Location based sharing of a network access credential

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11212320-B2
Application number	US-202016803344-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2020
Priority date	Nov 8, 2011
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A network access credential can be shared among devices based on location information for a device. Location information can include timed fingerprint location information. In an aspect, location information can be associated with a location of user equipment. This location information can be correlated with network access credentials. Location information can be used to access a relevant network access credential. The relevant network access credential can be shared with other devices. In an embodiment, sharing a network access credential can be between mobile devices. In another embodiment, sharing a network access credential can be between a remote computing device and a mobile device. Sharing a credential can allow for access to a network without having to generate or input new credentials.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
wirelessly sharing, by a first user equipment comprising a processor, via a short-range communications interface, a network access credential for a wireless local area network with a second user equipment, to allow the second user equipment to access a network device of the wireless local area network, wherein the wirelessly sharing comprises:
receiving, by the first user equipment, via the short-range communications interface, a network access credential request from the second user equipment,
selecting, by the first user equipment, the network access credential based on a location of the second user equipment;
determining, by the first user equipment, permission of the second user equipment to access the wireless local area network, based at least in part on a user identity associated with the second user equipment, and
communicating, by the first user equipment, via the short-range communications interface, the network access credential to the second user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the permission comprises determining whether the second user equipment is a member of a group of devices indicated have permission to access the network device of the wireless local area network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the permission comprises determining whether the second user equipment is a member of a group of devices indicated to be prohibited to access the network device of the wireless local area network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the permission comprises accessing historical network access information related to previous access to the network device of the wireless local area network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the permission comprises identifying the second user equipment as a device associated with the user identity.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user equipment comprises a cellular telephone.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the short-range communications interface communicates according to a Bluetooth wireless protocol.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the short-range communications interface communicates according to a Wi-Fi protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network access credential comprises a Wi-Fi key.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network access credential comprises a wired equivalent privacy key, a Wi-Fi protected access key, or a Wi-Fi protected access II key.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network access credential comprises a service set identifier and a Wi-Fi protected access II key that are able to be used by the second user equipment to identify and access the network device of the wireless local area network.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wirelessly sharing further comprises determining that the second user equipment is within a defined effective range to share the network access credential over a Bluetooth link.

13. A first user equipment, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
determining whether a second user equipment has a permission to access a wireless access point device in a region associated with the first user equipment, based at least in part on a user identity associated with the second user equipment; and
in response to the determining indicating that the second user equipment has the permission to access the wireless access point device, selecting a network access credential based on a location of the second user equipment and facilitating wirelessly sharing, via a short-range communications interface, the network access credential with the second user equipment.

14. The first user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the second user equipment has the permission comprises determining whether the second user equipment is in a predetermined list of devices indicated have the permission to access the wireless access point device.

15. The first user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the second user equipment has the permission comprises determining whether the user identity is associated with the second user equipment as an owner of the second user equipment.

16. The first user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the determining whether the second user equipment has the permission to access the wireless access point device comprises accessing historical network access information.

17. The first user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the first user equipment comprises a cellular telephone.

18. The first user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the short-range communications interface implements a wireless protocol from a group of wireless protocols, the group of wireless protocols comprising a Bluetooth protocol and a Wi-Fi protocol.

19. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first user equipment, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
receiving, via a short-range communications interface from a second user equipment, request data representative of a network access credential request applicable to network devices of a wireless local area network, to enable the second user equipment to access a network device of the network devices of the wireless local area network;
selecting a network access credential based on a location of the second user equipment;
determining that the second user equipment is permitted to access the network device, based at least in part on a user identity determined to be associated with the second user equipment, and communicating, by the first user equipment, via the short-range communications interface, the network access credential to the second user equipment; and
in response to the determining, sending the network access credential to the second user equipment via the short-range communications interface.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the network access credential comprises a Wi-Fi key to enable the second user equipment to access the network device.

Assignees

• At & T Mobility Ii Llc
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Tipton Rick
• Austin Mark
• Kosseifi Mario
• Tofighbakhsh Mostafa

Classifications

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• H04W12/04 Primary

  Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA] · CPC title

• H04W12/61

  Time-dependent · CPC title

• H04W12/43

  using shared identity modules, e.g. SIM sharing · CPC title

• H04W24/00

  Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements · CPC title