Network device installation

• US 8,635,313 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2008
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Larsen, Brian, Roberts, David, Cunningham, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shepperd, Eric W
• Application Number:
  US12/141,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20090319649A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,042 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-223, 709/226, 709/238, 709/250, 710/104, 713 1- 2, 713/100, 370/254
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a system and method of processing device settings of a device. In a particular embodiment, the method includes requesting the device to provide the device settings. The device settings include wide area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) network settings. The method further includes storing the device settings in a device independent format. After the device settings have been stored in the device independent format, the device settings may be subsequently retrieved and used for replacement of the network device in a computer network. In a particular embodiment, the device settings are stored in the device independent format in a second device, such as at a server or a personal computer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

requesting a first device in a computer network to provide device settings that include wide area network (WAN) configuration data and local area network (LAN) configuration data as part of network settings, the device settings including information specific to the first device;

converting the device settings including the WAN configuration data and the LAN configuration data to data in a device independent format and storing the data in the device independent format;

identifying a replacement device to replace the first device in the computer network;

after the first device is removed from the computer network and after the replacement device is added to the computer network;

configuring the replacement device based on the data in the device independent format by;

updating the replacement device with firmware or software;

configuring additional settings of the replacement device;

querying the replacement device to determine whether the replacement device is compatible with configuration data in the device independent format; and

transferring the stored data in the device independent format to the replacement device upon determining that the replacement device is compatible with the configuration data in the device independent format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the replacement device is a server, a personal computer, or a router.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the device settings include a user name and a password.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the device settings further include parental control settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device independent format is a universal device configuration (UDC) format.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying images to guide a user to physically connect the replacement device to the computer network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising provisioning the replacement device and registering the replacement device prior to adding the replacement device to the computer network, and wherein the first device has a local area network interface and a wide area network interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the device specific information includes audio code information, video code information, frame rate information, resolution information, and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) support information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device and the replacement device are printers, cameras, digital picture frames, digital media players, network attached storage devices, or smart telephones.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving second device settings from the replacement device;

storing the second device settings; and

configuring the replacement device based on the second device settings;

updating firmware of the replacement device after storing the second device settings received from the replacement device, wherein updating the firmware of the replacement device resets the replacement device to default settings, and wherein configuring the replacement device based on the second device settings replaces the default settings with the second device settings.

11. A computer readable storage device including instructions that when executed cause a processor to:

request a network device to provide device settings, the device settings including wide area network (WAN) configuration data and local area network (LAN) configuration data as part of network settings, the device settings including information specific to the network device;

receive the device settings from the network device via a device communication driver associated with the network device that is configured to automatically log in to a web based user interface of the network device and to download a configuration file via the web based user interface;

convert the device settings including the WAN configuration data and the LAN configuration data to data in a device independent format and store the data in the device independent format;

identify a replacement device to replace the network device in a computer network;

after the replacement device is added to the network, configuring the replacement device based on the stored data by;

updating the replacement device with firmware or software;

configuring additional settings of the replacement device;

querying the replacement device to determine whether the replacement device is compatible with configuration data in the device independent format; and

transferring the stored data in the device independent format to the replacement device upon determining that the replacement device is compatible with the configuration data in the device independent format.

12. The computer readable storage device of claim 11, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

display images to guide a user to physically connect the replacement device to the computer network.

13. The computer readable storage device of claim 12, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the processor to:

provision the replacement device prior to adding the replacement device to the computer network; and

register the replacement device prior to adding the replacement device to the computer network.

14. The computer readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the device communication driver is a vendor provided device communication driver, and wherein certain aspects of the data are generic while other aspects of the data are device specific.