KR20200118036A - Pairing and gateway connection using Sonic Tone - Google Patents

Abstract

The network capable device 1002 is coupled to a wireless IP gateway or paired to a PAN 1016 through the use of a sonic tone 1040, the sonic tone 1040 is an audible sonic tone, and a connection 1011 to the wireless IP gateway. Encodes a symbol sequence representing a binary message useful for implementing or pairing with a PAN. In one embodiment, the sonic tone 1040 carries a MAC address to facilitate connection and/or pairing. Alternatively or additionally, the sonic tone may encode a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and password for connecting to a wireless network (Wi-Fi), or a Bluetooth identifier and/or PIN for connecting to a Bluetooth PAN. In a specific implementation of this embodiment, the sonic tone 1040 is generated by the IP gateway and used to initiate the Wi-Fi connection 1011, and/or the sonic tone 1040 is used to initiate the Bluetooth connection 1011. It is created by the PAN's master device 1014.

Description

Pairing and gateway connection using Sonic Tone

This application is US continuation application No. 15/864,797, US continuation-in-part application No. 14/398,675, and PCT application US/2013/039079 filed on May 1, 2013 And, as published patent No. 2015-0113094, was published in the United States on April 23, 2015, and No. 61/781,107 filed on March 14, 2013 as a United States Provisional Patent Application and 5, 2012 It claims priority to No. 61/640,900, filed on January 1. Each of the above mentioned applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present application relates generally to systems and methods for communicating digitized information using sonic tones, and in particular to the use of sonic tones in a wireless connection or paring of a networkable device to a wireless network. About.

Various proposals have been made to transmit digital information independently or to broadcast a sonic tone delivered with audio content that is audibly broadcast or reproduced in a public or private environment. Sonic tones are generally designed for reception and decoding by a networkable device 1002, such as a networkable device. For example, the sonic tone may be embedded in audio content received by the microphone of the network-enabled device 1002. The source of the signal is any audio speaker near the network-capable device, or decoding by an on-board audio generation application such as a music player module or an on-board video player application such as a video player module. Audio content provided for, or provided to a line-out port (eg, a headphone jack) of the network-enabled device 1002, or provided to an external speaker of the network-enabled device 1002 I can.

Exemplary systems and methods for embedding sonic tones into audio content are provided in the aforementioned PCT application as well as the following US patent application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

-US Patent Application No. 13/286,613, “EFFECTIVE TO MODULATE A CODE AND PROVIDE CONTENT TO A USER” applied for 2011.11.01

-US Patent Application No. 13/286,670, applied for “SYSTEM EFFECTIVE TO DEMODULATE A MODULATED CODE AND PROVIDE CONTENT TO A USER” 2011.11.

-US Patent Application No. 13/286,727, “DEVICE EFFECTIVE TO MODULATE A CODE AND TO PROVIDE CONTENT TO A USER” 2011.11.

-US Patent Application No. 15/081,158, “LOCAL TONE GENERATION” applied for 2016.03.15

-US Patent Application No. 15/719,164, “HIGH BANDWIDTH SONIC TONE GENERATION” applied for 2017.09.28

-US Patent Application No. 15/847,205, applied for “PHASE SHIFT KEYED SIGNALING TONE” 2017.12.19

In some cases described in these applications, the sonic tone may be acoustic, i.e., a signal outside the human hearing range or other signal that the human cannot detect. For example, in some embodiments, the sonic tone may be generated by a frequency near 20,000 Hz or less than 20 Hz, or may be generated in a frequency band near 20,000 Hz or near 20 Hz, which is generally a sound wave. The sonic tone may be in the form of a modulated code consisting of a series of logic 0s and 1s, as described in the aforementioned patent applications. The modulated code may be repeatedly and periodically output by a sound source, and the network-capable device 1002 identifies and demodulates the modulated code from the sonic tone to create a logical series of 0 and l related to the sonic tone. You can make a decision. In some embodiments, the logical series of 0s and 1s may be a coded identifier that may be transmitted to the content management system via various communication protocols, for example.

As used herein, the term sonic tone refers to any type of acoustic signal, code, frequency, waveform, etc. that can be transmitted by an acoustic source, detected by a microphone, and decoded by the network capable device 1002. It is used to broadly refer to. The sonic tone is a process or routine that is manually executed on the network-enabled device 1002, or by being activated manually by a user of the network-enabled device 1002, by the network-enabled device 1002. Can be processed.

In one application of the Sonic Tone described in US Publication No. US2015-0113094, the Sonic Tone encodes data, for example “transmitting or receiving a Sonic Tone using a vehicle speaker or microphone, and using a Bluetooth® connection, the Internet. Add-on between network-enabled devices and other devices for Internet or Bluetooth communication, including networking between network-enabled devices and vehicles, establishing connections, OBD2 connections or other operational connections between network-enabled devices and vehicle electronics. Facilitates ad-hoc networking. It is an object of the present invention to provide a detailed routine for the implementation of an ad-hoc networking process as described herein.

