WO2009047691A2

WO2009047691A2 - Method of installing an electronic device

Info

Publication number: WO2009047691A2
Application number: PCT/IB2008/054082
Authority: WO
Inventors: Olivier Clergeaud
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2007-10-08
Filing date: 2008-10-06
Publication date: 2009-04-16
Also published as: WO2009047691A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of installing an electronic device via a personal computer, said electronic device being intended to communicate with other devices according to a wireless encrypted communication mode. This method comprises the steps of: -checking if the electronic device is connected to the personal computer, -getting a unique identifier of the electronic device, -generating an encryption parameter on the basis of the unique identifier, -building a registry name on the basis of the unique identifier on the personal computer, and -saving the encryption parameter in the registry.

Description

Method of installing an electronic device

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a method of installing an electronic device via a personal computer, said electronic device being intended to communicate with other devices according to a wireless encrypted communication mode.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When an end-user wants to install a wireless modem router, most of the time the wireless network is not encrypted. It means that any device that is near the modem router may be able to connect to the modem router without any effort.

A solution to solve the above-mentioned problem is to configure the encryption of the modem router. Such a configuration is very difficult to achieve for the end-user because he has to find where to configure the wireless parameters. Subsequently, the end-user has to choose between several encryption solutions such as Wired Equivalent Privacy WEP 64 bits or 128 bits (encryption based on the RC4 encryption algorithm) or Wi-Fi Protected Access WPA, and, for a given encryption solution, between several encryption keys. Therefore, the end-user has to enter manually a lot of parameters and he is often not able to select the best solution.

This configuration process is not user-friendly. Moreover, when the configuration is done, if the end-user forgets or loses the encryption parameter, he is not able to recover it. As a consequence, he will not be able to connect a new device on the wireless network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to propose a method of installing an electronic device via a personal computer, which is more user friendly than the one of the prior art.

To this end, the method of installing an electronic device via a personal computer in accordance with the invention is characterized in that it comprises the steps of: - checking if the electronic device is connected to the personal computer, getting a unique identifier of the electronic device, and generating an encryption parameter on the basis of the unique identifier. As a consequence, the method in accordance with the invention allows the end-user to very simply configure the encryption of the electronic device, a single click allowing the above mentioned steps to be performed automatically.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method in accordance with the invention further comprises the steps of: building a registry name on the basis of the unique identifier on the personal computer, saving the encryption parameter in the registry.

Therefore the encryption parameter is stored in a known registry. This makes it possible for the end-user to retrieve the encryption parameter at any time without having to remember it or to note it somewhere.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising a set of instructions which, when loaded in the memory of a personal computer, makes the personal computer execute all the steps of the method in accordance with the invention. It also relates to a storage medium for storing such a computer program.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the preliminary steps implemented before installing or encrypting the residential gateway, and the way to recover the encryption parameter in accordance with the invention; - Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the electronic device installation process; and

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the electronic device encryption process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a user simplified installation method of the encryption parameter of an electronic device via a personal computer. It also relates to the convenient way of retrieving this encryption parameter at any time.

The invention will be described in the context of an electronic device being a modem router (also called in the following a residential gateway) but it will be apparent to a skilled person that the electronic device can be any other device communicating according to a wireless encrypted communication mode such as wireless phone, a streaming audio device or a multimedia player.

The encryption solution described in the following is the Wi-Fi Protected Access WPA but other encryption solutions such as the Wired Equivalent Privacy WEP are applicable.

The installation method is implemented by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the following, the installation method is made available via a storage medium such as a CD-ROM which is supplied together with the residential gateway. Alternatively, the installation method can be made available via a computer program which can be downloaded through the Internet.

Referring to Figure 1 , a block diagram showing the preliminary process used to initialize all the relevant parameters to be able to configure the residential gateway, to recover the encryption key and to perform the encryption process is depicted. This preliminary process makes it possible for the end-user to install its residential gateway, if it is not already done or to encrypt this residential gateway if it is not already done, or to retrieve to the encryption parameter if required. As stated above the installation method is implemented by means of a software application.

In a first step 10.1, the end-user inserts the storage medium, a CD-ROM for example, in the personal computer PC and a software application starts. Then, the software application checks if a residential gateway managed by this software application is connected to the PC (steps 10.2 & 10.3). If the residential gateway is not yet managed by the software application (No), the standard menus are displayed on the PC screen without any encryption information in a step 10.4. This step is followed by the installation of the new residential gateway, which will be described in more detail in Figure 2.

If the residential gateway is detected by the software application (Yes), then the software application gets the Media Access Control MAC address of the residential gateway (i.e. the physical and unique network address of the residential gateway) as well as the Service Set Identifier SSID and the encryption type of the residential gateway in a step 10.5. In a step 10.6, the software application builds a registry name according to the MAC address for storing the encryption parameter. In the above example, the MAC address has been used as it is a unique identifier of the residential gateway. However, it will be apparent to a skilled person that other unique identifiers can be chosen such as, for example, the serial number of the residential gateway. In a step 10.7, the registry database is checked to see whether the registry exists or not. If it does not exist (No), it means that the residential gateway has never been installed nor encrypted by the software application and the standard menus are displayed on the PC screen without any encryption information (step 10.4). If the registry exists (Yes), then the encryption status and the SSID stored in the registry are read in a step 10.8. Then, the registry SSID is compared to the residential gateway SSID and it is checked whether the registry encryption value is true (steps 10.9 & 10.10).

