US 9,071,967 B1 · Wireless credential sharing

Abstract

Various embodiments enable devices to share network authentication credentials or other information. For example, a computing device authorized to access a wireless network can be used to manage access to the wireless network, such as by modifying, sharing, or creating a password to access the wireless network. A peer-to-peer connection can be established between the authorized computing device and at least one other computing device (e.g., a guest computing device). Upon establishing the peer-to-peer connection between the devices, a service, application, or system component operating on each device can be used to share network authentication credentials between the devices. For example, the user of the authorized device can cause to be transmitted network authentication credentials to a guest computing device. When the guest computing device receives the network authentication credentials, the guest computing device can connect to the wireless network, authenticate with the wireless network using the network authentication credentials to access, and access at least one network.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A system, comprising:

at least one processor;
and
memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause a computing device to:
detect a plurality of guest computing devices within a vicinity of the computing device;
receive, on an interface of the computing device, a selection of a guest computing device from the plurality of guest computing devices;
establish a peer-to-peer connection between the computing device and the selected guest computing device;
transmit network authentication credentials over the peer-to-peer connection to the selected guest computing device, the network authentication credentials including a reshare preference and enabling access to a wireless network, the reshare preference indicating that the selected guest computing device is permitted to share the network authentication credentials with a predetermined number of other computing devices, the selected guest computing device configured to:
receive the network authentication credentials that include the reshare preference,
automatically connect to the wireless network by authenticating with a router using the network authentication credentials,
establish a peer-to-peer connection with at least one other guest computing device, and
share the network work authentication credentials with the at least one other guest computing device based at least in part on the reshare preference.

8 more elements

A computer implemented method, comprising:

establishing a connection with a first computing device by a second computing device;
receiving network authentication information at the second computing device from the first computing device, the network authentication information including a reshare preference, wherein the first computing device transmits the network authentication information in response to a selection being received at the first computing device to send the network authentication information to the second computing device, the reshare preference indicating that the second computing device is permitted to share the network authentication credentials with a predetermined number of other computing devices, the second computing device configured to:
connect to a network using the network authentication information,
establish a peer-to-peer connection with at least one other guest computing device, and
share the network work authentication information with the at least one other guest computing device based at least in part on the reshare preference.

2 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a set of operations comprising:

detecting a second computing device within a vicinity of a first computing device;
determining to provide network authentication information to the second computing device;
establishing a connection by the first computing device with the second computing device;
and
transmitting the network authentication information to the second computing device, the network authentication information including a reshare preference, the reshare preference indicating that the second computing device is permitted to share the network authentication credentials with a predetermined number of other computing devices, wherein the network authentication information is used to authenticate the second computing device to a network, the second computing device configured to:
connect to the network using the network authentication information,
establish a peer-to-peer connection with at least one other guest computing device, and
share the network work authentication information with the at least one other guest computing device based at least in part on the reshare preference.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Wireless credential sharing

Life of this patent

Wireless credential sharing

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19