Patent Publication Number: US-2015071216-A1

Title: Allowing mass re-onboarding of headless devices

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119 
     The present Application for Patent claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/875,437 entitled “ALLOWING MASS RE-ONBOARDING OF HEADLESS DEVICES” filed Sep. 9, 2013, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The disclosure is related to allowing mass onboarding of devices in a wireless network. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The Internet is a global system of interconnected computers and computer networks that use a standard Internet protocol suite (e.g., the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP)) to communicate with each other. The Internet of Things (IoT) is based on the idea that everyday objects, not just computers and computer networks, can be readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and controllable via an IoT communications network (e.g., an ad-hoc system or the Internet). 
     A number of market trends are driving development of IoT devices. For example, increasing energy costs are driving governments&#39; strategic investments in smart grids and support for future consumption, such as for electric vehicles and public charging stations. Increasing health care costs and aging populations are driving development for remote/connected health care and fitness services. A technological revolution in the home is driving development for new “smart” services, including consolidation by service providers marketing ‘N’ play (e.g., data, voice, video, security, energy management, etc.) and expanding home networks. Buildings are getting smarter and more convenient as a means to reduce operational costs for enterprise facilities. 
     There are a number of key applications for the IoT. For example, in the area of smart grids and energy management, utility companies can optimize delivery of energy to homes and businesses while customers can better manage energy usage. In the area of home and building automation, smart homes and buildings can have centralized control over virtually any device or system in the home or office, from appliances to plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) security systems. In the field of asset tracking, enterprises, hospitals, factories, and other large organizations can accurately track the locations of high-value equipment, patients, vehicles, and so on. In the area of health and wellness, doctors can remotely monitor patients&#39; health while people can track the progress of fitness routines. 
     Accordingly, in the near future, increasing development in IoT technologies will lead to numerous IoT devices surrounding a user at home, in vehicles, at work, and many other locations. As more and more devices become network-aware, problems that relate to configuring devices to access wireless networks will therefore become more acute. In particular, existing mechanisms to configure devices to access wireless networks tend to suffer from various drawbacks and limitations, which include a complex user experience, insufficient reliability, and security vulnerabilities, among other things. For example, configuring devices to access infrastructure-mode Wi-Fi networks and other similar wireless networks typically requires association and authentication of the device. 
     In certain cases, a process called “onboarding” may be used to accomplish the secure admission to the wireless network, wherein onboarding may allow thin client devices, headless devices, and other devices that may lack a friendly user interface to learn sufficient information about the destination wireless network to accomplish the admission and authentication processes required to join the wireless network. 
     In an IoT environment, there may be many headless IoT devices that are configured to communicate over a given local wireless network, such as a user&#39;s home network. An issue may arise when the user wishes to change the network configuration, such as the logon credentials and/or the SSID, for the local wireless network. But simply changing the network configuration causes the headless devices to lose their connection to the local wireless network, and there is currently no way to push new network configuration parameters to headless devices when they are not connected to a local wireless network. Rather, the headless devices must revert to their soft AP mode and be re-onboarded on an individual basis. 
     SUMMARY 
     The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects and/or embodiments disclosed herein. As such, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects and/or embodiments, nor should the following summary be regarded to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects and/or embodiments or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect and/or embodiment. Accordingly, the following summary has the sole purpose to present certain concepts relating to one or more aspects and/or embodiments relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form to precede the detailed description presented below. 
     An aspect includes a method for onboarding one or more onboardee devices with an onboarder device. The method may include receiving, at the onboarder device, updated network configuration parameters for a local wireless network and sending the updated network configuration parameters and a delay parameter from the onboarder device to the one or more onboardee devices via the local wireless network. The delay parameter indicates time at which the updated network configuration parameters will be valid. In addition, the method may include receiving, at the one or more onboardee devices, the updated network configuration parameters for a local wireless network and the delay parameter. The one or more onboardee devices then wait, at least, until the time at which the updated network configuration parameters will be valid before reconnecting to the local wireless network. 
     Another aspect may be characterized as a wireless device that includes a network transceiver to communicate with wireless networks and a peer-to-peer platform to communicate with one or more onboardee devices via the network transceiver. The wireless device may also include an onboarding service that implements an onboarding service application programming interface (API) that connects with a peer onboarding service at the one or more onboardee devices via the peer-to-peer platform. A remote onboarding manager that is coupled to the onboarding service may be configured to receive, at the onboarder device, updated network configuration parameters for a local wireless network and send the updated network configuration parameters and a delay parameter from the onboarder device to the one or more onboardee devices via the local wireless network. The delay parameter indicates a time at which the updated network configuration parameters will be valid. 
     Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects and embodiments disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A more complete appreciation of aspects of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which are presented solely for illustration and not limitation of the disclosure, and in which: 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system in accordance with another aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1C  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1D  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 1E  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2A  illustrates an exemplary Internet of Things (IoT) device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure, while  FIG. 2B  illustrates an exemplary passive IoT device in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a communication device that includes logic configured to perform functionality in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary server according to various aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a wireless communication network that may support discoverable peer-to-peer (P2P) services, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary environment in which discoverable P2P services may be used to establish a proximity-based distributed bus over which various devices may communicate, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an exemplary message sequence in which discoverable P2P services may be used to establish a proximity-based distributed bus over which various devices may communicate, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an exemplary system architecture in which discoverable P2P services may be used to allow remote onboarding of a headless devices over a Wi-Fi network, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIGS. 9A-B  illustrate exemplary message sequences in which discoverable P2P services may be used to allow remote onboarding of headless devices over a Wi-Fi network, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an exemplary method in which an onboarder device may use discoverable P2P services to remotely onboard an onboardee device over a Wi-Fi network, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates an exemplary method in which an onboardee device may use discoverable P2P services to remotely onboard over a Wi-Fi network, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 12  illustrates an exemplary flow for allowing mass re-onboarding of headless devices according to an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates an exemplary flow for allowing mass re-onboarding of headless devices according to an aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 14  illustrates an exemplary block diagram that may correspond to a device that uses discoverable P2P services to communicate over a proximity-based distributed bus, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Various aspects are disclosed in the following description and related drawings to show specific examples relating to exemplary embodiments. Alternate embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the pertinent art upon reading this disclosure, and may be constructed and practiced without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements will not be described in detail or may be omitted so as to not obscure the relevant details of the aspects and embodiments disclosed herein. 
     The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Likewise, the term “embodiments” does not require that all embodiments include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation. 
     The terminology used herein describes particular embodiments only and should be construed to limit any embodiments disclosed herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action. 
