MULTIPLE DEVICE AND/OR USER ASSOCIATION

• US 20070187502A1
• Filed: 04/05/2007
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: SHAFFER, Shmuel, SARKAR, Shantanu, KHOURI, Joseph, PATEL, Labhesh, CHAHROURI, Gebran, MOON, Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 7,703,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/451
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided for automating a login process and user/device associations. A user'"'"'s preferred device settings and/or functions may be provisioned automatically. Some implementations provide an automated log out or “sleep” when a user leaves one or more of the devices. Users may be automatically identified and associated. The “presence” of members of a user group may be determined as required for one or more actions to be taken. Some user groups control devices according to which members of a group may have access to certain functions, information, etc., and which may not.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving radio frequency identification (RFID) tag data from an RFID reader;

identifying a user group corresponding to a user associated with the RFID tag data; and

applying user preferences to two or more devices within a workspace, the user preferences selected based upon the user group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more devices within a workspace do not include at least one accessible device within the workspace.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the workspace includes a computer, telephone, and a peripheral device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user preferences indicate whether the user is able to access each device within the workspace.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the user preferences indicate an extension for the telephone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more devices are associated with a single RFID reader.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the user'"'"'s presence is not detected by the RFID reader within a predetermined time, un-applying the user preferences from the two or more devices within a workspace.

20. The program storage device of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

if the user'"'"'s presence is not detected by the RFID reader within a predetermined time, un-applying the user preferences from the two or more devices within a workspace.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader configured to read RFID tag data from an RFID tag;

a controller configured to;

receive the RFID tag data from the RFID reader;

identify a user group corresponding to a user associated with the RFID tag data; and

apply user preferences to the apparatus and to at least one more device within a workspace containing the apparatus, the user preferences selected based upon the user group.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the user preferences indicate whether the user is able to access each device within the workspace.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller is further configured to:

if the user'"'"'s presence is not detected by the RFID reader within a predetermined time, un-apply the user preferences from the apparatus and the at least one more device within the workspace.

11. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving radio frequency identification (RFID) tag data from an RFID reader;

means for identifying a user group corresponding to a user associated with the RFID tag data; and

means for applying user preferences to two or more devices within a workspace, the user preferences selected based upon the user group.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the two or more devices within a workspace do not include at least one accessible device within the workspace.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the workspace includes a computer, telephone, and a peripheral device.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the user preferences indicate whether the user is able to access each device within the workspace.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user preferences indicate an extension for the telephone.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the two or more devices are associated with a single RFID reader.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for, if the user'"'"'s presence is not detected by the RFID reader within a predetermined time, un-applying the user preferences from the two or more devices within a workspace.

18. A program storage device readable by a machine, the program storage device tangibly embodying a set of program instructions for executing a method comprising:

receiving radio frequency identification (RFID) tag data from an RFID reader;

identifying a user group corresponding to a user associated with the RFID tag data; and

applying user preferences to two or more devices within a workspace, the user preferences selected based upon the user group.

19. The program storage device of claim 18, wherein the user preferences indicate whether the user is able to access each device within the workspace.