METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROXIMITY-BASED, PEER-INITIATED DEVICE CONFIGURATION

• US 20110264772A1
• Filed: 04/23/2010
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Psion Inc (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Psion Inc (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Beatty, Kevin, Krapf, Hugo
• Granted Patent: US 8,990,361 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

A method and a system for configuring of a client device using a configuration device in a peer to peer communication local network including a plurality of client devices, the configuration device including configuration information designated as sharable information. The method comprises generating a discovery request at the configuration device, the discovery request targeted to the plurality of handheld devices, in response to the discovery request, generating a request for communication with the configuration device from at least one client device, establishing communication between the configuration device and the client device, assigning, at the configuration device, a group to the at least one client device, identifying, at the configuration device, a selection of components from among the sharable information, the selection of components associated with the assigned group and for downloading to the at least one client device; and downloading, for installation at the client device, the selection of components to the at least one client device of the assigned group.

Claims

1. A method for configuring at least one client device by a configuration device in a peer to peer communication local network including a plurality of client devices, the configuration device including configuration information designated as sharable information, the method comprising:

generating a discovery request at the configuration device, the discovery request targeted to the plurality of handheld devices;

in response to the discovery request, generating a request for communication with the configuration device from at least one client device;

establishing communication between the configuration device and the at least one client device;

assigning, at the configuration device, a group to the at least one client device;

identifying, at the configuration device, a selection of components from among the sharable information, the selection of components associated with the assigned group and for downloading to the at least one client device; and

downloading, for installation at the client device, the selection of components to the at least one client device of the assigned group.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising installing the selection of components at the client device.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising reporting to the configuration device the results of installing the selection of components, including successful component installations and failed component installations.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the assigned group is associated with a predefined ordering of configuration components, and downloading comprises downloading the selection of components according to the predefined order.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising installing, at the client device, the selection of components according to the predefined order of downloading.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising displaying, at a graphical user interface (GUI) display of the configuration device, the configuration of components in the predefined order for downloading, and modifying the predefined order prior to downloading.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the selection of components downloaded includes a software component.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the software component downloaded include a software component file selected from the group of software components consisting of:

a software driver, a software application, a portion of a software application, an application program interface, an operating system version, and an operating system identifier.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of establishing communications between the configuration device and the client device further comprises communicating an informational element for unique identification of the client device, the informational element selected from the group of informational elements consisting of:

a serial number, an operating system identifier, a device model number, IP addresses, and a terminal name.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the discovered client device is assigned to at least one group based on its pre-existing hardware and/or firmware configuration.

11. A configuration device comprising:

a discovery module for generating and communicating a discovery request to a plurality of client devices in a peer to peer local communication network;

a configuration module including configuration information designated as sharable information, the configuration module for;

assigning a group to the at least one client device;

identifying a selection of components from the sharable information for download to the at least one client device, the selection of components associated with the assigned group; and

downloading the selection of components to the at least one client device of the assigned group.

12. The configuration device of claim 11 wherein assigning a group comprises assigning a group based on pre-existing hardware and/or firmware configuration of the at least one client device.

13. The configuration device of claim 11 further comprising a graphical user interface display screen for displaying the identified selection of components.

14. A client device in a peer to peer communication local network, the network including a plurality of client devices and a configuration device, the client device comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a device discovery module for detecting a discovery request initiated at the configuration device and for establishing further communication with the configuration device;

a device download module for receiving a downloaded selection of components from the configuration device; and

a device installation module for installing, in the memory of the client device, the downloaded selection of components from the configuration device.

15. The client device of claim 14 further comprising an update detection module for detecting an update request targeted to a group assigned, by the configuration device, to include the client device.

16. The client device of claim 15 further comprising updating the installed selection of components.

17. The client device of claim 14 wherein the device discovery module communicates to the configuration device an informational element for unique identification of the client device, the informational element selected from the group of informational elements consisting of:

a serial number, an operating system identifier, a device model number, IP addresses, and a terminal name.