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:
Apr. 20, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 30, 2001
Mark Fidler, Granite Bay, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method for obtaining location data for use by a peripheral device such as a printer or copier that may be moved from time to time has steps of querying portable second devices such as PDA's, personal computers, and the like that may be near to the peripheral and that may have RTLS capabilities for location data. Preferably, a step of detecting a trigger event such as a time-out or an interrupt causes the peripheral to either initiate a search for a second device or to initiate a location data query with a second device already in communication with the peripheral. The location data obtained from the second device is preferably assigned a distance factor value corresponding to how close the second device is to the peripheral. The peripheral location data will regularly be updated with more reliable location data as it is obtained. Further, the location data may be broadcast to a network connected to the peripheral device so that all users of the network can easily locate the peripheral device.