IT201600125741A1 - METHOD AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM TO SHARE BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF MOBILE TERMINALS A PLURALITY OF WIRELESS LOCAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS PROTECTED WITH ACCESS PASSWORDS AND TO CONNECT AUTOMATICALLY SUCH MOBILE TERMINALS TO SHARED NETWORKS. - Google Patents

Description

Barzanò & Zanardo

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METHOD AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM TO SHARE BETWEEN A PLURALITY OF MOBILE TERMINALS A PLURALITY OF WIRELESS LOCAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS PROTECTED WITH ACCESS PASSWORDS AND TO AUTOMATICALLY CONNECT THESE

5 MOBILE TERMINALS TO SHARED NETWORKS

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The present invention relates to a method and an electronic system for sharing between a plurality of mobile terminals a plurality of 10 local wireless telecommunications networks protected with access passwords and for automatically connecting said mobile terminals to shared networks.

For the purposes of this discussion, mobile terminals can be mobile phones (smartphones), PDAs, 15 portable computers, netbooks or notebooks, tablets and so on.

Nowadays, local wireless telecommunications networks, such as so-called Wi-Fi networks, are widespread. Such local wireless telecommunications networks 20, as is known, are generally protected with access passwords in such a way as to selectively control access to such networks.

The growing territorial coverage of local wireless telecommunications networks has aroused 25 interest in the opportunity to create real virtual telecommunications networks consisting of a set of shared wireless telecommunications networks.

In this regard, it is necessary to share passwords for access to networks in a secure and simple 30 manner, as well as to have these passwords shared on mobile terminals.

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The purpose of the present invention is to devise a method and an electronic system that allow a plurality of wireless local telecommunications networks 5 protected with access passwords to be shared between a plurality of mobile terminals in a simple and secure way and to connect said mobile terminals to the networks shared automatically.

This and other purposes according to the present invention are achieved by realizing an electronic method and system 10 as set forth in the independent claims.

Further characteristics of the method and of the electronic system are the subject of the dependent claims.

15 The characteristics and advantages of a method and of an electronic system according to the present invention will become more evident from the following description, which is exemplary and not limiting, referring to the attached schematic drawings in which:

20 - figure 1 is a schematic block view of an operating configuration of an electronic system according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of a step of sharing wireless local telecommunications networks 25 of the method according to the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flow diagram of a step of automatic connection of mobile terminals to shared networks of the method according to the present invention. With reference to the figures, an electronic system 30 is shown for sharing between a plurality of mobile terminals 11 a plurality of wireless local telecommunications networks 15 protected with

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access password and to automatically connect such mobile terminals 11 to shared networks 15.

In this discussion, reference is made to local telecommunications networks 15 which have access to the 5 internet data network 16.

This electronic system comprises a plurality of mobile terminals 11 and at least one server unit 12 configured to implement the method according to the present invention which will be described below. 10 The mobile terminals 11 can be mobile phones (smartphones), PDAs, portable netbooks or notebooks, tablets and so on. Therefore, the mobile terminals 11 are configured to connect both to a local telecommunications network (LAN) of the wireless type 15 and 15 to an internet data network 16, by means of respective antennas or transceiver modules known per se in the state of the art; the mobile terminals 11, moreover, are configured to detect their position, being for example equipped with a GPS antenna. The 20 localization of the mobile terminal 11 can also be carried out using information from the internet data network 16 to which they are connected directly via an antenna or indirectly via the local network.

25 The mobile terminals 11 are also equipped with a processing and control unit, for example a microprocessor, and a memory unit, such as a hard disk or memory card.

The at least one server unit 12 can be any 30 computer configured as a server and connected to the internet data network 16.

A software module is loaded on the mobile terminals 11

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client 13 of a first computer program while a server software module 14 of said first computer program is loaded on at least one server unit 12. Said software modules client 13 and server 14 5 comprise portions of software code for carrying out the steps of the method according to the present invention.

The method for sharing 100, among the plurality of mobile terminals 11, the plurality of local wireless telecommunications networks connected to the internet data network 10 and protected with access passwords and for automatically connecting 110 such mobile terminals 11 to the shared networks, provides that the sharing step 100 of the wireless local telecommunications networks comprises, following each connection 101 15 of one of the mobile terminals 11 to one of the wireless local telecommunications networks to be shared, the steps:

- detecting 102, by the mobile terminal 11, its own position;

20 - collect 103, from the mobile terminal 11, a first plurality of information data concerning the wireless local telecommunications network 15 to which it is connected and a second plurality of information data concerning the mobile terminal 11, where the first 25 plurality of information data includes at least the access password;

- send 104, by the mobile terminal 11, the first and second plurality of information data and the detected position to at least one server unit 12;

30 - generate 105, by at least one server unit 12, an identification code for the local wireless telecommunications network 15 to which

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report the information data received on the basis of the second plurality of information data, encrypt the relative access password on the basis of the first plurality of information data received and the 5 detected position of the mobile terminal 11, and store the encrypted access password in association with the code generated identifier.

