Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Automatic device pairing
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Application No.: US16475270Application Date: 2017-12-20
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Publication No.: US10952263B2Publication Date: 2021-03-16
- Inventor: Simon Ringland , James Gardiner
- Applicant: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
- Applicant Address: GB London
- Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
- Current Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
- Current Assignee Address: GB London
- Agency: Patterson Thuente Pedersen, P.A.
- Priority: EP16207552 20161230
- International Application: PCT/EP2017/083888 WO 20171220
- International Announcement: WO2018/122073 WO 20180705
- Main IPC: H04W76/10
- IPC: H04W76/10 ; G06F16/953 ; H04W12/00 ; H04W12/06 ; H04L29/08 ; H04W84/12

Abstract:
The disclosure concerns automatic pairing of a user's new device wirelessly with the user's private wireless access point. An open WLAN is used to connect a wireless pairing client (WPC) in the device with a pairing initiation server (PIS) in an ISP's network. If the open WLAN uses a “captive portal” to redirect HTTPS requests to a login page, a “pinhole” is provided so that HTTP requests addressed to the PIS are not redirected. The device stores the SSID of a suitable open WLAN and connects automatically when powered up. The WPC makes an HTTP request, including an ID for the device, to the PIS. The PIS uses the device ID to retrieve an IP address of the user's access point. The PIS then sends instruction to WPS Pairing Initiator Clients, the device and the access point to initiate a Wi-Fi Protected Setup PBC procedure. The result is that, if they are in range of each other, the device will pair with the user's private wireless LAN using WPS PBC but without the need for the user herself needing to act beyond simply powering up the new device.
Public/Granted literature
- US20190335516A1 AUTOMATIC DEVICE PAIRING Public/Granted day:2019-10-31
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