Playback device connection

• US 10,439,896 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2019
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Millington, Nicholas A. J., Hainsworth, Paul V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Madamba, Glenford J
• Application Number:
  US16/298,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20190207825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 211 Days
• Field of Search: 709222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• 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 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 : Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An example computing device includes programming to perform functions including, while operating on a secure WLAN, (a) receiving user input indicating that a user wishes to set up a playback device to operate on the secure WLAN and (b) receiving a first message indicating that a given playback device is available for setup, then transmitting a response to the first message that facilitates establishing an initial communication path with the given playback device outside of the secure WLAN. The functions also include transmitting, to the given playback device via the initial communication path, a second message containing network configuration parameters including an identifier of, and a security key for, the secure WLAN, then detecting an indication that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters. The functions also include transitioning from communicating with the given playback device via the initial communication path to communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

a user interface;

a network interface;

at least one processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

while operating on a secure wireless local area network (WLAN) that is defined by an access point, (a) receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with an application for controlling one or more playback devices, user input indicating that a user wishes to set up a playback device to operate on the secure WLAN and (b) receiving a first message indicating that a given playback device is available for setup;

after receiving the user input and receiving the first message, transmitting a response to the first message that facilitates establishing an initial communication path with the given playback device, wherein the initial communication path with the given playback device does not traverse the access point;

transmitting, to the given playback device via the initial communication path, at least a second message containing network configuration parameters, wherein the network configuration parameters comprise an identifier of the secure WLAN and a security key for the secure WLAN;

after transmitting at least the second message containing the network configuration parameters, detecting an indication that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters; and

after detecting the indication, transitioning from communicating with the given playback device via the initial communication path to communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN that is defined by the access point.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein detecting the indication comprises receiving, from the given playback device via the initial communication path, a third message indicating that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the given playback device comprises a first playback device of a new networked audio system.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the given playback device comprises an additional playback device to an existing networked audio system.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN comprises transmitting a command to the given playback device related to playback of audio content.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the command comprises a command to retrieve audio content for playback from an audio source that is accessible via a communication path that includes the secure WLAN.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is programmed to run a software application for controlling a networked audio system, and wherein the user input is received via the software application.

8. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

before transmitting the second message containing the network configuration parameters, obtaining the network configuration parameters.

9. The computing device of claim 8, wherein obtaining the network configuration parameters comprises retrieving the current network configuration parameters of the computing device.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a command for the given playback device to adopt the network configuration parameters.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the user input is received either before or after the first message is received.

12. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

after transitioning to communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN, transmitting a command to the given playback device to form a group with at least a first playback device of a networked audio system such that the given playback device is configured to play back audio content in synchrony with at least the first playback device.

13. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provisioned with program instructions that are executable to cause a computing device to perform functions comprising:

while operating on a secure wireless local area network (WLAN) that is defined by an access point, (a) receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with an application for controlling one or more playback devices, user input indicating that a user wishes to set up a playback device to operate on the secure WLAN and (b) receiving a first message indicating that a given playback device is available for setup;

after receiving the user input and receiving the first message, transmitting a response to the first message that facilitates establishing an initial communication path with the given playback device, wherein the initial communication path with the given playback device does not traverse the access point;

transmitting, to the given playback device via the initial communication path, at least a second message containing network configuration parameters, wherein the network configuration parameters comprise an identifier of the secure WLAN and a security key for the secure WLAN;

after transmitting at least the second message containing the network configuration parameters, detecting an indication that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters; and

after detecting the indication, transitioning from communicating with the given playback device via the initial communication path to communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN that is defined by the access point.

14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein detecting the indication comprises receiving, from the given playback device via the initial communication path, a third message indicating that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN comprises transmitting a command to retrieve audio content for playback from an audio source that is accessible via a communication path that includes the secure WLAN.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computing device is programmed to run a software application for controlling a networked audio system, and wherein the user input is received via the software application.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is also provisioned with program instructions that are executable to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising:

before transmitting the second message containing the network configuration parameters, obtaining the network configuration parameters.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein obtaining the network configuration parameters comprises retrieving current network configuration parameters of the computing device.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the second message comprises a command for the given playback device to adopt the network configuration parameters.

20. A method comprising:

while operating on a secure wireless local area network (WLAN) that is defined by an access point, (a) receiving, via a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with an application for controlling one or more playback devices, user input indicating that a user wishes to set up a playback device to operate on the secure WLAN and (b) receiving a first message indicating that a given playback device is available for setup;

after receiving the user input and receiving the first message, transmitting a response to the first message that facilitates establishing an initial communication path with the given playback device, wherein the initial communication path with the given playback device does not traverse the access point;

transmitting, to the given playback device via the initial communication path, at least a second message containing network configuration parameters, wherein the network configuration parameters comprise an identifier of the secure WLAN and a security key for the secure WLAN;

after transmitting at least the second message containing the network configuration parameters, detecting an indication that the given playback device has successfully received the network configuration parameters; and

after detecting the indication, transitioning from communicating with the given playback device via the initial communication path to communicating with the given playback device via the secure WLAN that is defined by the access point.