APPARATUS FOR ASSOCIATING A CLIENT DEVICE OR SERVICE WTIH A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20110265154A1
• Filed: 04/21/2011
• Published: 10/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: KIM, Insung, BAINER, Chris, BRAUNSTEIN, Ariel, DATTAGUPTA, Siddhartha, FURLAN, John, KAPLAN, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,627,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• 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: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A network association apparatus includes identification information and an authorization credential associated with a specific client device or service to be connected to a wireless network. The apparatus is configured to automatically provide the identification information and the authorization credential to a host device of a wireless network in a secure fashion when brought into close proximity to or physically connected with the host of the wireless network. The apparatus may comprise an RFID tag.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory including,

identification information for connecting a client device or service to a wireless network, and

an authorization credential associated with the client device or service; and

a controller coupled to the memory and configured to automatically provide the identification information and the authorization credential to a host device of the wireless network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification information and the authorization credential are globally unique to the client device or service on the wireless network.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the identification information includes the media access control (MAC) address of the client device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a visual identifier disposed on an outer surface of the apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the visual identifier comprises at least one of a logo of a company associated with the client device or service, an icon that represents the client device or service, a serial number associated with the client device or service, or a bar code that uniquely identifies the client device or service.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus enables the host device to automatically integrate the client device or service into the wireless network.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further includes a write-protected region and the identification information and the authorization credential are disposed in the write-protected region.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further includes a writable region configured to store information from the host device of the wireless network.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a near-field radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a universal serial bus (USB) drive manufactured with write-protected encrypted bits, an optical disk with manufactured keys, or a secure digital (SD) memory card with digital rights management (DRM) features.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a near-field RFID tag and is configured to automatically provide the identification information and the authorization credential to the host device of the wireless network only when in close proximity to the host device of the wireless network.

11. A system, comprising:

a network association apparatus that includes,

a memory that includes identification information for connecting a client device or service to a wireless network and the authorization credential associated with the client device or service, and

a controller coupled to the memory and configured to provide the identification information and the authorization credential to a host device of the wireless network; and

the host device of the wireless network configured to automatically obtain the identification information and the authorization credential from the network association apparatus.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the network association apparatus is configured to automatically provide the identification information and the authorization credential to the host device only when in close proximity to or physically connected to the host device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the network association apparatus comprises a near-field RFID tag and is configured to automatically provide the identification information and the authorization credential to a host device of the wireless network only when presented to the host device of the wireless network in a prescribed orientation with respect to the host device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the host device is configured to automatically associate the client device or service with the wireless network using the identification information and the authorization credential.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the host device is configured to automatically disassociate the client device or service with the wireless network when the apparatus is detected to be no longer in close proximity to or physically connected to the host device.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the identification information and the authorization credential are globally unique to the client device or service on the wireless network.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the identification information includes the media access control (MAC) address of the client device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the network association apparatus is configured to be mounted on the host device.

19. A method, comprising:

detecting an apparatus associated with a client device or service;

automatically obtaining from the apparatus identification information and an authorization credential associated with the client device or service;

receiving a registration request from the client device or service; and

associating the client device or service with a wireless network based on the identification information and an authorization credential.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting that the apparatus is no longer present; and

in response to the detecting, automatically terminating the association of the client device or service to the wireless network.