Pairing devices by proxy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10993274-B2
Application number	US-201916287999-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2019
Priority date	Mar 30, 2018
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

In some implementations a system can be configured to reduce the burden of pairing user devices with playback devices. For example, all users (or user devices) who commonly operate within a particular environment (e.g., a home) can be configured as authorized users of playback devices within the particular environment. When one of the authorized users pairs a user device with a playback device, all of the user devices for all authorized users can be automatically paired with the playback device as a result of the single pairing. Thus, only a single authorized user is burdened with the pairing process in order to pair all authorized users with the playback device.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
storing, by a first computing device, device identifiers corresponding to authorized computing devices that have been authorized to access playback devices within an environment, wherein the device identifiers corresponding to the authorized computing devices are stored to an authorized user database associated with a user of the first computing device;
causing, by the first computing device, pairing of the first computing device with a first playback device within the environment;
after the first computing device is paired with the first playback device, causing, by the first computing device, the first playback device to generate pairing tokens for each of the authorized computing devices;
receiving, by the first computing device from the first playback device, the pairing tokens generated by the first playback device for each of the authorized computing devices; and
sending, by the first computing device to a second computing device, a particular pairing token generated for the second computing device by the first playback device, wherein the second computing device uses the particular pairing token to access services provided by the first playback device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second computing device uses the particular pairing token to access services provided by the first playback device without user input.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by the first computing device, the device identifiers to the first playback device;
receiving, by the first computing device, an association of the pairing tokens to respective device identifiers; and
storing, by the first computing device, the association of the pairing tokens to respective device on the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first computing device, user input to pair the first computing device with the first playback device; and
automatically sending, by the first computing device, the device identifiers corresponding to the authorized computing devices to the first playback device, wherein the first playback device generates unique pairing tokens for each of the device identifiers.

5. A method comprising:
receiving, by a playback device, a request to pair a first computing device with the playback device;
causing, by the playback device, the first computing device to be paired with the playback device;
after pairing the first computing device with the playback device, receiving, by the playback device from the first computing device, a plurality of device identifiers;
generating, by the playback device, a plurality of unique pairing tokens, each of the plurality of unique pairing tokens associated with a respective one of the plurality of device identifiers;
storing, by the playback device, a mapping of the plurality of unique pairing tokens to respective device identifiers in an authorized user database associated with a user of the first computing device, wherein the plurality of device identifiers correspond to authorized computing devices for the first computing device; and
sending, by the playback device to the first computing device, the mapping of the plurality of unique pairing tokens to respective device identifiers.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, by the playback device from a second computing device, a request to access services provided by the playback device, the request including a particular device identifier corresponding to the second computing device and a first pairing token;
obtaining, by the playback device, from the stored mapping a second pairing token associated with the particular device identifier;
determining, by the playback device that the second pairing token is identical to the first pairing token; and
based on the determination, allowing the second computing device to access services provided by the playback device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first pairing token was sent from the playback device to the first computing device and was not sent from the playback device to the second computing device.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, by the playback device from a second computing device, a request to access services provided by the playback device, the request including a particular device identifier corresponding to the second computing device and a first pairing token;
obtaining, by the playback device, from the stored mapping a second pairing token associated with the particular device identifier;
determining, by the playback device that the second pairing token is different than the first pairing token; and
based on the determination, preventing the second computing device from accessing services provided by the playback device.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, by the playback device from a second computing device, a request to access services provided by the playback device, the request including a particular device identifier corresponding to the second computing device and a first pairing token;
determining, by the playback device, that the particular device identifier is absent from the stored mapping; and
based on the determination, preventing the second computing device from accessing services provided by the playback device.

10. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
storing, by a first computing device, device identifiers corresponding to authorized computing devices that have been authorized to access playback devices within an environment, wherein the device identifiers corresponding to the authorized computing devices are stored to an authorized user database associated with a user of the first computing device;
causing, by the first computing device, pairing of the first computing device with a first playback device within the environment;
after the first computing device is paired with the first playback device, causing, by the first computing device, the first playback device to generate pairing tokens for each of the authorized computing devices;
receiving, by the first computing device from the first playback device, the pairing tokens generated by the first playback device for each of the authorized computing devices; and
sending, by the first computing device to a second computing device, a particular pairing token generated for the second computing device by the first playback device, wherein the second computing device uses the particular pairing token to access services provided by the first playback device.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second computing device uses the particular pairing token to access services provided by the first playback device without user input.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
sending, by the first computing device, the device identifiers to the first playback device;
receiving, by the first computing device, an association of the pairing tokens to respective device identifiers; and
storing, by the first computing device, the association of the pairing tokens to respective device on the first computing device.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving, by the first computing device, user input to pair the first computing device with the first playback device; and
automatically sending, by the fi

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Iyer Deepak
• Alsina Thomas
• Schmidt Edward T
• Leyfman Elena
• Saracino David P
• Yi Astrid
• Sonnanstine Adam A
• Bennett Jonathan A
• Chapman Gregory R
• Akella Aparna S
• Sreesha Shreyas Nandagudi

Classifications

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · 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

• H04W12/50

  Secure pairing of devices · CPC title

• H04W76/11

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title