Access point configuration

• US 7,636,338 B1
• Filed: 07/09/2004
• Issued: 12/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Vu, Chuong, Law, Chor-Teck, Chen, James Chieh-Tsung, Janofsky, Eric B., Bosso, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya; Sam
• Application Number:
  US10/888,307
• Time in Patent Office: 1,992 Days
• Field of Search: 455/410, 455/411, 455/426.2, 455/422.1, 455/423, 455/466, 455/463, 455/41.2, 455/420, 330/338
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for automatically setting up an initial configuration of a wireless client (i.e., for a first wireless client and subsequent wireless clients added to a network), including keyboard-less and (graphical user interface) GUI-less clients, and an access point without using confusing manual configuration utilities.

Claims

1. An access point comprising:

a transmitter to transmit at low power configuration packets to a proximately located client and to send messages to the proximately located client;

a receiver to receive a client input from the proximately located client;

an engine to generate a unique service set identifier (SSID) and a secure key from the client input; and

a verification engine to;

send an original client text to the proximately located client;

receive an encrypted version of the original client text encrypted by the proximately located client using the secure key; and

verify the encrypted version of the original client text using the original client text sent to the proximately located client.

2. The access point of claim 1 wherein the transmitter transmits the configuration packets and messages at a power of less than 3 dBm.

3. The access point of claim 1 wherein the transmitter transmits configuration packets for a predefined time limit.

4. The access point of claim 1 wherein the configuration packets are data packets comprising IEEE 802.0 fields with a Sub-Network Access Protocol (SNAP) field comprising a protocol identification field in a SNAP header including 3 bytes representing an organizationally unique identifier (OUI) and 2 bytes representing a product type.

5. The access point of claim 1 wherein the verification engine is operative to exchange text between the proximately located client and the access point and hash the exchanged text.

6. The access point of claim 1 wherein the verification engine is operative to hash the client input.

7. The access point of claim 1 wherein the verification engine is operative to determine an authenticity of a received encrypted message from the proximately located client.

8. The access point of claim 1 wherein the transmitter is operative to send an error message to the proximately located client if a verification fails and a success message to the proximately located client if the verification succeeds.

9. The access point of claim 1 wherein the configuration packets are update packets.

10. The access point of claim 1 wherein the engine further comprises a key generator for generating the secure key and a SSID generator for generating the SSID from the client input.

11. The access point of claim 1 further comprising a detector for detecting the presence of a client in close proximity to the access point.

12. The access point of claim 1 further comprising a power selector operable to control a power level output by the transmitter and enable transmission at low power when configuring the proximately located client.

13. The access point of claim 1 further comprising a configuration engine operable to process the client input and signal processing modes and codes to the proximately located client.

14. A method comprising:

transmitting at low power configuration packets from an access point to a proximately located client and sending messages to the proximately located client;

receiving, by the access point, a client input from the proximately located client;

generating, by the access point, a unique service set identifier (SSID) and a secure key from the client input;

sending, by the access point, an original client text to the proximately located client;

receiving, by the access point, an encrypted version of the original client text encrypted by the proximately located client using the secure key; and

verifying, by the access point, the encrypted version of the original client text using the original client text sent to the proximately located client.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the configuration packets and messages at a power of less than 3 dBm.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the configuration packets for a predefined time limit.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

exchanging text between the proximately located client and the access point; and

hashing the exchanged text.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising hashing the client input.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining an authenticity of a received encrypted message from the proximately located client.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending an error message to the proximately located client if verifying the client text fails; and

sending a success message to the proximately located client if verifying the client text succeeds.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising detecting a presence of a client in close proximity to the access point.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

controlling a power level output of the transmission of the lower power configuration packets; and

enabling the transmission at low power when configuring a proximately located client.

23. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

processing the client input; and

signaling processing modes and codes to the proximately located client.