CN105323824B

CN105323824B - Electronic equipment assisting WIFI equipment in networking, WIFI equipment and method

Info

Publication number: CN105323824B
Application number: CN201510784419.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙敏刚; 马晓东
Original assignee: Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-11-16
Filing date: 2015-11-16
Publication date: 2019-12-27
Anticipated expiration: 2035-11-16
Also published as: CN105323824A

Abstract

Electronic equipment, WIFI equipment and a method for assisting WIFI equipment in accessing a network are disclosed. According to an embodiment, an electronic device may include: the WIFI unit is configured to establish WIFI connection with other equipment, wherein the WIFI unit has a soft Access Point (AP) mode, and when the WIFI unit is in the soft AP mode, the WIFI unit sends a beacon and sends configuration information for accessing the hot AP to the accessed WIFI equipment when the WIFI equipment is accessed to the WIFI unit.

Description

Electronic equipment assisting WIFI equipment in networking, WIFI equipment and method

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to device interconnection, and more particularly, to an electronic device, a wireless fidelity (WIFI) device, and a method for conveniently accessing a WIFI network to the WIFI device.

Background

At present, with the rise of intelligent wave, more and more devices can be networked in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) mode. For example, these devices (hereinafter referred to as "WIFI devices") may be smart sockets, smart televisions, smart refrigerators, and the like that are commonly found in the market. When the WIFI device connects to the WIFI network, it must first know the network access configuration information of the WIFI network router, such as Service Set Identifier (SSID) and password, to realize access.

However, for many WIFI devices, such as the aforementioned smart sockets, the SSID and password of the WIFI router are difficult to input due to the absence or lack of suitable input/output devices, such as a keyboard, a touch screen, or a display screen. This greatly influences the network access process of WIFI devices, and the user experience is very limited.

To the above problem, there are two solutions for implementing the network access of the WIFI device by means of the smart phone in the prior art.

In one approach, WIFI devices are provided with the capability to operate in an Access Point (AP) mode. An application program (APP) developed by a WIFI equipment manufacturer can be installed on the smart phone so as to control or input/output related information from/to a user in the network access process of the WIFI equipment. The WIFI device may enter AP mode upon powering up, and may thus act as an AP and thus transmit a beacon. After detecting the beacon sent by the WIFI device, the smart phone disconnects the connection with the hotspot AP (for example, a router) (if the smart phone is connected with the hotspot AP), then requests the WIFI device to join the AP network, and after the WIFI device joins the AP network successfully, sends network access configuration information such as SSID and password to the WIFI device. And then the smart phone is disconnected from the WIFI equipment and can be reconnected with the hotspot AP. And after the WIFI equipment which acquires the network access configuration information exits the AP mode, the access can be requested from the hotspot AP, so that the network access is completed. In addition, the WIFI equipment can inform the smart phone that the smart phone is connected to the network through the hotspot AP.

In another scheme, the WIFI device may enter the scan mode after powering up. On the other hand, the smart phone is controlled to enter a configuration mode through the APP so as to circularly send the coded special data packet. The special data packet may be in the form of a multicast, broadcast, or unicast data packet defined by the WIFI device manufacturer according to its respective protocol. For example, the smart phone may directly send a data packet including the network access configuration information to the WIFI device, and/or send the data packet to the hotspot AP at the same time, and the AP forwards the data packet to the WIFI device. And after receiving the data packet during the cyclic scanning in the scanning mode, the WIFI equipment analyzes the data packet to obtain network access configuration information, so that the network access configuration can be realized, and the network access is completed. In the network access process, the smart phone can keep normal communication connection with the hotspot AP.

However, existing solutions also have some drawbacks or shortcomings.

