CAPACITIVE BONDING OF DEVICES

• US 20060217064A1
• Filed: 06/09/2006
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Holan, Doron J., Aull, Randall E., Dreher, Christopher M., Ranta, Craig S., Sung, Ellick H., Glass, Andrew C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,036,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate wireless device communications and configuration. A detection component identifies N devices that are coupled together via a biological medium, N being an integer, wherein the medium includes direct or indirect touching to a device or devices. After biological contact, a configuration component initiates a configuration between a subset of the devices. Although configurations and/or other communications can be conducted through a medium such as the human body, the present invention can employ an initial touch to identify respective devices whereby other electronic configuration sequences commence without further device contact. Other aspects include chain touching between users and/or devices to facilitate contact between the devices. Location detection components can also be provided to identify when users are present near a device, the detected presence to commence further automated procedures, and/or the location detection components can enable devices to identify other devices in a crowded wireless environment.

Claims

1. A system to facilitate device communications, comprising:

a profile store to aggregate property keys relating to sensed electrical properties of a user; and

an analyzer component to identify the user based upon the property keys.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a processor to launch one or more applications based upon identifying the user.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an impedance detector to generate the property keys.

4. The system of claim 3, the impedance detector analyzes capacitance, inductance, and resistance to determine a biological profile for the user.

5. The system of claim 2, the applications include at least one of a touch and bond application, a touch and address application, a touch and pair application, and a touch and identify application.

6. The system of claim 5, the touch and bond application includes at least one of an automatic login procedure and a custom interface procedure.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising an automated configuration application that employs the property keys for a network configuration.

8. The system of claim 5, the touch and identify application includes one or more security procedures to enable or disable access to a computer network.

9. The system of claim 8, the security procedures include at least one of an authentication procedure and an authorization procedure.

10. A method to facilitate device communications, comprising the acts of;

generating a profile store to aggregate property keys relating to sensed electrical properties of a user; and

identifying the user by analyzing the property keys.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sensing electrical properties of a user through at least one of direct and indirect physical touching.

12. The method of claim 11, the indirect physical touching comprising touching a device through a glove or other clothing.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising sensing electrical properties of a plurality of users through concurrent touching.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising employing the property keys to execute at least one of security procedures, pairing procedures, and providing device address information.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising sensing electrical properties of a plurality of chained users.

16. The method of claim 10, the electrical properties comprising at least one of capacitance, inductance, and resistance.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising sensing electrical properties of a device, and identifying the device by analyzing the property keys.

18. A system to facilitate device communications comprising;

means for sensing electrical properties of a user;

means for creating property keys based on the electrical properties;

means for aggregating the property keys in a profile store; and

means for identifying a user by analyzing the property keys.

19. The system of claim 18, the means for sensing electrical properties of a user comprising an impedance detector.

20. The system of claim 19, impedance detector analyzes at least one of capacitance, inductance, and resistance to generate the property keys.