     As used herein, the term “Internet of Things device” (or “IoT device”) may refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an IoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.). 
       FIG. 1A  illustrates a high-level system architecture of a wireless communications system  100 A in accordance with an aspect of the disclosure. The wireless communications system  100 A contains a plurality of IoT devices, which include a television  110 , an outdoor air conditioning unit  112 , a thermostat  114 , a refrigerator  116 , and a washer and dryer  118 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1A , IoT devices  110 - 118  are configured to communicate with an access network (e.g., an access point  125 ) over a physical communications interface or layer, shown in  FIG. 1A  as air interface  108  and a direct wired connection  109 . The air interface  108  can comply with a wireless Internet protocol (IP), such as IEEE 802.11. Although  FIG. 1A  illustrates IoT devices  110 - 118  communicating over the air interface  108  and IoT device  118  communicating over the direct wired connection  109 , each IoT device may communicate over a wired or wireless connection, or both. 
     The Internet  175  includes a number of routing agents and processing agents (not shown in  FIG. 1A  for the sake of convenience). The Internet  175  is a global system of interconnected computers and computer networks that uses a standard Internet protocol suite (e.g., the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and IP) to communicate among disparate devices/networks. TCP/IP provides end-to-end connectivity specifying how data should be formatted, addressed, transmitted, routed and received at the destination. 
     In  FIG. 1A , a computer  120 , such as a desktop or personal computer (PC), is shown as connecting to the Internet  175  directly (e.g., over an Ethernet connection or Wi-Fi or 802.11-based network). The computer  120  may have a wired connection to the Internet  175 , such as a direct connection to a modem or router, which, in an example, can correspond to the access point  125  itself (e.g., for a Wi-Fi router with both wired and wireless connectivity). Alternatively, rather than being connected to the access point  125  and the Internet  175  over a wired connection, the computer  120  may be connected to the access point  125  over air interface  108  or another wireless interface, and access the Internet  175  over the air interface  108 . Although illustrated as a desktop computer, computer  120  may be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a PDA, a smart phone, or the like. The computer  120  may be an IoT device and/or contain functionality to manage an IoT network/group, such as the network/group of IoT devices  110 - 118 . 
     The access point  125  may be connected to the Internet  175  via, for example, an optical communication system, such as FiOS, a cable modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, or the like. The access point  125  may communicate with IoT devices  110 - 120  and the Internet  175  using the standard Internet protocols (e.g., TCP/IP). 
     Referring to  FIG. 1A , an IoT server  170  is shown as connected to the Internet  175 . The IoT server  170  can be implemented as a plurality of structurally separate servers, or alternately may correspond to a single server. In an aspect, the IoT server  170  is optional (as indicated by the dotted line), and the group of IoT devices  110 - 120  may be a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. In such a case, the IoT devices  110 - 120  can communicate with each other directly over the air interface  108  and/or the direct wired connection  109 . Alternatively, or additionally, some or all of IoT devices  110 - 120  may be configured with a communication interface independent of air interface  108  and direct wired connection  109 . For example, if the air interface  108  corresponds to a Wi-Fi interface, one or more of the IoT devices  110 - 120  may have Bluetooth or NFC interfaces for communicating directly with each other or other Bluetooth or NFC-enabled devices. 
     In a peer-to-peer network, service discovery schemes can multicast the presence of nodes, their capabilities, and group membership. The peer-to-peer devices can establish associations and subsequent interactions based on this information. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 1B  illustrates a high-level architecture of another wireless communications system  100 B that contains a plurality of IoT devices. In general, the wireless communications system  100 B shown in  FIG. 1B  may include various components that are the same and/or substantially similar to the wireless communications system  100 A shown in  FIG. 1A , which was described in greater detail above (e.g., various IoT devices, including a television  110 , outdoor air conditioning unit  112 , thermostat  114 , refrigerator  116 , and washer and dryer  118 , that are configured to communicate with an access point  125  over an air interface  108  and/or a direct wired connection  109 , a computer  120  that directly connects to the Internet  175  and/or connects to the Internet  175  through access point  125 , and an IoT server  170  accessible via the Internet  175 , etc.). As such, for brevity and ease of description, various details relating to certain components in the wireless communications system  100 B shown in  FIG. 1B  may be omitted herein to the extent that the same or similar details have already been provided above in relation to the wireless communications system  100 A illustrated in  FIG. 1A . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1B , the wireless communications system  100 B may include a supervisor device  130 , which may alternatively be referred to as an IoT manager  130  or IoT manager device  130 . As such, where the following description uses the term “supervisor device”  130 , those skilled in the art will appreciate that any references to an IoT manager, group owner, or similar terminology may refer to the supervisor device  130  or another physical or logical component that provides the same or substantially similar functionality. 
     In an embodiment, the supervisor device  130  may generally observe, monitor, control, or otherwise manage the various other components in the wireless communications system  100 B. For example, the supervisor device  130  can communicate with an access network (e.g., access point  125 ) over air interface  108  and/or a direct wired connection  109  to monitor or manage attributes, activities, or other states associated with the various IoT devices  110 - 120  in the wireless communications system  100 B. The supervisor device  130  may have a wired or wireless connection to the Internet  175  and optionally to the IoT server  170  (shown as a dotted line). The supervisor device  130  may obtain information from the Internet  175  and/or the IoT server  170  that can be used to further monitor or manage attributes, activities, or other states associated with the various IoT devices  110 - 120 . The supervisor device  130  may be a standalone device or one of IoT devices  110 - 120 , such as computer  120 . The supervisor device  130  may be a physical device or a software application running on a physical device. The supervisor device  130  may include a user interface that can output information relating to the monitored attributes, activities, or other states associated with the IoT devices  110 - 120  and receive input information to control or otherwise manage the attributes, activities, or other states associated therewith. Accordingly, the supervisor device  130  may generally include various components and support various wired and wireless communication interfaces to observe, monitor, control, or otherwise manage the various components in the wireless communications system  100 B. 
     The wireless communications system  100 B shown in  FIG. 1B  may include one or more passive IoT devices  105  (in contrast to the active IoT devices  110 - 120 ) that can be coupled to or otherwise made part of the wireless communications system  100 B. In general, the passive IoT devices  105  may include barcoded devices, Bluetooth devices, radio frequency (RF) devices, RFID tagged devices, infrared (IR) devices, NFC tagged devices, or any other suitable device that can provide its identifier and attributes to another device when queried over a short range interface. Active IoT devices may detect, store, communicate, act on, and/or the like, changes in attributes of passive IoT devices. 