According to an aspect, the network-enabled device broadcasts a sonic tone encoding a symbol sequence representing a binary message of digitized information useful for implementing a connection to a wireless network. Coupled to the wireless network by a method comprising the steps of. Sonic tones can be received and decoded to obtain digitized information, which is used to implement a connection between a network-enabled device and a wireless network.

In the specifically described embodiments, the sonic tone is a human-audible sonic tone, and the wireless network is a Wi-Fi network hosted by a gateway, or a wireless Bluetooth network or other personal area network hosted by the master device. It is a wireless IP network, such as (PAN: Personal Area Network). If the network is a Wi-Fi network, the digitized information may include a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and/or MAC address for a Wi-Fi hotspot, and optionally a password to connect to the wireless IP network. Thus, the network capable device receiving the sonic tone can connect by obtaining an SSID-MAC and an optional password for the Wi-Fi network. In the case of a Bluetooth or other PAN, the network capable device can obtain a MAC address or other Bluetooth network identifier and optionally a PIN from the Sonic Tone, and use it to connect to the PAN. (Note: The "BLUETOOTH®" network referred to herein is a networking protocol of all versions sold by the Bluetooth SIG, including Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and other versions and variations. Also, in some Bluetooth pairing environments, a PIN is not required if the security requirements for the environment are low Likewise, some Wi-Fi networks do not require a password if the security requirements are low. Therefore, the PIN and password are considered optional and may not be used in some cases.) Software installed on a network-capable device does not use a standard operating system Wi-Fi network discovery routine or a Bluetooth pairing routine. By allowing connections to be made autonomously, the convenience of the entire system is improved for users.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a host device for a wireless network facilitates coupling a network-enabled device to a wireless network by broadcasting a described type of sonic tone, and returns digitized information embedded in the sonic tone. Network enabled devices to connect to the wireless network, allowing them to connect to the wireless network in a rapid manner.

The accompanying drawings, which are included in the present specification and constitute a part thereof, show various embodiments of the present invention, and describe embodiments of the present invention together with the general description of the invention described above and the detailed description of the embodiments described later. In the drawings, the same reference numerals generally indicate identical, functionally similar and/or structurally similar elements.
1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary environment in which a network capable device receives a sonic tone and interacts with a source of the sonic tone to form a wireless connection.
2 is a flow diagram illustrating how a sonic tone may be generated and delivered to a network-enabled device, according to an embodiment.

Various non-limiting embodiments of the present invention are described to understand the principles of the structure, function and use of the content delivery and management systems and processes described herein. Examples of one or more of these non-limiting embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art will understand that the systems and methods specifically described herein and shown in the accompanying drawings are non-limiting embodiments. Features illustrated or described in connection with one non-limiting embodiment may be combined with features of other non-limiting embodiments. These modifications and changes are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments”, “some embodiments”, “one embodiment”, “some exemplary embodiments”, “one exemplary embodiment” or “an embodiment” refers to It means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment, and thus, "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," and "in one embodiment" throughout the specification. The appearances of the phrases "in", "in some exemplary embodiments", "in one exemplary embodiment" or "in an embodiment" need not refer to all of the same embodiments. Moreover, specific features, structures, and Or the features may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

The embodiments described herein generally relate to beacon iteration formats used to transmit data in a sonic tone, and a configuration of a network capable device 1002 for detecting a transmitted sonic tone accordingly. The network-enabled device 1002 may be configured to, for example, wirelessly supply an indication of a received sonic tone to a content management system. As discussed in detail in the above-referenced prior patent applications, upon receiving the indication of the received sonic tone from the network-enabled device 1002, the content management system performs the network-enabled device 1002 on the basis of the received specific sonic tone. ), you can provide specific content.

In further embodiments, the first network-capable device may interact directly with the second network-capable device to exchange information using an audible acoustic signal, as described in more detail below.

1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary environment in which a network-enabled device 1002 receives content in the form of a sonic tone and initiates a wireless networking connection to a host device 1010 using information of the sonic tone, wherein the host device There may be additional wireless interactions with.

A content management system, such as the public Internet 1000, may communicate with the network-enabled device 1002 through an electronic communication network, typically including one or more private networks and the public Internet 1000. The communication network may include a number of computer and/or data networks, including the Internet, LAN, WAN, GPRS network, and the like, and may include wired and/or wireless communication links. The network-enabled device 1002 in communication with the content management system 1000 may be any type of client device suitable for communication over a network, such as, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer.