Specifically, in the network access process of the first scheme, the WIFI device needs to establish an AP mode, the smart phone needs to disconnect from the hotspot AP first, then add the WIFI device AP, and finally recover to connect with the hotspot AP, and in addition, other communication processes are performed, so that the whole network access process needs to take much time. According to practical tests, the time required by a single WIFI device is at least more than 10 seconds. If the number of the WIFI devices needing to access the network is large, for example, when a plurality of WIFI devices need to access in a home environment, the time required by the network access mode is longer, the network access efficiency is low, and the user experience is poor.

In the second scheme, the WIFI device needs to scan circularly, and the smart phone needs to send data packets circularly. If the current smart phone supports a 5G network, the router supports a 5G or 2.4G network, and if the smart phone and the router are connected through the 5G network, the common WIFI equipment works at 2.4G. In this case, the WIFI device cannot receive the signal sent by the mobile phone from the 5G frequency, which may result in an authorization failure, thereby affecting access of the WIFI device. In addition, compared with the first scheme, the second scheme cannot know information such as manufacturers and types of the WIFI equipment before authorization, and the risk of mistakenly accessing illegal WIFI equipment exists.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present disclosure, at least in part, to provide an electronic device, a wireless fidelity (WIFI) device, and a method that can conveniently enable the WIFI device to access a WIFI network.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device including: the WIFI unit is configured to establish WIFI connection with other equipment, wherein the WIFI unit has a soft Access Point (AP) mode, and when the WIFI unit is in the soft AP mode, the WIFI unit sends a beacon and sends configuration information for accessing the hot AP to the accessed WIFI equipment when the WIFI equipment is accessed to the WIFI unit.

According to the embodiment, the WIFI unit can send the configuration information to the WIFI device when the validity of the WIFI device is verified.

According to an embodiment, the electronic device may further include a memory configured to store the configuration information. Further, the electronic device may further include: and the control unit is configured to control the WIFI unit to disconnect from the hotspot AP so as to enter a soft AP mode. The electronic device may be a smartphone or a smart gateway. In the case of an intelligent gateway, the electronic device may also be configured to provide a working network AP and be able to enter the softap mode independently of the working network AP.

According to an embodiment, the electronic device may further include: a Bluetooth communication unit configured to establish Bluetooth communication with other devices; and a WIFI-bluetooth conversion unit configured to convert a signal suitable for the WIFI unit into a signal suitable for the bluetooth communication unit and convert a signal suitable for the bluetooth communication unit into a signal suitable for the WIFI unit, wherein when the WIFI device is accessed to the WIFI unit in the soft AP mode, the bluetooth communication unit forwards information about the WIFI device received through the WIFI unit to another electronic device and receives configuration information from the another electronic device so as to transmit the received configuration information to the WIFI device through the WIFI unit.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device including: a Bluetooth communication unit configured to establish Bluetooth communication with an external device; a memory configured to store configuration information for accessing a hotspot Access Point (AP); and a control unit configured to transmit the configuration information to the WIFI device through the external device by the bluetooth communication unit when receiving information about the WIFI device from the external device through the bluetooth communication unit.

According to an embodiment, the control unit may be further configured to transmit the configuration information to the WIFI device when the validity of the WIFI device is verified.

According to an embodiment, the electronic device may further include: the wireless fidelity WIFI unit is configured to establish WIFI connection with other devices, wherein the electronic device receives information about the WIFI device and sends configuration information to the WIFI device while being connected to the hotspot AP through the WIFI unit.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a WIFI device, including: the wireless fidelity WIFI unit is configured to establish WIFI connection with other equipment; and the control unit is configured to control the WIFI unit to access the electronic equipment when the WIFI unit receives the beacon from the electronic equipment so as to receive the configuration information for accessing the hotspot access point AP from the electronic equipment.

According to an embodiment, the control unit may be further configured to control the WIFI unit to disconnect from the electronic device after receiving the configuration information, and access the hotspot AP based on the configuration information.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a WIFI device to access a hotspot access point AP is provided, including: the intermediate device in the soft AP mode sends a beacon; based on the received beacon, the WIFI equipment accesses the intermediate equipment to receive configuration information for accessing the hotspot AP from the intermediate equipment; and the WIFI equipment accesses the hotspot AP based on the received configuration information.