     For example, passive IoT devices  105  may include a coffee cup and a container of orange juice that each has an RFID tag or barcode. A cabinet IoT device and the refrigerator IoT device  116  may each have an appropriate scanner or reader that can read the RFID tag or barcode to detect when the coffee cup and/or the container of orange juice passive IoT devices  105  have been added or removed. In response to the cabinet IoT device detecting the removal of the coffee cup passive IoT device  105  and the refrigerator IoT device  116  detecting the removal of the container of orange juice passive IoT device, the supervisor device  130  may receive one or more signals that relate to the activities detected at the cabinet IoT device and the refrigerator IoT device  116 . The supervisor device  130  may then infer that a user is drinking orange juice from the coffee cup and/or likes to drink orange juice from a coffee cup. 
     Although the foregoing describes the passive IoT devices  105  as having some form of RFID tag or barcode communication interface, the passive IoT devices  105  may include one or more devices or other physical objects that do not have such communication capabilities. For example, certain IoT devices may have appropriate scanner or reader mechanisms that can detect shapes, sizes, colors, and/or other observable features associated with the passive IoT devices  105  to identify the passive IoT devices  105 . In this manner, any suitable physical object may communicate its identity and attributes and become part of the wireless communication system  100 B and be observed, monitored, controlled, or otherwise managed with the supervisor device  130 . Further, passive IoT devices  105  may be coupled to or otherwise made part of the wireless communications system  100 A in  FIG. 1A  and observed, monitored, controlled, or otherwise managed in a substantially similar manner. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 1C  illustrates a high-level architecture of another wireless communications system  100 C that contains a plurality of IoT devices. In general, the wireless communications system  100 C shown in  FIG. 1C  may include various components that are the same and/or substantially similar to the wireless communications systems  100 A and  100 B shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , respectively, which were described in greater detail above. As such, for brevity and ease of description, various details relating to certain components in the wireless communications system  100 C shown in  FIG. 1C  may be omitted herein to the extent that the same or similar details have already been provided above in relation to the wireless communications systems  100 A and  100 B illustrated in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , respectively. 
     The communications system  100 C shown in  FIG. 1C  illustrates exemplary peer-to-peer communications between the IoT devices  110 - 118  and the supervisor device  130 . As shown in  FIG. 1C , the supervisor device  130  communicates with each of the IoT devices  110 - 118  over an IoT supervisor interface. Further, IoT devices  110  and  114 , IoT devices  112 ,  114 , and  116 , and IoT devices  116  and  118 , communicate directly with each other. 
     The IoT devices  110 - 118  make up an IoT group  160 . An IoT device group  160  is a group of locally connected IoT devices, such as the IoT devices connected to a user&#39;s home network. Although not shown, multiple IoT device groups may be connected to and/or communicate with each other via an IoT SuperAgent  140  connected to the Internet  175 . At a high level, the supervisor device  130  manages intra-group communications, while the IoT SuperAgent  140  can manage inter-group communications. Although shown as separate devices, the supervisor device  130  and the IoT SuperAgent  140  may be, or reside on, the same device (e.g., a standalone device or an IoT device, such as computer  120  in  FIG. 1A ). Alternatively, the IoT SuperAgent  140  may correspond to or include the functionality of the access point  125 . As yet another alternative, the IoT SuperAgent  140  may correspond to or include the functionality of an IoT server, such as IoT server  170 . The IoT SuperAgent  140  may encapsulate gateway functionality  145 . 
     Each IoT device  110 - 118  can treat the supervisor device  130  as a peer and transmit attribute/schema updates to the supervisor device  130 . When an IoT device needs to communicate with another IoT device, it can request the pointer to that IoT device from the supervisor device  130  and then communicate with the target IoT device as a peer. The IoT devices  110 - 118  communicate with each other over a peer-to-peer communication network using a common messaging protocol (CMP). As long as two IoT devices are CMP-enabled and connected over a common communication transport, they can communicate with each other. In the protocol stack, the CMP layer  154  is below the application layer  152  and above the transport layer  156  and the physical layer  158 . 
     In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 1D  illustrates a high-level architecture of another wireless communications system  100 D that contains a plurality of IoT devices. In general, the wireless communications system  100 D shown in  FIG. 1D  may include various components that are the same and/or substantially similar to the wireless communications systems  100 A-C shown in  FIGS. 1-C , respectively, which were described in greater detail above. As such, for brevity and ease of description, various details relating to certain components in the wireless communications system  100 D shown in  FIG. 1D  may be omitted herein to the extent that the same or similar details have already been provided above in relation to the wireless communications systems  100 A-C illustrated in  FIGS. 1A-C , respectively. 
     The Internet  175  is a “resource” that can be regulated using the concept of the IoT. However, the Internet  175  is just one example of a resource that is regulated, and any resource could be regulated using the concept of the IoT. Other resources that can be regulated include, but are not limited to, electricity, gas, storage, security, and the like. An IoT device may be connected to the resource and thereby regulate it, or the resource could be regulated over the Internet  175 .  FIG. 1D  illustrates several resources  180 , such as natural gas, gasoline, hot water, and electricity, wherein the resources  180  can be regulated in addition to and/or over the Internet  175 . 
     IoT devices can communicate with each other to regulate their use of a resource  180 . For example, IoT devices such as a toaster, a computer, and a hairdryer may communicate with each other over a Bluetooth communication interface to regulate their use of electricity (the resource  180 ). As another example, IoT devices such as a desktop computer, a telephone, and a tablet computer may communicate over a Wi-Fi communication interface to regulate their access to the Internet  175  (the resource  180 ). As yet another example, IoT devices such as a stove, a clothes dryer, and a water heater may communicate over a Wi-Fi communication interface to regulate their use of gas. Alternatively, or additionally, each IoT device may be connected to an IoT server, such as IoT server  170 , which has logic to regulate their use of the resource  180  based on information received from the IoT devices. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 1E  illustrates a high-level architecture of another wireless communications system  100 E that contains a plurality of IoT devices. In general, the wireless communications system  100 E shown in  FIG. 1E  may include various components that are the same and/or substantially similar to the wireless communications systems  100 A-D shown in  FIGS. 1-D , respectively, which were described in greater detail above. As such, for brevity and ease of description, various details relating to certain components in the wireless communications system  100 E shown in  FIG. 1E  may be omitted herein to the extent that the same or similar details have already been provided above in relation to the wireless communications systems  100 A-D illustrated in  FIGS. 1A-D , respectively. 
