Method and apparatus for wi-fi connection using wi-fi protected setup in portable terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024090051-A1
Application number	US-202318514399-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 20, 2023
Priority date	Oct 25, 2011
Publication date	Mar 14, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for Wi-Fi connection based on Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes entering a group owner mode of Wi-Fi Direct when enabling of WPS is requested, after entering the group owner mode, entering a WPS session mode where the portable terminal is operable in a WPS registrar mode, determining whether an Access Point (AP) whose WPS session of the WPS registrar mode is enabled or a device whose group owner mode is enabled, exists nearby, and when an AP whose WPS registrar mode is enabled is discovered, disabling the WPS registrar mode and the group owner mode, enabling a WPS session where the portable terminal is to operate in a WPS enrollee mode, and accessing the discovered AP.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor for instructing the at least one processor to execute a computer process for performing a method for connecting to a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network in an electronic device, the method comprising:
entering a group owner mode of a Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) group without connecting with another device, if a Wi-Fi connection is requested; discovering, in the group owner mode, an external device whose group owner mode is enabled; determining a group owner of the Wi-Fi P2P group from among the electronic device and the discovered external device; and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group based on a result of the determining of the Wi-Fi P2P group owner, wherein the Wi-Fi connection is requested by an enabling of a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS).

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group comprises:
comparing, if the external device whose group owner mode is enabled is discovered, a prefix of a Service Set Identifier (SSID) name of the electronic device, which is generated in a group owner mode entry process, with a prefix of an SSID name of the discovered external device; and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group based on a result of the comparing of the prefix of the SSID.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group comprises acquiring group owner rights by the device corresponding to a prefix having a greater value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group comprises acquiring group owner rights by the device corresponding to a prefix having a lesser value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

5 . The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group comprises exchanging Probe Request and Probe Response messages of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, and wherein the Probe Request comprises at least one of a P2P Information Element (IE), a Wi-Fi Simple Configuration (WSC) IE, and a Supplemental Registration (Supp Reg) IE, and wherein the Probe Response comprises at least one of a P2P IE, a WSC IE, a Robust Security Network (RSN) IE, and a Supp Reg IE.

6 . An electronic device for connecting to a wireless communication network, the electronic device comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory storing one or more computer programs, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
determine whether a Wi-Fi connection is requested,
enter a group owner mode of a Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) group without connecting with another device, if the Wi-Fi connection is requested,
discover, in the group owner mode, an external device whose group owner mode is enabled,
determine a group owner of the Wi-Fi P2P group from among the electronic device and the discovered external device, and
connect to the Wi-Fi P2P group based on a result of the determining of the Wi-Fi P2P group owner.

7 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein a device, corresponding to a prefix having a greater value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, acquires group owner rights and connects to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

8 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein a device, corresponding to a prefix having a lesser value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, acquires group owner rights and connects to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

9 . A method for connecting to a wireless communication network in an electronic device, the method comprising:
determining whether a Wi-Fi connection is requested; entering a group owner mode of a Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) group without connecting with another device, if the Wi-Fi connection is requested; discovering, in the group owner mode, an external device whose group owner mode is enabled; determining a group owner of the Wi-Fi P2P group from among the electronic device and the discovered external device; and connect to the Wi-Fi P2P group based on a result of the determining of the Wi-Fi P2P group owner.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
acquiring, by a device, group owner rights and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group, wherein the device corresponds to a prefix having a greater value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
acquiring, by a device, group owner rights and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group, wherein the device corresponds to a prefix having a lesser value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, acquires group owner rights and connects to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

12 . At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor for instructing the at least one processor to execute a computer process for performing a method for connecting to a wireless communication network in an electronic device, the method comprising:
determining whether a Wi-Fi connection is requested; entering a group owner mode of a Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) group without connecting with another device, if the Wi-Fi connection is requested; discovering, in the group owner mode, an external device whose group owner mode is enabled; determining a group owner of the Wi-Fi P2P group from among the electronic device and the discovered external device; and connect to the Wi-Fi P2P group based on a result of the determining of the Wi-Fi P2P group owner.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
acquiring, by a device, group owner rights and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group, wherein the device corresponds to a prefix having a greater value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device.

14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
acquiring, by a device, group owner rights and connecting to the Wi-Fi P2P group, wherein the device corresponds to a prefix having a lesser value among the prefix of the SSID name of the electronic device and the prefix of the SSID name of the discovered external device, acquires group owner rights and connects to the Wi-Fi P2P group.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Bu-Seop
• Lee Jung-Hun

Classifications

• H04W76/11 Primary

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title

• H04L67/1044

  Group management mechanisms  (management of multicast group membership H04L12/185; reconfiguring of node membership in a computing system to eliminate errors G06F11/1425) · CPC title

• H04W8/005

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

• H04W12/06 Primary

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title