According to an embodiment, the intermediate device may have configuration information stored in itself. Alternatively, the intermediary device may forward information regarding the WIFI device to another electronic device and receive configuration information from the electronic device. For example, the intermediary device and the electronic device may communicate via bluetooth.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device may operate in a soft AP mode to provide network entry configuration information to the WIFI device. In this way, the WIFI device itself does not need to establish the AP mode. During the period that the electronic device operates in the soft AP mode, each of the plurality of WIFI devices may access the soft AP established by the electronic device within a predetermined time (e.g., 10 seconds, which may be set by the electronic device), so as to complete network access after obtaining the network access configuration information. Thus, the electronic device does not need to frequently disconnect from the hotspot AP. Therefore, the interaction process or the communication process of a plurality of working layers is omitted, the user can access the network of each target WIFI device by operating the application layer, and the authorization efficiency is high. In addition, in the process, the electronic device (WIFI device) can also judge the effectiveness of the WIFI device (electronic device), so that the safety can be ensured. In other words, the time required for the WIFI equipment to access the network can be effectively reduced while the access security is ensured, and therefore the user experience can be effectively improved.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless fidelity (WIFI) network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 illustrates an example flow of a WIFI device accessing a hotspot Access Point (AP) via an intermediary device in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates an electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates an electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a WIFI device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the description is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the following description, descriptions of well-known structures and techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the concepts of the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. The words "a", "an" and "the" and the like as used herein are also intended to include the meanings of "a plurality" and "the" unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and the like, as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, or components.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. It is noted that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with the context of this specification and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense.

Some block diagrams and/or flow diagrams are shown in the figures. It will be understood that some blocks of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, or combinations thereof, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the techniques of this disclosure may be implemented in hardware and/or software (including firmware, microcode, etc.). In addition, the techniques of this disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the instructions. For example, the computer readable medium can include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. Specific examples of the computer readable medium include: magnetic storage devices, such as magnetic tape or Hard Disk Drives (HDDs); optical storage devices, such as compact disks (CD-ROMs); a memory, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) or a flash memory; and/or wired/wireless communication links.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless fidelity (WIFI) network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 1, there is a hotspot Access Point (AP)101, e.g., a wireless router, that provides a WIFI network 100. The WIFI network 100 may conform to various suitable wireless protocols, such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, and so on. Various electronic devices with WIFI functionality may access hotspot AP 101 to join WIFI network 100. The electronic device may include any electronic device having a communication function (especially a WIFI communication function) and an information processing capability, such as a server, a Personal Computer (PC), a notebook computer, a mobile device such as a smart phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), various smart devices such as a smart socket, a smart television, a smart refrigerator, and the like.

A smartphone 103, a smart tv 105 are shown in fig. 1 as examples of electronic devices that may access the WIFI network 100 over wireless links 113, 115, respectively. In this example, the smartphone 103 has a User Interface (UI), such as a keyboard, a display screen, and/or a touch screen, etc., so that the user may manipulate and thus conveniently access the WIFI network 100 (e.g., enter network access configuration information such as SSID and password through the UI). On the other hand, although the smart tv 105 has a display screen, it is generally inconvenient to input information, and is not beneficial to a user to perform complicated operations, so that the WIFI network 100 cannot be conveniently accessed. There are a variety of such smart devices (e.g., smart sockets, smart refrigerators, etc.) that, despite having WIFI communication functionality, cannot conveniently join a WIFI network.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an intermediate device that may operate in a soft ap (soft ap) mode. An electronic device or a smart device (hereinafter referred to as a "WIFI device") that needs to join a WIFI network may access the intermediate device in the soft AP mode to receive network entry configuration information from the intermediate device. For example, the intermediate device may have a wireless network card, but may provide the same functions of signal forwarding, routing, etc. as the AP through a driver, i.e., operate in a so-called "soft AP mode".