     The communications system  100 E includes two IoT device groups  160 A and  160 B. Multiple IoT device groups may be connected to and/or communicate with each other via an IoT SuperAgent connected to the Internet  175 . At a high level, an IoT SuperAgent may manage inter-group communications among IoT device groups. For example, in  FIG. 1E , the IoT device group  160 A includes IoT devices  116 A,  122 A, and  124 A and an IoT SuperAgent  140 A, while IoT device group  160 B includes IoT devices  116 B,  122 B, and  124 B and an IoT SuperAgent  140 B. As such, the IoT SuperAgents  140 A and  140 B may connect to the Internet  175  and communicate with each other over the Internet  175  and/or communicate with each other directly to facilitate communication between the IoT device groups  160 A and  160 B. Furthermore, although  FIG. 1E  illustrates two IoT device groups  160 A and  160 B communicating with each other via IoT SuperAgents  140 A and  140 B, those skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of IoT device groups may suitably communicate with each other using IoT SuperAgents. 
       FIG. 2A  illustrates a high-level example of an IoT device  200 A in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. While external appearances and/or internal components can differ significantly among IoT devices, most IoT devices will have some sort of user interface, which may comprise a display and a means for user input. IoT devices without a user interface can be communicated with remotely over a wired or wireless network, such as air interface  108  in  FIGS. 1A-B . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2A , in an example configuration for the IoT device  200 A, an external casing of IoT device  200 A may be configured with a display  226 , a power button  222 , and two control buttons  224 A and  224 B, among other components, as is known in the art. The display  226  may be a touchscreen display, in which case the control buttons  224 A and  224 B may not be necessary. While not shown explicitly as part of IoT device  200 A, the IoT device  200 A may include one or more external antennas and/or one or more integrated antennas that are built into the external casing, including but not limited to Wi-Fi antennas, cellular antennas, satellite position system (SPS) antennas (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) antennas), and so on. 
     While internal components of IoT devices, such as IoT device  200 A, can be embodied with different hardware configurations, a basic high-level configuration for internal hardware components is shown as platform  202  in  FIG. 2A . The platform  202  can receive and execute software applications, data and/or commands transmitted over a network interface, such as air interface  108  in  FIGS. 1A-B  and/or a wired interface. The platform  202  can also independently execute locally stored applications. The platform  202  can include one or more transceivers  206  configured for wired and/or wireless communication (e.g., a Wi-Fi transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a cellular transceiver, a satellite transceiver, a GPS or SPS receiver, etc.) operably coupled to one or more processors  208 , such as a microcontroller, microprocessor, application specific integrated circuit, digital signal processor (DSP), programmable logic circuit, or other data processing device, which will be generally referred to as processor  208 . The processor  208  can execute application programming instructions within a memory  212  of the IoT device. The memory  212  can include one or more of read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash cards, or any memory common to computer platforms. One or more input/output (I/O) interfaces  214  can be configured to allow the processor  208  to communicate with and control from various I/O devices such as the display  226 , power button  222 , control buttons  224 A and  224 B as illustrated, and any other devices, such as sensors, actuators, relays, valves, switches, and the like associated with the IoT device  200 A. 
     Accordingly, an aspect of the disclosure can include an IoT device (e.g., IoT device  200 A) including the ability to perform the functions described herein. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various logic elements can be embodied in discrete elements, software modules executed on a processor (e.g., processor  208 ) or any combination of software and hardware to achieve the functionality disclosed herein. For example, transceiver  206 , processor  208 , memory  212 , and I/O interface  214  may all be used cooperatively to load, store and execute the various functions disclosed herein and thus the logic to perform these functions may be distributed over various elements. Alternatively, the functionality could be incorporated into one discrete component. Therefore, the features of the IoT device  200 A in  FIG. 2A  are to be considered merely illustrative and the disclosure is not limited to the illustrated features or arrangement. 
       FIG. 2B  illustrates a high-level example of a passive IoT device  200 B in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. In general, the passive IoT device  200 B shown in  FIG. 2B  may include various components that are the same and/or substantially similar to the IoT device  200 A shown in  FIG. 2A , which was described in greater detail above. As such, for brevity and ease of description, various details relating to certain components in the passive IoT device  200 B shown in  FIG. 2B  may be omitted herein to the extent that the same or similar details have already been provided above in relation to the IoT device  200 A illustrated in  FIG. 2A . 
     The passive IoT device  200 B shown in  FIG. 2B  may generally differ from the IoT device  200 A shown in  FIG. 2A  in that the passive IoT device  200 B may not have a processor, internal memory, or certain other components. Instead, in one embodiment, the passive IoT device  200 B may only include an I/O interface  214  or other suitable mechanism that allows the passive IoT device  200 B to be observed, monitored, controlled, managed, or otherwise known within a controlled IoT network. For example, in one embodiment, the I/O interface  214  associated with the passive IoT device  200 B may include a barcode, Bluetooth interface, radio frequency (RF) interface, RFID tag, IR interface, NFC interface, or any other suitable I/O interface that can provide an identifier and attributes associated with the passive IoT device  200 B to another device when queried over a short range interface (e.g., an active IoT device, such as IoT device  200 A, that can detect, store, communicate, act on, or otherwise process information relating to the attributes associated with the passive IoT device  200 B). 
