Apparatus and method for establishing a network connection in a portable terminal

• US 9,123,271 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2014
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lim, Hun
• Primary Examiner(s): Mikels, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US14/488,214
• Publication Number:
  US 20150002494A1
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/379, 235/380, 235/435, 235/439, 235/451, 235/462
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2755 by optical scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An apparatus and method for establishing a network connection in a portable terminal. The apparatus includes a controller, an image acquisition unit, and a code image analyzer. The controller establishes a network connection with a peripheral terminal using network information acquired through a code image. The image acquisition unit captures the code image generated by the peripheral terminal. The code image analyzer analyzes the code image acquired by the image acquisition unit and acquires the network information of the peripheral terminal. The code image includes at least any one of network information of the peripheral terminal, code image generation information, and information on an automatic execution program to be automatically executed after code image recognition.

Claims

1. A first electronic device configured to establish a network connection, the device comprising:

a controller, in response to an execution of an automatic connection program to automatically connect with a second electronic device, configured to;

acquire network information of the second electronic device based on a code image generated by the second electronic device and captured by a camera;

establish the network connection with the second electronic device based on the acquired network information; and

execute an instruction corresponding to automatic execution instruction information in the code image,

wherein the code image comprises at least one of;

the network information of the second electronic device and the automatic execution instruction information.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the automatic execution instruction information comprise at least one of:

instructions configured to cause the controller to perform an execution mode change, instructions configured to cause the controller to perform a configuration change, and instructions configured to be executed by the controller after the network connection is established.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, when the code image is a code image generated in licensed instructions, the controller is configured to establish the network connection with the second electronic device and, when the code image is not the code image generated in the licensed instructions, the controller is configured to stop a network connection process with the second electronic device.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to acquire at least one of:

a kind of a network interface supported in the second electronic device, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a GateWay (GW), a NetMask (NM), a Domain Name System (DNS), an accessed Service Set IDentifier (SSID), a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) key, code image generation information, and the automatic execution instruction information.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the code image further comprises a name of instructions generating the code image.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to identify when the code image is a code image generated using licensed instructions by analyzing a name of instructions generating the code image.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the code image further comprises instruction version information.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to capture the code image of at least one of:

a one-dimensional barcode format,

a two-dimensional barcode format,

a character string format,

a numeral string format, and

a color code format.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to:

after outputting the code image and when the network connection is not performed during a predetermined time, change a format of the generated code image; and

output the changed code image.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to execute synchronization instructions configured to cause the controller to synchronize with the second electronic device after the network connection is established.

11. A method implemented using a first electronic device configured to establish a network connection, the method comprising:

acquiring network information of a second electronic device based on a code image generated by the second electronic device and captured by a camera;

establishing the network connection with the second electronic device based on the network information; and

executing a program corresponding to automatic execution instruction information in the code image, wherein the code image comprises at least one of;

the network information of the second electronic device and the automatic execution instruction information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the automatic execution instruction information comprises at least one of:

instructions configured to cause the controller to perform an execution mode change, instructions configured to cause the controller to perform a configuration change, and instructions to be executed by the controller after the network connection is established.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein, when the code image is a code image generated in licensed instructions, establishing the network connection with the second electronic device and, when the code image is not the code image generated in the licensed instructions, stopping a network connection process with the second electronic device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising acquiring at least one of:

a kind of a network interface supported in the second electronic device, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a GateWay (GW), a NetMask (NM), a Domain Name System (DNS), an accessed Service Set IDentifier (SSID), a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) key, code image generation information, and the automatic execution instruction information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the code image further comprises a name of instructions generating the code image.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying when the code image is a code image generated using licensed instructions by analyzing a name of instructions generating the code image.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the code image further comprises instruction version information.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the code image is at least one of:

a one-dimensional barcode format, a two-dimensional barcode format, a character string format, a numeral string format, and a color code format.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

after outputting the code image and when the network connection is not performed during a predetermined time, changing a format of the generated code image; and

outputting the changed code image.

20. A system comprising;

a first electronic device configured to generate a code image; and

a second electronic device comprising,

a camera configured to capture the code image generated by the first electronic device; and

a controller, in response to an execution of automatic connection instructions to automatically connect with the first electronic device, configured to;

acquire network information of the first electronic device based on the code image captured by the camera;

establish the network connection with the first electronic device based on the acquired network information of the first electronic device; and

automatically execute instructions corresponding to automatic execution instruction information in the code image, and wherein the code image comprises at least one of;

the network information of the first electronic device and the information of the automatic execution instruction information.

21. An apparatus to manage an event of a display device, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit configured to receive a control signal comprising event related information of an electronic device and information of an output region of a screen from a display device controller; and

a display unit configured to display the event related information on the output region of the screen.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the output region comprises a smaller display region than a total display region of the screen.