US 7,746,834 B1Granted

Method of dynamically locating and connecting to a wireless device

Assignee3Com Corporation

InventorsDavid Moore, Thomas Scribner

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Abstract

A method for wirelessly connecting a computer network to a destination device located at an unknown location in response to a request from a requesting device. The method of the present invention creates a more versatile wireless computer network by enabling devices within the computer network to efficiently wirelessly connect to mobile devices that are not connected to the computer network but are in range of at least one wireless access point. Therefore, the network can efficiently dynamically adjust to the movement of particular wireless devices throughout the network. Likewise, the method effectively increases the capabilities of the network by enabling devices within the network to efficiently connect with devices that are not actively communicating with the network. The method includes a series of searching routines which are performed at each access point to locate the destination device.

Claims5

Dependent claims

In a computer network having at least one Bluetooth compatible wireless access point, a method for connecting to a Bluetooth compatible destination device located at an unknown location to the computer network, the method comprising the acts of:

transmitting a wireless discovery request, said request originating from a device connected to the network by a wired connection and including a device identifier for the Bluetooth compatible destination device, throughout the computer network to determine whether the Bluetooth compatible destination device is already connected to the computer network, wherein if the Bluetooth compatible destination device does not respond to the wireless discovery request within a certain period of time, the transmitting further comprises:
transmitting, if no response to the wireless discovery request is received from the Bluetooth compatible destination device, a Bluetooth direct connection request containing the device identifier over the at least one Bluetooth compatible wireless access points within the computer network for a specified number of iterations;
and
automatically establishing by the Bluetooth compatible destination device, in response to the Bluetooth direct connection request, a connection between the Bluetooth compatible destination device and the computer network.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/390,052Filed 17 Mar 2003
Granted: 29 Jun 2010
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04W 84/22
Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks: with access to wired networks
H04W 40/246
Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update: connectivity information discovery
H04W 68/02
User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like: arrangements for increasing efficiency of…
H04W 84/18
Network topologies: self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Family

No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.

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