Fig. 2 shows an example process of a WIFI device accessing a hotspot AP via an intermediary device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 2, to assist WIFI device 205 in accessing hotspot AP201, intermediary device 203 may access softap mode at operation 2031. This may be accomplished, for example, by an application program (APP) installed on the intermediate device 203 that is networked to the WIFI device (hereinafter referred to as "networking APP"). Alternatively, the soft AP mode may be turned on/off by pressing a button provided on the intermediate device 203. Alternatively, the intermediate device 203 may operate in the soft AP mode at all times after power up, as described below. After entering the soft AP mode, the intermediate device 203 may transmit a Beacon (Beacon) at operation 2033 for other devices (e.g., WIFI devices 205) to access the intermediate device 203 in the soft AP mode based on the Beacon.

WIFI device 205, after receiving the beacon, may access intermediary device 203 based on the received beacon at operation 2051. Such beacon-based access to the soft AP is well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described further herein. In this way, a (temporary) wireless connection is established between intermediate device 203 and WIFI device 205 so that they can exchange information with each other.

Then, at operation 2037, intermediary device 203 may send network entry configuration information (e.g., SSID and password) to WIFI device 205 for accessing hotspot AP 201. Thereafter (e.g., after receiving notification of successful access of the WIFI device to the hotspot AP, or after a preset time), the intermediate device 203 may exit the soft AP mode. In one example, the intermediary 203 may access the hotspot AP201 before entering the softap mode. To enter the soft AP mode, the intermediate device 203 may disconnect from the hotspot AP 201. After exiting softap mode, the intermediate device 203 may again access the hotspot AP 201.

WIFI device 205, after receiving the network access configuration information, may disconnect from intermediary device 203 and access hotspot AP201 based on the received network access configuration information in operation 2053. Such access is well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail herein. After successfully accessing the hotspot AP201, the WIFI device 205 may send an access success notification to the intermediate device 203 via the hotspot AP 201.

According to this embodiment, during the operation of the intermediate device in the soft AP mode, each of the plurality of WIFI devices may access the soft AP established by the intermediate device within a predetermined time (e.g., 10 seconds), so as to complete network access after obtaining the network access configuration information. Thus, the intermediate device does not need to frequently disconnect from the hotspot AP.

To improve security, when WIFI device 205 accesses intermediate device 203, intermediate device 203 may verify the validity of WIFI device 205 at operation 2035. Only if WIFI device 205 is verified to be valid, intermediate device 203 sends the network access configuration information to WIFI device 205.

The networking configuration information may be stored in the intermediary device 203 itself or received by the intermediary device 203 from other devices, as will be further described below. In the latter case, the intermediary device may forward information about the WIFI device received from WIFI device 205 (e.g., device ID and/or manufacturer ID, etc.) to the other device for the other device to verify the validity of WIFI device 205.

Although verification of the validity of WIFI device 205 by an intermediary device (or other device) is described in the above examples, the disclosure is not so limited. Alternatively or additionally, WIFI device 205 may also verify the validity of the intermediary device (or other device).

Fig. 3 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates an electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 3, the electronic device 300 may serve as the above-described intermediate device, and may include a WIFI unit 301 and a control unit 303.

The WIFI unit 301 may be configured to establish a WIFI connection with another device (e.g., a WIFI device). The connection may conform to a wireless communication protocol such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, or the like. For example, the WIFI unit 301 may include an antenna, a modulation/demodulation circuit, an encoding/decoding circuit, and the like, in order to transmit/receive a Radio Frequency (RF) signal to/from the outside. As described above, the WIFI unit 301 may have a soft AP mode.