The first plurality of information data advantageously includes the name of the network (ssid) and 10 the MAC address of the network (bssid).

The second plurality of information data comprises terminal data such as signal strength, battery level and so on. For simplicity of discussion, reference will be made by way of example and not limitation 15 to the case in which the mobile terminal 11 is a smartphone.

To share 100 one of the wireless local telecommunications networks 15, therefore, the user operates in such a way that their mobile terminal 11, a smartphone, 20 connects to this wireless local telecommunications network 15; in practice, the user enters the password to access the network on the smartphone in order to allow the connection.

The client software module 13 loaded on the mobile terminal 25 11 retrieves the first and second plurality of information data and controls the smartphone in order to send the information data collected and the detected position to the at least one server unit 12. The sending of this data takes place via the internet data network 16 which the mobile terminal 11 accesses via the local wireless telecommunications network 15. The at least one server unit 12, in fact, does not belong to the same network

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local wireless telecommunications 15 to be shared but can be reached via the internet data network 16. The server software module 14 generates the data pair formed by the identification code and the encrypted password 5 of the wireless local telecommunications network 15 to which the received data refer.

Preferably, the step (102) for detecting the position of the mobile terminal 11 comprises the step in which the position of the wireless local telecommunications network 10 15 to which the mobile terminal 11 is connected is detected and the step in which the position of the local wireless telecommunications network 15 as the position of the mobile terminal 11. In this case, then, the position of the local wireless telecommunications network 15 15 coinciding with the position of the mobile terminal 11 is assumed. In any case, the position sent by the terminal mobile 11 to the at least one server unit 12 is expressed in terms of latitude and longitude; the at least one server unit 12 transforms the 20 format through which the position is expressed, generating a so-called geoHash based on the latitudes and longitudes received. The geoHash is an alphanumeric string indicative of the position whose length is directly proportional to the precision.

25 Preferably, the password is encrypted on the basis of the network name (ssid), the MAC address of the network (bssid) of the geohash and a first shared secret.

By shared secret we mean an alphanumeric security string 30 preset and stored both in the mobile terminal 11 and in at least one server unit 12.

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Preferably, the password is encrypted using a block encryption algorithm, such as the so-called AES-256, whose key is generated through a 5-key derivation algorithm such as the so-called PBKDF2.

Preferably, the identification code is generated by means of a cryptographic hash function, such as the so-called SHA-512, based on the MAC address of the network, the second plurality 10 of information data, and a second shared secret.

The at least one server unit 12, therefore, stores in its memory unit a series of pairs formed by the identification codes and the respective encrypted passwords of the shared wireless local networks 15.

15 Advantageously, the step of automatic connection 110 of the mobile terminals 11 to the shared networks 15 comprises, for each of these mobile terminals 11 following each scan 120 of the available wireless local telecommunications networks 15 20 carried out by the mobile terminal (11), the stages:

- detecting 111, by the mobile terminal 11, its own position;

- send 112, by the mobile terminal 11, a request for a list of telecommunications networks 25 local wireless 15 shared to at least one server unit 12;

- send 113 to the mobile terminal 11, by at least one server unit 12, the previously requested list of local wireless telecommunications networks 15 shared 30 which includes a list of identification codes associated with the respective encrypted passwords of the telecommunications networks

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15 shared wireless rooms;

- determine (114) an identification code for each of these available networks;

- check 115, by the mobile terminal 11, if 5 there are one or more shared wireless local telecommunications networks available, i.e. if one or more identification codes of the wireless local telecommunications networks previously determined are present in the list of identification codes 10 of the shared networks;

- if the verification fails, wait for a new scan 120;

- if there is only one shared wireless local telecommunications network available, decrypt 116, by 15 of the mobile terminal 11, the encrypted access password associated with the identification code of the shared wireless local telecommunications network 15 available and connect the mobile terminal 11 to the shared network available;

20 - if there is a plurality of shared wireless local telecommunications networks 15 available, select 117 one of these shared networks available on the basis of said second plurality of information data and a plurality of historical data concerning the past 25 connections, decrypt 118, to be part of the mobile terminal 11, the encrypted access password associated with the identification code of the selected available shared wireless local telecommunications network 15, and connecting the mobile terminal to this selected available shared network 30.

In particular, the selection of the available shared network is made on the basis of the power of the

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signal and historical data which include the number of past connections made by the mobile terminals 11 to the single network, the duration of these past connections, the quantity of data exchanged in said 5 past connections and the bandwidth available in these past connections.