In some exemplary embodiments, the network-enabled device 1002 is a combination of a handheld computer and a mobile phone device 1006 (sometimes referred to as a smart phone), or a tablet computer 1004, a laptop, or It may be one of many possible devices, such as another type of computing device, such as a palmtop PC 1008, or other mobile computing devices. While certain embodiments may be described in connection with user communication via a smart phone 1006 or laptop 1008 by way of example, the present invention relates to a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone/PDA combination, a handheld device. It will be appreciated that other types of user equipment or wireless computing devices may be implemented, such as a mobile unit, a game unit, a messaging device, a media player, or other suitable mobile communication device. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, the exemplary network-enabled device 1002 may include, for example, a tablet computer 1004, a smart phone 1006, and a laptop 1008, but as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. Likewise, other types of network-capable devices can be used.

In addition, some of the network-enabled devices 1002 may support a wireless wide area network (WWAN) data communication service including Internet access. Examples of WWAN data communication services include EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only), LTE (Long Term Evolution), EV-DV (Evolution For Data and Voice), CDMA/lxRTT, GSM/GPRS (GSM with General Packet Radio Service systems), Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), and the like. In each of these cases, the network-enabled device 1002 can connect directly to the public Internet 1000 to provide content to the network-enabled device or deliver the content to the host device 1010.

The wireless communication 1011 between the host device 1010 and the network-capable device 1002 can be conducted using many known protocols, for example, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1la/b/g/ IEEE 802.16 series of standard protocols and variants (also referred to as "Wi-Fi"), IEEE 802.16 series of standard protocols and variants (also referred to as "WiMAX"), IEEE 802.20 series of standard protocols and variants, etc. You can use the WLAN data communication function according to the protocol of the 802.xx series.

In addition, the wireless communication 1011 between the network-capable device 1002 and the host device 1010 may be based on short-range wireless networks, for example, a Bluetooth data communication service according to Bluetooth, a special interest group (SIG) series. It can follow a network such as a wireless Personal Area Network (PAN) that provides protocols, specifications, profiles, etc. As another example of another short-range wireless network, infrared (IR) technology or near-field communication (NFC) technologies, such as electromagnetic induction (EMI) technology including passive or active Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) protocols and devices And protocols.

The network-enabled device 1002 may use various applications to allow a user to perform one or more specific tasks. For example, the network-capable device 1002 may implement an operating system having a function for searching for Wi-Fi communication settings and a function for pairing with a Bluetooth compatible host in a PAN. The operating system may further allow installation of user-selected application software to provide computing power according to the embodiments described above. In addition to the communication function, operating system programs implemented by the network-enabled device 1002 include device drivers, programming tools, utility programs, software libraries, and APIs. Application Programming Interface), but is not limited thereto. As can be appreciated, the network-capable device 202 is, for example, a mobile OS (ANDROID®, BLACKBERRY OS®, Ios®, SYMBIAN OS®, WINDOWS PHONE®, etc.), a desktop OS (MAC OS X®, LINUX®, etc.). , WINDOWS®, GOOGLE CHROME OS®, etc.) or TV OS (GOOGLE TV®, APPLE TV® or other Smart TV OS®).

Other network-enabled devices, such as AC main power and fixed devices connected to a wired network, are also considered potential users of the methods described herein in connection with network-enabled device 1002 and are within the scope of the principles of the invention. have.

In various embodiments, the network-enabled device 1002 may detect the sonic tone generally through a passive detection process. In other words, the user of the network-enabled device 1002 does not necessarily routinely initiate or activate the detection process. Instead, the detection process may be, for example, a background routine that operates in random access memory (RAM) of network-enabled device 1002. Background routines may periodically or at least customarily query signals received or generated by various on-board components of network-enabled device 1002 to detect whether a sonic tone is present. These queries can be executed without additional user input. Components queried in the detection process may include, but are not limited to, an on-board microphone, an on-board speaker, and other audio output ports (eg, headphone output or line level output).

In the illustrated embodiment, the sonic tone 1040 is generated by the host device 1010 for reception by the network capable device 1002. Sonic tones can be generated from any suitable loudspeaker 1012 or other audio source. For example, the sonic tone 1040 may be delivered by a speaker included in the vehicle's audio system, as mentioned in the priority application described above. Alternatively, the sonic tone 1040 may be delivered by a speaker wired to a home audio system or a public place audio system. In each case, the sonic tone 1040 may be received independently or included in other audio content by a microphone integrated or connected to the network-enabled device 1002. When the acoustic signal is transmitted through the air, generally in an omnidirectional reflecting manner, the source may be any audio speaker 1012 in proximity to the network-enabled device 1002. The host device may store a broadcast sonic tone in advance for the purposes of the present invention, or the sonic tone may be generated by an audio generation application of the host device 1010. The host device 1010 may be a mobile or other compact audio device such as a music player or a video player. Moreover, although the host device 1010 is shown to include a speaker 1012, it is not required, and the sonic tone is by such a device to a line-out port (e.g., a headphone jack) connected to the device's external speaker. Can be provided.

