Centralized configurator server for DPP provisioning of enrollees in a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11546755-B2
Application number	US-201916240148-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2019
Priority date	Jan 4, 2019
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for implementing a centralized configurator server/service in the cloud that can take the place of conventional mobile devices used for provisioning IoT devices or WiFi clients in a network. In order to provision the IoT devices or WiFi clients, a mobile device or access point (AP) may be used to relay Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP) messages and/or information between the centralized configurator server/service and the IoT devices or WiFi clients.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
obtaining, at a centralized configurator, Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP) bootstrapping information associated with at least one enrollee to be provisioned; and
subsequently engaging in DPP provisioning between the centralized configurator and the at least one enrollee via a DPP provisioning channel established between the at least one enrollee and the centralized configurator through a proxy device allowing the at least one enrollee to discover a network in which the at least one enrollee is to be provisioned using the DPP bootstrapping information, the at least one enrollee discovering the network via an access point (AP) that was also previously provisioned by the centralized configurator.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the DPP bootstrapping information comprises receiving the DPP bootstrapping information from the proxy device via wireless communications.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy device comprises a mobile device adapted to obtain the DPP bootstrapping information via at least one of short-range wireless communications between the proxy device and the enrollee, and scanning, by the proxy device, of a Quick Response (QR) code associated with the at least one enrollee, and wherein the centralized configurator comprises one of a server, a micro service, or an application running on the server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein engaging in DPP provisioning comprises performing DPP authentication and DPP configuration of the at least one enrollee.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the performance of DPP authentication comprises performing mutual authentication between the centralized configurator server and the at least one enrollee.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the performance of DPP configuration comprises provisioning the at least one enrollee with configuration information needed by the at least one enrollee to establish secure communications with at least one other network device.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the performance of DPP authentication and DPP configuration of the at least one enrollee occurs over the DPP provisioning channel established between the at least one enrollee and the centralized configurator server.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the proxy device relays DPP frames representative of at least one of DPP authentication and DPP configuration messages and related information between the at least one enrollee and the centralized configurator server.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy device comprises the AP operating in the network.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the AP detects the at least one enrollee by at least one of WiFi scanning of the network, and receiving a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) advertisement from the at least one enrollee.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising automatically triggering an exchange of DPP frames representative of DPP authentication and DPP configuration messages and related information between the at least one enrollee and the centralized configurator server through the AP.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising selecting the AP from a plurality of APs to serve as the proxy device based on one or more operating characteristics of the AP.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting one or more DPP configuration objects to the at least one enrollee enabling the at least one enrollee to discover the network.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN).

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one enrollee comprises at least one of an Internet of Things (IoT) device and a WiFi client.

16. A centralized configurator server, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to:
receive bootstrapping information reported by at least one access point (AP) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) prior to engaging in Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP) authentication and DPP configuration processes with the at least one AP;
engage in the DPP authentication and DPP configuration processes with the at least one AP, wherein the at least one AP comprises an enrollee of the WLAN;
provision one or more DPP configuration objects to the at least one AP allowing the at least one AP to beacon information identifying the WLAN to other enrollees of the WLAN; and
provision one or more enrollees of the other enrollees of the WLAN over a dedicated DPP provisioning channel established between the centralized configurator and the one or more enrollees through one of the at least one AP and a mobile device being used as a proxy device for relaying DPP frames representative of at least one of messages and information associated with the DPP authentication and DPP configuration processes between the centralized configurator server and the one or more enrollees.

17. The centralized configurator server of claim 16 , wherein the other enrollees of the WLAN comprise at least one of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and WiFi clients.

18. The centralized configurator server of claim 16 , wherein the information identifying the WLAN to the other enrollees of the WLAN comprises a service set identifier (SSID) of the WLAN.

19. The centralized configurator server of claim 16 , wherein the DPP frames are encapsulated in messaging formatted in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 protocol.

20. The centralized configurator server of claim 16 , wherein the DPP frames are transmitted between the centralized configurator server and the one or more enrollees over the dedicated DPP provisioning channel by way of the proxy device.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Jiang Yafeng
• Wang Chunfeng
• Jin Jiabao
• Qin Guangning

Classifications

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/28

  Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration · CPC title

• H04W12/041 Primary

  Key generation or derivation · CPC title

• H04L9/0822

  using key encryption key · CPC title

• H04W12/50

  Secure pairing of devices · CPC title