     Although the foregoing describes the passive IoT device  200 B as having some form of RF, barcode, or other I/O interface  214 , the passive IoT device  200 B may comprise a device or other physical object that does not have such an I/O interface  214 . For example, certain IoT devices may have appropriate scanner or reader mechanisms that can detect shapes, sizes, colors, and/or other observable features associated with the passive IoT device  200 B to identify the passive IoT device  200 B. In this manner, any suitable physical object may communicate its identity and attributes and be observed, monitored, controlled, or otherwise managed within a controlled IoT network. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a communication device  300  that includes logic configured to perform functionality. The communication device  300  can correspond to any of the above-noted communication devices, including but not limited to IoT devices  110 - 120 , IoT device  200 A, any components coupled to the Internet  175  (e.g., the IoT server  170 ), and so on. Thus, communication device  300  can correspond to any electronic device that is configured to communicate with (or facilitate communication with) one or more other entities over the wireless communications systems  100 A-B of  FIGS. 1A-B . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the communication device  300  includes logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305 . In an example, if the communication device  300  corresponds to a wireless communications device (e.g., IoT device  200 A and/or passive IoT device  200 B), the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  can include a wireless communications interface (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Direct, etc.) such as a wireless transceiver and associated hardware (e.g., an RF antenna, a MODEM, a modulator and/or demodulator, etc.). In another example, the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  can correspond to a wired communications interface (e.g., a serial connection, a USB or Firewire connection, an Ethernet connection through which the Internet  175  can be accessed, etc.). Thus, if the communication device  300  corresponds to some type of network-based server (e.g., the application  170 ), the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  can correspond to an Ethernet card, in an example, that connects the network-based server to other communication entities via an Ethernet protocol. In a further example, the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  can include sensory or measurement hardware by which the communication device  300  can monitor its local environment (e.g., an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a light sensor, an antenna for monitoring local RF signals, etc.). The logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  can also include software that, when executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  to perform its reception and/or transmission function(s). However, the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  does not correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its functionality. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the communication device  300  further includes logic configured to process information  310 . In an example, the logic configured to process information  310  can include at least a processor. Example implementations of the type of processing that can be performed by the logic configured to process information  310  includes but is not limited to performing determinations, establishing connections, making selections between different information options, performing evaluations related to data, interacting with sensors coupled to the communication device  300  to perform measurement operations, converting information from one format to another (e.g., between different protocols such as .wmv to .avi, etc.), and so on. For example, the processor included in the logic configured to process information  310  can correspond to a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration). The logic configured to process information  310  can also include software that, when executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to process information  310  to perform its processing function(s). However, the logic configured to process information  310  does not correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to process information  310  relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its functionality. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the communication device  300  further includes logic configured to store information  315 . In an example, the logic configured to store information  315  can include at least a non-transitory memory and associated hardware (e.g., a memory controller, etc.). For example, the non-transitory memory included in the logic configured to store information  315  can correspond to RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. The logic configured to store information  315  can also include software that, when executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to store information  315  to perform its storage function(s). However, the logic configured to store information  315  does not correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to store information  315  relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its functionality. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the communication device  300  further optionally includes logic configured to present information  320 . In an example, the logic configured to present information  320  can include at least an output device and associated hardware. For example, the output device can include a video output device (e.g., a display screen, a port that can carry video information such as USB, HDMI, etc.), an audio output device (e.g., speakers, a port that can carry audio information such as a microphone jack, USB, HDMI, etc.), a vibration device and/or any other device by which information can be formatted for output or actually outputted by a user or operator of the communication device  300 . For example, if the communication device  300  corresponds to the IoT device  200 A as shown in  FIG. 2A  and/or the passive IoT device  200 B as shown in  FIG. 2B , the logic configured to present information  320  can include the display  226 . In a further example, the logic configured to present information  320  can be omitted for certain communication devices, such as network communication devices that do not have a local user (e.g., network switches or routers, remote servers, etc.). The logic configured to present information  320  can also include software that, when executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to present information  320  to perform its presentation function(s). However, the logic configured to present information  320  does not correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to present information  320  relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its functionality. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the communication device  300  further optionally includes logic configured to receive local user input  325 . In an example, the logic configured to receive local user input  325  can include at least a user input device and associated hardware. For example, the user input device can include buttons, a touchscreen display, a keyboard, a camera, an audio input device (e.g., a microphone or a port that can carry audio information such as a microphone jack, etc.), and/or any other device by which information can be received from a user or operator of the communication device  300 . For example, if the communication device  300  corresponds to the IoT device  200 A as shown in  FIG. 2A  and/or the passive IoT device  200 B as shown in  FIG. 2B , the logic configured to receive local user input  325  can include the buttons  222 ,  224 A, and  224 B, the display  226  (if a touchscreen), etc. In a further example, the logic configured to receive local user input  325  can be omitted for certain communication devices, such as network communication devices that do not have a local user (e.g., network switches or routers, remote servers, etc.). The logic configured to receive local user input  325  can also include software that, when executed, permits the associated hardware of the logic configured to receive local user input  325  to perform its input reception function(s). However, the logic configured to receive local user input  325  does not correspond to software alone, and the logic configured to receive local user input  325  relies at least in part upon hardware to achieve its functionality. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , while the configured logics of  305  through  325  are shown as separate or distinct blocks in  FIG. 3 , it will be appreciated that the hardware and/or software by which the respective configured logic performs its functionality can overlap in part. For example, any software used to facilitate the functionality of the configured logics of  305  through  325  can be stored in the non-transitory memory associated with the logic configured to store information  315 , such that the configured logics of  305  through  325  each performs their functionality (i.e., in this case, software execution) based in part upon the operation of software stored by the logic configured to store information  315 . Likewise, hardware that is directly associated with one of the configured logics can be borrowed or used by other configured logics from time to time. For example, the processor of the logic configured to process information  310  can format data into an appropriate format before being transmitted by the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305 , such that the logic configured to receive and/or transmit information  305  performs its functionality (i.e., in this case, transmission of data) based in part upon the operation of hardware (i.e., the processor) associated with the logic configured to process information  310 . 
     Generally, unless stated otherwise explicitly, the phrase “logic configured to” as used throughout this disclosure is intended to invoke an aspect that is at least partially implemented with hardware, and is not intended to map to software-only implementations that are independent of hardware. Also, it will be appreciated that the configured logic or “logic configured to” in the various blocks are not limited to specific logic gates or elements, but generally refer to the ability to perform the functionality described herein (either via hardware or a combination of hardware and software). Thus, the configured logics or “logic configured to” as illustrated in the various blocks are not necessarily implemented as logic gates or logic elements despite sharing the word “logic.” Other interactions or cooperation between the logic in the various blocks will become clear to one of ordinary skill in the art from a review of the aspects described below in more detail. 
     The various embodiments may be implemented on any of a variety of commercially available server devices, such as server  400  illustrated in  FIG. 4 . In an example, the server  400  may correspond to one example configuration of the IoT server  170  described above. In  FIG. 4 , the server  400  includes a processor  401  coupled to volatile memory  402  and a large capacity nonvolatile memory, such as a disk drive  403 . The server  400  may also include a floppy disc drive, compact disc (CD) or DVD disc drive  406  coupled to the processor  401 . The server  400  may also include network access ports  404  coupled to the processor  401  for establishing data connections with a network  407 , such as a local area network coupled to other broadcast system computers and servers or to the Internet. In context with  FIG. 3 , it will be appreciated that the server  400  of  FIG. 4  illustrates one example implementation of the communication device  300 , whereby the logic configured to transmit and/or receive information  305  corresponds to the network access points  404  used by the server  400  to communicate with the network  407 , the logic configured to process information  310  corresponds to the processor  401 , and the logic configuration to store information  315  corresponds to any combination of the volatile memory  402 , the disk drive  403  and/or the disc drive  406 . The optional logic configured to present information  320  and the optional logic configured to receive local user input  325  are not shown explicitly in  FIG. 4  and may or may not be included therein. Thus,  FIG. 4  helps to demonstrate that the communication device  300  may be implemented as a server, in addition to an IoT device implementation as in  FIG. 2A . 