Upon detecting the sonic tone, the network-enabled device 1002 may process the sonic tone to extract a coded identifier. As mentioned, the extraction process may be a generally manual process that may be performed by the processor of the network-enabled device 1002. Thereafter, the information coded with the sonic tone can be used to establish a wireless network connection 1011 between the network-enabled device 1002 and the host device 1010. This may include setting up a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other wireless network connection.

In some embodiments, the network-capable device may have its own connection to the public Internet 1000, and in other embodiments, the host device may provide a gateway for Internet communication over the public Internet 1000. have. In either case, the network-enabled device can communicate with any Internet destination and can provide the retrieved content for presentation to the host device 1010. Internet destinations include a content database 1020, a web server 1024, a music service server 1026 (e.g., APPLE MUSIC®, AMAZON MUSIC®, etc.) and a video content server (e.g. NETFLIX®, AMAZON VIDEO®). Etc.) It may include a content providing server 1030 that provides content to the network-enabled device 1002 obtained from 1028.

The content obtained by the network-enabled device 1002 may be of any suitable file format or file type. A non-limiting and non-exhaustive list of exemplary content that may be provided to the network-enabled device 1002 includes video-based content, audio-based content, image-based content, and text-based content. . Accordingly, the searched content may be provided to the screen and/or speaker of the network-enabled device 1002, or the screen of the host device 1010 and/or by delivering the content through the network connection 1011 established according to the principles of the present invention. A speaker may be provided, or video may be provided on the device 1002 screen while audio is being provided from the host 1010 speaker, and vice versa.

Video-based content may include, but is not limited to, concert images, music videos, artist interviews, movies, and advertisements. The audio-based content may include songs, ringtones, etc., but is not limited thereto. The image-based content may include a picture, a logo, and a background, but is not limited thereto. Text-based content may include lyrics, quotes, coupons, passwords, passcodes, email messages, text messages, instant messages, etc., but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the content may be advertising or may be educational in nature. The invention is not limited by any particular content that can be delivered from any Internet source to the network-enabled device 1002 or the manner in which the content is delivered.

In various embodiments described in more detail in the priority application, the specific content delivered to the network-enabled device 1002 may be based on one or more triggers. Making the content accessible (unlocked) as the network-enabled device 1002 or a user of the device meets various thresholds or requirements over time or based on specific activity of the network-enabled device 1002 Can be. For example, the type of host system to which the network-enabled device is connected may trigger the accessibility of certain content, or the number of times a certain sonic tone has been received by the network-enabled device 1002 may determine which content is accessible to the device. have. When a sonic tone is embedded in a song, the number of times the sonic tone is received may indicate the number of times a user associated with the device has listened to the song. As the user listens to more and more songs, additional content (“unlocked content”) can be delivered to the user's device.

Additional content may be labeled or considered as "exclusive" content that is only available to certain types or groups of listeners. For example, a sonic tone may be broadcast in a music venue while an artist conducts a concert. An audience with a device that passively detects sonic tones will receive and process the sonic tones. Next, the device may provide information to a content management system capable of extracting the coded identifier and matching the coded identifier to stored content associated with a performing artist. Next, the content may be pushed to the network-enabled device 1002 that originally transmitted the coded identifier. Next, the user can access the content through the network-enabled device 1002. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, the network-enabled device 1002 passively detects the sonic tone, extracts the coded identifier, transmits the coded identifier and receives the relevant content, without any input or interaction from the user. do.

In some embodiments, the specific content delivered to the network-enabled device 1002 may be a function of where the device is geographically located. That is, while the network-enabled device 1002 in the first city can receive the first content, the network-enabled device 1002 in the second city connected to the same host device 1010 via a network can receive the second content. Can receive. Additionally, the content delivered to the network-enabled device 1002 includes whether the host device is a vehicle of a specific make or model, whether the network-enabled device 1002 is currently moving (for example, in a driving vehicle), and one day. It may rely on other triggers, such as middle time, user preferences, etc.

Content received by the network-enabled device 1002 may be stored, placed, and viewed in any suitable configuration. The content can be viewed upon receipt or later. In one embodiment, the content is delivered to an e-mailbox associated with the user. In one embodiment, the content is delivered to an executable application or module by the network-enabled device 1002. Users can launch applications and access content. Content can be sorted into an appropriate hierarchy or schema.

The host device 1010 according to the principles of the present invention includes a central processor 1014 for implementing various functions of the present invention as well as other entertainment and networking functions suitable for the context and purpose of use of the host device. For example, in a vehicle, a processor may manage the presentation of content on one or more video displays and presentation of audio content on speakers, such as music or sound accompanying the displayed video, in addition to networking with network-enabled devices and Internet connections. .

The processor 1014 is connected to the loudspeaker 1012 through an audio circuit. The audio circuitry is suitable for presentation of audio provided from the processor 1014 to the loudspeaker, and will therefore generally include a digital to analog converter 1015 and associated circuitry.

