Group provisioning of wireless stations of a wireless local area network (WLAN)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9326301-B2
Application number	US-201414198595-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2014
Priority date	Mar 6, 2014
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

An aspect of the present disclosure enables convenient provisioning of multiple wireless devices. In an embodiment, a provisioning agent (e.g., a smart phone) identifies wireless devices requiring provisioning to operate as wireless stations and communicates with each wireless device to provide provisioning parameters for joining a first basic service set (BSS). However, during such communication, the provisioning agent operates as a wireless station and each wireless device operates as an access point (AP) outside of the first BSS. Each wireless device is enabled to be configured according to the received provisioning parameters to thereafter operate as a corresponding wireless station of the first BSS.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of provisioning multiple wireless devices, said method being performed in a provisioning agent, said method comprising:
identifying a plurality of wireless devices requiring provisioning to operate as wireless stations;
communicating with each of said plurality of wireless devices to provide provisioning parameters for joining a first basic service set (BSS), wherein said first BSS is characterized by a first service set identifier (SSID) identifying said first BSS, wherein said provisioning parameters contain said first SSID,
wherein said provisioning agent operates as a wireless station and each of said plurality of wireless devices operates as an access point (AP) outside of said first BSS during said identifying and said communicating,
wherein each of said plurality of wireless devices is enabled to be configured according to the received provisioning parameters including said first SSID such that each of said plurality of wireless devices thereafter joins said first BSS based on said first SSID and operates as a corresponding wireless station of said first BSS.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said communicating is performed only after all of said plurality of wireless devices are identified.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said method further comprises:
verifying whether or not each of said plurality of wireless devices are operating as wireless stations of said first BSS; and
reporting results of said verification to a user.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein said verifying comprises:
sending a multi-cast packet to a multicast address in the first BSS, wherein said multi-cast packet is designed to enquire a unique identifier of each recipient wireless station in said first BSS; and
receiving as a response, from each wireless station that is part of the first BSS, said response containing the unique identifier of the wireless station.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said multi-cast is according to multicast Domain Name Service/Domain Name Service-Service Discovery (mDNS/DNS-SD) protocols, wherein said provisioning parameters further comprise a passphrase required to associate with said AP, wherein said provisioning parameters are communicated on a secure channel established between said provisioning agent and corresponding wireless device.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein said identifying forms a superset of wireless devices requiring provisioning, said method further comprising:
displaying said superset of wireless devices to a user; and
receiving inputs from said user indicating that only said plurality of wireless devices of said superset of wireless devices are selected for configuration by said user,
wherein said superset of wireless devices displayed to said user contains a first device that is not contained in said plurality of wireless devices,
wherein said communicating does not communicate with said first wireless device in view of said inputs not indicating said first wireless device as being selected by said user.

7. The method of claim 6 , said identifying further comprises:
receiving a respective beacon message from a corresponding wireless device;
examining a SSID contained in said beacon message for a pre-specified pattern; and
including the corresponding wireless device in said superset only if the SSID matches the pre-specified pattern.

8. The method of claim 6 , said identifying further comprises:
transmitting a probe request with a broadcast SSID;
receiving a probe response from a corresponding wireless device;
examining a SSID contained in said probe response for a pre-specified pattern; and
including the corresponding wireless device in said superset only if the SSID matches the pre-specified pattern.

9. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions for provisioning a wireless device, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said wireless device enables said wireless device to perform the actions of:
powering-up as an access point in accordance with 802.11 standards;
sending by said wireless device to a provisioning agent, a packet indicating that said wireless device requires provisioning for joining a first basic service set (BSS), wherein said first BSS is characterized by a first service set identifier (SSID) identifying said first BSS;
associating with said provisioning agent;
receiving provisioning parameters from said provisioning agent, wherein said provisioning parameters contain said first SSID, wherein said provisioning agent operates as a wireless station in accordance with 802.11 standards upon said associating and during said receiving, said wireless device operating as said access point during said associating and said receiving;
storing said provisioning parameters in pre-specified memory locations in said wireless device;
joining said first BSS based on said first SSID; and
operating as a wireless station of said first basic service set (BSS) specified by said provisioning parameters after said storing.

10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein said packet is a beacon message containing another service set identifier (SSID) of a pre-defined pattern.

11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein said packet is a response to a probe request received from said provisioning agent.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9 , further comprising:
communicating an identifier to said provisioning agent while being associated with said provisioning agent;
storing said identifier in a non-volatile memory provided in said wireless device;
receiving a multicast packet requesting said identifier, said multicast packet being received during said operating as said wireless station of said first BSS; and
sending said identifier as a response to said multicast packet, wherein said response confirms that said wireless device is configured to operate as said wireless station in said first BSS.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein said multicast packet is according to multicast Domain Name Service/Domain Name Service-Service Discovery (mDNS/DNS-SD).

14. A wireless device comprising:
a memory to store instructions;
a processing unit to retrieve and execute said instructions to cause said wireless device perform the actions of:
powering-up as an access point in accordance with 802.11 standards;
sending to a provisioning agent, a packet indicating that said wireless device requires provisioning for joining a first basic service set (BSS), wherein said first BSS is characterized by a first service set identifier (SSID) identifying said first BSS;
associating with said provisioning agent;
receiving provisioning parameters from said provisioning agent, wherein said provisioning parameters contain said first SSID, wherein said provisioning agent operates as a wireless station in accordance with 802.11 standards upon said associating and during said receiving, said wireless device operating as said access point during said associating and said receiving;
storing said provisioning parameters in pre-specified memory locations in said wireless device;
joining said first BSS based on said first SSID; and
operating as a wireless station of said first basic service set (BSS) specified by said provisioning parameters after said storing.

15. The wireless device of claim 14 , wherein said packet is a beacon message containing another service set identifier (SSID) of a pre-defined pattern.

16.

Assignees

• Gainspan Corp

Inventors

• Vyas Pankaj
• Viswanathan Prashant
• Winner Gregory Alan

Classifications

• H04W8/20 Primary

  Transfer of user or subscriber data · CPC title

• H04L12/189

  in combination with wireless systems (selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06) · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W76/002 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W8/186

  Processing of subscriber group data · CPC title