     In general, user equipment (UE) such as telephones, tablet computers, laptop and desktop computers, certain vehicles, etc., can be configured to connect with each other either locally (e.g., Bluetooth, local Wi-Fi, etc.) or remotely (e.g., via cellular networks, through the Internet, etc.). Furthermore, certain UEs may also support proximity-based peer-to-peer (P2P) communication using certain wireless networking technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct, etc.) that enable devices to make a one-to-one connection or simultaneously connect to a group that includes several devices in order to directly communicate with one another. To that end,  FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary wireless communication network or WAN  500  that may support discoverable P2P services. For example, in one embodiment, the wireless communication network  500  may comprise an LTE network or another suitable WAN that includes various base stations  510  and other network entities. For simplicity, only three base stations  510   a ,  510   b  and  510   c , one network controller  530 , and one Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server  540  are shown in  FIG. 5 . A base station  510  may be an entity that communicates with devices  520  and may also be referred to as a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, etc. Each base station  510  may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area and may support communication for the devices  520  located within the coverage area. To improve network capacity, the overall coverage area of a base station  510  may be partitioned into multiple (e.g., three) smaller areas, wherein each smaller area may be served by a respective base station  510 . In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a base station  510  and/or a base station subsystem  510  serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In 3GPP2, the term “sector” or “cell-sector” can refer to a coverage area of a base station  510  and/or a base station subsystem  510  serving this coverage area. For clarity, the 3GPP concept of “cell” may be used in the description herein. 
     A base station  510  may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or other cell types. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by devices  520  with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by devices  520  with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by devices  520  having association with the femto cell (e.g., devices  520  in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). In the example shown in  FIG. 5 , wireless network  500  includes macro base stations  510   a ,  510   b  and  510   c  for macro cells. Wireless network  500  may also include pico base stations  510  for pico cells and/or home base stations  510  for femto cells (not shown in  FIG. 5 ). 
     Network controller  530  may couple to a set of base stations  510  and may provide coordination and control for these base stations  510 . Network controller  530  may be a single network entity or a collection of network entities that can communicate with the base stations via a backhaul. The base stations may also communicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via wireless or wireline backhaul. DHCP server  540  may support P2P communication, as described below. DHCP server  540  may be part of wireless network  500 , external to wireless network  500 , run via Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), or any suitable combination thereof. DHCP server  540  may be a separate entity (e.g., as shown in  FIG. 5 ) or may be part of a base station  510 , network controller  530 , or some other entity. In any case, DHCP server  540  may be reachable by devices  520  desiring to communicate peer-to-peer. 
     Devices  520  may be dispersed throughout wireless network  500 , and each device  520  may be stationary or mobile. A device  520  may also be referred to as a node, user equipment (UE), a station, a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, etc. A device  520  may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a smart phone, a netbook, a smartbook, a tablet, etc. A device  520  may communicate with base stations  510  in the wireless network  500  and may further communicate peer-to-peer with other devices  520 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , devices  520   a  and  520   b  may communicate peer-to-peer, devices  520   c  and  520   d  may communicate peer-to-peer, devices  520   e  and  520   f  may communicate peer-to-peer, and devices  520   g ,  520   h , and  520   i  may communicate peer-to-peer, while remaining devices  520  may communicate with base stations  510 . As further shown in  FIG. 5 , devices  520   a ,  520   d ,  520   f , and  520   h  may also communicate with base stations  500 , e.g., when not engaged in P2P communication or possibly concurrent with P2P communication. 
     In the description herein, WAN communication may refer to communication between a device  520  and a base station  510  in wireless network  500 , e.g., for a call with a remote entity such as another device  520 . A WAN device is a device  520  that is interested or engaged in WAN communication. P2P communication refers to direct communication between two or more devices  520 , without going through any base station  510 . A P2P device is a device  520  that is interested or engaged in P2P communication, e.g., a device  520  that has traffic data for another device  520  within proximity of the P2P device. Two devices may be considered to be within proximity of one another, for example, if each device  520  can detect the other device  520 . In general, a device  520  may communicate with another device  520  either directly for P2P communication or via at least one base station  510  for WAN communication. 
     In one embodiment, direct communication between P2P devices  520  may be organized into P2P groups. More particularly, a P2P group generally refers to a group of two or more devices  520  interested or engaged in P2P communication and a P2P link refers to a communication link for a P2P group. Furthermore, in one embodiment, a P2P group may include one device  520  designated a P2P group owner (or a P2P server) and one or more devices  520  designated P2P clients that are served by the P2P group owner. The P2P group owner may perform certain management functions such as exchanging signaling with a WAN, coordinating data transmission between the P2P group owner and P2P clients, etc. For example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , a first P2P group includes devices  520   a  and  520   b  under the coverage of base station  510   a , a second P2P group includes devices  520   c  and  520   d  under the coverage of base station  510   b , a third P2P group includes devices  520   e  and  520   f  under the coverage of different base stations  510   b  and  510   c , and a fourth P2P group includes devices  520   g ,  520   h  and  520   i  under the coverage of base station  510   c . Devices  520   a ,  520   d ,  520   f , and  520   h  may be P2P group owners for their respective P2P groups and devices  520   b ,  520   c ,  520   e ,  520   g , and  520   i  may be P2P clients in their respective P2P groups. The other devices  520  in  FIG. 5  may be engaged in WAN communication. 
     In one embodiment, P2P communication may occur only within a P2P group and may further occur only between the P2P group owner and the P2P clients associated therewith. For example, if two P2P clients within the same P2P group (e.g., devices  520   g  and  520   i ) desire to exchange information, one of the P2P clients may send the information to the P2P group owner (e.g., device  520   h ) and the P2P group owner may then relay transmissions to the other P2P client. In one embodiment, a particular device  520  may belong to multiple P2P groups and may behave as either a P2P group owner or a P2P client in each P2P group. Furthermore, in one embodiment, a particular P2P client may belong to only one P2P group or belong to multiple P2P group and communicate with P2P devices  520  in any of the multiple P2P groups at any particular moment. In general, communication may be facilitated via transmissions on the downlink and uplink. For WAN communication, the downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from base stations  510  to devices  520 , and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from devices  520  to base stations  510 . For P2P communication, the P2P downlink refers to the communication link from P2P group owners to P2P clients and the P2P uplink refers to the communication link from P2P clients to P2P group owners. In certain embodiments, rather than using WAN technologies to communicate P2P, two or more devices may form smaller P2P groups and communicate P2P on a wireless local area network (WLAN) using technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi Direct. For example, P2P communication using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct, or other WLAN technologies may enable P2P communication between two or more mobile phones, game consoles, laptop computers, or other suitable communication entities. 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary environment  600  in which discoverable P2P services may be used to establish a proximity-based distributed bus over which various devices  610 ,  630 ,  640  may communicate. For example, in one embodiment, communications between applications and the like, on a single platform may be facilitated using an interprocess communication protocol (IPC) framework over the distributed bus  625 , which may comprise a software bus used to enable application-to-application communications in a networked computing environment where applications register with the distributed bus  625  to offer services to other applications and other applications query the distributed bus  625  for information about registered applications. Such a protocol may provide asynchronous notifications and remote procedure calls (RPCs) in which signal messages (e.g., notifications) may be point-to-point or broadcast, method call messages (e.g., RPCs) may be synchronous or asynchronous, and the distributed bus  625  (e.g., a “daemon” bus process) may handle message routing between the various devices  610 ,  630 ,  640 . 
