Ipass Inc.

Cirrent, Inc.

Ben Franklin Patent Holding LLC

General Magic, Inc.

Barbara Nelson

Robert Conant

Luis G Marmolejo-Meillon

James E White

Danny Lange

James Marion Underwood

Jing Su

Roy David Albert

Blair Thomas Bullock

Jeff Steven Edgett

Stark Pister

John Robert Vollbrecht

Roshan Paiva

Anre Nario Roshan Paiva

Marcio Avillez

Evan Kaplan

Methods, systems and apparatus for securing credential distribution are disclosed. One method includes receiving, by a wireless device, from a cloud system, that the wireless device is authorized to receive private network credentials, sensing, by the wireless device, a presence of one or more wireless networks, providing, by the wireless device, wireless network information of the sensed presence of the one or more wireless networks to the cloud system, providing, by the wireless device, to the cloud system, a request for private network credentials, wherein the cloud system, receives the private network credentials of the authenticated user, and receiving, by the wireless device, from the cloud system, distribution of the private network credentials, thereby allowing the wireless device to obtain local network access with the private network credentials.

Securing credential distribution

Methods, systems and apparatus for binding an authenticated user with a wireless device are disclosed. One method includes receiving local environment information from the wireless device, receiving local information from a computing device of the authenticated user, comparing the local environment information of the wireless device with the local information of the computing device, binding the wireless device with the computing device based on the comparison of the local environment information of the wireless device with the local information of the computing device, and communicating information to a wireless device cloud management system that indicates that the binding between the wireless device and the computing device has occurred.

Binding an authenticated user with a wireless device

Methods, systems and apparatus for securing credential distribution are disclosed. One method includes receiving, by a cloud system, a notification from a credential management system that a wireless device is associated with an authenticated user of the credential management system, wherein the credential management system stores private network credentials of the authenticated user, and wherein the cloud system further receives an identifier of the wireless device with the notification, authenticating, by the cloud system, the wireless device, receiving, by the cloud system, a request from the wireless device for private network credentials, and distributing, by the cloud system, the private network credentials to the wireless device, thereby allowing the wireless device to obtain local network access with the private network credentials.

Methods, systems and apparatus for securing credential distribution are disclosed. One method includes receiving notification from a credential management system that a wireless device is associated with an authenticated user of the credential management system. The method further includes receiving the private network credentials of the authenticated user, storing the private network credentials and the identifier of the wireless device, receiving an authentication request from a router, returning a response to the authentication request to the router, wherein the response includes internet domains and connection bandwidths the wireless device is allowed to use, authenticating the wireless device, ensuring that the wireless device is authorized to receive private network credentials; and distributing, by the cloud system, the private network credentials to the wireless device, thereby allowing the wireless device to obtain local network access with the private network credentials.

In some embodiments, a method includes scanning for wireless networks, where scanning includes collecting network information indicating properties of the wireless networks. The method can include analyzing the network information to determine signal data indicating signal qualities for the wireless networks. The method can include characterizing, based on the signal data, one or more wireless networks as being suitable for connection by the mobile device, where the characterizing includes determining, based on the signal data, movement of the mobile relative to one or more access points of the wireless networks. The method can include determining that one or more signals of the wireless networks are above a dwell threshold level for reliable wireless connectivity. The method can include determining that one or more signals has been dropped, and connecting to the mobile device to one of the one or more wireless networks that are suitable for connection.

Advanced network characterization and migration

Some embodiments include a method for determining whether to establish a connection between a computer and a network. In some embodiments, the method includes: receiving first network information from a network; determining a first trust level for the network by matching the network information to provisioning information, wherein the provisioning information indicates the first trust level and an authentication method of the network; verifying that network supports the authentication method, wherein the verifying includes exchanging information with the network; after verifying that the network supports the authentication method, establishing a connection to the network, wherein the connection provides access to an Internet.

Advanced network characterization

Some embodiments include a method for initially configuring a network appliance. The method can detect, by the network appliance, a subscriber network. The method can transmit, to a remote configuration service via the subscriber network, a request for configuration information for the network appliance, and receive, via the subscriber network, the configuration information, wherein the configuration information includes first parameters for the subscriber network, and second parameters for an access network for connecting computing devices to the network appliance. The method can also perform an automated initial configuration of the network appliance using the configuration information, wherein the automated configuration does not require user input, and wherein the automated configuration includes using the first parameters and the second parameters to configure the network appliance for use with the access network and the subscriber network.

Automated configuration for network appliances

In one embodiment the method includes detecting a network indicator associated with a network, the network provided by a network provider. In one embodiment, after the detecting of the network indicator, the method includes obtaining from the network provider an actual attribute associated with the network. The method may also include determining, based on stored network information, whether the actual attribute matches an expected attribute for the network. If the actual attribute matches the expected attribute, the method may classify the network into one of a plurality of network classes.

System and method for actively characterizing a network

In one aspect, a network system includes a user interface which allows a user to interact with the network system. An agent server is coupled to the user interface. The agent server manages the operation of the network system. Furthermore, the agent server in conjunction with the user interface is operable to create or modify an agent in response to interaction by the user. In another aspect, a network system includes an agent server which manages the operation of the network system. An agent is operable to utilize a service within the network system. A service wrapper, associated with the service, cooperates with the agent server to mediate interaction between the service and the agent.

Network system extensible by users

A system and method is provided to verify configuration of a client access device requesting access to a network by establishing a communications link between a network access system and the client access device to authenticate and authorize the client access device and a user associated with the client access device. The network access system further receives client device configuration data from the client access device over the communications link during an authentication and authorization exchange and processes the client device configuration data to determine if the client access device will be granted access to the network.

Growing community of inventors

San Mateo, CA, United States of America

Barbara Nelson