The processor 1014 is further coupled to a communication circuit 1016 for communicating with the network-enabled device 1002 in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The communication circuit 1016 may be a Wi-Fi communication circuit, a Bluetooth communication circuit, an IRDA (infrared) communication circuit, or may be compatible with other LAN or PAN communication standards.

The processor may be further coupled to the WAN interface circuit 1017, which may provide a wireless or wired connection to the public Internet 1000. As mentioned above, the host device 1010 may provide an Internet connection to the device 1002 connected to the wireless interface 1016, or the device 1002 may have its own Internet interface, or the host 1010 or In a situation where both network-enabled devices 1002 do not have an Internet connection (in this case, content transferred from the network-enabled device 1002 to the host 1010 through the wireless interface will be stored in the device 1002 in advance). The invention can be implemented. The invention is not limited to a specific source of content delivered from the device 1002.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 2000 illustrating a process in which a network capable device such as 1002 (FIG. 1) is connected to a network of a host device such as 1010 (FIG. 1) to further allow wireless network communication between them.

In the first step (2002), the host device is initialized with the Wi-Fi network SSID and optional password (in case of Wi-Fi implementation) or Bluetooth identifier/MAC and optional PIN (in case of PAN implementation), and the host is initialized, -Fi ready to broadcast a sonic tone with built-in SSID and optional password.

In this example, the relevant connection information (e.g., SSID/optional password, MAC/PIN, etc.) is formed as a binary message and is a sonic tone as a symbol sequence selected from a group consisting of two or more symbols. Is encoded, where each symbol is associated with a frequency characteristic. The host processor can then use the frequency characteristic associated with the symbols to generate an audio sample of a digitized version of the symbol sequence. Audio samples can be stored in memory. In some embodiments, audio samples may be stored in a tone file. The tone file may be broadcast by passing it to an audio circuit such as 1015 (Fig. 1) for playback on a loudspeaker when the broadcast is triggered. This can be done while other audio is also being played on the loudspeaker, such as a car radio or in-vehicle entertainment content (in vehicle implementations). Alternatively, if there is no content currently provided on the loudspeaker, the sonic tone may be independently broadcast. Sonic Tones can choose to use an inaudible frequency or a frequency in the audible range, depending on the preferences of the particular application. In some applications, a barely audible tone may be preferred so that the user can confirm that the system is running.

In one application of the present invention, the initialization of the host in step 2002 may be repeated periodically to change the password, SSID, MAC or PIN used by the host for wireless connection. This may force re-connection by the client network-capable device to remove connections to devices that are not within the audible range of the host device. One situation where this can prove useful is when the host is in a retail store or other public space and provides a shared Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection that can be used for any network-enabled device in the space, SSID, password, MAC or By changing the PIN periodically, you can prevent people outside the public space from being improperly and permanently connected to the shared wireless network without being inside the retail store, which acoustically suppresses the sonic tones broadcast inside the location. This is because access is not possible outside the location.

The forced reconnection process described above can be useful for generating logistical data about the period of time a customer is active within a specific location, which can overestimate the length of time a customer continues to be in a location. times).

In particular, the public place where the host is installed may be a number of potential places visited by members of public portable devices. For example, the public space may be a building lobby, elevator, hotel room, or conference room. In addition, the host device does not need to be a conventional router device, and the host device's process can be applied to many other devices with processors, loudspeakers and networking circuitry, such as telephones, televisions, clock radios, Bluetooth speaker devices, etc. Can be implemented by

Continuing to Fig. 2, in step 2004, the network-enabled device is initialized for use with the method of the present invention by installing the application on a device capable of capturing and decoding sonic tone broadcasts. These applications are then initialized and the client device is ready to listen to the sonic tone broadcast.

In step 2006, the host device broadcasts a sonic tone in which the SSID/optional password or MAC/optional PIN combination for the wireless network of the host device is embedded. If you wish to create a device that is generally accessible to any network-capable devices within the range of the host device speakers, this can be done automatically and periodically by the host device. Alternatively, the broadcast of the sonic tone can be triggered by a user's manual input (eg, pressing a pairing button or a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button on the host device). Or, certain special actions may trigger the broadcast, such as starting the vehicle's engine or placing the vehicle into a park.

In step 2008, the network-enabled device receives and decodes the sonic tone, using the application installed in step 2004. This step may occur manually as a result of application installation, or may only occur when the application is in the foreground of the network-enabled device display, initiated by the user, or triggered by various conditions.