The control unit 303 may control the overall operation of the electronic device 300. The control unit 303 may be implemented as a processor or microprocessor, e.g. a mobile processor. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit 303 may control the WIFI unit 301 to enter the soft AP mode to transmit a beacon. When another device (e.g., a WIFI device) accesses the WIFI unit 301 based on the beacon, network access configuration information may be transmitted to the accessed device through the WIFI unit 301. Before sending the network entry configuration information, the control unit 303 may verify the validity of the accessed device (e.g., based on information about the identity of the device, such as a device ID and/or a manufacturer ID, etc.), and send the network entry configuration information to the accessed device only when it is verified to be valid.

It is to be noted here that in fig. 3, connections between the respective components are not shown for convenience. However, the various components may be interconnected. For example, they may be connected to a common bus, thereby interconnecting each other. The same is true for the following block diagrams.

According to an example of the present disclosure, the network entry configuration information is stored in the electronic device 300 itself, for example, in the memory 305 of the electronic device 300. Memory 305 may also store information related to the operation of electronic device 300 (e.g., various data and programs, such as a web-entry APP). The memory 305 may be implemented as various volatile and/or non-volatile memory technologies and may include storage devices such as hard disks, memory cards, and the like, memories such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), flash memory, and the like.

Such an electronic device 300 may be, for example, a smartphone. The smart phone can be provided with a network access APP so as to control the network access process. For example, the user enters WIFI unit 301 into soft AP mode through the network access APP. When the WIFI device is plugged into the electronic device 300, information about the WIFI device may be displayed on a display (not shown) of the electronic device 300. A user of electronic device 300 may select a WIFI device to which the network access configuration information is allowed to be sent (i.e., the user may allow/disallow the WIFI device from accessing the hotspot AP). After receiving a notification that the WIFI device successfully accesses the hotspot AP or a preset time (which may be set by the network access APP), the WIFI unit 301 may exit the soft AP mode through the network access APP.

Alternatively, such an electronic device 300 may be an intelligent gateway. In addition to the above-described interaction with WIFI devices to send network-entry configuration information to WIFI, the smart gateway itself may also act as an AP, and thus provide an AP working network. There may be some intelligent devices connected to the AP work network provided by the intelligent network, and the intelligent gateways may be interconnected with other gateways. Advantageously, the WIFI unit 301 may enter the soft AP mode independently of the working network AP. Under the condition, in the network access process, a user can control the intelligent gateway through input means such as keys and voice or can utilize the network access APP installed on the intelligent mobile phone

According to another example of the present disclosure, the network entry configuration information may be obtained by the electronic device 300 from other devices. Specifically, the electronic device 300 may establish a connection (which may be any suitable wireless and/or wired connection) with another device having network entry configuration information and exchange information via the established connection.

Advantageously, in addition to the WIFI unit 301, the electronic device 300 may further include a bluetooth communication unit 307 for establishing bluetooth communication with other devices. In this way, the electronic device 300 may exchange information with other devices via a bluetooth connection. In this case, the other device (e.g., the smartphone) does not need to disconnect from the hotspot AP in order to exchange information with the electronic device 300.

When a WIFI device accesses WIFI unit 301, WIFI unit 301 may receive information about the WIFI device (e.g., identity information of the WIFI device). The bluetooth communication unit 307 forwards the information to other devices. The other device may transmit the network entry configuration information to the bluetooth communication unit 307 via the bluetooth connection, for example, after verifying the validity of the WIFI device based on the information. The bluetooth communication unit 307 may send the network access configuration information to the WIFI unit 301, and forward the network access configuration information to the WIFI device by the WIFI unit 301. In order to adapt to WIFI and bluetooth, a WIFI-bluetooth conversion unit 309 may be disposed between the WIFI unit 301 and the bluetooth communication unit 307, for converting a signal suitable for the WIFI unit into a signal suitable for the bluetooth communication unit, and converting a signal suitable for the bluetooth communication unit into a signal suitable for the WIFI unit.

