Establishing a secure wireless network with a minimum human intervention

• US 9,130,770 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
• Inventors: Millington, Nicholas A. J., Hainsworth, Paul V.
• Primary Examiner(s): MADAMBA, GLENFORD J
• Application Number:
  US13/863,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709/231, 370/254
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 : Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Techniques for automatically configuring necessary parameters of a device to be coupled to a network with minimum human intervention are disclosed. In one embodiment, a wired and/or wireless Ad-hoc network is established to facilitate communications among a group of devices. When a new device is added to the network, a rudimentary communication path is initially established between one of the devices in the network and the new device such that necessary parameters (e.g., SSID, WEP security, channel frequency) can be exchanged for the new device to function properly in the network. To ensure the parameters are exchanged in a secure fashion, an additional public security procedure can be used between the two devices.

Claims

1. A controller device comprising:

an input interface;

a display;

a processing unit;

data storage; and

an application module stored in the data storage and executable by the processing unit to;

based on a user input received via the input interface, (i) display a prompt directing a user to press one or more buttons at a network device, and (ii) listen for a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is transmitted in response to the one or more buttons being pressed at the network device and wherein the controller device listens for the first message for a specified period of time;

if the controller device receives the first message during the specified period of time, (i)

exchange a sequence of subsequent messages with the network device, wherein the sequence of subsequent messages cause the network device to join a secure network without further user input via either the network device or the controller device; and

(ii) display an indication that the network device has joined the secure network; and

if the controller device does not receive the first message during the specified period of time, display an indication that the network device was not able to connect to the secure network.

2. The controller device of claim 1, wherein the application module is further executable by the processing unit to receive a second user input, wherein the second user input causes a name to be associated with the network device.

3. A method of connecting a network device to a secure network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a controller device, a user input;

based on the user input, (i) displaying, by the controller device, a prompt directing a user to press one or more buttons at the network device, and (ii) listening, by the controller device, for a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is transmitted in response to the one or more buttons being pressed at the network device and wherein the controller device listens for the first message for a specified period of time;

if the controller device receives the first message during the specified period of time, (i) causing, by the controller device, the network device to join the secure network without further user input via either the network device or the controller device; and

(ii) displaying an indication that the network device has joined the secure network; and

if the controller device does not receive the first message during the specified period of time, displaying an indication that the network device was not able to connect to the secure network.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, by the controller device, a second user input, wherein the second user input causes a name to be associated with the network device.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

displaying, at the controller device, an indicator, wherein the indicator indicates a remaining amount of time of the specified period of time that the controller device will listen for the first message.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the user input activates a configuration process at the controller device.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the first message comprises an alive message, wherein the alive message indicates that the network device is available for configuration.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein causing the network device to join the secure network comprises exchanging a sequence of subsequent messages with the network device, wherein the exchanging a sequence of messages comprises:

transmitting, by the controller device to the network device, a message requesting the network device'"'"'s current network configuration;

receiving, by the controller device from the network device, a message containing the network device'"'"'s current network configuration; and

transmitting, by the controller device to the network device, a message containing parameters associated with the secure network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the parameters associated with the secure network comprise a household identifier (ID).

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the controller device listens for the first message over an unsecure network.

11. A method of connecting a network device to a secure network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a controller device, a user input;

based on the user input, (i) displaying, by the controller device, a prompt directing a user to press one or more buttons at the network device, and (ii) listening, by the controller device, for a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is transmitted in response to the one or more buttons being pressed at the network device and wherein the controller device listens for the first message for a specified period of time;

displaying, at the controller device, an indicator, wherein the indicator indicates a remaining amount of time of the specified period of time that the controller device will listen for the first message;

if the controller device receives the first message during the specified period of time, (i) causing, by the controller device, the network device to join the secure network without further user input via either the network device or the controller device; and

(ii) displaying an indication that the network device has joined the secure network; and

if the controller device does not receive the first message during the specified period of time, displaying an indication that the network device was not able to connect to the secure network.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed cause a controller device to:

receive a user input;

based on the user input, (i) display a prompt directing a user to press one or more buttons at a network device, and (ii) listen for a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is transmitted in response to the one or more buttons being pressed at the network device and wherein the controller device listens for the first message for a specified period of time;

if the controller device receives the first message during the specified period of time, (i) cause, by the controller device, the network device to join a secure network without further user input via either the network device or the controller device; and

(ii) display an indication that the network device has joined the secure network; and

if the controller device does not receive the first message during the specified period of time, display an indication that the network device was not able to connect to the secure network.

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

receive a second user input, wherein the second user input causes a name to be associated with the network device.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the controller device to:

display an indicator, wherein the indicator indicates a remaining amount of time of the specified period of time that the controller device will listen for the first message.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the user input activates a configuration process at the controller device.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the first message comprises an alive message, wherein the alive message indicates that the network device is available for configuration.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions that cause the controller device to cause the network device to join the secure network comprise instructions that cause the controller device to:

transmit a message requesting the network device'"'"'s current network configuration;

receive a message containing the network device'"'"'s current network configuration; and

transmit a message containing parameters associated with the secure network.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the parameters associated with the secure network comprise a household identifier (ID).

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed cause a controller device to:

receive a user input;

based on the user input, (i) display a prompt directing a user to press one or more buttons at a network device, and (ii) listen for a first message from the network device, wherein the first message is transmitted in response to the one or more buttons being pressed at the network device and wherein the controller device listens for the first message for a specified period of time;

display, at the controller device, an indicator, wherein the indicator indicates a remaining amount of time of the specified period of time that the controller device will listen for the first message;

if the controller device receives the first message during the specified period of time, (i) cause, by the controller device, the network device to join a secure network without further user input via either the network device or the controller device; and

(ii) display an indication that the network device has joined the secure network; and

if the controller device does not receive the first message during the specified period of time, display an indication that the network device was not able to connect to the secure network.