If the SSIDs are identical and the encryption value is set to true (Yes), it means that the residential gateway has already been installed and encrypted by the software application. In that case, the WPA key is decoded and copied in the registry in order to be able to display it and/or to print it (step 10.11). In a step 10.12, an encryption information menu is displayed: if the end-user clicks on this menu, the network wireless name and the encryption key are displayed on the PC screen and can be printed. If the SSIDs are not identical (No), the fact that the residential gateway is encrypted or not (i.e. the encryption value is set to true or false, respectively) is considered in a step 10.13. If the residential gateway is already encrypted (Yes), it means that it has not been encrypted by this software application so that said application is not able to display the encryption information and the process returns to step 10.4. If the residential gateway is not encrypted (No), it means that the gateway has been installed by the software application but has not yet been encrypted. Therefore, the encryption menu is displayed on the PC screen in a step 10.14. This step is followed by the encryption of the residential gateway, which will be described in more detail in Figure 3.

Figure 2 depicts the installation method and shows how the registry is created once the residential gateway is installed.

The installation method is not described in details since most of the installation steps are known to the person skilled in the art. The current description is focused on registry creation. In a step 20.1, the installation process of the residential gateway is started. Once the installation process is terminated, the software application analyzes the installation status: successful or failed (step 20.2). If the installation has failed (No), a registry is not created and the encryption menu is not displayed (step 20.3). If the installation has succeeded (Yes), then a new registry is created according to the residential gateway MAC address and the encryption value is set to False (step 20.4).

As an example, the registry is created as follows: The residential gateway MAC Address is 00-12-BF-30-02-D8. The registry name is derived from a fixed name, here as an example PHILIPS_ and from digits of the MAC address (the last 6 ones in our example) HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Philips\PHILIPS_3002D8

In a next step 20.5, the encryption menu is displayed on the PC screen. This step is followed by the encryption of the residential gateway, which will be described in more detail in Figure 3.

Figure 3 depicts the encryption method. In particular, it shows how the encryption parameters are generated and how the registry is updated after the encryption of the residential gateway. In a first step 30.1, the end-user has to launch the encryption of its residential gateway for example by clicking on a specific button. Then the encryption is executed automatically by the software application according to the following scheme.

In a step 30.2, the application creates the network name (e.g. SSID) and generates the encryption parameter, namely the WPA key. As stated above, the network name is for example "PHILIPS " + 6 last digits of the MAC Address and the WPA Key is for example "WPA " + 6 last digits of the Mac Address encrypted with RC4 algorithm:

The following example is given for illustration purpose: MAC Address: 00-12-BF-30-02-D8

SSID: PHILIPS 3002D8 WPA key generated: WPA_4F345D

WPA key encrypted: (E?F— u>%o

In a step 30.3, the residential gateway SSID and the WPA key are saved in the residential gateway. Then the software application checks that these parameters are properly saved (step 30.4). If the parameters are not properly saved (No), then the registry is not updated and the encryption menu is displayed again (step 30.5). If the parameters are properly saved (Yes), then the registry is updated by setting the encryption value to True and by adding the WPA key encrypted with the RC4 protocol (step 30.6).

The update registry is the following: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Philips\PHILIPS_3002D8 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Philips\PHILIPS_3002D8->Encryption=True HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Philips\PHILIPS_3002D8->WPAKey= (E?F— u>%o

Then the encryption information menu is displayed on the PC screen in order to permit to retrieve the encrypted information at any time (step 30.7). If the end-user clicks on this menu, the network wireless name and the encryption key are displayed on the PC screen and can be printed.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be capable of designing many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed in parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claims. The word "comprising" and "comprises", and the like, does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in any claim or the specification as a whole. The singular reference of an element does not exclude the plural reference of such elements and vice- versa.

Claims

1. A method of installing an electronic device via a personal computer, said electronic device being intended to communicate with other devices according to a wireless encrypted communication mode, said method comprising the steps of: checking if the electronic device is connected to the personal computer, getting a unique identifier of the electronic device, and generating an encryption parameter on the basis of the unique identifier.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising the steps of: building a registry name on the basis of the unique identifier on the personal computer, and saving the encryption parameter in the registry.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprising the step of: retrieving the encryption parameter from the registry.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electronic device is one of a wireless modem router or of a wireless router.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is one of the Media Access Control address or of the serial number of the electronic device.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the encryption parameter is the Wi- Fi Protected Access key.

7. A computer program comprising a set of instructions which, when loaded in the memory of a personal computer, makes the personal computer execute all the steps of the method as claimed in claim 1.

8. A storage medium for storing the computer program as claimed in claim 7.