METHOD, SYSTEM AND MOBILE DEVICE FOR PRIORITIZING A DISCOVERED DEVICE LIST

• US 20100255787A1
• Filed: 06/15/2010
• Published: 10/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Wilson, Sean Elliott, Pattenden, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

The described embodiments relate generally to methods, systems and computing devices, including at least a mobile device, for ordering a discovered device list according to a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of each device in the discovered device list. Thus, the discovered device list has at the top of the list the device that has the highest RSSI, with the remaining devices in the discovered device list presented in descending order of RSSI.

Claims

1. A method of ordering a list of discovered devices in a wireless personal area network (WPAN), comprising:

receiving a plurality of received signal strength indications corresponding to wireless device signals received from devices in the WPAN; and

displaying, on a user interface, a list of devices corresponding to the devices from which the wireless device signals were received, wherein the devices in the list are ordered according to the received signal strength indications of the devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon receiving each received signal strength indication, sorting the list according to the received signal strength indications.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting a page signal, wherein the plurality of received signal strength indications corresponding to wireless device signals are received in response to the page signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the page signal is transmitted in response to a selection to add a device to a connected device list.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting a name of each device in the list in sequence from the top of the list to the bottom of the list.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising waiting a predetermined time prior to requesting the name of each device in the list.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein requesting the name of each device comprises determining whether any devices in the list do not have a device name, and requesting the name of devices in the list that do not have a device name.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a device class is substituted for the device name in the list, for each device for which a device name could not be retrieved.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving a selection of a device in the list of devices.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising initiating a device connection with the selected device in response to the selection.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a device identifier and a device class for each of the devices in the WPAN based on the wireless device signals.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein devices in the list having a same received signal strength indication are ordered in the list according to the device class of each such device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying an icon for each device in the list, the icon corresponding to the device class of the corresponding device.

14. A device for ordering a list of discovered devices in a wireless personal area network (WPAN), the device comprising:

a processor configured to receive the received signal strength indications corresponding to each of a plurality of wireless device signals received from devices in the WPAN, and to display a list of the devices in a user interface, wherein the devices are ordered in the list according to the received signal strength indications of the devices.

15. The device of claim 14, further comprising:

a short-range communication subsystem coupled to the processor for enabling communication with devices in the WPAN, wherein the short-range communication subsystem is configured to determine the received signal strength indication for each of the plurality of wireless device signals received from the devices, and to provide received signal strength indications to the processor.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to sort the list according to the received signal strength indications upon receiving each one of the received signal strength indications.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to request a name of each device in the list in sequence from the top of the list to the bottom of the list.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to wait a predetermined time prior to requesting the name of each device in the list.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether any devices in the list does not have a device name, and to request the name of devices in the list that do not have a device name.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to substitute a device class for the device name in the list, for each device for which a device name could not be retrieved.

21. The device of claim 15, wherein the short-range communication subsystem is further configured to determine a device identifier and a device class of each of the devices based on the wireless device signals received from the devices in the WPAN, and to provide the device identifier and device class to the processor.

22. The device of claim 14, wherein the device comprises a mobile device.

23. The device of claim 14, wherein a communication technology of the WPAN is selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth®

, ZigBee®

, wireless universal serial bus (WUSB), ultra-wideband (UWB), and IEEE 802.15.4 compliant technologies.