System and method for an extender device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021021998-A1
Application number	US-202017061996-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 2, 2020
Priority date	May 31, 2018
Publication date	Jan 21, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Many customers have difficulty setting up a new extender device in the customer premises environment to improve their multimedia service. Some embodiments include configuring an extender device based on existing WiFi network credentials to minimize errors. Some embodiments include an application for mobile devices that may enable the transfer of network credentials from existing multimedia devices on the WiFi network to configure a new extender device in real time. For example, the configuration may be based on a customer account, a corresponding environment, and corresponding multimedia devices associated with the customer account. The extender device may be configured with the network credentials (e.g., a WiFi service set identifier (SSID) and password) that is common to the corresponding multimedia devices associated with the customer account.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system an extender device, comprising:
a transceiver; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver, and configured to: receive, via the transceiver, a discovery message; in response to the discovery message, transmit, via the transceiver, a response comprising and indication of an unconfigured state; subsequent to the transmission, receive, via the transceiver, network credentials corresponding to a multimedia service account; connect, via the transceiver, to a network using the network credentials; associate with a multimedia device corresponding to the multimedia service account on the network; and transition to a configured-ready-for placement state.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein to connect to the network, the plurality of processors are configured to: associate with an access point (AP) on the network.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of processors are further configured to:
measure connection quality metrics from the AP and the multimedia device; and generate a network topology based at least on the connection quality metrics.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of processors are further configured to:
log the network topology; receive a network topology query; and in response to the network topology query, transmit the log to an analytics server.

5 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality light emitting diodes (LEDs) that correlate to indicators implying movement recommendations for placement of the extender device.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein a first LED of the plurality of LEDs corresponds to a first connection quality indication between an access point (AP) and the extender device, and wherein a second LED of the plurality of LEDs corresponds to a second connection quality indication between the multimedia device and the extender device.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the network credentials comprise a login and password.

8 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the discovery message is received via Bluetooth™ protocol or software enabled access point (SoftAP).

9 . A method for an extender device, comprising:
receiving a discovery message; in response to the discovery message, transmitting a response comprising and indication of an unconfigured state; subsequent to the transmission, receiving network credentials corresponding to a multimedia service account; connecting to a network using the network credentials; associating with a multimedia device corresponding to the multimedia service account on the network; and transitioning to a configured-ready-for placement state.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the connecting to the network comprises: associating with an access point (AP) on the network.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
measuring connection quality metrics from the AP and the multimedia device; and generating a network topology based at least on the connection quality metrics.

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
logging the network topology; receiving a network topology query; and in response to the network topology query, transmitting the log to an analytics server.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising: using a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to correlate to indicators implying movement recommendations for placement of the extender device.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a first LED of the plurality of LEDs corresponds to a first connection quality indication between an access point (AP) and the extender device, and wherein a second LED of the plurality of LEDs corresponds to a second connection quality indication between the multimedia device and the extender device.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the network credentials comprise a login and password.

16 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the discovery message is received via Bluetooth™ protocol or software enabled access point (SoftAP).

17 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by plurality of processors in an electronic device cause the plurality of processors to perform operations for an extender device, the operations comprising:
receiving a discovery message; in response to the discovery message, transmitting a response comprising and indication of an unconfigured state; subsequent to the transmission, receiving network credentials corresponding to a multimedia service account; connecting to a network using the network credentials; associating with a multimedia device corresponding to the multimedia service account on the network; and transitioning to a configured-ready-for placement state.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the connecting to the network operation comprises: associating with an access point (AP) on the network.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:
measuring connection quality metrics from the AP and the multimedia device; and generating a network topology based at least on the connection quality metrics.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
logging the network topology; receiving a network topology query; and in response to the network topology query, transmitting the log to an analytics server corresponding to the multimedia service account.

Assignees

• Roku Inc

Inventors

• Chari Amalavoyal Narasimha
• Funk Jim
• Jagannathan Sujatha
• Huang Liang-Jong
• Schmidlapp Jason
• Thomas Tito
• Asnis Ilya

Classifications

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W12/37 Primary

  Managing security policies for mobile devices or for controlling mobile applications · CPC title

• H04L9/0643

  Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC · CPC title