IP Library Granted Patent US 11,387,989
Granted Patent B2
US 11,387,989 · App. 16/798,597 · Granted Jul 12, 2022

Range constrained device configuration

Inventors: Mats Gustav Agerstam (Portland, OR); Venkata R. Vallabhu (Portland, OR)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04L9/0841H04L41/0803H04L41/28H04L63/061H04L63/18H04L63/20H04L67/141H04L67/16H04L67/34H04L69/14H04W8/005H04W12/02H04W12/037H04W12/04H04W12/0471H04W52/38H04W76/11H04W76/14H04L67/12H04W4/70H04W4/80H04W88/06H04W88/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,387,989
App. No.
16/798,597
Granted
Jul 12, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, and machine readable mediums for secure, low end-user effort computing device configuration. In some examples the IoT device is configured via a user's computing device over a short range wireless link of a first type. This short range wireless communication may use a connection establishment that does not require end-user input. For example, the end user will not have to enter, or confirm a PIN number or other authentication information such as usernames and/or passwords. This allows configuration to involve less user input. In some examples, to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, the power of a transmitter in the IoT device that transmits the short range wireless link is reduced during a configuration procedure so that the range of the transmissions to and from the user's computing device are reduced to a short distance.

Claims (57)

1. An enrollee computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions, the instructions, when performed by the processor cause the enrollee computing device to perform operations to:

identify an unconfigured state of the enrollee computing device, by determining that the enrollee computing device requires a set of credentials to securely connect to a network;

advertise a configuration service, the configuration service to receive information from a configurator, wherein the configurator is a configuration computing device to provision the enrollee computing device with the set of credentials to securely connect to the network;

receive a broadcast, responsive to the advertising of the configuration service, of a device provisioning protocol from the configurator;

establish a secure short-range wireless session with the configurator, the secure short-range wireless session established without a user input and performed using a low-power connection;

receive, responsive to establishing the secure short-range wireless session between the configurator and the enrollee computing device, configuration information of the enrollee computing device via the configuration service;

implement the configuration information, the configuration information specifying one or more parameters of a wireless connection type; and

establish, responsive to implementing the configuration information, a wireless connection according to the one or more parameters.

2. The enrollee computing device of claim 1 , wherein to implement the configuration information, the enrollee computing device is to apply the one or more parameters using the configurator.

3. The enrollee computing device of claim 1 , wherein the operations to establish the secure short-range wireless session cause the enrollee computing device to:

reduce a power of the enrollee computing device used to perform the low-power connection;

establish an insecure short-range wireless session;

utilize a key exchange protocol to exchange a cryptographic key; and

utilize the cryptographic key to engage in encrypted communications with the configurator.

4. The enrollee computing device of claim 3 , wherein the operations to establish the insecure short-range wireless session cause the enrollee computing device to pair using a pairing process not requiring user input.

5. The enrollee computing device of claim 4 , wherein the pairing process is a JUST WORKS BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY pairing process.

6. The enrollee computing device of claim 3 , wherein the key exchange protocol is a Diffie Hellman key exchange protocol.

7. The enrollee computing device of claim 1 , wherein wireless connection includes a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connection established according to an Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards.

8. The enrollee computing device of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information of the enrollee computing device is communicated using a Generic Attribute Profile.

9. At least one non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to at least:

identify an unconfigured state of an enrollee computing device, by determining that the enrollee computing device requires a set of credentials to securely connect to a network;

advertise a configuration service, the configuration service adapted to receive information from a configurator, wherein the configurator is a configuration computing device to provision the enrollee computing device with the set of credentials to securely connect to the network;

receive a broadcast, responsive to the advertising of the configuration service, of a device provisioning protocol from the configurator;

establish a secure short-range wireless session with the configurator, the secure short-range wireless session established without a user input and performed using a low-power connection;

receive, responsive to establishing the secure short-range wireless session between the configurator and the enrollee computing device, configuration information of the enrollee computing device via the configuration service;

implement the configuration information, the configuration information specifying one or more parameters of a wireless connection type; and

establish, responsive to implementing the configuration information, a wireless connection according to the one or more parameters.

10. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

reduce power of the enrollee computing device used to perform the low-power connection;

establish an insecure short-range wireless session;

utilize a key exchange protocol to exchange a cryptographic key; and

utilize the cryptographic key to engage in encrypted communications with the configurator.

11. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the machine to establish the insecure short-range wireless session using a pairing process not requiring user input.

12. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the pairing process is a JUST WORKS BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY pairing process.

13. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the key exchange protocol is a Diffie Hellman key exchange protocol.

14. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the wireless connection includes a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) implemented according to an Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards.

15. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the configuration information of the enrollee computing device is communicated using a Generic Attribute Profile.

16. A method for configuration of an enrollee computing device, the method comprising:

identifying an unconfigured state of the enrollee computing device, by determining that the enrollee computing device requires a set of credentials to securely connect to a network;

advertising a configuration service, the configuration service adapted to receive information from a configurator, wherein the configurator is a configuration computing device to provision the enrollee device with the set of credentials to securely connect to the network;

receiving a broadcast, responsive to the advertising of the configuration service, of a device provisioning protocol from the configurator;

establishing a secure short-range wireless session with the configurator, the secure short-range wireless session established without a user input and performed using a low-power connection;

receiving, responsive to establishing the secure short-range wireless session between the configurator and the enrollee computing device, configuration information of the enrollee computing device via the configuration service;

implementing the configuration information, the configuration information specifying one or more parameters of a wireless connection type; and

establishing, responsive to implementing the configuration information, a wireless connection according to the one or more parameters.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the implementing of the configuration information includes applying the one or more parameters using the configurator.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein establishing the secure short-range wireless session includes:

reducing power of the enrollee computing device used to perform the low-power connection;

establishing an insecure short-range wireless session;

utilizing a key exchange protocol to exchange a cryptographic key; and

utilizing the cryptographic key to engage in encrypted communications with the configurator.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the establishing of the insecure short-range wireless session is implemented using a pairing process not requiring user input.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the pairing process is a JUST WORKS BLUETOOTH LOW ENERGY pairing process.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the key exchange protocol is a Diffie Hellman key exchange protocol.

22. The method of claim 16 , wherein the wireless connection includes a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) according to an Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 22, 2021
From: INTEL IP CORPORATION
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 056337/0609 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 8, 2021
From: AGERSTAM, MATS; VALLABHU, VENKATA R.
To: INTEL IP CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 055518/0439 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 15386485 · Dec 21, 2016
Related Publication 20200287713A1 · Sep 10, 2020