In this case, since the electronic device 300 is mainly used for information forwarding (forwarding information from the WIFI device to other devices, and forwarding network access configuration information from other devices to the WIFI device), the structure and function of the electronic device 300 can be greatly simplified. For example, the control unit 303 may have only simple system-necessary control functions (e.g., providing a clock, etc.). Further, the respective control functions of the control unit 303 may be integrated into the WIFI unit 301 and the bluetooth communication unit 307, respectively, without providing separate control units. The WIFI unit 301 may stay in the soft AP mode all the time after power-on without entering/exiting. The electronic device 300 may also have no complicated UI such as a keyboard, a display, etc., but only simple function buttons such as a power button, a reset button, etc. The control of the network access process may be implemented, for example, by a network access APP installed in the electronic device to which it is coupled as described below.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates an electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. This electronic equipment can cooperate with above-mentioned self electronic equipment who does not contain configuration information that nets to WIFI equipment sends configuration information that nets. Such an electronic device may be, for example, a smartphone.

As shown in fig. 4, the electronic apparatus 400 according to this embodiment may include a bluetooth communication unit 401, a memory 403, and a control unit 405.

The bluetooth communication unit 401 may be used to establish bluetooth communication with an external device (e.g., the electronic device described above in connection with fig. 3). Via bluetooth communication, the bluetooth communication unit 401 may receive information about the WIFI device from an external device with which connection is established, and may transmit the network access configuration information stored in the memory 403 to the external device.

Memory 403 may store network access configuration information as well as information related to the operation of electronic device 400 (e.g., various data and programs, such as a network access APP). The memory 403 may be implemented as various volatile and/or non-volatile memory technologies and may include storage devices such as hard disks, memory cards, and the like, memories such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), flash memory, and the like.

The control unit 405 may control the overall operation of the electronic device 400. The control unit 405 may be implemented as a processor or microprocessor, e.g. a mobile processor. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit 405 may transmit the network entry configuration information to the external device through the bluetooth communication unit 401 when receiving information about the WIFI device from the external device via the bluetooth communication unit 401. As described above, the external device may forward the network access configuration information to the WIFI device. Advantageously, the control unit 405 may verify the validity of the WIFI device based on the received information, and send the network access configuration information when the WIFI device is verified to be valid.

In addition, the electronic device 400 may further include a WIFI unit 407, which establishes a WIFI connection with another device (e.g., an access point AP). In this way, electronic device 400 may perform network access configuration for the WIFI device while remaining connected to the hotspot AP.

As described above, the electronic device 400 may have the network access APP for controlling the network access process installed therein. In an example, when information about the WIFI device is received, the information may be displayed in a display (not shown) of the electronic device 400. A user of electronic device 400 may select a WIFI device to which the network access configuration information is allowed to be sent (i.e., the user may allow/disallow the WIFI device from accessing the hotspot AP).

According to the embodiment, in the whole network access process, the smart phone does not need to be disconnected from the hot spot AP, and the network access configuration of the WIFI equipment can be realized from the application layer of the smart phone. Therefore, the network access efficiency of the WIFI equipment can be effectively improved, and meanwhile, the influence of network disconnection on other services of the smart phone is avoided. In addition, in this embodiment, if the smart phone is an IOS phone, even if software development of the smart phone is limited and the API interface for WIFI connection is disabled, the experience of implementing access of the WIFI device is not affected, that is, the experience is substantially the same as the experience of the network access operation of the android phone.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a WIFI device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Here, the "WIFI device" refers to an electronic device having a WIFI communication function.

As shown in fig. 5, WIFI device 500 according to this embodiment may include WIFI unit 501, control unit 503, and memory 505. As described above, WIFI device 500 may not have a complex UI such as a keyboard, display, etc.