     In one embodiment, the distributed bus  625  may be supported by a variety of transport protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, CDMA, GPRS, UMTS, etc.). For example, according to one aspect, a first device  610  may include a distributed bus node  612  and one or more local endpoints  614 , wherein the distributed bus node  612  may facilitate communications between local endpoints  614  associated with the first device  610  and local endpoints  634  and  644  associated with a second device  630  and a third device  640  through the distributed bus  625  (e.g., via distributed bus nodes  632  and  642  on the second device  630  and the third device  640 ). As will be described in further detail below with reference to  FIG. 7 , the distributed bus  625  may support symmetric multi-device network topologies and may provide a robust operation in the presence of device drops-outs. As such, the virtual distributed bus  625 , which may generally be independent from any underlying transport protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, etc.) may allow various security options, from unsecured (e.g., open) to secured (e.g., authenticated and encrypted), wherein the security options can be used while facilitating spontaneous connections with among the first device  610 , the second device  630 , and the third device  640  without intervention when the various devices  610 ,  630 ,  640  come into range or proximity to each other. 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 7  illustrates an exemplary message sequence  700  in which discoverable P2P services may be used to establish a proximity-based distributed bus over which a first device (“Device A”)  710  and a second device (“Device B”)  730  may communicate. Generally, Device A  710  may request to communicate with Device B  730 , wherein Device A  710  may a include local endpoint  714  (e.g., a local application, service, etc.), which may make a request to communicate in addition to a bus node  712  that may assist in facilitating such communications. Further, Device B  730  may include a local endpoint  734  with which the local endpoint  714  may be attempting to communicate in addition to a bus node  732  that may assist in facilitating communications between the local endpoint  714  on the Device A  710  and the local endpoint  734  on Device B  730 . 
     In one embodiment, the bus nodes  712  and  732  may perform a suitable discovery mechanism at message sequence step  754 . For example, mechanisms for discovering connections supported by Bluetooth, TCP/IP, UNIX, or the like may be used. At message sequence step  756 , the local endpoint  714  on Device A  710  may request to connect to an entity, service, endpoint etc, available through bus node  712 . In one embodiment, the request may include a request-and-response process between local endpoint  714  and bus node  712 . At message sequence step  758 , a distributed message bus may be formed to connect bus node  712  to bus node  732  and thereby establish a P2P connection between Device A  710  and Device B  730 . In one embodiment, communications to form the distributed bus between the bus nodes  712  and  732  may be facilitated using a suitable proximity-based P2P protocol (e.g., the AllJoyn™ software framework designed to enable interoperability among connected products and software applications from different manufacturers to dynamically create proximal networks and facilitate proximal P2P communication). Alternatively, in one embodiment, a server (not shown) may facilitate the connection between the bus nodes  712  and  732 . Furthermore, in one embodiment, a suitable authentication mechanism may be used prior to forming the connection between bus nodes  712  and  732  (e.g., SASL authentication in which a client may send an authentication command to initiate an authentication conversation). Still further, during message sequence step  758 , bus nodes  712  and  732  may exchange information about other available endpoints (e.g., local endpoints  644  on Device C  640  in  FIG. 6 ). In such embodiments, each local endpoint that a bus node maintains may be advertised to other bus nodes, wherein the advertisement may include unique endpoint names, transport types, connection parameters, or other suitable information. 
     In one embodiment, at message sequence step  760 , bus node  712  and bus node  732  may use obtained information associated with the local endpoints  734  and  714 , respectively, to create virtual endpoints that may represent the real obtained endpoints available through various bus nodes. In one embodiment, message routing on the bus node  712  may use real and virtual endpoints to deliver messages. Further, there may one local virtual endpoint for every endpoint that exists on remote devices (e.g., Device A  710 ). Still further, such virtual endpoints may multiplex and/or de-multiplex messages sent over the distributed bus (e.g., a connection between bus node  712  and bus node  732 ). In one aspect, virtual endpoints may receive messages from the local bus node  712  or  732 , just like real endpoints, and may forward messages over the distributed bus. As such, the virtual endpoints may forward messages to the local bus nodes  712  and  732  from the endpoint multiplexed distributed bus connection. Furthermore, in one embodiment, virtual endpoints that correspond to virtual endpoints on a remote device may be reconnected at any time to accommodate desired topologies of specific transport types. In such an aspect, UNIX based virtual endpoints may be considered local and as such may not be considered candidates for reconnection. Further, TCP-based virtual endpoints may be optimized for one hop routing (e.g., each bus node  712  and  732  may be directly connected to each other). Still further, Bluetooth-based virtual endpoints may be optimized for a single pico-net (e.g., one master and n slaves) in which the Bluetooth-based master may be the same bus node as a local master node. 
     At message sequence step  762 , the bus node  712  and the bus node  732  may exchange bus state information to merge bus instances and enable communication over the distributed bus. For example, in one embodiment, the bus state information may include a well-known to unique endpoint name mapping, matching rules, routing group, or other suitable information. In one embodiment, the state information may be communicated between the bus node  712  and the bus node  732  instances using an interface with local endpoints  714  and  734  communicating with using a distributed bus based local name. In another aspect, bus node  712  and bus node  732  may each may maintain a local bus controller responsible for providing feedback to the distributed bus, wherein the bus controller may translate global methods, arguments, signals, and other information into the standards associated with the distributed bus. At message sequence step  764 , the bus node  712  and the bus node  732  may communicate (e.g., broadcast) signals to inform the respective local endpoints  714  and  734  about any changes introduced during bus node connections, such as described above. In one embodiment, new and/or removed global and/or translated names may be indicated with name owner changed signals. Furthermore, global names that may be lost locally (e.g., due to name collisions) may be indicated with name lost signals. Still further, global names that are transferred due to name collisions may be indicated with name owner changed signals and unique names that disappear if and/or when the bus node  712  and the bus node  732  become disconnected may be indicated with name owner changed signals. 
