The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 14, 1995
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1993
Adam Rauch, Seattle, WA (US);
Gregory W Riker, Woodinville, WA (US);
Nathan P Myhrvold, Bellevue, WA (US);
Microsoft, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A computer method and system for providing a user with selectively interdependent control of devices. The devices include lamps, video cameras, motion detectors, and so forth. An identification of a first device and a second device is obtained from the user. A definition of a dependency relationship is then obtained from the user wherein the second device has a status which depends on a status of the first device. The status of the first device is continually monitored. When the status of the first device changes, the status of the second device is updated in accordance with the dependency relationship defined by the user. The second device is then activated or deactivated based on the updated status of the second device. Any number of devices are controlled in this fashion.