COMMUNICATING A DEVICE DESCRIPTOR BETWEEN TWO DEVICES WHEN REGISTERING ONTO A NETWORK

• US 20100325654A1
• Filed: 06/16/2010
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Jiang, Moroney, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,904,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• 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 63/0838 using one-time-passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys

Abstract

A method for registering a first device with a second device over a wireless network includes receiving a registration request from the first device and sending one or more user input choices to the first device. The user input choices each specify a user input action available though a user interface associated with the second device. A device description describing the second device is sent to the first device in a manner that allows it to be presented to the user by the first device. At least one of the user input actions are sequentially received through the user interface in response to instructions provided to the user by the first device. The first device is registered with the second device if the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions provided to the user by the first device.

Claims

1. A method for registering a first device with a second device over a wireless network, comprising:

receiving a registration request from the first device;

sending one or more user input choices to the first device, said user input choices each specifying a user input action available though a user interface associated with the second device;

sending a device description describing the second device to the first device in a manner that allows it to be presented to the user by the first device;

sequentially receiving at least one of the user input actions through the user interface in response to instructions provided to the user by the first device; and

registering the first device with the second device if the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions provided to the user by the first device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions specify an order in which the user input actions should be entered into the second device by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating a number with each of the user input choices;

sending the numbers to the first device; and

generating a second personal identification number (PIN) based at least in part on the numbers, wherein the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions provided to the user by the first device if the second PIN matches a first PIN generated by the first device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein each of the numbers is randomly selected.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless network is a WHDI network.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a device certificate from the first device, said device certificate including a public key associated with the first device; and

encrypting the user input choices sent to the first device using the public key.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising encrypting the device description sent to the first device using the public key.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising encrypting the device description sent to the first device using a symmetric key derived from data encrypted by a public key associated with the first device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising authenticating the device description using a symmetric key with a symmetric key algorithm.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising authenticating the device description using an encrypted hash or a message authentication code of the device description.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising aborting registration of the first device with the second device if the user does not provide an input action through the user interface based on the device description presented to the user.

12. A method for registering a first device with a second device over a wireless network, comprising:

sending a registration request to the second device;

receiving one or more user input choices from the second device, said user input choices each specifying a user input action available though a user interface associated with the second device;

receiving a device description describing the second device;

presenting the device description to a user;

based on the received user input choices, presenting instructions to the user specifying a sequence of user input choices representing a sequence of user input actions to be performed on the second device; and

registering the first device with the second device if the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions presented to the user.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the device description is encrypted with a symmetric key derived from data encrypted by a public key associated with the first device and further comprising decrypting the data with a private key associated with the first device, deriving the symmetric key from the data, and decrypting the device description with the symmetric key.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising authenticating the device description using a symmetric key with a symmetric key algorithm.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising authenticating the device description using a an encrypted hash or a message authentication code of the device description.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving with each user input choice a value associated therewith; and

generating a first PIN from the values associated with the sequence of user input choices that are specified.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising sending a device certificate to the second device, the device certificate including a public key associated with the first device and wherein presenting the device descriptor to the user includes decrypting the device descriptor using a private key associated with the first device.

18. A device configured to communicate with a second device in a wireless network, the device comprising:

an interface configured to wirelessly receive (i) a device description describing the second device and (ii) one or more user input choices from the second device, said user input choices each specifying a user input action available though a user interface associated with the second device;

an output for presenting information to a user;

a processor configured to select a sequence of user input choices from the one or more user input choices received from the second device and generate a PIN from the selected sequence, wherein the processor is further configured to present the device description and selected sequence of user input choices to the user via the output; and

a data storage storing the PIN.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the one or more user input choices is a button list that includes a set of buttons and their corresponding values, and wherein the processor is configured to generate the PIN from the selected sequence and their corresponding values.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to use the PIN to generate a registration key that allows the device to connect to the second device or join a domain of the second device.

21. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

receiving a registration request from a first device over a wireless network;

sending one or more user input choices to the first device, said user input choices each specifying a user input action available though a user interface associated with a second device;

sending a device description describing the second device to the first device in a manner that allows it to be presented to the user by the first device;

sequentially receiving at least one of the user input actions through the user interface in response to instructions provided to the user by the first device; and

registering the first device with the second device if the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions provided to the user by the first device.

22. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

sending a registration request to a second device over a wireless network;

receiving one or more user input choices from a second device, said user input choices each specifying a user input action available though a user interface associated with the second device;

receiving a device description describing the second device;

presenting the device description to a user;

based on the received user input choices, presenting instructions to the user specifying a sequence of user input choices representing a sequence of user input actions to be performed on the second device; and

registering the first device with the second device if the user input actions received by the second device correctly reflect the instructions presented to the user.