Method and Apparatus Pertaining to Message-Based Functionality
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- at a movable barrier operator;
transmitting a message to a remote peripheral platform;
upon determining that the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out a given functionality, responsively permitting a particular function to be carried out by the movable barrier operator;
upon determining that it cannot be ascertained whether the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out the given functionality, responsively preventing the movable barrier operator from carrying out the particular function.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A movable barrier operator transmits a message to a remote peripheral platform and, upon determining that the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out a given functionality, responsively permits a particular function to be carried out by the movable barrier operator. Conversely, upon determining that it cannot be ascertained whether the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out the given functionality, the movable barrier operator responsively prevents the movable barrier operator from carrying out the particular function. Also, upon detecting that a targeted remote platform does not acknowledge a previously re-transmitted message and further upon detecting that this same remote platform has also not acknowledged a subsequent wirelessly-transmitted second message, the system can switch to automatically retransmitting that second message a lesser number of times than would otherwise be required.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
at a movable barrier operator; transmitting a message to a remote peripheral platform; upon determining that the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out a given functionality, responsively permitting a particular function to be carried out by the movable barrier operator; upon determining that it cannot be ascertained whether the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out the given functionality, responsively preventing the movable barrier operator from carrying out the particular function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A movable barrier operator comprising:
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a transceiver; a control circuit operably coupled to the transceiver and configured to; transmit a message to a remote peripheral platform; upon determining that the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out a given functionality, responsively permit a particular function to be carried out by the movable barrier operator; upon determining that it cannot be ascertained whether the remote peripheral platform is presently able to carry out the given functionality, responsively prevent the movable barrier operator from carrying out the particular function. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method comprising:
at a control circuit; upon detecting that a targeted remote platform has not acknowledged a wirelessly-transmitted first message, automatically re-transmitting the first message up to X times (where X is an integer at least equaling
1) until an acknowledgement message is received from the targeted remote platform;upon detecting that the targeted remote platform did not acknowledge the re-transmitted message(s), and further upon detecting that the targeted remote platform has also not acknowledged another wirelessly-transmitted second message, automatically re-transmitting the second message up to X-Y times (where Y is an integer). - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for use in a system that employs a wireless time-slotted frequency-hopping communications protocol, the method comprising:
at a control circuit having a unique system identifier; upon receiving an individually-targeted communication, transmitting a corresponding acknowledgement message in a time slot regardless of whether that time slot corresponds to the unique system identifier; upon receiving a multi-target broadcast communication, transmitting a corresponding acknowledgement message in a time slot that uniquely corresponds to the unique system identifier. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
Specification