Self-configuration of wireless connections
In general, certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and/or systems for self-configuration of an electronic device to a wireless network is provided, which includes a wireless communication interface, one or more processors, memory, and one or more programs stored in the memory which comprise instructions for the wireless communication interface to send a plurality of multicast packets to a plurality of specific destination addresses. The plurality of multicast packets includes encoded messages in the plurality of specific destination addresses that allow a wireless connection device, with wireless capable hardware, to automatically configure itself to be able to access a wireless network. According to various embodiments, the wireless network may be a secure wireless network.
1. A self-configuration wireless connection system, comprising:
a wireless communication interface; one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions to:
send, via the wireless communication interface, a plurality of multicast packets by cycling the multicast packets, wherein each multicast packet of the plurality of multicast packets comprises encoded messages configured to allow a wireless connection device to configure itself to communicatively couple with a multicast sending device upon receiving the plurality of multicast packets, wherein each multicast packet in the plurality of multicast packets comprising a value-field, each value-field comprising a message character configured to convert to an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character, wherein each message character corresponds to a specific letter in a Service Set Identifier (SSID) name or passphrase of a communicative network that communicatively couples the multicast sending device to the wireless connection device;
receive a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) code from the wireless connection device; and
terminate the sending based on the receiving the SSDP code.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the communicative network is a secure wireless network.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of multicast packets are sent to a plurality of specific destination addresses.
4. The system of claim 3 , wherein each specific destination address of the plurality of specific destination addresses includes MAC addresses reserved specifically for Ethernet multicast.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein each multicast packet of the plurality of multicast packets comprises UDP packets sent to a wireless access point of the communicative network.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless connection device is configured to decrypt encrypted portions of the plurality of multicast packets after the wireless connection device is communicatively coupled to the multicast sending device.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless connection device is configured to receive the plurality of multicast packets by monitoring for multicast packets while in an initial listening mode.
8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the wireless connection device is configured to, while in the initial listening mode, scan a plurality of communication channels while actively monitoring for Ethernet packets being sent in at least one of the plurality of communication channels.
9. The system of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of multicast packets include information corresponding to a name of a wireless network, and wherein an encryption password of the wireless network is encoded into the plurality of specific destination addresses.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless connection device is configured to decode messages encoded in the plurality of multicast packets by extracting from at least one of the plurality of multicast packets a “type” field, a “position” field, and a “value” field.
11. A wireless connection device comprising:
hardware configured to allow the wireless connection device to communicate via a wireless network and to receive multicast packets; and
a processor and memory, the processor configured to:
receive a plurality of multicast packets from a multicast sending device, wherein the plurality of multicast packets are sent by cycling the plurality of multicast packets, wherein each multicast packet in the plurality of multicast packets comprises a value-field, the value-field comprising a message character configured to convert to an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character, wherein each message character corresponds to a specific letter in a Service Set Identifier (SSID) name or passphrase of the wireless network;
send a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) code to signal termination of the cycling of the plurality of multicast packets; and
configure the wireless connection device to communicatively couple with the multicast sending device based on the receiving the plurality of multicast packets.
12. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of multicast packets are sent to a plurality of specific destination addresses.
13. The wireless connection device of claim 12 , wherein each specific destination address of the plurality of specific destination addresses includes MAC addresses reserved specifically for Ethernet multicast.
14. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein each multicast packet of the plurality of multicast packets includes UDP packets sent to a wireless access point in the wireless network.
15. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless connection device is configured to decrypt encrypted portions of the plurality of multicast packets after the wireless connection device is configured to access the wireless network.
16. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless connection device receives the plurality of multicast packets by monitoring for multicast packets while in an initial listening mode.
17. The wireless connection device of claim 16 , wherein the wireless connection device, while in the initial listening mode, scans a plurality of communication channels while actively monitoring for Ethernet packets being sent in at least one of the plurality of communication channels.
18. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of multicast packets include information corresponding to a name of the wireless network and an encryption password of the wireless network.
19. The wireless connection device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless connection device decodes messages encoded in the plurality of multicast packets by extracting from at least one of the plurality of multicast packets a “type” field, a “position” field, and a “value” field.
20. A method for communicatively coupling a wireless connection device to a multicast sending device, the method comprising:
sending, from a source, a plurality of multicast packets by cycling the multicast packets, wherein each multicast packet of the plurality of multicast packets comprises encoded messages configured to allow a wireless connection device to configure itself to communicatively couple with a multicast sending device upon receiving the plurality of multicast packets, wherein each multicast packet in the plurality of multicast packets comprises a value-field, each value-field comprising a message character configured to convert to an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) character, wherein each message character corresponds to a specific letter in a Service Set Identifier (SSID) name or passphrase of a communicative network for communicatively coupling the wireless connection device to the multicast sending device,
receive a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) code from the wireless connection device;
terminate the sending based on the receiving the SSDP code;
receiving, at the wireless connection device, the plurality of multicast packets; and
upon receiving the plurality of multicast packets at the wireless connection device, automatically configuring the wireless connection device to communicatively couple to the multicast sending device.