INTELLIGENT MANAGEMENT OF A PLURALITY OF COMMUNICATIONS LINKS

• US 20150126117A1
• Filed: 11/05/2013
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fitbit, Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wong, Yoon Kean, Homyak, Matthew David, Tran, Huy Quang, Case, Ryan James
• Granted Patent: US 11,140,626 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/009 specially adapted for networks, e.g. wireless sensor networks, ad-hoc networks, RFID networks or cloud networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/068 using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/34 Selective release of ongoing connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed, for intelligent management of multiple communications links. One communications link can be used to bring up another communications link with little or no user input. Selective enablement/disablement of one or more of the communications links is based on system needs and, other criteria. Utilizing one more-secure communications link to improve security on another less-secure communications link between the same devices is also contemplated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a first device, a wireless signal originating from a second device, the wireless signal indicating availability of a first communications link, the first communications link being a wireless communications link;

sending, by the first device, first communications link setup information corresponding to establishing the first communications link between the first device and the second device;

sending, by the first device, a first command over the first communications link, the first command configured to cause the second device to begin advertising availability of a second communications link, the second communications link being another wireless communications link having different characteristics than the first communications link;

receiving, by the first device over the first communications link, information corresponding to the second communications link; and

using, by the first device, the information corresponding to the second communications link to facilitate establishing the second communications link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information corresponding the second communications link includes an address for the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first device over the first communications link, a first security code originating from the second device;

receiving, by the first device over the second communications link, a second security code originating from the second device; and

verifying the second communications link using the first and second security codes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first device over the first communications link, a security code originating from the second device; and

sending, by the first device over the second communications link, verification information corresponding to the security code.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, disabling, by the first device, one of the first communications link and the second communications link to produce a disabled communications link, wherein a maintained communications link corresponds to one of the first communications link and the second communications link not disabled.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the disabling further comprises sending, by the first device, a second command over one of the first communications link and the second communications link.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising sending, by the first device, a third command over the maintained communications link, the third command configured to re-establish the disabled communications link.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising, prior to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on an application running on the first device.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising, or to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on parameters stored on the first device.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising, prior to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on data bandwidth needs.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the first device, a second command over one of the first communications link and the second communications link, the second command configured to disable one of the first communications link and the second communications link to produce a disabled communications link, wherein a maintained communications link corresponds to one of the first communications link and the second communications link not disabled as a result of the second command.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising using, by the first device, security information configured to provide additional security with respect to communications between the first device and the second device over the second communications link, wherein the security information is transferred over the first communications link.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communications link corresponds to a Classic Bluetooth communications link, and the second communications link corresponds to a Bluetooth Low Energy communications link.

14. A method comprising:

detecting, at a first device, a wireless signal originating from a second device, the wireless signal indicating availability of a first communications link, the first communications link being a wireless communications link;

sending, by the first device, first communications link setup information corresponding to establishing the first communications link between the first device and the second device;

receiving, by the first device, a first command over the first communications link;

in response to the first command, advertising, by the first device, availability of a second communications link, the second communications link being another wireless communications link having different characteristics than the first communications link; and

in response to the first device receiving a response to the advertising, using, by the first device, setup information included in the response to the advertising to facilitate establishing the second communications link.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in response to the first device not receiving a response to the advertising within a predetermined period of time, terminating the advertising.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a first security code by the first device;

sending, by the first device, the first security code over the first communications link;

generating a second security code by the first device; and

sending, by the first device, the second security code over the second communications link.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a security code by the firs device;

sending the security code over the first communications link;

receiving a responsive code over the second communications link; and

comparing the responsive code with the security code.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to a determination that the responsive code does not correspond to the security code, terminating the second communications link.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to a determination that the responsive code does not correspond to the security code, providing an alert corresponding to the determination.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising disabling, by the first device, one of the first communications link and the second communications link to produce a disabled communications link, wherein a maintained communications link corresponds to one of the first communications link and the second communications link not disabled.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the disabling further comprises sending, by the first device, a second command over one of the first communications link and the second communications link.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising sending, by the first device, a third command over the maintained communications link, the third command configured to re-establish the disabled communications link.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising, prior to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on an application running on the first device.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising, prior to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on parameters stored on the first device.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising, prior to the disabling, determining identity of the maintained communications link based on data bandwidth needs.

26. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving by the first device, a second command over one of the first communications link and the second communications link, the second command configured to disable one of the first communications link and the second communications link to produce a disabled communications link, wherein a maintained communications link corresponds to one of the first communications link and the second communications link not disabled as a result of the second command.

27. The method of claim 14, further comprising using, by the first device, security information configured to provide additional security with respect to communications between the first device and the second device over the second communications link, wherein the security information is transferred over the first communications link.

28. The method of claim 14, wherein the first communications link corresponds to a Classic Bluetooth communications link, and the second communications link corresponds to a Bluetooth Low Energy communications link.