Selective pairing of devices using short-range wireless communication

• US 8,606,933 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2011
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gossweiler, Richard Carl III, McDonough, Colin Albright
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne, Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alam, Uzma
• Application Number:
  US13/232,689
• Time in Patent Office: 818 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for receiving, by a first computing device, information from a second computing device communicated using short-range wireless communication functionality. Responsive to receiving the information, activating, by the first computing device, a secondary communication functionality that is different from the short-range wireless communication functionality. A communication session may be established between the first computing device and the second computing device using the secondary communication functionality.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a short-range wireless communication device configured to transmit and receive information via a short-range wireless communication protocol;

a secondary communication device configured to transmit and receive information via a secondary communication protocol, wherein the secondary communication protocol is different from the short-range wireless communication protocol;

a memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computing device to perform a method for communicating with another device, the method comprising;

receiving, using the short-range wireless communication device, a request to establish a communication session with the other device, wherein the request is transmitted using the short-range wireless communication protocol;

in response to the receiving, activating the secondary communication device; and

establishing a communication session with the other device using secondary communication device, wherein the communication session utilizes the secondary communication protocol.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the communication session connects the computing device directly to the other device.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the secondary communication device has a greater range than the short-range wireless communication device.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein establishing the communication session further comprises:

determining whether the first computing device and the second computing device have been previously paired using a previous pairing;

establishing a pairing between the first computing device and the second computing device when the first computing device and the second computing device have not been previously paired; and

establishing the communication session using the previous pairing when the first computing device and the second computing device have been previously paired.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, information from a second computing device communicated using short-range wireless communication functionality;

responsive to receiving the information, activating, by the first computing device, a secondary communication functionality that is different from the short-range wireless communication functionality; and

establishing a communication session between the first computing device and the second computing device using the secondary communication functionality.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the first computing device and the second computing device have been previously paired using a previous pairing, and

wherein establishing the communication session further comprises;

establishing a pairing between the first computing device and the second computing device when the first computing device and the second computing device have not been previously paired; and

establishing the communication session using the previous pairing when the first computing device and the second computing device have been previously paired.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

establishing an encrypted channel for communicating between the first computing device and the second computing device using the short-range wireless communication functionality.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving session information for the communication session from the second computing device over the encrypted channel.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the information received from the second computing devices includes configuration information, and wherein the method further comprises:

configuring the first computing device to connect to a secondary communication network with the secondary communication functionality using the configuration information obtained from the second computing device.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

detecting, by an accelerometer of the first computing device, an acceleration of the first computing device within a selected period of time;

determining, using the short-range wireless communication, whether the second computing device detected an acceleration of the second computing device within the selected period of time; and

pairing the first computing device and the second computing device when the second computing device detected the acceleration of the second computing device within the selected period of time.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determine velocities of the first computing device over the selected period of time;

determine velocities of the second computing device over the selected period of time; and

wherein pairing the first computing device and the second computing device further comprises pairing the first computing device and the second computing device when the velocities of the first computing device is within a threshold level of the velocities of the second computing device.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending, by the first computing device, a response message identifying the first computing device using short-range wireless communication functionality.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the second computing device can connect to the communication session, and

wherein activating, by the first computing device, the secondary communication functionality is based on whether the second computing device can connect to the communication session.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing a password to an application of the first computing device based on the information from the second computing device.

15. The method of claim 5, wherein the information includes a unique identifier of the second computing device.

16. The method of claim 5, wherein activating the secondary communication device further comprises powering on the secondary communication device upon receiving the information.

17. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

deactivating, by the first computing device, the secondary communication functionality once the communication session has ended.

18. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

deactivating, by the first computing device, the short-range wireless communication device in response to establishing the communication session.

19. The method of claim 5, wherein the secondary communication functionality has a greater bandwidth and longer range than the short-range wireless communication functionality.

20. The method of claim 5, wherein the short-range wireless communication functionality uses a near-field communication (NFC) protocol, and

wherein the secondary communication functionality includes functionality for one of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and Long Term Evolution (LTE).

21. The method of claim 5, wherein establishing the communication session connects the first computing device and the second computing device directly without any intermediary device between the first computing device and the second computing device.

22. A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions for causing at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, information from a second computing device communicated using short-range wireless communication functionality;

responsive to receiving the information, activating, by the first computing device, a secondary communication functionality that is different from the short-range wireless communication functionality; and

establishing a communication session between the first computing device and the second computing device using the secondary communication functionality.