IN-BAND DEVICE ENROLLMENT WITHOUT ACCESS POINT SUPPORT

• US 20080046545A1
• Filed: 08/18/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JDMAC Capital Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: Eye-Fi Incorporated (Ricoh Company Limited)
• Inventors: Feinberg, Eugene M., Cohen, Earl T., Ozceri, Berend, Koren, Yuval
• Granted Patent: US 8,014,529 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• 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 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration

Abstract

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for configuring a wireless device, so as to enable the wireless device to join a secured wireless network, by broadcasting a series of broadcast packets encoding a network configuration parameter (e.g., a shared secret key) from a computer coupled to a wireless access point to the wireless device. The information representing the network configuration parameter is encoded, not within the payload portion of the packet, but within the length of each broadcast packet in the series of broadcast packets. Accordingly, a wireless device that has not yet been configured to receive packets from the wireless access point can observe the information encoded in the length of each broadcast packet, and thereby decode the network configuration parameter and join the network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising broadcasting, from a host computer communicatively coupled to an access point of a wireless network, a series of broadcast packets encoding at least one network configuration parameter within the lengths of said broadcast packets, so as to enable a wireless device configured to decode the at least one network configuration parameter to join the wireless network upon receiving the series of broadcast packets.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets encoding the at least one network configuration parameter to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said formatting is performed by the host computer communicatively coupled to the access point of the wireless network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the particular value represents a portion of the at least one network configuration parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets encoding the at least one network configuration parameter to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value and a particular index number, wherein the particular index number indicates the position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting each broadcast packet in a pair of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast packets encoding the at least one network configuration parameter to have a particular length, wherein the particular length of a first broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets corresponds with a particular value, and the particular length of a second broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets indicates a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting each broadcast packet in a group of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast packets encoding the at least one network configuration parameter to have a particular length, wherein the particular lengths of the broadcast packets in the group of broadcast packets correspond with a particular value and a particular index number, said particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the group of broadcast packets includes three or more broadcast packets.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the broadcast packets in the group of broadcast packets are to be broadcast in succession.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a configuration application executing on the host computer prompts a user to input the at least one network configuration parameter to be encoded in the series of broadcast packets.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a configuration application executing on the host computer automatically extracts, from a network profile associated with the host computer, the at least one network configuration parameter to be encoded in the series of broadcast packets.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is a pre-shared secret key, shared between the access point and the wireless device, said pre-shared secret key utilized by the wireless device to authenticate and/or associate with the access point of the wireless network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the pre-shared secret key is utilized by the wireless device to encrypt data sent to, and decrypt data received from, the access point of the wireless network.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising encrypting the at least one network configuration parameter at the host computer with a shared encryption key, shared between the host computer and the wireless device, prior to encoding the at least one network configuration parameter in the lengths of said broadcast packets.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the shared encryption key is derived from a serial number associated with the wireless device.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeatedly broadcasting, a predetermined number of times, the series of broadcast packets encoding the at least one network configuration parameter in the lengths of said broadcast packets, so as to enable the wireless device to receive the entire series of broadcast packets if a particular broadcast packet in a particular series of the broadcast packets is not received by the wireless device or is corrupt when received by the wireless device.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising encoding the at least one network configuration parameter with an error-correction code prior to encoding the at least one network configuration parameter in the lengths of said broadcast packets, so as to enable the wireless device to derive the at least one network configuration parameter from decoded broadcast packets, when less than every broadcast packet in the series of broadcast packets is received correctly at the wireless device.

18. A computing device, communicatively coupled to a wireless access point of a wireless network, the computing device to execute a configuration application to encode a network configuration parameter in the lengths of a series of broadcast packets, and to communicate the series of broadcast packets to the wireless access point to be broadcast to one or more wireless devices so as to enable a wireless device configured to decode the at least one network configuration parameter to join the wireless network upon receiving the series of broadcast packets.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application includes an encoding module to format a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value related to a portion of the network configuration parameter.

20. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application includes an encoding module to format a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value and a particular index number, wherein the particular index number indicates the position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

21. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application includes an encoding module to format each broadcast packet in a pair of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast to have a particular length, wherein the particular length of a first broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets corresponds with a particular value, and the particular length of a second broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets indicates a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

22. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application includes an encoding module to format each broadcast packet in a group of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, wherein the particular lengths of the broadcast packets in the group of broadcast packets correspond with a particular value and a particular index number, said particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the group of broadcast packets includes three or more broadcast packets.

24. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application is to prompt a user to input the network configuration parameter to be encoded in the lengths of the series of broadcast packets.

25. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application is to automatically extract, from a network profile associated with the computing device, the network configuration parameter to be encoded in the lengths of the series of broadcast packets.

26. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the network configuration parameter is a pre-shared secret key, shared between the wireless access point and one or more wireless devices, said pre-shared secret key utilized by the wireless device to authenticate and/or associate with the wireless access point of the wireless network.

27. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the pre-shared secret key is utilized by the wireless device to encrypt data sent to, and decrypt data received from, the access point of the wireless network.

28. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application includes an encryption module to encrypt the network configuration parameter with a shared encryption key, shared between the computing device and the wireless device, prior to encoding the network configuration parameter in the lengths of the series of broadcast packets.

29. The computing device of claim 28, wherein the shared encryption key is derived from a serial number associated with the wireless device

30. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application is to repeatedly broadcast the series of broadcast packets, so as to enable the wireless device to receive the entire series of broadcast packets if a particular broadcast packet in a particular series of the broadcast packets is not received by the wireless device or is corrupt when received by the wireless device.

31. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the configuration application is to encode the network configuration parameter with an error-correction code prior to encoding the network configuration parameter in the lengths of the series of broadcast packets, so as to enable the wireless device to derive the at least one network configuration parameter from decoded broadcast packets, when less than every broadcast packet in the series of broadcast packets is received correctly at the wireless device.

32. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a wireless device, a series of broadcast packets from a wireless access point, the series of broadcast packets encoding at least one network configuration parameter required to join a wireless network, the at least one network configuration parameter being encoded in the lengths of the broadcast packets;

decoding the at least one network configuration parameter; and

utilizing the at least one network configuration parameter to join the wireless network.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is encoded in the series of broadcast packets by formatting a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value representing a portion of the at least one network configuration parameter.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is encoded in the series of broadcast packets by formatting a broadcast packet within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, said particular length corresponding with a particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and a particular index number, wherein the particular index number indicates the position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is encoded in the series of broadcast packets by formatting each broadcast packet in a pair of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast to have a particular length, wherein the particular length of a first broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets corresponds with a particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter, and the particular length of a second broadcast packet in the pair of broadcast packets indicates a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is encoded in the series of broadcast packets by formatting each broadcast packet in a group of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, wherein the particular lengths of the broadcast packets in the group of broadcast packets correspond with a particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and a particular index number, said particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the at least one network configuration parameter.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is encoded in the series of broadcast packets by formatting each broadcast packet in a group of broadcast packets within the series of broadcast packets to have a particular length, and the particular lengths of the broadcast packets in the group of broadcast packets correspond with a particular number, said particular number encoding information related to the value of the network configuration parameter.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

prior to decoding the at least one network configuration parameter, scanning radio channels to identify a particular radio channel on which a series of broadcast packets are being broadcast, wherein the lengths of the broadcast packets in the series of broadcast packets exhibit a predetermined pattern.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the series of broadcast packets encode a network configuration parameter.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

subsequent to identifying the particular radio channel, broadcasting an acknowledgment by replaying at least one broadcast packet of the series of broadcast packets.

41. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

prior to decoding the at least one network configuration parameter, scanning radio channels to identify a particular radio channel on which a series of broadcast packets are being broadcast, the series of broadcast packets including pairs of broadcast packets, each pair of broadcast packets having a first broadcast packet with a length that is within a first range, and a second broadcast packet with a length that is within a second range.

42. The method of claim 32, further comprising utilizing the at least one network configuration parameter to authenticate and/or associate with the access point of the wireless network.

43. The method of claim 32, wherein the at least one network configuration parameter is a pre-shared secret key, shared between the wireless access point and the wireless device.

44. The method of claim 32, further comprising utilizing the pre-shared secret key to encrypt data sent to, and decrypt data received from, the wireless access point.

45. The method of claim 32, further comprising decrypting the at least one network configuration parameter with a shared encryption key, shared between the wireless device and a computing device, after decoding the at least one network configuration parameter.

46. A wireless device, comprising:

a wireless communications module to receive, from a wireless access point, a series of broadcast packets encoding a network configuration parameter within the lengths of said broadcast packets;

a decoding module to decode the network configuration parameter encoded within the lengths of the broadcast packets; and

a configuration application to utilize the network configuration parameter in an operation to join a wireless network.

47. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a table having a plurality of values, and the decoding module is to associate the length of a broadcast packet with a particular value from the table, the particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter.

48. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a table having a plurality of values and a plurality of index numbers, and the decoding module is to associate the length of a broadcast packet with a particular value and a particular index number from the table, the particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the network configuration parameter.

49. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a table having a plurality of values and a plurality of index numbers, and the decoding module is to associate the lengths of two broadcast packets in a pair of broadcast packets with a particular value and a particular index number from the table, the particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the network configuration parameter.

50. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a table having a plurality of values and a plurality of index numbers, and the decoding module is to associate the lengths of three or more broadcast packets in a group of broadcast packets with a particular value and a particular index number from the table, the particular value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the particular index number indicating a position of the particular value within the network configuration parameter.

51. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a means for mapping the length of a broadcast packet to a value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter.

52. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a means for mapping the length of a broadcast packet to a value and an index number, the value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the index number indicating a position of the value within the network configuration parameter.

53. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a means for mapping the lengths of two broadcast packets in a pair of broadcast packets to a value and an index number, the value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the index number indicating a position of the value within the network configuration parameter.

54. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a means for mapping the lengths of a group of broadcast packet in the series of broadcast packets to a number, the number encoding a portion of the network configuration parameter.

55. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the decoding module includes a means for mapping the lengths of three or more broadcast packets in a group of broadcast packets to a value and an index number, the value representing a portion of the network configuration parameter and the index number indicating a position of the value within the network configuration parameter.

56. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the network configuration parameter is a pre-shared secret key, shared between the wireless access point and the wireless device, said pre-shared secret key utilized by the configuration application in the operation to join the wireless network.

57. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the operation to join the wireless network includes utilizing the pre-shared secret key to authenticate the wireless device.

58. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the operation to join the wireless network includes utilizing the pre-shared secret key to associate the wireless device with the wireless access point.

59. The wireless device of claim 46, further comprising:

a camera to capture images; and

a storage component to store the images, wherein said wireless communications module is to wirelessly send images, through the access point to a computing device communicatively coupled to the access point.

60. The wireless device of claim 46, wherein the wireless communications module, the decoding module, and the configuration application are embedded in a detachable media card.

61. A method, comprising broadcasting, from a wireless device communicatively coupled to an access point of a wireless network, one or more broadcast packets encoding device state, so as to enable a status back channel to a configuration host.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein said wireless device state is encoded within the SSID field of one or more 802.11 BEACON frames.