Methods and apparatus to recognize metered devices connected to proprietary WiFi extenders

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12089059-B2
Application number	US-202218148190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2022
Priority date	Feb 18, 2021
Publication date	Sep 10, 2024
Grant date	Sep 10, 2024

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to recognize metered devices connected to proprietary WiFi extenders are disclosed herein. In some examples, a first device comprising at least one memory including a table, and at least one processor to broadcast a first message to a network extender, the first message including a first address associated with a second device and a message identifier, identify, in response to obtaining a second message including the message identifier, a second address embedded on a data link layer of the second message, and store the second address in the table in association with the second device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A first device comprising:
at least one memory; and
at least one processor to:
broadcast a first message to a network extender, the first message including a first address associated with a second device and a message identifier;
identify, in response to obtaining a second message including the message identifier, a second address embedded in the second message; and
store the second address, in the at least one memory, in association with the second device.

2. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first address is a first media access control (MAC) address and the second address is a second MAC address and the network extender modifies the first MAC address to create the second MAC address.

3. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first message is to be received by the network extender, the first message including the first address, the first address indicating to the network extender the first message is from the second device.

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first message and the second message are discovery messages.

5. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the second device is associated with a status, the status indicating whether data from the second device is credited.

6. The first device of claim 1 , the at least one memory further including:
a timeout, the timeout being a predetermined time; and
a table including:
a set of extender MAC addresses corresponding to a set of network extenders;
credentials associated with a first extender MAC address of the set of extender MAC addresses, the first extender MAC address associated with a first network extender of the set of network extenders;
a set of MAC addresses associated with a set of devices; and
a set of statuses associated with the set of MAC addresses.

7. The first device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is to perform at least one connection to a subset of network extenders of the set of network extenders utilizing a subset of MAC addresses of the set of MAC addresses, in response to an event indicating at least one of an input message, the timeout being elapsed, or an update of the table.

8. The first device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is to connect to the first network extender based on the first extender MAC address and the credentials.

9. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is to obtain:
the second message from a router; and
data including a third address corresponding to at least one of the second address or the first address, the data credited to the second device.

10. An apparatus comprising:
at least one memory;
an output handler to broadcast a first message to a network extender, the first message including a first address associated with a second device and a message identifier;
an input handler to identify, in response to obtaining a second message including the message identifier, a second address embedded in the second message; and
a table controller to store the second address in the at least one memory in association with the second device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first address is a first media access control (MAC) address and the second address is a second MAC address and the network extender modifies the first MAC address to create the second MAC address.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first message is to be received by the network extender, the first message including the first address, the first address indicating to the network extender the first message is from the second device.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first message and the second message are discovery messages.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second device is associated with a status, the status indicating whether data from the second device is credited.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , the at least one memory further including:
a timeout, the timeout being a predetermined time; and
a table including:
a set of extender MAC addresses corresponding to a set of network extenders;
credentials associated with a first extender MAC address of the set of extender MAC addresses, the first extender MAC address associated with a first network extender of the set of network extenders;
a set of first MAC addresses associated with a set of devices, the set of first MAC addresses including the first MAC address; and
a set of statuses associated with the set of first MAC addresses.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the output handler is to perform at least one connection to a subset of network extenders of the set of network extenders utilizing a subset of first MAC addresses of the set of first MAC addresses, in response to receiving instructions from at least one of a communications interface, a clock engine, or the table controller.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the communications interface is to send the instructions in response to an input message, the clock engine is to send the instructions in response to the timeout being elapsed, and the table controller is to send the instructions in response to completing updates on the table.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the table controller is to store a set of second MAC addresses identified by the input handler to the table, the set of second MAC addresses associated with the subset of first MAC addresses connected to the subset of network extenders.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the output handler is to connect to the first network extender based on the first extender MAC address and the credentials.

20. A method comprising:
broadcasting a first message to a network extender, the first message including a first address associated with a second device and a message identifier;
identifying, in response to obtaining a second message including the message identifier, a second address embedded in the second message; and
storing the second address in association with the second device.

Assignees

• Nielsen Co Us Llc

Inventors

• Kljun Anton
• Kerkes Joseph
• Panger Marko
• Usaj Marko

Classifications

• H04W72/20

  Control channels or signalling for resource management · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04L61/5014

  using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP] · CPC title

• H04W8/005

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title