US Patent 9531986 Bitmap device identification in a wireless communication system

A method and apparatus for identifying devices using a bitmap are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: accessing a memory to obtain one or more bitmaps that map each bit location in the bitmap to an index value, where one index value is assigned to each remote wireless media device of a wireless network in a wireless communication system; and examining those bitmaps and determining at least one characteristic of a remote wireless media device and a device identifier that identifies the remote wireless media device in the wireless network based on the bit position in those bitmaps.