Traversal of wireless profiles

• US 9,131,530 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lantronix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Lantronix Incorporated
• Inventors: Kakkad, Vishal
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hanh N
• Application Number:
  US13/890,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20130303234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 853 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/329, 370/338, 370/395.21, 370/395.4, 370/400, 370/401, 370254-256, 713/200, 713/201, 455/552.1, 709/203, 709/217, 709/224, 705/14.66, 705/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Wireless devices capable of supporting multiple wireless configuration profiles are presented. A wireless device determines an environmental context, which is used to select a profile traversal method. A profile selection module configures itself to traverse available profiles according the traversals method to identify an acceptable profile. Once identified, the wireless device'"'"'s communication port is configured to operate according to the profile.

Claims

1. A wireless apparatus having a wireless communication port configurable using a profile selected from a plurality of profiles dependent on an environmental context to connect with an access point, comprising:

a wireless communication port configured to acquire a representation of its environmental context;

a traversal rules base storing a plurality of traversal rules sets, each traversal rules set governing selection of a wireless profile and comprising contextual criteria;

a profile database storing a plurality of available wireless profiles for configuring the wireless communication port to enable operation with an access point; and

a profile selection module configured to;

select a selected traversal rules set from the plurality of traversal rules sets by comparing the representation of the environmental context of the wireless communication port to the contextual criteria of the traversal rules sets,

identify a desired profile from the available wireless profiles stored in the profile database by traversing profiles stored in the profile database according to the selected traversal rules set, and

configure the wireless communication port to operate according to the desired profile so as to enable operation with the access point.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the contextual criteria comprises context attributes.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the representation of the environmental context comprises environment attributes adhering to a namespace of the contextual attributes.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the context attributes comprise at least one of the following:

a signal strength, a signal type, a signal quality, a location, a position, an orientation, a time, a motion, an acceleration, a velocity, an access point parameter, and a user-defined attribute.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected traversal rules set comprise a policy for identifying the desired profile.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the policy includes at least one of the following:

find first profile matching environmental context, find highest priority profile, and apply user-defined rule.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication port comprises a radio.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the wireless communication port operates according to at least one of the following:

802.11, 802.15, 80116, Wireless USB, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular, and Zigbee.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication port comprises an optical interface.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the optical interface comprise at least one of the following:

an LED, and a laser.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a device server comprising the wireless communication port, the traversal rules base, the profile database, and the profile selection module.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the device server further comprises a wired port communicatively coupled with the wireless communication port.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the representation of the environmental context comprises data obtained from the wired port.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wired port comprise a serial port.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wired port comprises an Ethernet port.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected profile comprises at least one of the following wireless port configuration parameters:

a security protocol, a key, a channel, a name, a direction, a power level, a Quality of Service parameter, and a port state.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a traversal rules interface configured to allow management of the traversal rule sets.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the traversal rules interface is configured to accept a submitted traversal rules set and store the submitted traversal rules set in the traversal rules database.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the traversal rules interface comprises at least one of the following:

a web server, an API, command line interface (CLI), a serial protocol, and a packet protocol operating over a communication port.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the traversal rules interface is configured to allow a user to select the selected traversal rule set.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the profile selection module is further configured to select automatically the selected traversal rule set based on comparing the representation of the environmental context to the contextual criteria of the traversal rules sets.