Hub-to-hub peripheral discovery

• US 9,720,854 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2014
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zahand, Brannon James, Wallace, Daniel John
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai, Henry
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROCHE, JOHN B
• Application Number:
  US14/297,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20150356030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/10 Program control for peripheral devices G06F13/14 - G06F13/42 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/20 for access to input/output bus
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure enable location of a wireless peripheral by a computing device even when the wireless peripheral is beyond a communication range of, or otherwise inaccessible by, the computing device. A user gives a command to a first computing device to determine the location of the wireless peripheral. The first computing device requests other networked computing devices to locate the wireless peripheral. At least one of the other networked computing devices establishes communication with the wireless peripheral, obtains location information for the wireless peripheral, and communicates the location information to the first computing device. The first computing device communicates the location of the wireless peripheral to the user.

Claims

1. A system for locating peripherals enabling interaction with a computing device, the computing device being connected to at least one other computing device, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing data comprising a device identifier associated with at least one of the peripherals that comprises a gaming controller; and

a processor programmed to;

receive, by the computing device, a request from a user to locate the at least one of the peripherals;

transmit over a network with the at least one other computing device a query for location information of the at least one of the peripherals, said query comprising a wake-up command configured to direct the at least one of the peripherals to transition to a higher power state and responsively transmit location information that includes the device identifier associated with the at least one of the peripherals and a room designation where the at least one other computing device obtaining the device identifier from the at least one peripheral is located in a house;

receive, at the computing device and from the at least one other computing device, the location information of the at least one of the peripherals transmitted after the at least one of the peripherals transitioned into the higher power state responsive to receiving the query for the location information;

determine that the at least one of the peripherals is located in a room of the house indicated by the room designation based on the at least one other computing device obtaining the device identifier; and

present to the user an indication that the at least one of the peripherals is located in the room.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information includes information indicating whether the at least one of the peripherals is obscured from visible light.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the peripherals determines ambient electrical signals or ambient vibratory noise and communicates the ambient electrical signals or the ambient vibratory noise to the at least one other computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the peripherals is outside a communication range of the computing device and within a communication range of the at least one other computing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein providing the received location information comprises providing on-screen display of the room designation where the at least one peripheral is located on a display associated with the computing device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a gaming console.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one of the peripherals comprises wireless peripherals selected from a group consisting of a game controller, a remote control, or a headset for interacting with the gaming console.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to activate one or more sensory indicators on the one or more peripherals.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

remotely directing, over the network, the at least one other computing device to emit depth sensing signals from a depth sensing device to identify the at least one of the peripherals; and

determining a location of the at least one of the peripherals from the depth sensing signals.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

access a history of connections indicating additional computing devices that the at least one of the peripherals has historically connected, wherein the history of connections indicates times at which the at least one of the peripherals historically connected to the additional computing devices; and

base said determination that the at least one of the peripherals is located in the room of the house, at least in part, on the accessed history of connections of the at least one of the peripherals with the additional computing devices.

11. A method for locating wireless peripherals, said method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a command from a user to locate a peripheral, the peripheral being outside a communication range of the computing device, wherein the peripheral comprises a gaming controller;

in response to receiving the command, querying a plurality of computing devices to determine whether any of the plurality of computing devices are within a communication range of the peripheral, said querying comprising transmitting a query with a wake-up command directing the peripheral to transition to a different power state and responsively transmit location information to at least one of the plurality of computing devices;

receiving, from the at least one of the plurality of computing devices, the location information of the peripheral transmitted in response to the wake-up command;

determining a location of the peripheral based on the received location information; and

providing the location of the peripheral to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the computing device communicates a serial number of the peripheral over the network to instruct the one or more other computing devices to determine the location of the peripheral.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more other computing devices obtain the location of the peripheral via activating a location sensor associated with the peripheral.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the command from the user to locate the peripheral comprises receiving a command from a user to locate a peripheral that is in a low-power state.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the command from the user comprises receiving a command from a user via a natural user interface.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving the command from the user comprises receiving a voice command that is interpreted via an always-on speech recognition application running on the computing device.

17. One or more computer storage media embodying computer-executable components which, when executed, perform hub-to-hub peripheral discovery, said components comprising:

an interface component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to receive a command from a user to locate a peripheral for interaction with a computing device, the peripheral being outside a communication range of the computing device;

a peripheral data component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to obtain a history log stored on the peripheral, the history log indicating a history of connections that the peripheral had with a plurality of computing devices inside a premises;

a communication component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to, based on the history of connections had with the plurality of computing devices inside the premises, identify at least one other computing device inside the premises that is likely in communication range of the peripheral, request over a network the at least one other computing device inside the premises attempt to communicate with the peripheral, and receive location information of the peripheral from the at least one other computing device inside the premises in communication with the peripheral; and

a display component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to display a location of the peripheral inside the premises to a user based on the received location information from the at least one other computing device inside the premises.

18. The one or more computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the premises comprises a house of the user.

19. The one or more computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the wherein the peripheral is a gaming controller, a mobile telephone, a laptop, a tablet, a gaming device, a portable media player, or a desktop personal computer.

20. The one or more computer storage media of claim 17, wherein the location information includes sensor data captured by one or more sensors on the peripheral, the sensor data comprising data indicating a location of the peripheral relative to another object.