Device pairing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10257686-B2
Application number	US-201615182482-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2016
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems for joining a wireless connection advertisement include connecting to a commissioning device via a wireless point-to-point communication in response to receiving an advertisement broadcast to establish an advertisement-based connection. The commissioning device is configured to manage access to a fabric. The methods and systems also include receiving network credentials from the commissioning device via the wireless point-to-point communication, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network. Furthermore, the method and systems include connecting to the wireless network using the received network credentials.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
connect to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to a fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;
receive network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network;
connect to the wireless network via another device using the received network credentials;
initiate a connectivity test for the wireless network via the other device;
when the connectivity test is successful:
close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;
reconnect to the commissioning device via the wireless network; and
receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network.

2. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
connect to an assisting device via the wireless network, wherein the assisting device resides on the fabric network and is configured to assist in joining the fabric network;
receive, from the assisting device via the wireless network, fabric credentials to be used in joining the fabric network; and
attempt to join the fabric network using the fabric credentials.

3. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;
receive, from the assisting device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network; and
attempt to join the additional wireless network.

4. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the connectivity test for the wireless network comprises:
a domain name system (DNS) lookup; or
an establishment of a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to a test server via a gateway for the wireless network or to the commissioning device via an access point for the wireless network.

5. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 4 , wherein if the initiated connectivity test is unsuccessful, by failing to successfully complete the DNS lookup, or failing to establish the TCP connection to the test server or the commissioning device, the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
request new credentials for the wireless network from the commissioning device.

6. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for the fabric network, wherein the commissioning device has retrieved the credentials for the fabric network from an assisting device residing on the fabric network.

7. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 6 , wherein the connectivity test for the wireless network comprises:
a domain name system (DNS) lookup; or
an establishment of a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to a test server via a gateway for the wireless network or to the commissioning device via an access point for the wireless network.

8. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the wireless network comprises an 802.11 connection type or an 802.15.4 connection type.

9. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein if the initiated connectivity test is unsuccessful, the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
request new credentials for the wireless network from the commissioning device.

10. An electronic device comprising:
one or more processors;
memory storing instructions, the instructions being configured to cause the one or processors to:
connect to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection, in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to a fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;
receive network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connection to a wireless network;
connect to the wireless network via another device using the received network credentials;
initiate a connectivity test for the wireless network via the other device;
when the connectivity test is successful:
close the BLE connection to the commissioning device;
reconnect to the commissioning device via the wireless network; and
receive, from the commissioning device via the wireless network, credentials for an additional wireless network.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from the commissioning device, fabric service configuration information, wherein the fabric service configuration information contains information with which devices in the fabric network connect to a remote service; and
connect to the remote service using the fabric service configuration information after connecting to the fabric network.

12. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
authenticate identity of the electronic device by sending a device identifier for the electronic device to the commissioning device with which the electronic device verifies identity upon connection to the commissioning device; and
establish a secure communication session with the commissioning device using the device identifier, the secure communication session being established through a secure tunnel and via an assisting device.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the establishment of the secure communication session with the commissioning device comprises authenticating the identity of the electronic device using a pairing code corresponding to the device identifier for the electronic device and negotiating session keys using the pairing code.

14. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive a network name for the wireless network, via the BLE connection;
receive a fabric name for the fabric network; and
receive fabric credentials usable to join the fabric network.

15. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein:
the wireless network comprises an 802.11 connection type or an 802.15.4 connection type.

16. A method for securely joining an electronic device to a fabric, the method comprising:
connecting, by the electronic device, to a commissioning device via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection, in response to receiving a broadcasted advertisement to establish an advertisement-based connection, the commissioning device being configured to manage access to the fabric network that includes multiple, logical networks;
receiving network credentials from the commissioning device via the BLE connection, the network credentials being configured to facilitate connecting to a wireless network;
connecting to the wireless n

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Logue Jay D
• Wang Liang-Yun
• Stebbins Andrew William

Classifications

• H04L2012/2841

  Wireless · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• G08B29/188

  Data fusion; cooperative systems, e.g. voting among different detectors · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title