In light of the above, whenever the mobile terminal 11 scans 120 of the available wireless local telecommunications networks, the client software module 10 13 verifies that there is a shared network available and, if so, commands the automatic connection of the mobile terminal 11 a that network. If there are no shared networks among those available, the software client module 13 waits for 15 the mobile terminal 11 to perform a new scan 120 and following this new scan it repeats the steps described above. The occurrence of the scans of the available wireless local networks is preset in a completely independent way by the software module 20 client 13. For example, it can be implemented by settings of the operating system that controls the mobile terminal 11.

Preferably, the at least one server unit 12 sends the list of shared wireless local telecommunications networks 15 25 which are located at a distance from the mobile terminal 11 which requested them less than a preset maximum value.

Advantageously, the decryption of passwords takes place on the mobile terminal 11 without the need for 30 to receive decryption keys from at least one server unit 12 or from any other external unit; in fact, the mobile terminal 11 uses data of which

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it already has the current location of the network, the network name, the MAC address of the network and the first shared secret.

Preferably, the list of 5 local wireless 15 shared telecommunications networks is sent by at least one server unit 12 if the following conditions are met:

- the requesting mobile terminal 11 that is the one that sent the request to at least one server unit 12 is 10 registered in a list of accepted mobile terminals stored in at least one server unit 12;

- the requesting mobile terminal 11 has not exceeded a preset daily request quota;

- the current request of the requesting mobile terminal 11 15 occurs after a minimum time interval predetermined by the previous request of the requesting mobile terminal 11;

- the requesting mobile terminal 11 has sent its position;

20 - the request of the requesting mobile terminal 11 is expressed according to a predefined format.

The predefined format of the request can provide, for example, that some parameters of the network 15 and / or of the mobile terminal 11 25 expressed in a predetermined way are present in the request.

Advantageously, shared wireless local telecommunications networks can include hotspots generated by mobile terminals whose access passwords are stored on the server unit in association with a 30 identification code of the hotspot itself. In that case, these shared hotspots are generated by a second configuration computer program

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and the activation of a so-called tethering service. When a user wishes to create a shared hotspot the second computer program retrieves from the at least one server unit 12 and locally saves a plurality of configuration parameters such as the hotspot name, the daily time windows in which the hotspot can be activated, the limit of data that can be exchanged on a monthly level, and so on. At this point, the second computer program 10 configures and activates the hotspot based on the configuration parameters received and collects a plurality of information data regarding the hotspot created such as the MAC address of the hotspot and the relative access password. The second computer program also retrieves 15 the current position of the mobile terminal acting as the hotspot and controls the respective mobile terminal in such a way as to send the information data of the hotspot, an identification code and the position of the hotspot to the at least one server unit 12. mobile terminal.

20 To understand the use of shared hotspots, consider the case of a shared hotspot generated by a taxi or bus driver. Access to the internet, in this case, will be available to all passengers with a mobile terminal on which the first program described above is loaded.

From the above description the characteristics of the method and of the system object of the present invention are clear, as are the relative advantages.

30 In fact, the method and the electronic system according to the present invention make it possible to create a virtual network in a simple and above all secure way

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composed of the set of shared local telecommunications networks. The high protection of this virtual network or the security offered by the encryption of shared passwords is guaranteed by the fact that 5 the encryption operation is based not only on the information of the networks but on the position of the mobile terminal that shares the passwords.

Finally, it is clear that the method and the system thus conceived are susceptible of numerous modifications and 10 variations, all of which are covered by the invention; furthermore, all the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials used, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to the technical requirements.

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Barzanò & Zanardo Milano S.p.A.

DB / 137202

Claims (10)