WIFI unit 501 is configured to establish a connection with another device (e.g., electronic device 300 described above). The connection may conform to a wireless communication protocol such as IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, or the like. For example, the WIFI unit 301 may include an antenna, a modulation/demodulation circuit, an encoding/decoding circuit, and the like, in order to transmit/receive a Radio Frequency (RF) signal to/from the outside.

Control unit 503 may control the overall operation of WIFI device 500. The control unit 503 may be implemented as a processor or microprocessor, for example a mobile processor. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the control unit 503 may be configured to control the WIFI unit 501 to access the other device to receive the network access configuration information from the other device when receiving the beacon from the other device. The received network entry configuration information may be stored in memory 505. In addition, after receiving the network access configuration information, control unit 503 may control WIFI unit 501 to disconnect from the electronic device, and access to the hotspot AP based on the configuration information. After accessing the hotspot AP, the control unit 503 may further control the WIFI unit 501 to send an access success notification to the hotspot AP to notify other devices from which the network access configuration information is received.

Memory 505 may also store information related to WIFI device 500 (e.g., its identity information and various data and programs needed for operation, such as a network entry APP). The memory 505 may be implemented as various volatile and/or non-volatile memory technologies and may include memory devices such as hard disks, memory cards, etc., memories such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), flash memory, etc.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, after power-up, WIFI device 500 enters a find default AP mode to find a beacon transmitted from the soft AP. Therefore, it is advantageous that the power of WIFI device 500 is turned on after network entry APP is turned on in electronic device 300 to activate the soft AP mode to transmit the beacon (in case that there are a plurality of WIFI devices that need to enter the network, the power of these plurality of WIFI devices is turned on). In this way, the turned-on WIFI device may search for the beacon and access the hotspot AP through the above process.

The embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above. However, these examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Although the embodiments are described separately above, this does not mean that the measures in the embodiments cannot be used in advantageous combination. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, and such alternatives and modifications are intended to be within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

the wireless fidelity WIFI unit is configured to establish WIFI connection with the WIFI equipment;

a Bluetooth communication unit configured to establish Bluetooth communication with a Bluetooth device; and

a WIFI-to-Bluetooth conversion unit configured to convert a signal suitable for the WIFI unit into a signal suitable for the Bluetooth communication unit and to convert a signal suitable for the Bluetooth communication unit into a signal suitable for the WIFI unit,

wherein the WIFI unit has a soft Access Point (AP) mode, when in the soft AP mode, the WIFI unit transmits a beacon, and transmits configuration information for accessing the hot AP to an accessed WIFI device when the WIFI device accesses the WIFI unit,

when the WIFI equipment is accessed to the WIFI unit in the soft AP mode, the Bluetooth communication unit forwards the information about the WIFI equipment received by the WIFI unit to the Bluetooth equipment so as to verify the effectiveness of the WIFI equipment, and receives the configuration information from the Bluetooth equipment so as to send the received configuration information to the WIFI equipment through the WIFI unit.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the WIFI unit is to send the configuration information to the WIFI device when the validity of the WIFI device is verified.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

a memory configured to store configuration information.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, further comprising:

and the control unit is configured to control the WIFI unit to disconnect from the hotspot AP so as to enter a soft AP mode.

5. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the electronic device is a smartphone.

6. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the electronic device is an intelligent gateway.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the electronic device is further configured to provide a working network AP and to be capable of entering the soft AP mode independently of the working network AP.

8. A method for a WIFI device to access a hotspot Access Point (AP) comprises the following steps:

the intermediate device in the soft AP mode sends a beacon;

based on the received beacon, the WIFI equipment accesses the intermediate equipment, wherein the intermediate equipment forwards information about the WIFI equipment to the Bluetooth equipment so as to verify the effectiveness of the WIFI equipment, receives configuration information from the Bluetooth equipment, and communicates with the Bluetooth equipment through Bluetooth;

the WIFI equipment receives configuration information for accessing the hotspot AP from the intermediate equipment; and

and the WIFI equipment accesses the hotspot AP based on the received configuration information.