Device selection for user interface

• US 9,681,260 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2013
• Issued: 06/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bouvigne, Gabriel, Gardes, Laurent
• Primary Examiner(s): Liao, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mitiku, Berhanu
• Application Number:
  US13/941,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20150019577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/00 Methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled logic circuits H03K19/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

A system including a processor to create a history database in a storage medium for storing signal strength history records, each history record including an indication of one or more signals and a signal strength for each of the one or more signals detected by a mobile device, each of the history records being mapped to a rendering device, receive a first signal strength record, compare the first signal strength record to at least some of the history records to find one of the at least some history records which is a sufficiently close match to the first signal strength record, wherein the sufficiently close matching history record is mapped to a first rendering device, select the first rendering device for the user interface software to send control commands to, and store the first signal strength record in the history database mapped to the selected rendering device.

Claims

1. A system in an environment including a mobile device and a plurality of rendering devices located in a plurality of different locations, the mobile device including user interface software for sending control commands to any one of the rendering devices, the mobile device being operative to detect wireless signals and a signal strength of each of the wireless signals, the system comprising a processor to:

maintain a history database in a storage medium for storing a plurality of rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, each of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records including;

an indication of one or more signals and a signal strength for each of the one or more signals detected by the mobile device at a particular time, each of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records being mapped to one of the rendering devices;

receive a first signal strength record of one or more signals as detected by the mobile device;

compare the first signal strength record to at least some of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records to find one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records which is a matching rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record with the first signal strength record matched based on matching criteria, wherein the matching rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record is mapped to a first one of the rendering devices in the history database;

select the first rendering device for the user interface software to send the control commands to; and

store the first signal strength record in the history database as one of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, the first signal strength record being mapped to the selected rendering device in the history database.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to select the first rendering device for the user interface software to send the control commands to without first determining the location of the mobile device.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to select the first rendering device for the user interface software to send the control commands to without knowledge of any floor plan in the region that the mobile device is roaming in.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to receive a correction from a user of the mobile device to select a second one of the rendering devices instead of the first rendering device for the user interface software to send the control commands to.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the processor is operative to map the first signal strength record to the second rendering device instead of the first rendering device in the history database.

6. The system according to claim 4, wherein the matching signal strength history record is removed from the history database following the correction by the user.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the signals of the first signal strength record include a cellphone tower signal.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device is operative to send the control commands to the rendering devices via a network connection.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to remove the signals below a minimal signal strength from the first signal strength record prior to comparing the first signal strength record to each of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records.

10. The system according to claim 1,

wherein the processor is operative, for each one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, when comparing the first signal strength record to the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record, to filter out the signals from the first signal strength record and from the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record which are not present in both the first signal strength record and the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record when performing the comparison.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative, for each one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, when comparing the first signal strength record to the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record, to yield a matching score of the closeness of the match between the first signal strength record and the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record, the processor being operative to reduce the matching score according to an age of the one rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record in the history database in order to provide age based weighting when determining which one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records matches the first signal strength record according to the matching criteria.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is disposed in the mobile device.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the processor is operative to send control commands generated by the user interface software to the selected rendering device.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is disposed in one of the rendering devices.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is disposed in a server remote to the mobile device and the rendering devices.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is operative to send a message to the mobile device informing the user interface software that the first rendering device has been selected for the user interface software to send the control commands to.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the matching rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record is a closest matching one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records with the first signal strength record.

18. A method in an environment including a mobile device and a plurality of rendering devices located in a plurality of different locations, the mobile device including user interface software for sending control commands to any one of the rendering devices, the mobile device being operative to detect wireless signals and a signal strength of each of the wireless signals, the method comprising:

creating a history database in the storage medium for storing a plurality of rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, each of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records including;

an indication of one or more signals and a signal strength for each of the one or more signals detected by the mobile device at a particular time, each of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records being mapped to one of the rendering devices;

receiving a first signal strength record of one or more signals as detected by the mobile device;

comparing the first signal strength record to at least some of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records to find one of the at least some rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records which is a matching rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record with the first signal strength record matched based on matching criteria, wherein the matching rendering-device-mapped signal strength history record is mapped to a first one of the rendering devices in the history database;

selecting the first rendering device for the user interface software to send the control commands to; and

storing the first signal strength record in the history database as one of the rendering-device-mapped signal strength history records, the first signal strength record being mapped to the selected rendering device in the history database.