Method for inserting a new device in a community of devices

• US 8,499,061 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2005
• Issued: 07/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Heen, Olivier, Prigent, Nicolas
• Primary Examiner(s): Colin, Carl
• Assistant Examiner(s): Siddiqi, Mohammad A
• Application Number:
  US10/589,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,086 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/220, 709/223, 709/229, 709/230, 713/1, 713/153, 713/155, 713/170, 713/176, 726/4, 726/17, 726/15, 726/21, 726/29, 455/518, 455/519
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for inserting a new device in a community of devices wherein each device of the community is able to store insertion requests received from at least one new device and to forward these insertion requests to a device chosen by a user of the community for confirming authorization to join the community.

Claims

1. A method for inserting a new device in a community of devices comprising:

selecting, by a user, a user chosen device from one of the community of devices for authorizing insertion of a new device into the community;

storing, by each device of the community which receives an insertion request from a new device, the insertion request in a memory of said each device;

forwarding, by each device of the community which receives a message seeking for a pending insertion request from the user chosen device, the at least one stored insertion request to said user chosen device; and

performing, by the user chosen device, at least one user action for authorizing the insertion of the new device into the community.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, using the user interface of the user chosen device, one of the insertion requests received by the user chosen device, to authorize the device having emitted said insertion request to be inserted in the community.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

sending, from said user chosen device, an insertion request to the new device inserted in the community to request that said user chosen device enters the new device'"'"'s community.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said insertion request from said user chosen device is transmitted to the new device inserted in the community through the device of the community having first forwarded the insertion request from the new device to the user chosen device in case said user chosen device cannot directly communicate with the new device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein insertion requests contain a provable identity of the new device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the device having received an insertion request from a new device is further able to broadcast the provable identity of the chosen device to the new device.

7. A device adapted to belong to a community of networked devices, wherein said device comprises:

a first memory for storing at least one insertion request received from a new device requesting to be inserted in the community;

a network interface for sending the at least one insertion request stored in said first memory upon receiving a message seeking for a pending insertion request from a device chosen by a user of the community for performing at least one user action for authorizing the insertion of the new device in the community;

a second memory for storing insertion requests sent by other devices of the community when said device is the user chosen device.

8. The device according to claim 7, further comprising:

a user interface allowing a user to select one of the insertion requests received by the user chosen device, to authorize the device having emitted said insertion request to be inserted in the community when said device is the user chosen device.