Establishing a secure wireless network with minimum human intervention

• US 10,097,423 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• 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:
  US14/805,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20150326634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,176 Days
• Field of Search: 709220
• 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 includes receiving an input initiating an automatic configuration process to configure a playback network setting of a computing device; responsive to the input, activating by the computing device, a listen mode; while in the listen mode, receiving a first message that indicates a playback device is available; subsequently, receiving a second message indicating network information associated with the playback device; determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure playback network; based on the determination, generating network parameters for a playback network, the network parameters comprising one or more of a household identification and a network security parameter; transmitting to the playback device, a third message to cause the playback device to join the playback network based on the network parameters; and configuring the network setting of the computing device based on the household identification and the network security parameter.

Claims

1. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by a processor, cause a computing device to perform functions comprising:

receiving an input at the computing device, the input initiating an automatic configuration process to configure a playback network setting of the computing device;

responsive to the input, activating by the computing device, a listen mode;

while in the listen mode, receiving by the computing device from a playback device, a first message that indicates the playback device is available;

in response to receiving the first message, transmitting to the playback device, a request for network information of the playback device and subsequently, receiving from the playback device, a second message indicating network information associated with the playback device;

determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure playback network, wherein determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure network comprises determining that the second message indicates empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter;

based on the determination, generating network parameters for a specific playback network, the network parameters comprising one or more of a specific household identification and a specific network security parameter;

transmitting to the playback device, a third message to cause the playback device to join the playback network based on the network parameters; and

configuring the playback network setting of the computing device based on the specific household identification and the specific network security parameter.

2. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the network parameters further comprise one or more of a network identification of the playback device and a wireless communication channel for the playback network.

3. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the playback network is a first network, and wherein receiving the first message comprises receiving the first message over a second network different from the first network.

4. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first message indicates that the playback device received a manual user input at the playback device to initiate the automatic configuration process.

5. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein activating the listen mode comprises activating the listen mode for a predetermined duration of time.

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

subsequent to transmitting the third message, receiving a fourth message indicating that the playback device has applied the network parameters to join the playback network; and

transmitting to the playback device over the playback network, a command to perform a media playback function.

7. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first message further indicates a manual user input at the playback device.

8. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises the empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter.

9. A method comprising:

receiving an input at a computing device, the input initiating an automatic configuration process to configure a playback network setting of the computing device;

responsive to the input, activating by the computing device, a listen mode;

while in the listen mode, receiving by the computing device from a playback device, a first message that indicates the playback device is available;

in response to receiving the first message, transmitting to the playback device, a request for network information of the playback device and subsequently, receiving from the playback device, a second message indicating network information associated with the playback device;

determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure playback network, wherein determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure network comprises determining that the second message indicates empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter;

based on the determination, generating network parameters for a playback network, the network parameters comprising one or more of a specific household identification and a specific network security parameter;

transmitting to the playback device, a third message to cause the playback device to join the playback network based on the network parameters; and

configuring the playback network setting of the computing device based on the specific household identification and the specific network security parameter.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network parameters further comprise one or more of a network identification of the playback device and a wireless communication channel for the playback network.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the playback network is a first network, and wherein receiving the first message comprises receiving the first message over a second network different from the first network.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first message indicates that the playback device received a manual user input at the playback device to initiate the automatic configuration process.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein activating the listen mode comprises activating the listen mode for a predetermined duration of time.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

subsequent to transmitting the third message, receiving a fourth message indicating that the playback device has applied the network parameters to join the playback network; and

transmitting to the playback device over the playback network, a command to perform a media playback function.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first message further indicates a manual user input at the playback device.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the second message comprises the empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter.

17. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

tangible, non-transitory computer-readable memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to cause the computing device to perform functions comprising;

receiving an input at the computing device, the input initiating an automatic configuration process to configure a playback network setting of the computing device;

responsive to the input, activating a listen mode;

while in the listen mode, receiving from a playback device, a first message that indicates the playback device is available;

in response to receiving the first message, transmitting to the playback device, a request for network information of the playback device and subsequently, receiving from the playback device, a second message indicating network information associated with the playback device;

determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure playback network, wherein determining, based on the second message, that the playback device is not configured for a secure network comprises determining that the second message indicates empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter;

based on the determination, generating network parameters for a playback network, the network parameters comprising one or more of a specific household identification and a specific network security parameter;

transmitting to the playback device, a third message to cause the playback device to join the playback network based on the network parameters; and

configuring the playback network setting of the computing device based on the specific household identification and the specific network security parameter.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the network parameters further comprise one or more of a network identification of the playback device and a wireless communication channel for the playback network.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the first message indicates that the playback device received a manual user input at the playback device to initiate the automatic configuration process.

20. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the functions further comprise:

subsequent to transmitting the third message, receiving a fourth message indicating that the playback device has applied the network parameters to join the playback network; and

transmitting to the playback device over the playback network, a command to perform a media playback function.

21. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the first message further indicates a manual user input at the playback device.

22. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the second message comprises the empty fields corresponding to a household identification and a network security parameter.