Barzanò & Zanardo -13 - CLAIMS 1) Method for sharing (100), among a plurality of mobile terminals (11), a plurality of local wireless telecommunications networks (15) protected with 5 access passwords and for automatically connecting (110) said mobile terminals (11) to said shared networks (15), in which said step of sharing (100) of said wireless local telecommunications networks (15) comprises, following each connection 10 (101) of one of said mobile terminals (11) to one of said local wireless telecommunications networks (15) to be shared, the phases: - detecting (102), by said mobile terminal (11), its own position; 15 - collecting (103), by said mobile terminal (11), a first plurality of information data concerning the wireless local telecommunications network (15) to which it is connected and a second plurality of information data concerning said mobile terminal 20 (11), said first plurality of information data including at least the access password; - send (104), by said mobile terminal (11), said first and said second plurality of information data and said position detected to at least 25 one server unit (12); - generate (105), by said at least one server unit (12), an identification code for said wireless local telecommunications network (15) to which said information data received on the basis 30 of said second plurality of information data refer , encrypt the relative access password on the basis of said first plurality of information data received and DB / 137202 Barzanò & Zanardo -14 - said detected position of said mobile terminal (11), and memorizing said encrypted access password in association with said generated identification code. 2) Method according to claim 1 wherein said step 5 for detecting (102) the position of said mobile terminal (11) comprises the steps: - detecting the position of the wireless local telecommunications network (15) to which said mobile terminal (11) is connected and saving said position of said wireless local telecommunications network (15) as the position of said mobile terminal. 3) Method according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said first plurality of information data comprises the name of the network (ssid), the MAC address of the network (bssid) and 15 a first shared secret, said encryption step takes place on the basis of the name of the network (ssid), of the MAC address of the network (bssid), of the first shared secret and of said detected position of said mobile terminal (11). 20 4) Method according to one of the preceding claims in which said encryption step takes place using a block encryption algorithm, the key of which is generated through a key derivation algorithm. 25 5) Method according to one of the preceding claims in which the shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) comprise hotspots generated by mobile terminals whose access passwords are stored on said at least one server unit (12) in 30 association with an identification code of the respective hotspot. 6) Method according to one of the preceding claims DB / 137202 Barzanò & Zanardo -15 - wherein said step of automatic connection (110) of said mobile terminals (11) to said shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) comprises, for each of said mobile terminals (11) 5 following a scan (120) of the networks local wireless telecommunications (15) available carried out by the mobile terminal (11), the phases: - detecting (111), by said mobile terminal (11), its own position; 10 - send (112), by said mobile terminal (11), a request for a list of local wireless telecommunications networks (15) shared to said at least one server unit (12); - sending (113) to said mobile terminal (11), by 15 of said at least one server unit (12), the previously requested list of local wireless telecommunications networks (15) which includes a list of the identification codes associated with the respective encrypted passwords of said shared local wireless telecommunications networks 20 (15); - determine (114) an identification code for each of said available wireless local telecommunications networks (15); - verify (115), by said mobile terminal 25 (11), if there are one or more shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) available, i.e. if one or more identification codes of said wireless local telecommunications networks (15) previously determined available are present in the list 30 of the identification codes of said shared wireless local telecommunications networks; - in the event of a negative outcome of this verification, DB / 137202 Barzanò & Zanardo -16 - wait (119) for a new scan (120); - if there is only one shared wireless local telecommunications network available, decrypt (116), by said mobile terminal, the encrypted access password 5 associated with the identification code of said available shared wireless local telecommunications network (15) and connect said terminal mobile (11) to said available shared wireless local telecommunications network (15); 10 - if there is a plurality of shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) available, select (117) one of said shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) available on the basis of said second plurality of information data and a plurality of historical data regarding past connections, decrypt (118), by said mobile terminal (11), the encrypted access password associated with the identification code of said selected available 20 shared wireless local telecommunications network (15), and connect said terminal mobile (11) to said selected available shared wireless local telecommunications network (15). 7) Method according to claim 6 in which said mobile terminal (11) decrypts said encrypted passwords 25 using its location, the network name (ssid), the MAC address of the network (bssid) and the first shared secret. 8) Method according to claim 6 or 7 wherein said at least one server unit (12) sends the list of networks of 30 shared wireless local telecommunications (15) which are located at a distance from said mobile terminal (11) which has made request less than a value DB / 137202 Barzanò & Zanardo -17 - predetermined maximum. 9) Method according to one of claims 6 to 8 in which said list of shared wireless local telecommunications networks (15) is sent by said 5 at least one server unit (12) if the following conditions are met: - the requesting mobile terminal (11) ie the one that sent the request to said at least one server unit (12) is registered in a list of accepted mobile terminals 10 stored in said at least one server unit (12); - the requesting mobile terminal has not exceeded a preset daily request quota; - the current request for said requesting mobile terminal (11) 15 occurs after a minimum time interval predetermined by the previous request for said requesting mobile terminal (11); - said requesting mobile terminal (11) has sent its position; 20 - said request for said requesting mobile terminal (11) is expressed according to a predefined format. 10) Electronic system for sharing, among a plurality of mobile terminals (11), a plurality of local wireless telecommunications networks (15) protected 25 with access passwords and for automatically connecting said mobile terminals (11) to said networks (15) shared, comprising a plurality of mobile terminals (11) and at least one server unit (12) configured to implement the method according to one 30 of claims 1 to 9. 11) Computer program comprising a client software module (13) loadable on a memory of a DB / 137202 Barzanò & Zanardo -18 - plurality of mobile terminals (11) and a server software module (14) that can be loaded onto a memory of at least one server unit (12), said client (13) and server (14) software modules comprising portions of software code 5 for carrying out the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9. 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