Apparatus and method for seamless commissioning of wireless devices

• US 9,485,790 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2015
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Mathews, Jeffrey P., Taylor, Lee R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Masur, Paul H
• Application Number:
  US14/927,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for commissioning a target device onto a wireless local area network (WLAN). The apparatus includes a smart wireless device. The smart wireless device has commissioning logic and a transducer. The commissioning logic is configured to format and direct transmission of one or more WLAN configuration packets that convey WLAN configuration data. The transducer is coupled to the commissioning logic, and is configured to transmit the one or more WLAN configuration packets over the transmission path to the target device, wherein the transducer is an existing component of the smart wireless device.

Claims

1. A method for commissioning a target device onto a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:

at the target device including a microprocessor, a plurality of wireless radios, and commissioning logic, wherein the plurality of wireless radios include a first wireless radio and a second wireless radio;

receiving from a wireless device in proximity to the target device a request to initiate a commissioning process with the target device;

establishing a short-range signal transmission path with the wireless device independently of the WLAN, wherein information received at the first wireless radio of the target device is communicated from the wireless device to the target device via the short-range signal transmission path;

in response to receiving the request, receiving from the wireless device via the short-range transmission path one or more WLAN configuration packets, wherein the one or more WLAN configuration packets are received at the first wireless radio, and convey WLAN configuration data associated with the WLAN according to a predetermined data format, the WLAN configuration data including at least a security passphrase for accessing the WLAN;

executing an application on the target device to decode and process by the commissioning logic the one or more WLAN configuration packets and recover the WLAN configuration data; and

after receiving the WLAN configuration packets at the first wireless radio, employing via the second wireless radio the WLAN configuration data conveyed in the one or more WLAN configuration packets to enable the target device to join the WLAN.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is selected from a group consisting of a smartphone and a tablet computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless radio employs at least one of a plurality of radio modulation techniques including frequency shift keying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK), on-off keying (OOK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on a proprietary RF communication standard.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on one of Bluetooth communication, radio frequency identification (RFID), Zigbee, radio frequency for consumer electronics (RF4CE), Z-Wave, and near field communication.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

contacting the wireless device via the WLAN to indicate that the target device has successfully entered the WLAN; and

after contacting the wireless device, continuing the commission process, including receiving, via the WLAN, device configuration data from the wireless device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the device configuration data including at least one of an Internet Protocol address, proxy, and gateway configuration.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating one of a visual indication and an audio indication to a user about a status of the commissioning process.

9. A target device, comprising:

a microprocessor;

a memory storing programs for execution by the target device;

a plurality of wireless radios including a first wireless radio and a second wireless radio, wherein the first wireless radio is configured to in response to receiving the request, receive from a wireless device via a short-range transmission path one or more WLAN configuration packets, wherein the one or more WLAN configuration packets convey WLAN configuration data associated with a WLAN according to a predetermined data format, and include at least a security passphrase for accessing the WLAN; and

commissioning logic that is coupled to the transducer and configured to;

receive from a wireless device in proximity to the target device a request to initiate a commissioning process with the target device;

establish the short-range signal transmission path with the wireless device independently of the WLAN; and

after receiving the one or more WLAN configuration packets, decode and process the one or more WLAN configuration packets to recover the WLAN configuration data for commissioning the target device itself onto the WLAN;

wherein the second wireless radio is operatively coupled to the commissioning logic and configured to after receiving the WLAN configuration packets at the first wireless radio, enable the target device to join the WLAN using the WLAN configuration data conveyed in the one or more WLAN configuration packets.

10. The target device of claim 9, wherein the wireless device is selected from a group consisting of a smartphone and a tablet computer.

11. The target device of claim 9, further comprising an application that includes a sequence of program instructions directed towards commissioning the target device onto the WLAN.

12. The target device of claim 9, wherein the first wireless radio employs at least one of a plurality of radio modulation techniques including frequency shift keying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK), on-off keying (OOK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

13. The target device of claim 9, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on a proprietary RF communication standard.

14. The target device of claim 9, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on one of Bluetooth communication, radio frequency identification (RFID), Zigbee, radio frequency for consumer electronics (RF4CE), Z-Wave, and near field communication.

15. The target device of claim 9, wherein the target device is configured to:

contact the wireless device via the WLAN to indicate that the target device has successfully entered the WLAN; and

after contacting the wireless device, continue the commission process at least by receiving, via the WLAN, device configuration data from the wireless device, the device configuration data including at least one of an Internet Protocol address, proxy, and gateway configuration.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a target device with a transducer for commissioning the target device onto a wireless local area network (WLAN), the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

at the target device including a microprocessor, a plurality of wireless radios, and commissioning logic, wherein the plurality of wireless radios include a first wireless radio and a second wireless radio;

receiving from a wireless device in proximity to the target device a request to initiate a commissioning process with the target device;

establishing a short-range signal transmission path with the wireless device independently of the WLAN, wherein information received at the first wireless radio of the target device is communicated from the wireless device to the target device via the short-range signal transmission path;

in response to receiving the request, receiving from the wireless device via the short-range transmission path one or more WLAN configuration packets, wherein the one or more WLAN configuration packets are received at the first wireless radio, and convey WLAN configuration data associated with the WLAN according to a predetermined data format, the WLAN configuration data including at least a security passphrase for accessing the WLAN;

executing an application on the target device to decode and process by the commissioning logic the one or more WLAN configuration packets and recover the WLAN configuration data; and

after receiving the WLAN configuration packets at the first wireless radio, employing via the second wireless radio the WLAN configuration data conveyed in the one or more WLAN configuration packets to enable the target device to join the WLAN.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first wireless radio employs at least one of a plurality of radio modulation techniques including frequency shift keying (FSK), phase shift keying (PSK), on-off keying (OOK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on a proprietary RF communication standard.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the signal transmission path is associated with a communication channel based on one of Bluetooth communication, radio frequency identification (RFID), Zigbee, radio frequency for consumer electronics (RF4CE), Z-Wave, and near field communication.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising:

contacting the wireless device via the WLAN to indicate that the target device has successfully entered the WLAN; and

after contacting the wireless device, continuing the commission process, including receiving, via the WLAN, device configuration data from the wireless device, the device configuration data including at least one of an Internet Protocol address, proxy, and gateway configuration.