WIRELESS PROVISIONING A DEVICE FOR A NETWORK USING A SOFT ACCESS POINT

• US 20100165879A1
• Filed: 12/31/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Roberts, David A., Gupta, Yatharth
• Granted Patent: US 8,625,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• 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 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/50 Secure pairing of devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A computing device for provisioning a wireless device for connection to a wireless network via a legacy access point. The wireless device supports a wireless protected setup protocol for obtaining the network profile of the network. A user requests the computing device discover wireless devices for provisioning. In response to the user input, the computing device is configured as a soft access point and broadcasts a beacon signal indicating that the access point supports a wireless protected setup protocol, such as Wi-Fi Protected Setup. A request for provisioning is then received by the computing device from the wireless device. A network profile is transmitted from the computing device to the wireless device in accordance with the wireless protected setup protocol. The wireless device may use the profile to connect to the network via the legacy access point using the network profile.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on a computing device configured to connect to a network via a first access point, perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a request to connect from a wireless device; and

transmitting a network profile to the wireless device according to the wireless protected setup protocol, the network profile being for connection to the network through the first access point.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

broadcasting a signal from the computing device configured as a second access point, the signal including an indication that the second access point supports a wireless protected setup protocol

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the signal is a beacon signal.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the wireless protected setup protocol encrypts at least a portion of the network profile for transmission to the wireless device.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the wireless protected setup protocol is in compliance with the Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein transmitting the network profile comprises transmitting an encrypted representation of the network profile using an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) compliant protocol.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the transmitted network profile comprises the name of the network, an encryption type, and an authentication type.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a type of the wireless device.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving the network profile from a profile store of the computing device.

10. A computing device for configuring a wireless device for connection to a network, the computing device comprising:

a processor;

a wireless interface device to transmit and receive information wirelessly; and

a computer-readable storage medium comprising modules executable by the processor, the modules comprising;

a soft access point module configured to control the wireless interface device to transmit a beacon signal, the beacon signal including an indication that the computing device is an access point supporting a wireless protected setup protocol;

a user experience module configured to enable execution of the soft access point module in response to user input, and indicate and verify a wireless device that has responded to the beacon signal; and

a provisioning module configured to retrieve a network profile for transmission by the wireless interface device to the wireless device, the network profile comprising information for connecting to the network through a hard access point.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the wireless protected setup protocol composes encryption for at least a portion of the network profile for transmission to the wireless device.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the network profile is transmitted is in compliance with the Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard.

13. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the provisioning module retrieves the network profile from a profile store on the computing device.

14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the network profile comprises a network name, an encryption type, and an authentication type.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the network profile further comprises an encryption key.

16. A method for provisioning a wireless device for connection to a network via a first access point, the method comprising:

enabling a computing device to act as a second access point;

broadcasting a signal from the second access point, the signal including an indication that the second access points supports a wireless protected setup protocol;

receiving a request for provisioning from the wireless device; and

transmitting a network profile to the wireless device, the network profile for connecting to the network through the first access point.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the broadcast signal indicates the wireless protected setup protocol is in compliance with Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein broadcasting the signal is done in response to a user input at the computing device, the user input requesting discovery of the wireless device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

verifying the identity of the wireless device by an identification code.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

deactivating he second access point after transmitting the network profile to the wireless device.