Ping feature for electronic devices
View Patent ↗A pinging electronic device, a pingable electronic device and a network for the devices are disclosed. The ping electronic devices comprising a ping function and a transmitter wherein the ping function is adapted to generate and the transmitter is adapted to transmit over an ad hoc wireless network at least one associated ping control message to at least one pingable electronic device paired to the pinging electronic device for actuation of at least one indicator element of the at least one pingable electronic device.
1. A pinging electronic device comprising:
a ping function adapted to generate at least one associated ping control message for actuation of at least one functional element of at least one pingable electronic device paired to the pinging electronic device, actuation of the at least one functional element used to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device; and
a transmitter adapted to transmit over an ad hoc wireless communication network the at least one associated ping control message to the at least one pingable electronic device;
wherein the pingable electronic device comprises at least two functional elements that are inherent to the pingable electronic device, but are not dedicated as indicator elements to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device upon receipt of the at least one ping control message containing instructions that select which of the at least two functional elements is actuated as an indicator element.
2. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the at least one pingable electronic device comprises a plurality of pingable electronic devices and the ping function is adapted to ping all of the plurality of pingable electronic devices.
3. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the at least one pingable electronic device comprises a plurality of pingable electronic devices and the ping function is adapted to ping a subset of the plurality of pingable electronic devices based on a user selection.
4. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the ping control message sent to each of the at least one pingable electronic devices is identical.
5. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the ping control message sent to each of the at least one pingable electronic devices is unique.
6. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the pinging electronic device is a master device.
7. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the pinging electronic device is a peripheral device.
8. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 further comprising:
a user interface configured to:
allow selection of which of the plurality of pingable devices to transmit the at least one associated ping control message.
9. The pinging electronic device according to claim 8 , the user interface further configured to, at least one of:
allow selection of which of the at least two functional elements that are inherent to the pingable electronic device are to be actuated; and
allow selection of a duration for actuation of the at least one functional element.
10. The pinging electronic device according to claim 1 wherein the ad hoc wireless communication network is a BLUETOOTH capable or BLUETOOTH like network.
11. An ad hoc wireless communication network comprising:
a plurality of pingable electronic devices according to claim 10 ; and
a pinging electronic device comprising:
a ping function adapted to generate at least one associated ping control message for actuation of at least one functional element of the at least two functional elements that are inherent to the pingable electronic device, but are not dedicated as indicator elements to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device; and
a transmitter adapted to transmit over an ad hoc wireless communication network the least one associated ping control message to at least one of the plurality of pingable electronic devices.
12. The network according to claim 11 wherein the ping function is adapted to ping all of the plurality of pingable electronic devices.
13. The network according to claim 11 wherein the ping function is adapted to ping a subset of the plurality of pingable electronic devices based on a user selection.
14. The network according to claim 11 wherein the ping control message sent to each of the plurality of pingable electronic devices is identical.
15. The network according to claim 11 wherein the ping control message sent to each of the plurality of pingable electronic devices is unique.
16. The network according to claim 15 wherein the ping message processor of each of the plurality of pingable electronic devices is adapted to decode whether the ping control message contains instructions to ping the pingable electronic device.
17. The network according to claim 11 wherein the ad hoc wireless communication network is a BLUETOOTH capable or BLUETOOTH like network.
18. A pingable electronic device comprising:
a receiver;
a ping message processor; and
at least two functional elements that are inherent to the pingable electronic device, but are not dedicated as indicator elements to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device;
wherein the receiver is adapted to receive a ping control message containing instructions that select which of the at least two functional elements is actuated over an ad hoc wireless communication network and the ping message processor is adapted to actuate at least one of the at least two functional elements in response to the ping control message to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device.
19. The pingable electronic device according to claim 18 wherein the ping message processor is adapted to decode whether the ping control message contains instructions to ping the pingable electronic device.
20. The pingable electronic device according to claim 19 wherein the ad hoc wireless communication network is a BLUETOOTH capable or BLUETOOTH like network.
21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon, the computer executable instructions, when executed by a computer, for performing a method comprising:
processing a received ping input command;
generating a ping message that contains instructions to select at least one or at least two functional elements of a pingable electronic device for actuation to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device, the at least two functional elements being inherent to the pingable electronic device, but not dedicated as indicator elements to attract attention to the at least one pingable electronic device;
instructing a transmitter to transmit the ping message.
22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 21 wherein generating a ping message further comprises:
generating the ping message for pinging multiple pingable electronic devices.
23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 21 wherein generating a ping message further comprises:
generating the ping message for pinging a subset of pingable electronic devices based on a user selection.