Establishing a secure wireless network with minimum human intervention

• US 9,130,771 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2013
• 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:
  US13/932,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20130290497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 799 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

Systems, methods and apparatus to join a network are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a manual user action at a zone player that is unconfigured for a first network, the action initiating automatic establishment of a connection to the first network by the zone player; transmitting, by the zone player responsive to the manual user action, a first message over a second network to be received by a device configured for the first network, wherein the first message indicating that the zone player is available to join the first network; receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a second message from the device, the second message generated responsive to receipt of the first message and including a security parameter to join the first network; and establishing a connection to the first network by the zone player using the security parameter without further input by any user via either the zone player or the device.

Claims

1. A method of connecting a device to a first network for one or more playback devices, the method comprising:

activating, at a zone player in a default mode and unconfigured for the first network, an (a) await registration mode and (b) a not registered indicator at the zone player;

receiving a manual user input at the zone player in the await registration mode, wherein the manual user input initiates an automatic establishment of a connection to the first network by the zone player;

transmitting, by the zone player responsive to the manual user input, a first message over a second network to be received by a device configured for the first network, wherein the first message indicates that the zone player is available to join the first network;

receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a second message from the device, wherein the second message is generated responsive to receipt of the first message and wherein the second message includes a security parameter to be used by the zone player to join the first network;

establishing a connection to the first network by the zone player using the security parameter;

deactivating, at the zone player, the not registered indicator;

after deactivating the not registered indicator, activating, at the zone player, (a) a registered mode and (b) a registered indicator at the zone player;

receiving, from the device, a name assigned to the zone player; and

storing the received name.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving audio content by the zone player over the first network and playing back the audio content via the zone player.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the security parameter is generated by the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the security parameter comprises a wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the security parameter comprises a household identifier (HHID).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a request from the device to the zone player to respond with the zone player'"'"'s current network configuration information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is an unsecure network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a command message from the device to the zone player to reconfigure the zone player'"'"'s network configuration information.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indicator.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indicator.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indication provided by a light indicator, and wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indication provided by the light indicator.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a set of instructions for execution by a processor, the set of instructions, when executed, facilitating connection of a device to a first network via a method comprising:

activating, at a zone player in a default mode and unconfigured for the first network, an (a) await registration mode and (b) a not registered indicator at the zone player;

receiving a manual user input at the zone player in the await registration mode, wherein the manual user input initiates an automatic establishment of a connection to the first network by the zone player;

transmitting, by the zone player responsive to the manual user input, a first message over a second network to be received by a device configured for the first network, wherein the first message indicates that the zone player is available to join the first network;

receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a second message from the device, wherein the second message is generated responsive to receipt of the first message and wherein the second message includes a security parameter to be used by the zone player to join the first network;

establishing a connection to the first network by the zone player using the security parameter;

deactivating, at the zone player, the not registered indicator;

after deactivating the not registered indicator, activating, at the zone player, (a) a registered mode and (b) a registered indicator at the zone player;

receiving, from the device, a name assigned to the zone player; and

storing the received name.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the security parameter is generated by the device.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the security parameter comprises a wired equivalent privacy (WEP) key.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the security parameter comprises a household identifier (HHID).

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a request from the device to the zone player to respond with the zone player'"'"'s current network configuration information.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises transmitting, over the second network by the zone player, a response to the device by the zone player including the zone player'"'"'s network configuration information.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the second network is an unsecure network.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises transmitting, by the zone player, a third message including a response indicating that the zone player'"'"'s network configuration information has been changed according to the command message from the device.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indicator.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indicator.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indication provided by a light indicator, and wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indication provided by the light indicator.

17. A multimedia device for multimedia playback in a first network, the device comprising:

a memory to store data and instructions;

a processor to execute the instructions in the memory; and

a network interface to facilitate a data flow between the first network and the multimedia device, wherein the processor and the network interface are to facilitate;

activating, at the multimedia device in a default mode and unconfigured for the first network, an (a) await registration mode and (b) a not registered indicator at the multimedia device;

receiving a manual user input at the multimedia device in the await registration mode, wherein the manual user input initiates an automatic establishment of a connection to the first network by the multimedia device;

transmitting, by the multimedia device responsive to the manual user input, a first message over a second network to be received by a second device configured for the first network, wherein the first message indicates that the multimedia device is available to join the first network;

receiving, over the second network by the zone player, a second message from the second device, wherein the second message is generated responsive to receipt of the first message and wherein the second message includes a security parameter to be used by the multimedia device to join the first network;

establishing a connection to the first network by the multimedia device using the security parameter;

deactivating, at the multimedia device, the not registered indicator;

after deactivating the not registered indicator, activating, at the multimedia device, (a) a registered mode and (b) a registered indicator at the multimedia device;

receiving, from the second device, a name assigned to the multimedia device; and

storing the received name.

18. The multimedia device of claim 17, further comprising an audio processing circuit to receive audio content over the first network and to play back the audio content.

19. The multimedia of claim 17, wherein the network interface is to receive, over the second network, a request from the second device to the multimedia device to respond with the multimedia device'"'"'s current network configuration information.

20. The multimedia device of claim 17, wherein the second network is an unsecure network.

21. The multimedia device of claim 17, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indicator.

22. The multimedia device of claim 21, wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indicator.

23. The multimedia device of claim 17, wherein the not registered indicator comprises a first light indication provided by a light indicator, and wherein the registered indicator comprises a second light indication provided by the light indicator.