Device pairing

• US 10,257,686 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2016
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Logue, Jay D., Wang, Liang-Yun, Stebbins, Andrew William
• Primary Examiner(s): Jia, Xin
• Application Number:
  US15/182,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20160373917A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/18 Prevention or correction of operating errors G08B29/02, G08B29/12 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/188 Data fusion; cooperative systems, e.g. voting among different detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/10 using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/38 triggered by timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/06 Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and systems for joining a wireless connection advertisement include connecting to a commissioning device via a wireless point-to-point communication in response to receiving an advertisement broadcast to establish an advertisement-based connection. The commissioning device is configured to manage access to a fabric. The methods and systems also include receiving network credentials from the commissioning device via the wireless point-to-point communication, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network. Furthermore, the method and systems include connecting to the wireless network using the received network credentials.

Claims

1. A non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

connect to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to a fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;

receive network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network;

connect to the wireless network via another device using the received network credentials;

initiate a connectivity test for the wireless network via the other device;

when the connectivity test is successful;

close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;

reconnect to the commissioning device via the wireless network; and

receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network.

2. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

connect to an assisting device via the wireless network, wherein the assisting device resides on the fabric network and is configured to assist in joining the fabric network;

receive, from the assisting device via the wireless network, fabric credentials to be used in joining the fabric network; and

attempt to join the fabric network using the fabric credentials.

3. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;

receive, from the assisting device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network; and

attempt to join the additional wireless network.

4. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the connectivity test for the wireless network comprises:

a domain name system (DNS) lookup;

or

an establishment of a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to a test server via a gateway for the wireless network or to the commissioning device via an access point for the wireless network.

5. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein if the initiated connectivity test is unsuccessful, by failing to successfully complete the DNS lookup, or failing to establish the TCP connection to the test server or the commissioning device, the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

request new credentials for the wireless network from the commissioning device.

6. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for the fabric network, wherein the commissioning device has retrieved the credentials for the fabric network from an assisting device residing on the fabric network.

7. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the connectivity test for the wireless network comprises:

a domain name system (DNS) lookup;

or

an establishment of a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to a test server via a gateway for the wireless network or to the commissioning device via an access point for the wireless network.

8. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein:

the wireless network comprises an 802.11 connection type or an 802.15.4 connection type.

9. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein if the initiated connectivity test is unsuccessful, the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

request new credentials for the wireless network from the commissioning device.

10. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing instructions, the instructions being configured to cause the one or processors to;

connect to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection, in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to a fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;

receive network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network;

connect to the wireless network via another device using the received network credentials;

initiate a connectivity test for the wireless network via the other device;

when the connectivity test is successful;

close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;

reconnect to the commissioning device via the wireless network; and

receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from the commissioning device, fabric service configuration information, wherein the fabric service configuration information contains information with which devices in the fabric network connect to a remote service; and

connect to the remote service using the fabric service configuration information after connecting to the fabric network.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

authenticate identity of the electronic device by sending a device identifier for the electronic device to the commissioning device with which the electronic device verifies identity upon connection to the commissioning device; and

establish a secure communication session with the commissioning device using the device identifier, the secure communication session being established through a secure tunnel and via an assisting device.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the establishment of the secure communication session with the commissioning device comprises authenticating the identity of the electronic device using a pairing code corresponding to the device identifier for the electronic device and negotiating session keys using the pairing code.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:

receive a network name for the wireless network, via the BLE connection;

receive a fabric name for the fabric network; and

receive fabric credentials usable to join the fabric network.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein:

the wireless network comprises an 802.11 connection type or an 802.15.4 connection type.

16. A method for securely joining an electronic device to a fabric, the method comprising:

connecting, by the electronic device, to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection, in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to the fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;

receiving network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connecting to a wireless network;

connecting to the wireless network via another device using the received network credentials;

initiating a connectivity test for the wireless network via the other device;

when the connectivity test is successful;

closing the BLE connection to the commissioning device;

reconnecting to the commissioning device via the wireless network; and

receiving, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising:

in response to the receiving the credentials, activating a failsafe flag that is configured to block the electronic device from storing fabric information or network information for fabric networks or networks to which the electronic device is unable to connect or with which the electronic device is unable to complete a successful connectivity test.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising:

determining if the failsafe flag has remained active for a pre-determined period of time after the activating the failsafe flag; and

if the failsafe flag has remained active for the pre-determined period of time, deleting any received fabric information or network information for the fabric networks or the networks.

19. The method of claim 18, comprising:

resetting the failsafe flag, based on determining that the electronic device has successfully connected to the fabric network, the wireless network, or an additional wireless network to successfully complete the connectivity test.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising transmitting a wireless connection advertisement from the commissioning device for the BLE connection, the wireless connection advertisement including a service identifier corresponding to a service having at least one characteristic associated therewith, wherein the receiving the network credentials via the BLE connection comprises reading writes to the at least one characteristic associated with the service identified in the wireless connection advertisement.