Methods and devices for automatically connecting to a communication service through a password protected network connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686404-B1
Application number	US-201514819316-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 5, 2015
Priority date	Aug 5, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

Devices and methods include communication devices and network devices configured to automatically connect to each other over a password protected network connection without a user setting the password for the password protected network connection. The communication devices may communicate over the password protected network connection to the network device and further to a communication service for providing interpretive services for hearing-impaired users, such as text captions, during a call. Predetermined network names and associated passwords may be persistent prior to set up as well as after a hard reset in which other user defined settings may be erased.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication device specifically configured for use by a hearing-impaired user to participate in communication sessions with assistance of a communication service, the communication device comprising:
a microphone configured to generate a near-end signal;
a speaker configured to produce sound from a far-end signal;
communication elements configured to communicate with a network device;
an electronic display;
a memory device; and
a processor operably coupled with the microphone, the speaker, the communication elements, the electronic display, and the memory device, wherein the processor is configured to:
monitor service set identifiers (SSIDs) for detecting a predetermined SSID for a local wireless password protected network connection broadcast by the network device; and
automatically connect to the local wireless password protected network connection in response to detecting the predetermined SSID prior to an initial attempt at connecting being initiated by an end-user of the communication device, and by:
retrieving a specific predetermined password that was set as a corresponding password for the predetermined SSID within the network device without input from the end-user of the communication device; and
transmitting the specific predetermined password to the network device for comparison with the corresponding password stored by the network device, wherein the specific predetermined password is determined by the processor to correspond to the predetermined SSID prior to the initial attempt to connect to the local wireless password protected network; and

communicate with a remote communication service through the network device during a call to send the far-end signal to the remote communication service and receive text captions from the remote communication service over the local wireless password protected network; and
display the text captions on the electronic display for a hearing-impaired user during the call.

2. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the memory device has at least a portion of the specific predetermined password stored therein, and the processor is configured to retrieve the specific predetermined password from the memory device prior to transmitting the specific predetermined password to the network device.

3. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the memory device includes instructions stored therein for the processor to retrieve the specific predetermined password by automatically deriving the specific predetermined password using the predetermined SSID without the specific predetermined password being stored in the memory device.

4. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the memory device includes at least a portion of the predetermined SSID stored therein, and the processor is configured to retrieve the portion of the predetermined SSID for detecting the predetermined SSID broadcast by the network device.

5. The communication device of claim 4 , wherein the portion of the specific predetermined password and the portion of the predetermined SSID are preloaded into the memory device of the communication device prior to the communication device being received by the end user for a first time.

6. The communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to not permit the specific predetermined password for the local wireless password protected network connection to be changed by the hearing-impaired user.

7. A network device, comprising:
a memory device having a predetermined password stored thereon that is not defined by a user of a communication device;
communication elements; and
a processor operably coupled with the memory device and communication elements, wherein the processor is configured to:
broadcast a local wireless signal through the communication elements for a password protected network connection using a predetermined service set identifier (SSID) having the predetermined password as its corresponding password;
receive a password from the communication device with a request to connect to the password protected network connection responsive to the communication device detecting the predetermined SSID prior to an initial request to connect being initiated by the user of the communication device;
compare the password received from the communication device with the predetermined password stored in the memory device corresponding to the predetermined SSID;
connect the communication device to the password protected network connection responsive to receiving the password from the communication device that matches the predetermined password stored in the memory device; and
facilitate communication between the communication device and a remote communication service to receive text captions from the remote communication service and to transmit the text captions to the communication device over the password protected network connection for display by the communication device to a hearing-impaired user.

8. The network device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive an updated predetermined password corresponding to the predetermined password from an administrator of the remote communication service; and
store the updated predetermined password in the memory device for future comparisons with the password received from the communication device.

9. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the updated predetermined password through the communication elements to the communication device.

10. The network device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to broadcast at least one second local wireless signal that represents a different virtual access point having its own SSID, wherein:
the local wireless signal having the predetermined SSID is used to permit the communication device to communicate with the remote communication service over the password protected network connection; and
the at least one second local wireless signal is used to permit other communication devices to access network traffic unrelated to the remote communication service.

11. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to provide higher priority to network traffic to the remote communication service over the password protected network and lower priority to network traffic over the at least one second local wireless signal when both are in use by different devices.

12. The network device of claim 11 , wherein the remote communication service is a remote captioning service and the network traffic receiving higher priority over the password protected network includes text captions received from the remote captioning service during a phone call.

13. The network device of claim 12 , wherein the network device is configured to set the password for the password protected network to not be editable by the user, and to set another password for the at least one second local wireless signal to be editable by the user.

14. A communication system, comprising:
a remote communication service configured to provide interpretive services for hearing-impaired users during a communication session;
a plurality of network devices at remote locations from the remote communication service, each network device configured to:
broadcast a wireless signal for a password protected network connection with a predetermined service set identifier (SSID) at its respective remote location; and
have a corresponding password for the predetermined SSID stored within the network device for permitting connection to the password protected network connection, the corresponding

Assignees

• Sorenson Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Pan Jasper

Classifications

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04M3/42391 Primary

  where the subscribers are hearing-impaired persons, e.g. telephone devices for the deaf · CPC title

• H04M1/2475

  for a hearing impaired user · CPC title

• H04W48/18

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W12/068

  using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications · CPC title