Associating diverse Bluetooth devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11943840-B2
Application number	US-202117405597-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2021
Priority date	Mar 12, 2021
Publication date	Mar 26, 2024
Grant date	Mar 26, 2024

Abstract

An exemplary method relates to associating diverse devices each including a unique public media access control address (Public MAC address). In this exemplary embodiment, the method includes providing a plurality of devices with a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) such that the Shared Private MAC address is known to each of the devices and usable for initiating a learning interchange during which the devices exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and are thereby associated with each other; and/or using a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) known to each of a plurality of devices to initiate a learning interchange that includes the devices exchanging their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and thereby associating the devices with each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method relating to associating diverse devices each including a unique public media access control address (Public MAC address), the method comprising:
providing a plurality of devices with a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) such that the Shared Private MAC address in a broadcast mode is known to each of the devices and usable for initiating a learning interchange during which each of the devices securely exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and are thereby associated with each other; and/or
using the Shared Private MAC address in the broadcast mode known to each of the plurality of devices to initiate the learning interchange that includes the devices securely exchanging their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and thereby associating the devices with each other;
wherein:
the method is triggered upon user request that is input via at least one of the devices;
the devices comprise wireless remote control devices of an industrial wireless remote control system including a machine control unit (MCU) having a unique Public MAC address and an operator control unit (OCU) having a unique Public MAC address; and
after the OCU and the MCU have securely exchanged their unique Public MAC addresses with each other such that the OCU is associated with the MCU, the OCU is operable for wirelessly transmitting commands input by a user to the MCU for wireless remote controlling operation of a machine, whereby the MCU is only responsive to operator control units that are associated with the MCU.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes providing the Shared Private MAC address as part of common firmware of each of the devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes programming the Shared Private MAC address into memory of each of the devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the Shared Private MAC address is a 48 bit Private MAC address known to each of the devices; and
the unique Public MAC addresses of the devices are 48 bit Public MAC addresses unique to each corresponding device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method associates the devices with each other by the secure exchange of their unique Public MAC addresses without requiring programming input, address management, or frequency management by a user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MCU and/or the OCU is configured to allow a user input to disassociate the OCU from the MCU such that the disassociated OCU is inoperable for wirelessly transmitting commands to the MCU for wireless remote controlling operation of the machine and such that the MCU is no longer responsive to the disassociated OCU as the MCU is only responsive to operator control units that are associated with the MCU.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the devices are configured for wireless communication via Bluetooth short-range wireless communication protocol; and/or
the devices are configured for wireless communication via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) short-range wireless communication protocol.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OCU includes a user interface configured to allow a user to input commands to be wirelessly transmitted to the machine control unit for wireless remote controlling the machine including starting, stopping, and controlling speed of the machine, the user interface further configured to allow the user to input the user request to trigger the method and initiate the learning interchange during which each of the OCU and MCU securely exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other to thereby associate the OCU with the MCU without requiring programming input, address management, or frequency management by the user.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the OCU includes a switch to allow a user to initiate the learning interchange and have the OCU and MCU securely exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other to thereby associate the OCU with the MCU;
the MCU includes a switch to allow a user to prioritize the MCU for association with the OCU; and
the method includes:
initiating an associating process of the OCU to the MCU when the switch of the OCU is pressed and held down for a predetermined amount of time; and
prioritizing the MCU for association with the OCU when the switch of the MCU is pressed.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes associating the OCU to an MCU having a highest received signal strength when more than one MCU is available to be associated with the OCU.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further includes disassociating the OCU from the MCU such that the disassociated OCU is inoperable for wirelessly transmitting commands to the MCU for wireless remote controlling operation of the machine and such that the MCU is no longer responsive to the disassociated OCU as the MCU is only responsive to operator control units that are associated with the MCU.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the machine comprises an overhead crane including a hoist, a trolley, and a bridge; and
the method includes after the OCU is associated with the MCU, using the OCU to transmit commands to the MCU for wireless remote controlling operation of the overhead crane including one or more of starting, stopping, controlling speed of one or more of the hoist, trolley, and/or bridge, and/or controlling motion of one or more of the hoist, trolley, and/or bridge.

13. A method relating to associating diverse devices each including a unique public media access control address (Public MAC address), the method comprising:
providing a plurality of devices with a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) such that the Shared Private MAC address is known to each of the devices and usable for initiating a learning interchange during which the devices exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and are thereby associated with each other; and/or
using a shared private media access control address (Shared Private MAC address) known to each of a plurality of devices to initiate a learning interchange that includes the devices exchanging their unique Public MAC addresses with each other and thereby associating the devices with each other;

wherein:
the devices comprise a machine control unit (MCU) having a unique Public MAC address and an operator control unit (OCU) having a unique Public MAC address;
after the OCU and the MCU have exchanged their unique Public MAC addresses with each other such that the OCU is associated with the MCU, the OCU is operable for transmitting commands input by a user to the MCU for controlling operation of a machine;
the OCU includes a switch to allow a user to initiate the learning interchange and have the OCU and MCU exchange their unique Public MAC addresses with each other to thereby associate the OCU with the MCU;
the MCU includes a switch to allow a user to prioritize the MCU for association with the OCU; and
the method includes:
associating the OCU to the MCU when the switch of the OCU and the switch of the MCU have both been activated; or
associating the OCU to an MCU having a highest received signal strength when the switch of the OCU is activated but the switch of the MCU is not activated.

14. An industrial wireless remote control system comprising:
a machine control unit (MCU) having a unique public media access control address (Public MAC address); and
an operator control unit (OCU) having a unique Public MAC address different than the unique Public MAC address of the MCU;
the MCU and OCU each having a same private media

Assignees

• Cattron North America Inc

Inventors

• Stagg David

Classifications

• H04W8/26 Primary

  Network addressing or numbering for mobility support · CPC title

• H04L61/5038

  for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN] · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04W12/71 Primary

  Hardware identity · CPC title