Leveraging a regulated network to enable device connectivity in a restricted zone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10462146-B2
Application number	US-201715477280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2017
Priority date	Apr 3, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A component of an environment having available bandwidth for performing a task is located. Authorization to connect a device associated with the task to the component is granted. In response to determining that a set of one or more conditions are met, the device is connected to the component. The connection provides network connectivity to the device via the component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
locating a component of an environment having available bandwidth for performing a task;
granting authorization to connect a device associated with the task to the component, wherein granting authorization to connect the device to the component comprises:
authorizing the device to connect to the component by determining that the device is an approved device;
authorizing a user associated with the device by determining that the user has access rights in the environment;
authorizing the component by determining that the component can support the connection to the device;
determining that the component is available for connection to the device; and
determining that the user is within a given distance of the component to permit connection to the component;

in response to determining that a set of one or more conditions are met, connecting the device to the component, wherein the connection provides network connectivity to the device via the component; and
dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation of the component during the performance of the task based on one or more of bandwidth usage and bandwidth availability of the component;
wherein locating the component further comprises:
determining current bandwidth usage;
determining predicted bandwidth usage based on historical data; and
determining the available bandwidth based on the current bandwidth usage and the predicted bandwidth usage; and

wherein the steps of the method are implemented via at least one processor operatively coupled to a memory.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a bandwidth requirement for performing the task based at least in part on one or more of a complexity of the task and a profile corresponding to a user associated with the device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein authorizing the device comprises determining that the device is comprised in a whitelist.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein authorizing the user comprises employing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein authorizing the component comprises monitoring one or more factors associated with the component, the one or more factors comprising one or more of availability, performance and criticality, and wherein the determination that the component can support connectivity to the device is based on the one or more factors.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the user is within the given distance of the component comprises employing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of one or more conditions comprise a criticality of the component in one or more circumstances.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the one or more circumstances comprise temporal circumstances.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of one or more conditions are learned using machine learning.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein connecting the device to the component further comprises:
configuring the component for network sharing by issuing one or more commands;
activating access point functionality; and
allowing the component to connect to the user device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection comprises at least one of a Bluetooth connection and a visible light connection (VLC).

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a dynamic evaluation to determine whether or not to disconnect the device from the component.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device comprises one of a mobile device and a head-mounted display device.

14. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having encoded therein executable code of one or more software programs, wherein the one or more software programs when executed by the one or more processors implement the steps of:
locating a component of an environment having available bandwidth for performing a task;
granting authorization to connect a device associated with the task to the component, wherein granting authorization to connect the device to the component comprises:
authorizing the device to connect to the component by determining that the device is an approved device;
authorizing a user associated with the device by determining that the user has access rights in the environment;
authorizing the component by determining that the component can support the connection to the device;
determining that the component is available for connection to the device; and
determining that the user is within a given distance of the component to permit connection to the component;

in response to determining that a set of one or more conditions are met, connecting the device to the component, wherein the connection provides network connectivity to the device via the component; and
dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation of the component during the performance of the task based on one or more of bandwidth usage and bandwidth availability of the component;
wherein locating the component further comprises:
determining current bandwidth usage;
determining predicted bandwidth usage based on historical data; and

determining the available bandwidth based on the current bandwidth usage and the predicted bandwidth usage.

15. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor operatively coupled to a memory and configured to:
locate a component of an environment having available bandwidth for performing a task;
grant authorization to connect a device associated with the task to the component, wherein granting authorization to connect the device to the component comprises:
authorizing the device to connect to the component by determining that the device is an approved device;
authorizing a user associated with the device by determining that the user has access rights in the environment;
authorizing the component by determining that the component can support the connection to the device;
determining that the component is available for connection to the device; and
determining that the user is within a given distance of the component to permit connection to the component;

in response to a determination that a set of one or more conditions are met, connect the device to the component, wherein the connection provides network connectivity to the device via the component; and
dynamically adjust bandwidth allocation of the component during the performance of the task based on one or more of bandwidth usage and bandwidth availability of the component;
wherein locating the component further comprises:
determining current bandwidth usage;
determining predicted bandwidth usage based on historical data; and
determining the available bandwidth based on the current bandwidth usage and the predicted bandwidth usage.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising to calculate a bandwidth requirement for performing the task based at least in part on one or more of a complexity of the task and a profile corresponding to a user associated with the device.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein authorizing the component comprises monitoring one or more factors associated with the component, the one or more factors comprising one or more of availability, performance and criticality, and wherein the determination that the component can support connectivity to the device is based on the one or more factors.

18. A system comprising:
one or more components of an environment;
a device; and
at least one processing device comprising a processor oper

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Arora Rohan R
• Eggenberger Christian
• Guven Sinem
• Rathgeber Jens

Classifications

• H04L63/0492

  by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · 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

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L63/101 Primary

  Access control lists [ACL] · CPC title