Multi-tier wireless home mesh network with a secure network discovery protocol

• US 8,130,704 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Jing, Xiangpeng, Patil, Abhishek, Liu, Aixin, Nguyen, Djung N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Chuong T
• Application Number:
  US12/791,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/338, 370/331, 370/390, 370/312, 370/465, 370/328, 370/329, 709/217, 709/227, 709/200, 725/32, 725/109
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a multi-tier wireless home mesh network is described. The method may include formation of an infrastructure-less wireless home mesh networking environment comprising a collection of nodes that operate as a decentralized, ad hoc wireless network with multiple sub-networks or tiers that are responsible for different functions within the network. Each node of the multi-tier network is configured to forward data to other nodes and is assigned to a particular tier based on the node'"'"'s performance capabilities. A further embodiment includes identification of a wireless home mesh network. Once identified, one or more proprietary messages may be exchanged in a secure manner to establish connections with a home electronics device as either a mobile node or a stationary node of the home network. A home electronics device may wirelessly communicate to route data within one or more nodes of the wireless home mesh network. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

Establishing a gateway node, communicably coupled to an external network, a first tier Node of a wireless home mesh network, the first tier node controls access to the external network;

Classifying one or more stationary home electronic devices as a second tier node being a stationary node of the wireless home mesh network that is electrically coupled to an AC power outlet, the classifying of the one or more stationary home electronic devices includes automatically discovering one of the stationary home electronic devices as the stationary node of the wireless home mesh network;

Classifying one or more mobile electronic devices as a third tier node, the third tier node being a battery-powered mobile node of the wireless home mesh network; and

Wirelessly communicating with at least one of the first tier node, the second tier node, and the third tier node to receive a service within the wireless home mesh network, the wireless communications include establishing a wireless link with the stationary node to joint the wireless home mesh network, and wirelessly sharing features and content from the wireless home mesh network with the stationary node that joined the wireless home mesh network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing, by the third tier node, digital content from the second tier node of the wireless home mesh network; and

accessing a wired network via a wireless communications link with at least one of the first tier node, the second tier node and the third tier node of the wireless home mesh network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the second tier node wirelessly interconnecting a plurality of stationary home electronics devices to form a backhaul of the wireless home mesh network.