Once the network-capable device decodes the sonic tone, it connects to the host wireless network using the built-in Wi-Fi SSID/optional password or Bluetooth MAC-ID/optional PIN. In some situations, this may proceed through step 2010 in which a connection is created without invoking a network capable device operating system procedure for Wi-Fi connection/Bluetooth pairing. This can be done in operating systems that allow application control of the Wi-Fi connection parameters/Bluetooth stack. Alternatively, if the functions are not available for application control, the network capable device is connected to the wireless network by calling the operating system Wi-Fi connection/Bluetooth pairing process in the alternate step 2012. In some operating systems, this step may require manual intervention by the user depending on the operating system requirements. To facilitate user intervention, the relevant SSID and/or optional password and/or Bluetooth ID and/or optional PIN are identified in a screen popup for the user, or an operating system dialog on the user's search clipboard. It can be saved via a paste action on the dialog box.

After connecting to the host wireless network in step 2014, the network-enabled device can provide content for presentation at the host, as discussed above.

As mentioned above, the host may serve as a gateway for Internet communication by a network capable device. In that case, in step 2016, the network-enabled device may access the presented content (audio, video, etc.) through a network connection provided by the host. Alternatively, the network enabled device may use its own WAN interface to access the presented content. As a third possibility, content previously stored on the network-enabled device can be provided through the host device.

As described herein, the software application may be executed on the network-enabled device 1002 so that a user can wirelessly connect to the host device 1010. In addition, the application may allow that connection to be implemented without user interaction, potentially without the use of an operating system application commonly used for wireless network discovery and/or pairing with master devices in personal area networks. have.

The specific functions of the host device and the network capable device are not limited to the embodiments described herein. For example, in one embodiment, the host device may be connected to an entertainment system of a vehicle, and the network-enabled device may be a content providing device of the vehicle, but the present invention is not limited thereto. As mentioned above, the host device may take many forms or be embedded in a variety of devices with loudspeakers and/or microphones and wireless networking capabilities. For example, the host device may be a television, phone, computer, smart phone, tablet, headphone/headset, smart watch, virtual reality or enhanced reality goggles, helmet or system, Internet of Things devices, or Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. It may be personal assistants, Google Home, and/or other fixed or wearable devices capable of wireless connection and/or sonic tone generation or reception. The network-capable device may be one of these devices. In particular, the headset can be paired with the playback device through the method described above by a playback device that generates and broadcasts a sonic tone through a loudspeaker, or by a headset that generates and broadcasts a sonic tone through a speaker. Additionally, headsets or devices can wirelessly connect to each other for intercom functionality in a similar manner.

Also, for use in vehicles, the principles of the invention have applications other than delivering content to in-vehicle entertainment systems. For example, a vehicle may deliver a different sonic tone than a specific speaker of the vehicle speaker at a low sound pressure level, so that devices in the vehicle can have separate SSID-MAC-identifiers and/or different content of the sonic tone. Alternatively, an optional password-PIN combination can be used to initiate a pairing response. As a result, the vehicle infotainment system can identify which mobile devices are located at a specific location of the vehicle. Assuming that each mobile device carries a unique passenger, the vehicle can determine which passenger is in which seat position of the vehicle, allowing the vehicle to associate various vehicle comfort and entertainment settings with specific passengers and locations. For example, infotainment system settings (sound matrix or directionality), seat position settings, and/or temperature settings may be memorized along with identification of the device(s) and passenger(s) at a particular location. The vehicle will then re-apply these settings to accommodate the same passenger(s) when the connected device(s) responds to sonic tones from different seats inside the vehicle, so that the passengers are in different locations. Even if present, infotainment settings, seating positions and/or temperature settings are automatically tailored for each passenger.

In further embodiments, the principles of the invention can be applied to allow other interactions between the vehicle and the mobile device, such as passing the vehicle VIN or key number to a mobile device found inside the vehicle, which allows access to the vehicle door. It can be returned to the vehicle at a later time via smart tones or wireless communication from the device, either to activate the vehicle start button or to allow other vehicle functions. Similar principles may make it possible to use a mobile device to access other secure locations. In various use cases, an application for a mobile device may respond to a sonic tone by passing over the wireless network of keys needed to unlock the vehicle or secure location after connection to the wireless network. Alternatively, the mobile device may generate a sonic tone that encodes a key required for unlocking or accessing a location or function. Alternatively, the vehicle or secure location may store the MAC address(s) of one or more trusted mobile device(s) based on prior pairing of these devices with the vehicle or secure location. , When the mobile device later connects with a wireless network in a secure location in response to a sonic tone, the connection by MAC address enables unlocking of the vehicle door or other secure location. To enhance security, the MAC address or key passed by the mobile device is a key that is combined with or derived from data from the mobile device's biometric reader and shared between the mobile device and the vehicle or other secure location. Personal biometrics can be formed to protect them.

In still other vehicle embodiments, a sonic tone including payment or coupon information may be generated by the vehicle's infotainment system or other special purpose speaker, and thus, driving with the vehicle through a payment location such as a parking lot or a restaurant ( drive), by passing payment information (a payment card number or equivalent).

