Establishing a secure wireless network with a minimum human intervention

• US 9,787,550 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2015
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• 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
• Application Number:
  US14/803,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20150326431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 813 Days
• 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

An example method disclosed herein includes receiving, at a controller device, a user input; based on the user input, displaying a prompt to direct a user to press one or more buttons on a playback device; subsequently, receiving from the playback device over a first network, network information associated with the playback device; determining, based on the received network information, that the playback device is not a part of a secure playback network; based on a determination that the network information is not a part of a secure playback network, generating network parameters for a secure second network; subsequently, (i) joining the secure second network based on the generated network parameters, and (ii) causing the playback device to join the secure second network based on the generated network parameters; and displaying an indication that the controller device and the playback device have joined the secure second network.

Claims

1. Tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that when executed cause a controller device to perform functions comprising:

receiving a command to configure a playback device;

based on the received command, causing a graphical display to display a prompt that indicates an instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device;

after displaying the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device, entering into a listening mode;

while in the listening mode, receiving from the playback device, an indication that the playback device is available, wherein the playback device transmits the indication to the controller device in response to a pressing of the one or more buttons of the playback device;

responsive to the indication, transmitting a query message to the playback device, the query message requesting current network configuration information corresponding to the playback device;

receiving from the playback device via a network interface, network configuration information corresponding to the playback device in response to the query message;

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is not configured to join a secure first network; and

based on determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network;

generating network parameters for a secure second network;

joining the secure second network based on the generated network parameters;

causing the playback device to join the secure second network based on the generated network parameters; and

causing the graphical display to display an indication that the controller device and the playback device have joined the secure second network.

2. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network comprises:

determining that the received network configuration information comprises an empty network security parameter field.

3. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein entering the listening mode comprises:

entering the listening mode for a predetermined duration of time.

4. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

sending to the playback device over the secure second network, one or more commands to cause the playback device to perform a media playback function.

5. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device is a first prompt, and wherein the functions further comprise:

causing the graphical display to display a second prompt that indicates a request for a display name corresponding to the playback device; and

transmitting to the playback device, data responsive to the request.

6. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

before causing the graphical display to display the indication that the controller device and the playback device have joined the secure second network, receiving from the playback device, a message confirming that the playback device has joined the secure second network.

7. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein receiving the message confirming that the playback device has joined the secure second network comprises:

receiving the message from the playback device via the secure second network.

8. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network; and

based on determining that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network, attempting to cause the playback device to join the secure first network.

9. A method comprising:

receiving, via a controller device, a command to configure a playback device;

based on the received command, causing, via the controller device, a graphical display to display a prompt that indicates an instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device;

after displaying the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device, entering into a listening mode;

while in the listening mode, receiving from the playback device, an indication that the playback device is available, wherein the playback device transmits the indication to the controller device in response to a pressing of the one or more buttons of the playback device;

responsive to the indication, transmitting a query message to the playback device, the query message requesting current network configuration information corresponding to the playback device;

receiving, via the controller device from the playback device via a network interface, network configuration information corresponding to the playback device in response to the query message;

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is not configured to join a secure first network; and

based on determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network;

generating, via the controller device, network parameters for a secure second network;

the controller device joining the secure second network based on the generated network parameters;

causing, via the controller device, the playback device to join the secure second network based on the generated network parameters; and

causing, via the controller device, the graphical display to display an indication that the controller device and the playback device have joined the secure second network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network comprises:

determining, via the controller device, that the received network configuration information comprises an empty network security parameter field.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the command to configure the playback device is a first command, and wherein the method further comprises:

sending, from the controller device to the playback device via the secure second network, one or more second commands to cause the playback device to perform a media playback function.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device is a first prompt, and wherein the method further comprises:

causing, via the controller device, the graphical display to display a second prompt that indicates a request for a display name corresponding to the playback device; and

transmitting, from the controller device to the playback device, data responsive to the request.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

before causing the graphical display to display the indication that the controller device and the playback device have joined the secure second network, receiving, via the controller device from the playback device, a message confirming that the playback device has joined the secure second network.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network; and

based on determining that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network, attempting to cause the playback device to join the secure first network.

15. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media having stored thereon instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

receiving a command to configure a playback device;

based on the received command, causing a graphical display to display a prompt that indicates an instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device;

after displaying the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device, entering into a listening mode;

while in the listening mode, receiving from the playback device, an indication that the playback device is available, wherein the playback device transmits the indication to the computing device in response to a pressing of the one or more buttons of the playback device;

responsive to the indication, transmitting a query message to the playback device, the query message requesting current network configuration information corresponding to the playback device;

receiving from the playback device via a first network interface, network configuration information corresponding to the playback device in response to the query message;

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is not configured to join a secure first network;

based on determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network;

generating network parameters for a secure second network;

joining the secure second network based on the generated network parameters;

causing the playback device to join the secure second network based on the generated network parameters; and

causing the graphical display to display an indication that the computing device and the playback device have joined the secure second network.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein determining that the playback device is not configured to join the secure first network comprises:

determining that the received network configuration information comprises an empty network security parameter field.

17. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the prompt that indicates the instruction to press one or more buttons of the playback device is a first prompt, and wherein the functions further comprise:

causing the graphical display to display a second prompt that indicates a request for a display name corresponding to the playback device; and

transmitting to the playback device, data responsive to the request.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

before causing the graphical display to display the indication that the computing device and the playback device have joined the secure second network, receiving from the playback device, a message confirming that the playback device has joined the secure second network.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the functions further comprise:

determining, based on the received network configuration information, that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network; and

based on determining that the playback device is configured to join the secure first network, attempting to cause the playback device to join the secure first network.