Abstract

When initially pairing devices using wireless communication technologies (e.g., Bluetooth®, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), WiFi®, etc.), the devices may exchange a common secret key to enable the device to automatically reestablish the connection in the future. Rather than requiring a new common secret key to be exchanged, techniques of this disclosure enable different host devices (e.g., phones, computers, watches, etc.) to share a common secret key for each client device (e.g., headphones, printers, keyboards, mice, etc.). A virtualized pairing service, which may be provided by a cloud-based or other computing system, may receive common secret keys for a particular user account each time the user performs an initial pairing of a client device with a host device. Other host devices associated with the user account may download (automatically or manually) the new common secret key from the virtualized pairing service. After the initial pairing of that client device, the user may wish to pair the client device with a different host device. Rather than having to repeat the pairing process and generate a new secret key, the different host device may use the common secret key for the client device downloaded from the virtualized pairing service to establish a connection as if the different host device and the client device were already paired. Thus, rather than performing the typical pairing process for each new host device the user may wish to connect to the client device, techniques of this disclosure enable the various devices associated with the user to reuse information (e.g., common secret keys) generated during an initial pairing with one device, which may simplify the subsequent connection process for new host and/or client devices.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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