In addition, the principles of the present invention can be used to facilitate networking between the vehicle's on-board computer system and other network-enabled devices such as a dealership or diagnostic network in a garage. In this use case, a sonic tone is transmitted from a vehicle in the drive-in area or received from a vehicle in the drive-in area, triggering a pairing between the vehicle and a diagnostic or other communication system in that drive-in area, thereby When reaching the -in area, exchange of diagnostic information and vehicle software update occur automatically.

Outside of the vehicle context, it is possible to transfer payment information to a registration or other sales location using Sonic Tone by one of the above-mentioned devices at another point of sale equipped to use Sonic Interaction.

In addition, the present invention can be applied to a wearable device that can be wirelessly connected or paired with another device using the methods of the present invention. For example, a smartwatch can act as a network-capable device and connect to a host device, or pair with other devices that act as a host device and act as a network-capable device. A hearing aid or activity monitor equipped with a microphone or speaker may act as a host or network capable device depending on the device's available capabilities and desired use cases.

Further, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that at least some of the embodiments described herein may be implemented in many different embodiments of software, firmware, and/or hardware. Software and firmware code may be executed by a processor or other similar computing device. The software code or special control hardware that can be used to implement the embodiments is not limited. For example, the embodiments described herein may be implemented in computer software using any suitable computer software language type, for example using prior art or object-oriented techniques. Such software may be stored on any type of suitable computer readable medium (medium or media) such as, for example, magnetic or optical storage media.

The operation and behavior of the embodiments may be described without specific reference to specific software code or special hardware components. The absence of such specific reference is feasible, as it is clearly understood that one skilled in the art can design software and control hardware to implement embodiments based on specifications without undue experimentation with reasonable effort.

Moreover, the processes related to the above-described embodiments may be executed by a computer or a computer system and/or programmable equipment such as a processor. The software that causes the programmable equipment to execute processes may be stored in a storage device such as, for example, a computer system (nonvolatile) memory, an optical disk, a magnetic tape or a magnetic disk. In addition, at least some of the processes may be programmed when a computer system is manufactured or stored in various types of computer-readable media.

Further, it is to be understood that certain process aspects described herein may be performed using instructions stored on a computer readable medium instructing a computer system to perform the process steps. The computer-readable medium may include, for example, a memory device such as a diskette, compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs), optical disc drives, or hard disc drives. Further, the computer-readable medium may include physical, virtual, permanent, temporary, semi-permanent and/or semi-transitory memory storage devices.

"Computer", "computer system", "host", "server" or "processor" means, for example, a processor, microcomputer, minicomputer, server, mainframe, laptop, personal data assistant (PDA), wireless email device , A cellular phone, a pager, a processor, a fax machine, a scanner, or other programmable device configured to transmit and/or receive data through a network, but is not limited thereto.

The computer systems and computer-based devices described herein may include memory for storing specific software modules used to obtain, process, and communicate information. It can be appreciated that such memory may be internal or external with respect to the operation of the described embodiments. In addition, the memory includes a hard disk, an optical disk, a floppy disk, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), and/or other computer-readable media. , May include means for storage.

In various embodiments described herein, a single component may be replaced by multiple components, and multiple components can be replaced by a single component to perform a given function or functions. Except where such substitutions do not work, such substitutions are within the intended scope of the examples. For example, all of the servers described herein may be replaced by a "server farm" or other group of networked servers (eg server blades) that are located and configured for cooperative functions.

Server farms can serve to distribute the workload among/between individual components of the farm, and can accelerate computing processes by harnessing the collective and collaborative power of multiple servers. Able to know. These server farms can, for example, track demand for processing power from different machines, prioritizing and scheduling jobs according to network demand, and/or component failure or operability. You can use load-balancing software that performs tasks such as provision of backup contingency in case of a decrease in ).

Computer systems may include one or more processors that communicate with memory (eg, RAM or ROM) through one or more data buses. The data bus can carry electrical signals between the processor(s) and memory. The processor and memory may include electrical circuits that conduct current. The state of charge of various components of the circuit, such as solid-state transistors of the processor(s) and/or memory circuit(s), may change during operation of the circuit.

While various embodiments have been described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, changes, and adaptations to these embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art, with at least some advantages achieved. Accordingly, the above-described embodiments are intended to include all such modifications, changes and adaptations without departing from the scope of the embodiments described herein.

