NETWORK CONFIGURATION DEVICE

• US 20090055514A1
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pure Networks, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Marl, Brett, Tebbs, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,743 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• 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 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An article of manufacture includes an interface component configured to couple to a computer, the computer being part of a network having a gateway device. The article further includes a memory component containing computer-implementable instructions that, when executed by the computer, gather network configuration information from the gateway device. The network configuration information is configured to enable an electronic device to join the network.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture, comprising:

an interface component configured to couple to a computer, the computer being part of a network having a gateway device; and

a memory component containing computer-implementable instructions that, when executed by the computer, perform at least the step of gathering network configuration information from the gateway device, the network configuration information configured to enable an electronic device to join the network.

2. The article of claim 1 wherein the interface component is configured to physically couple with the computer.

3. The article of claim 1 wherein the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the computer, perform the step of outputting network-device-setup instructions to a display device coupled to the computer.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein:

the interface component is configured to couple to the electronic device; and

the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the electronic device, perform the step of joining the electronic device to the network using the gathered network configuration information.

5. The article of claim 1 wherein gathering network configuration information comprises writing the information to the memory component in an extensible markup language file.

6. An article of manufacture, comprising:

an interface component configured to couple to an electronic device; and

a memory component containing computer-implementable instructions that, when executed by the electronic device, perform at least the step of joining, using network configuration information, the electronic device to a network having a gateway device.

7. The article of claim 6 wherein the interface component is configured to physically couple with the electronic device.

8. The article of claim 6 wherein the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the electronic device, perform the step of outputting network-device-setup instructions to a display device coupled to the electronic device.

9. The article of claim 6 wherein:

the interface component is configured to couple to a computer, the computer being part of the network; and

the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the computer, performs the step of gathering the network configuration information from the gateway device.

10. The article of claim 9 wherein gathering network configuration information comprises writing the information to the memory component in an extensible markup language file.

11. A system, comprising:

a network component; and

a key, comprising;

an interface component configured to couple to a computer, the computer being part of a network having a gateway device; and

a memory component containing computer-implementable instructions that, when executed by the computer, perform at least the step of gathering network configuration information from the gateway device, the network configuration information configured to enable the network component to join the network.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the interface component is configured to physically couple with the computer.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the computer, perform the step of outputting network-device-setup instructions to a display device coupled to the computer.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the interface component is configured to couple to the network component; and

the computer-implementable instructions, when executed by the network component, perform the step of joining the network component to the network using the gathered network configuration information.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the network component comprises a printer.

16. A method of transferring a computer program product from at least one first computer to at least one second computer connected to the at least one first computer through a communication medium, the method comprising the steps of:

accessing, on the at least one first computer, computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device part of a network having a gateway device, perform at least the step of gathering network configuration information from the gateway device, the network configuration information configured to enable an electronic device to join the network; and

transferring the computer-executable instructions from the at least one first computer to the at least one second computer through the communications medium.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the computer-executable instructions are storable by the second computer on an electronic key configured to couple with the computing device.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the computer-executable instructions are operable to be executed by the computing device from the electronic key.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the electronic device, perform the step of joining the electronic device to the network using the gathered network configuration information.