SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING A VIEWABLE PAN ID OVER A WIRELESS PERSONAL AREA NETWORK

• US 20140022935A1
• Filed: 07/17/2012
• Published: 01/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haier US Appliance Solutions, Inc. DBA GE Appliances (Haier Group Company)
• Original Assignee: Jeff Donald Drake
• Inventors: Brian, Joseph Mark, DRAKE, Jeff Donald
• Granted Patent: US 9,237,511 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

A system for enabling a viewable personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) over an wireless network. The system includes a coordinator configured to assign a PAN ID to an available PAN, a device configured to transmit and/or receive data using 802.15.4 protocol or equivalent, and at least one processor. The at least one processor is programmed to receive a request from the device to scan for an available wireless network, receive the assigned PAN ID based on the request, determine whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID, and provide the PAN ID based on the determination.

Claims

1. A system for enabling a viewable personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) over an 802.15.4 network, the system comprising:

a coordinator component configured to assign a PAN ID to an available PAN;

a device configured to transmit and/or receive data using a wireless protocol; and

at least one processor programmed to;

receive a request from the device to scan for an available wireless network;

receive the assigned PAN ID based on the request;

determine whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID; and

provide the PAN ID based on the determination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to provide the PAN ID in a viewable format if it is determined that the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the viewable format is at least one of American Standard Code for Information Interchange, and Universal Character Set Transformation Format.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display configured to present the PAN ID in a viewable format to a user.

5. An apparatus configured to enable a viewable personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising

at least one processor programmed to:

receive a request to assign a viewable PAN ID to the wireless network;

assign the viewable PAN ID to the wireless network; and

provide the viewable PAN ID in a viewable format.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein assigning the viewable PAN ID to the wireless network comprises applying a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) to the viewable PAN ID, wherein the CRC enables the PAN ID to be identified as viewable.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising receiving text to assign to the viewable PAN ID, wherein the CRC is configured to represent the received text.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the viewable format is at least one of American Standard Code for Information Interchange, and Universal Character Set Transformation Format.

9. A method for enabling a viewable personal area network (PAN) identification (ID) over a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a device to scan for an available wireless network;

receiving a PAN ID based on the request;

determining whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID; and

presenting the PAN ID based on the determination.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein presenting the PAN ID comprises presenting the PAN ID in a viewable format if it is determined that the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the PAN ID in a viewable format comprises presenting the PAN ID in an American Standard Code for Information Interchange and/or in a Universal Character Set Transformation Format.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein presenting the PAN ID in a viewable format comprises presenting the PAN ID with eight characters or less.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID comprises:

computing a checksum on one or more characters in a character string of the PAN ID; and

determining whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID based on the outcome of the checksum.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the PAN ID is a viewable PAN ID comprises computing a checksum on one or more characters at an end of a character string in the PAN ID.