DEVICE CONTROL USING ENTITY IDENTIFIERS

• US 20180314861A1
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Published: 11/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Getac Technology Company Limited (MiTAC Holdings Corp.), Whp Workflow Solutions, LLC
• Original Assignee: Getac Technology Company Limited (MiTAC Holdings Corp.), Whp Workflow Solutions, LLC
• Inventors: Guzik, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 10,691,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/381 using identifiers, e.g. barcodes, RFIDs for URLs G06F16/9554
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/128 by electric registration, e.g. electrolytic, spark erosion recording apparatus for measuring instruments G01D15/06; information storage in general G11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety

Abstract

Techniques for efficiently and automatically activating portable devices include a device nomenclature schema used to associate devices with particular entities, including a person, a group of persons, a role, a location, a type, etc. A first device can be configured to activate one or more other devices according to assigned entity names when certain conditions occur. When a recording event occurs, metadata associated with one or more recording devices is stored, including entities that were activated during the recording event. A reviewer of the event recording can thereby easily determine other devices that might have stored data related to the event.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a first device identifier associated with a first electronic device;

receiving an entity identifier;

storing the first device identifier;

storing the entity identifier;

associating the first device identifier with the entity identifier;

receiving a second device identifier associated with the second electronic device;

storing the second device identifier;

associating the second device identifier with the entity identifier;

detecting an activation event indicating the entity identifier; and

in response to the activation event, activating the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises a person'"'"'s name.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises a group name that is associated with more than one person.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises a role name.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises a location name.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises location coordinates.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the entity identifier further comprises a device type.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a device identifier;

receiving an indication to remove the first electronic device; and

removing the association between the first device identifier and the entity identifier.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the activation event further comprises a user selection.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the detecting an activation event further comprises detecting that a message pertinent to the entity identifier is transmitted.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving a first device identifier further comprises reading a first device identifier from an apparatus associated with the first device.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving a first device identifier further comprises receiving input from a computing device containing the first device identifier.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein activating the first electronic device causes the first electronic device to activate a third electronic device.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

activating the first electronic device causes the first electronic device to transmit a message indicating activation of the first electronic device; and

based upon content of the message, the first electronic device activates one or more other devices.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising, in response to the activation event:

storing metadata associated with the activation event; and

associating the metadata with the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the metadata includes the entity identifier.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving a trigger signal from a first portable electronic device;

determining if the trigger signal indicates an activation;

identifying relevant other portable electronic devices; and

activating the other relevant portable electronic device.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the identifying relevant other portable electronic devices further comprises identifying portable electronic devices that are related to the first portable electronic device, based on having a similar entity identifier as the first portable electronic device.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the identifying relevant other portable electronic devices further comprises identifying portable electronic devices that are within a particular distance of the first portable electronic device.

20. A system, comprising:

an assignment module configured to;

receive a first device identifier associated with a first portable electronic device;

receive a second device identifier associated with a second portable electronic device;

receive an entity identifier; and

store the first device identifier and the second device identifier and the entity identifier such that the first device identifier and the second device identifier are associated with the entity identifier; and

an activation module configured to transmit an activation signal using the entity identifier to activate the first portable electronic device and the second portable electronic device.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, further comprising a tag reader configured to read the first device identifier from the first portable electronic device and the second device identifier from the second portable electronic device.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the assignment module is further configured to remove the association of the first device identifier and the second device identifier from the entity identifier.

23. A system, comprising:

a database that stores;

metadata related to an activation event;

a first device identifier associated with the metadata, the first device identifier identifying a first portable electronic device;

an entity identifier associated with the metadata, the entity identifier identifying one or more portable electronic devices or groups of portable electronic devices that are associated with the first portable electronic device;

a user interface capable of enabling a user to identify the activation event from the metadata, and to search the database to find all devices associated with the metadata.