Identifying trapping access points

• US 9,060,320 B1
• Filed: 11/18/2011
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Cairns, Ryan T., Wuellner, Trond T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): REDDIVALAM, SRINIVASA R
• Application Number:
  US13/300,538
• Time in Patent Office: 1,306 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/00 Access restriction access security to prevent unauthorised access H04W12/08; Network selection; Access point selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point

Abstract

A computer-implemented network node selection method includes identifying a plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of a wireless device connected to a mobile computer; identifying which of the operable wireless network access points is arranged to trap a requesting device in a proxy; and affecting a manner in which prospective wireless network access points are presented to a user of the mobile computer based on the identifying of which of the operable wireless network access points is arranged to trap a requesting party in a proxy.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of a wireless device connected to a mobile computer;

determining that one or more first operable wireless network access points, from among the plurality of operable wireless network access points, are configured to permit the wireless device to wirelessly connect to the one or more first operable wireless network access points, but are also configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy so as to block the wireless device from accessing a publicly available network using the one or more first operable wireless network access points when the wireless device is wirelessly connected to the one or more first operable wireless network access points;

determining that one or more second operable wireless network access points, from among the plurality of operable wireless network access points, are configured to permit the wireless device to access the publicly available network using the one or more second operable wireless network access points when the wireless device is wirelessly connected to the one or more second operable wireless network access points; and

displaying representations of particular ones of the one or more second operable wireless network access points in a list of prospective wireless network access points, while suppressing a display of representations of the one or more first operable wireless network access points in the list as a result of a determination that the one or more first operable wireless network access points are configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the plurality of operable wireless network access points comprises simultaneously connecting to two different wireless network access points using different communication chip cores on the mobile computer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a first access point from among the plurality of operable wireless network access points is configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy by sending a network request to the first access point and determining whether the request passed through the first access point to a resource on the publicly available network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the network request comprises an HTTP request to a known network site, and wherein determining whether the first access point is configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy comprises determining whether a response to the HTTP request is valid.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the response to the HTTP request is determined to be valid based on the response including content that matches content known to exist at the known network site.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising scanning the plurality of operable wireless network access points to identify access points that require user credentials to connect to the access points, wherein the one or more first operable wireless network access points and the one or more second operable wireless network access points are identified from the scanning as being access points that do not require user credentials to connect to the access points.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing representations of the one or more first operable wireless network access points to be displayed in the list.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one or more additional access limitations on at least some of the one or more second operable wireless network access points, and displaying on the mobile computer an indication that represents the identified one or more additional access limitations.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving a user input with respect to a representation of a particular access point in the list from among the one or more second operable wireless network access points, and displaying the indication that represents the identified one or more additional access limitations in response to receiving the user input.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is programmed to receive a user input with respect to a displayed representation of a wireless network access point and to display detailed information about access restrictions on the wireless network access point in response to receiving the user input.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more first operable wireless network access points that are determined to be configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy comprises a publicly-accessible wireless hotspot that requests payment information from wireless customers prior to granting the customers access to the publicly available network.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the publicly available network comprises the internet.

11. A computing device for selecting wireless network access points, the device comprising:

a wireless interface having circuitry for identifying a plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of the computing device;

a display manager arranged to cause a listing of one or more operable wireless network access points within communication range of the wireless interface to be outputted for display to a user of the computing device;

a request generator programmed to provide, through the wireless interface, a request to a resource on a publicly accessible network by providing the request to each of the plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of the computing device; and

a tester programmed to determine, using information received in response to the requests to the plurality of operable wireless network access points, which of the plurality of operable wireless network access points are arranged to trap a requesting party in a proxy so as to block the requesting party from accessing the publicly accessible network when the requesting party is connected to respective ones of the plurality of operable wireless network access points,

wherein the display manager is further arranged to suppress from the listing representations of a subset of the plurality of operable wireless network access points based on a determination that the subset of operable wireless network access points are each arranged to trap a requesting party in a proxy.

12. The device of claim 11, further comprising simultaneously connecting to two different operable wireless network access points using different communication chip cores on the computing device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein one chip core is arranged to perform communications through one access point while another chip core scans for other available access points.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the tester is programmed to generate a network request that comprises an HTTP request to a known network site, and to identify which of one or more operable wireless network access points is arranged to trap a requesting device in a proxy by determining whether a response to the HTTP request is valid.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein a response is determined to be valid if the response contains content known to exist at the known network site.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the wireless interface is arranged to scan the plurality of operable wireless network access points to identify access points that require user credentials, and to send a non-scanning request only to access points identified as not requiring user credentials.

17. A computing device for selecting wireless network access points, the device comprising:

a wireless interface having circuitry for identifying a plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of the computing device;

a display manager arranged to cause a listing of one or more operable wireless network access points within communication range of the wireless interface to be outputted for display to a user of the computing device;

a request generator programmed to provide, through the wireless interface, a request to a resource on a publicly accessible network by providing the request to each of the plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of the computing device; and

means for determining, using information received in response to the requests to the plurality of operable wireless network access points, which of the plurality of operable wireless network access points are arranged to trap a requesting party in a proxy so as to block the requesting party from accessing the publicly accessible network when the requesting party is connected to respective ones of the plurality of operable wireless network access points,

wherein the display manager is further arranged to suppress from the listing representations of a subset of the plurality of operable wireless network access points based on a determination that the subset of operable wireless network access points are each arranged to trap a requesting party in a proxy.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:

identifying a plurality of operable wireless network access points within communication range of a wireless device connected to a mobile computer;

determining that one or more first operable wireless network access points, from among the plurality of operable wireless network access points, are configured to permit the wireless device to wirelessly connect to the one or more first operable wireless network access points, but are also configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy so as to block the wireless device from accessing a publicly available network using the one or more first operable wireless network access points when the wireless device is wirelessly connected to the one or more first operable wireless network access points;

determining that one or more second operable wireless network access points, from among the plurality of operable wireless network access points, are configured to permit the wireless device to access the publicly available network using the one or more second operable wireless network access points when the wireless device is wirelessly connected to the one or more second operable wireless network access points; and

displaying representations of particular ones of the one or more second operable wireless network access points in a list of prospective wireless network access points, while suppressing a display of representations of the one or more first operable wireless network access points in the list as a result of a determination that the one or more first operable wireless network access points are configured to trap the wireless device in a proxy.