more other PAN elements, and wherein the PAN element is also adapted to determine ranges and relative motions of at least some of the one or more other PAN elements using ranging measurements, and automatically to associate with a WPAN that includes a subset of the one or more other PAN elements that satisfy predetermined association criteria that include range and relative motion.