Efficient communication for devices of a home network

• US 9,674,885 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2015
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Logue, Jay D., Smith, Zachary B., Hardison, Osborne B., Erickson, Grant M., Boross, Christopher A., Schultz, Richard J., Gujjaru, Sunny P., Neeley, Matthew G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faroul, Farah
• Application Number:
  US14/885,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20160041821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 370252
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0415 detecting absence of activity per se
• 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 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/659 Internet protocol version 6 [IPv6] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/254 Centralised controller, i.e. arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• 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 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 : involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/165 : Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 : Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 : using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 : Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 : including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 : involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 : involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3265 : using certificate chains, trees or paths; Hierarchical trust model
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0471 : Key exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 : using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 : Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 : Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 : Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 : managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 : power control in peer-to-peer links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 : Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 : based on regulatory allocation policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/045 : involving different protocol versions, e.g. MIPv4 and MIPv6
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 : adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 : Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for efficient communication through a fabric network of devices in a home environment or similar environment. For example, an electronic device may efficiently control communication to balance power and reliability concerns, may efficiently communicate messages to certain preferred networks by analyzing Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) packet headers that use an Extended Unique Local Address (EULA), may efficiently communicate software updates and status reports throughout a fabric network, and/or may easily and efficiently join a fabric network.

Claims

1. A method for transferring a software update over a fabric network, the method comprising:

sending an image query message from a first device in the fabric network to a second device in the fabric network or to a local or remote server, the image query message comprising a locale specification field when a locale specification flag is true;

receiving at the first device an image query response from the second device or the local or remote server, wherein the image query response indicates whether the software update is available and includes download information having location information to enable the first device to download the software update, and wherein the image query response comprises an update priority; and

downloading the software update at the first device using the location information, wherein the software is downloaded at a time based at least in part on the update priority in the fabric network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image query response comprises sender information regarding software stored on a sender device and transfer characteristics of the sender device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the image query message comprises software stored on the first device and transfer characteristics of the first device.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising downloading the software in a manner based at least in part on common transfer characteristics indicated in the image query message and the image query response.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising downloading the software update from a sender device at a time based at least in part on network traffic in the fabric network.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising sending the image query message in response to an image announce message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the locale specification field comprises a locale string length field and a locale string field, and wherein the locale string length field indicates a length of the locale string field.

8. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions thereon for transferring a software update over a fabric network, the instructions comprising instructions to:

send an image query message from a first device in the fabric network to a second device in the fabric network or to a local or remote server, the image query message including a frame control field comprising;

a vendor specific flag indicating whether the image query comprises a vendor specific data field;

a locale specification flag indicating whether the image query comprises a locale specification field; and

a reserved field;

receive at the first device an image query response from the second device or the local or remote server, wherein the image query response indicates whether the software update is available and includes download information having location information to enable the first device to download the software update, and wherein the image query response comprises an update priority; and

download the software update at the first device using the location information, wherein the software is downloaded at a time based at least in part on the update priority in the fabric network.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the image query response comprises information regarding software stored on the first device and transfer characteristics of the first device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the image query response comprises an update option when the query status indicates that the software is available.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the location information comprises:

a uniform resource identifier (URI) string field indicating a URI to enable the first device to download the software update; and

a URI length field indicating a length of the URI string in UTF-8 characters.

12. A first electronic device configured to communicate in a fabric network and comprising memory operatively coupled to a processing system, wherein the processing system is configured to:

send an image query message to a second electronic device in the fabric network or to a local or remote server;

receive an image query response from the second electronic device or the local or remote server, wherein the image query response indicates whether the software update is available and includes download information having location information to enable the first electronic device to download the software update, the image query response including an update priority, and the image query response including an update option comprising an update priority field that indicates the update priority and an update condition field comprising three bits to determine conditional factors of when or if to update the software; and

download the software update using the location information, wherein the software is downloaded at a time based at least in part on the update priority in the fabric network.

13. The first electronic device of claim 12, wherein the image query response comprises sender information regarding software stored on a sender device and transfer capabilities of the sender device.

14. The first electronic device of claim 12, wherein the software update is downloaded from a sender device.

15. The first electronic device of claim 12, wherein the software is downloaded at a time based at least in part on network traffic in the fabric network.

16. The first electronic device of claim 12, wherein the update priority field indicates either a normal update during low network traffic or a critical update as quickly as possible.

17. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium configured to store instructions thereon for transferring a software update over a fabric network, the instructions comprising instructions to:

send an image query message from a first device in the fabric network to a second device in the fabric network or to a local or remote server, the image query message including a version specification field comprising a version string field of variable length that indicates a software version attribute of the software update, and a version length field indicating a length of the version string field;

receive at the first device an image query response from the second device or the local or remote server, the image query response indicating whether the software update is available and including download information having location information to enable the first device to download the software update, and the image query response comprises an update priority; and

download the software update at the first device using the location information, the software being downloaded at a time based at least in part on the update priority in the fabric network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the image query response comprises information regarding the software stored on the first device and transfer characteristics of the first device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the image query response comprises an update option when the query status indicates that the software is available.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the location information comprises:

a uniform resource identifier (URI) string field indicating a URI to enable the first device to download the software update; and

a URI length field indicating a length of the URI string in UTF-8 characters.