Techniques For Automatic Registration Of Appliances

• US 20080195857A1
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Douillet, Ludovic
• Granted Patent: US 8,544,064 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/083 involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/63345 by transmitting keys key distribution for secret or secure communication H04L9/08; network support of key management H04L63/06

Abstract

Techniques, in accordance with embodiments of the present technology, include automatic registration of appliances and delivery of location specific information utilizing the registration.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a network;

a plurality of appliances communicatively coupled to the network; and

a server, communicatively coupled to the network, for determining a location of each of the plurality of appliances and for storing the location with a unique identifier of each of the plurality of appliances in a data structure.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further sends location dependent information to an applicable appliance.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the location dependent information comprises information about a functional operation of one or more of the appliances at a given location.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier comprises a key selection vector public key (Bksv).

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of appliances comprises a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) compliant television (TV).

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location comprises a zip code where the appliance is located.

7. A method of registering an appliance comprising:

detecting that a given appliance is connected to a network;

determining a location of the given appliance;

receiving a unique identifier of the given appliance;

querying a data structure for a recording containing a match for the unique identifier; and

adding the location of the given appliance to the matching record.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising requesting the unique identifier from the given appliance.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the location comprises a parameter selected from a group consisting of a country, a state, a province, a postal code, a zip code and a telephone area code.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the unique identifier is selected from a group consisting of a Bksv key, an Aksv key and a media access control (MAC) address.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the given appliance comprises a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) or a digital visual interface (DVI) compliant device.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising sending location dependent information to the given appliance.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the location dependent information comprises information about a functional operation of the given appliance.

14. A method of delivering information to an appliance comprising:

receiving information to be distributed to users of an appliance, wherein the information is relevant to a given location;

querying a data structure to determine each appliance in the given location; and

sending the information to each appliance in the given location.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the information includes information about a functional operation of the appliance at the location where the appliance is used.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising outputting the information on the appliance to a user.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the data structure includes a unique identifier of each appliance and the location for each appliance.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the unique identifier is a key selection vector (KSV) key or a media access control address.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the appliance is a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) or digital visual interface (DVI) compliant device.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the HDMI or DVI compliant device is a television, digital video disk (DVD) player or game console.