Location awareness of devices

• US 20090023410A1
• Filed: 07/18/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Ghosh, Riddhiman
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/226.200
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0231 Cordless keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method for managing devices is described. The method includes receiving wireless fingerprints from a plurality of devices, each of the wireless fingerprints comprising a unique device identifier, a wireless signal strength indicator that corresponds to a relative position a device is located with respect to one or more wireless access points and unique identifiers associated with the access points. The method further includes identifying a similarity between a first wireless fingerprint associated with a first of the plurality of devices and a second wireless fingerprint associated with a second of the plurality of devices and determining the first device is located physically close to the second device based on the similarity.

Claims

1. A method for managing devices comprising:

receiving wireless fingerprints from a plurality of devices, each of said wireless fingerprints comprising a unique device identifier and a wireless signal strength indicator that corresponds to a relative position a device is located with respect to one or more wireless access points and unique identifiers associated with said access points;

identifying a similarity between a first wireless fingerprint associated with a first of said plurality of devices and a second wireless fingerprint associated with a second of said plurality of devices; and

determining a degree of closeness between said first device and said second device based on said similarity.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said unique identifier comprises a hardware address or a network address.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said signal strength identifier comprises an average signal strength.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request to route data to said first of said plurality of devices; and

automatically routing said data to said second of said plurality of devices.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising:

generating an indicator that said data was routed to said second of said plurality of devices.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing each of said wireless fingerprints to determine which of said plurality of devices are located physically close to each other.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing each of said wireless fingerprints to determine which of said plurality of devices are located physically far from each other.

8. Instructions on a computer-usable medium wherein said instructions when executed cause a computer system to perform a method for printing, said computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a print request for routing a print job to a first printing device;

determining a first wireless fingerprint associated with said first printing device;

identifying a second wireless fingerprint associated with a second printing device that is similar to said wireless fingerprint associated with said first printing device; and

automatically routing said print request to said second printing device.

9. The instructions of claim 8 wherein said method further includes:

determining said second printing device is physically located close to said first printing device based on comparing said first wireless fingerprint to said second wireless fingerprint.

10. The instructions of claim 8 wherein said first wireless fingerprint comprises a unique identifier associated with said first wirelessly networked device.

11. The instructions of claim 10 wherein said unique identifier comprises a network address or hardware address.

12. The instructions of claim 8 wherein said first wireless fingerprint comprises a wireless signal strength indicator that corresponds to a relative position said first printing device is located with respect to one or more wireless access points.

13. The instructions of claim 12 wherein said signal strength identifier comprises an average signal strength.

14. The instructions of claim 8 further comprising:

generating an indicator that said print request was routed to said second printing device.

15. A system for managing a plurality of devices with wireless communication capability comprising:

a wireless fingerprint accessor module for accessing a plurality of wireless fingerprints from said plurality of devices with wireless communication capability, each of said wireless fingerprints comprising a unique device identifier, a wireless signal strength indicator that is dependent on a relative position a device is located with respect to one or more wireless access points and unique identifiers associated with said access points;

a wireless fingerprint analyzer module for identifying a similarity between a first wireless fingerprint associated with a first device and a second wireless fingerprint associated with a second device; and

a device closeness determiner module for determining said first device is located physically close to said second device based on said similarity.

16. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein said unique identifier comprises a network address or hardware address.

17. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein said signal strength identifier comprises an average signal strength.

18. The system as recited in claim 15 further comprising:

a data routing request receiver module for receiving a request to route data to said first of said plurality of devices; and

a data rerouting module for automatically rerouting said data to said second of said plurality of devices.

19. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein said device closeness determiner module analyzes each of said wireless fingerprints to determine which of said plurality of devices are located physically close to each other.

20. The system as recited in claim 15 wherein said device closeness determiner module analyzes each of said wireless fingerprints to determine which of said plurality of devices are located physically far from each other.