Claims (26)

A method of connecting a network capable device to a wireless network, comprising:
a. Broadcasting a sonic tone encoding a sequence of symbols representing a binary message containing digitized information useful for implementing a connection to a wireless network;
b. Receiving the sonic tone and decoding the binary message;
c. Using the digitized information decoded from the binary message so that a connection between a network-enabled device and a wireless network is implemented;
How to include. The method of claim 1,
The method of claim 1, wherein the sonic tone is a human-audible sonic tone. The method of claim 1,
Wherein the wireless network is a wireless IP network, and the network-capable device is connected to a wireless IP gateway. The method of claim 2,
The wireless IP network is an 802.11 Wi-Fi compatible network, the digitized information is an SSID (Service Set Identifier) or MAC (Media Access Control) address for connection to the wireless IP network, and the network-enabled device transmits a sonic tone. After performing the step of receiving and decoding the SSID or MAC from the sonic tone, the SSID or MAC is used to connect to a Wi-Fi compatible network. The method of claim 4,
The sonic tone further includes a password, and the network-enabled device performs the steps of receiving the sonic tone and decoding the SSID or MAC and password, and then the SSID or MAC to be connected to the Wi-Fi compatible network. And using a password. The method of claim 3,
The network-capable device implements an operating system including a Wi-Fi network search routine, and the network-capable device does not use the Wi-Fi network search routine of the network-capable device operating system, and the wireless device is identified using a sonic tone. A method comprising connecting to an IP gateway. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the sonic tone is generated by the wireless IP gateway and received and used by the network capable device. The method of claim 1,
Wherein the wireless network is a personal area network (PAN), and the network-capable device is paired with a master device of the PAN. The method of claim 8,
The PAN is a Bluetooth compatible PAN and the digitized information includes a Bluetooth network identifier, and the network-capable device performs the steps of receiving the sonic tone and decoding the Bluetooth network identifier from the sonic tone, and then the Bluetooth Using the Bluetooth network identifier to connect to a compatible PAN. The method of claim 9,
The Bluetooth network identifier is the MAC address of the master device of the Bluetooth compatible PAN. The method of claim 9,
The sonic tone further includes a PIN, and the network-enabled device performs the steps of receiving a sonic tone and decoding a Bluetooth network identifier and PIN, and then, the Bluetooth network identifier and PIM to be connected to the Bluetooth compatible PAN. Method characterized by using. The method of claim 9,
The network-enabled device implements an operating system including a Bluetooth pairing routine, and the network-enabled device performs pairing to the identified PAN using a sonic tone without using the pairing routine of the network-enabled device operating system. . The method of claim 8,
Wherein the sonic tone is generated by the master device of the PAN, and is received and used by the network capable device. As a wireless network host that provides a fast interface to join a wireless network,
a. A processor that encodes a sequence of symbols representing binary messages containing digitized information useful for implementing a connection to a wireless network into sonic tones;
b. An audio circuit for driving an audio system to broadcast the sonic tone;
c. A wireless networking circuit for receiving a connection request from a wireless device, comprising: a networking circuit for allowing connection to a wireless network by devices providing digitized information encoded in the binary message;
Wireless network host comprising a. The method of claim 14,
The wireless network host, wherein the sonic tone is a human-audible sonic tone. The method of claim 14,
The wireless network is a wireless IP network, and the network-capable device is connected to a wireless IP gateway. The method of claim 14,
The wireless IP network is an 802.11 Wi-Fi compatible network, the digitized information is an SSID (Service Set Identifier) or MAC (Media Access Control) address for connection to the wireless IP network, and the network-enabled device transmits a sonic tone. After performing the step of receiving and decoding the SSID or MAC from the sonic tone, and then using the SSID or MAC to connect to a Wi-Fi compatible network. The method of claim 17,
The sonic tone further includes a password, and the network-enabled device performs the steps of receiving the sonic tone and decoding the SSID or MAC and password, and then the SSID or MAC to be connected to the Wi-Fi compatible network. And using a password. The method of claim 14,
The network-capable device implements an operating system including a Wi-Fi network search routine, and the network-capable device does not use the Wi-Fi network search routine of the network-capable device operating system, Wireless network host, characterized in that connecting to the IP gateway. The method of claim 14,
The sonic tone is generated by the wireless IP gateway, and is received and used by the network capable device. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the wireless network is a PAN and the network-capable device is paired with a master device of the PAN. The method of claim 21,
The PAN is a Bluetooth compatible PAN and the digitized information includes a Bluetooth network identifier, and the network-capable device performs the steps of receiving the sonic tone and decoding the Bluetooth network identifier from the sonic tone, and then the Bluetooth The wireless network host, characterized in that using the Bluetooth network identifier to be connected to a compatible PAN. The method of claim 22,
And the Bluetooth network identifier is a MAC address of a master device of the Bluetooth compatible PAN. The method of claim 22,
The sonic tone further includes a PIN, and the network-enabled device performs the steps of receiving a sonic tone and decoding a Bluetooth network identifier and PIN, and then, the Bluetooth network identifier and PIM to be connected to the Bluetooth compatible PAN. Wireless network host, characterized in that to use. The method of claim 22,
The network-capable device implements an operating system including a Bluetooth pairing routine, and the network-capable device performs pairing to the identified PAN using a sonic tone without using the pairing routine of the network-capable device operating system. Network host. The method of claim 21,
The sonic tone is generated by the master device of the PAN, and is received and used by the network capable device.

Images