     As used above, well-known names may be used to uniquely describe local endpoints  714  and  734 . In one embodiment, when communications occur between Device A  710  and Device B  730 , different well-known name types may be used. For example, a device local name may exist only on the bus node  712  associated with Device A  710  to which the bus node  712  directly attaches. In another example, a global name may exist on all known bus nodes  712  and  732 , where only one owner of the name may exist on all bus segments. In other words, when the bus node  712  and bus node  732  are joined and any collisions occur, one of the owners may lose the global name. In still another example, a translated name may be used when a client is connected to other bus nodes associated with a virtual bus. In such an aspect, the translated name may include an appended end (e.g., a local endpoint  714  with well-known name “org.foo” connected to the distributed bus with Globally Unique Identifier “1234” may be seen as “G1234.org.foo”). 
     At message sequence step  766 , the bus node  712  and the bus node  732  may communicate (e.g., broadcast) signals to inform other bus nodes of changes to endpoint bus topologies. Thereafter, traffic from local endpoint  714  may move through virtual endpoints to reach intended local endpoint  734  on Device B  730 . Further, in operation, communications between local endpoint  714  and local endpoint  734  may use routing groups. In one aspect, routing groups may enable endpoints to receive signals, method calls, or other suitable information from a subset of endpoints. As such, a routing name may be determined by an application connected to a bus node  712  or  732 . For example, a P2P application may use a unique, well-known routing group name built into the application. Further, bus nodes  712  and  732  may support registering and/or de-registering of local endpoints  714  and  734  with routing groups. In one embodiment, routing groups may have no persistence beyond a current bus instance. In another aspect, applications may register for their preferred routing groups each time they connect to the distributed bus. Still further, groups may be open (e.g., any endpoint can join) or closed (e.g., only the creator of the group can modify the group). Yet further, a bus node  712  or  732  may send signals to notify other remote bus nodes or additions, removals, or other changes to routing group endpoints. In such embodiments, the bus node  712  or  732  may send a routing group change signal to other group members whenever a member is added and/or removed from the group. Further, the bus node  712  or  732  may send a routing group change signal to endpoints that disconnect from the distributed bus without first removing themselves from the routing group. 
     According to an aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 8  illustrates an exemplary system architecture  800  in which discoverable P2P services used over a Wi-Fi network may allow remote onboarding of headless devices (e.g., a computer system or device that has been configured to operate without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and which can be controlled via a network connection). As shown in  FIG. 8 , the system architecture  800  may include an onboardee device  810  attempting to associate and authenticate to a personal access point (AP) and thereby join the Wi-Fi network, wherein the onboardee device  810  may correspond to a new device that has not previously been configured to access the Wi-Fi network or a device that was previously configured to access the Wi-Fi network and subsequently offboarded (e.g., to reset the device to factory-default settings or otherwise change a configuration state associated with the device, to change a configuration state associated with the Wi-Fi network, etc.). Furthermore, the system architecture  800  may include an onboarder device  820  that been configured and validated on the Wi-Fi network and uses the discoverable P2P services to remotely onboard the onboardee device  810  to the Wi-Fi network. 
     In an embodiment, the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820  may run respective onboarding applications  812 ,  822  that communicate with respective peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms  814 ,  824  that provide the discoverable P2P services that may facilitate the remote onboarding (e.g., the AllJoyn™ software framework mentioned above). As such, the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820  may communicate with one another using the mechanisms described in further detail above to form a distributed bus  825  that may enable communication between the respective onboarding applications  812 ,  822 , which may correspond to the local endpoints described above in connection with  FIGS. 6-7 . Furthermore, in an embodiment, the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820  may run respective operating systems  816 ,  826  that run a host “daemon” bus process to handle message routing between the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820 . For example, in an embodiment, the respective onboarding applications  812 ,  822  may communicate with the respective host daemons running on the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820 , wherein the respective host daemons may implement local segments of the distributed bus  825  and coordinate message flows across the distributed bus  825 . In this configuration, an onboarding service client  823  connects with a peer onboarding service  813  via an onboarding service application programming interface (API)  821  that is implemented by the onboarding service client  823  and the onboarding service  813 . This enables the onboarding application  822  to make remote method calls via the onboarding service client  823  and the onboarding service  813  to the onboarding manager  818  that facilitates certain processes to configure and validate the onboardee device  810  in order to access the Wi-Fi network, as will be described in further detail herein. In this manner, the onboarding application  812  can communicate with the onboarding manager  818  as though the onboarding manager  818  were a local object, wherein parameters may be marshaled at the source and routed off of the local bus segment by the local host daemon and then transparently sent over a network link to the local host daemon on the onboarder device  820 . The daemon running on the onboarder device  820  may then determine that the destination is the local onboarding application  822  and arrange to have the parameters unmarshaled and the remote method invoked on the local onboarding application  822 . 
     As such, the daemons may generally run in an or more background processes and the onboarding applications  812 ,  822 , the onboarding manager  818 , and the remote onboarding manager  819  may run in separate processes, whereby the onboarding applications  812 ,  822 , the onboarding manager  818 , and the remote onboarding manager  819  may have respective local “bus attachments” that represent the local host daemon and handle message routing therebetween. Alternatively, in certain cases, the onboardee device  810  may be a thin client, an embedded device, or another device that has a constrained operating environment (e.g., limited size, memory, processor speed, power, peripherals, user interfaces, etc.). As such, where the onboardee device  810  has limited capabilities, bundling local bus attachments into each application or service that uses the P2P platform  814  may interfere with performance (e.g., because substantial bus attachments may require substantial network connections, memory, etc.). In these cases, rather than having a local bus attachment within the onboarding application  812  and/or the onboarding service  813 , the onboarding application  812  may instead employ a thin client application program interface and the P2P platform  814  may instead employ a thin client process that utilizes the host daemon on the onboardee device  810  running the onboarding application  812 . However, in either case, the call flows and behavior that occur between the onboardee device  810  and the onboarder device  820  to configure and validate the onboardee device  810  in order to access the Wi-Fi network may be substantially the same whether the onboarding application  812  implements a local bus attachment to communicate with the host daemon or communicates directly with the host daemon. 
     Having provided the above overview relating to the system architecture  800  in which discoverable P2P services may be used to allow remote onboarding of the onboardee device  810  over a Wi-Fi network, various aspects that relate to the specific mechanisms that may be used to allow remote onboarding over a Wi-Fi network via discoverable P2P services will now be described. 
     More particularly, when a device is powered, the device may typically either enter an “onboarding” mode or a “connected” mode according to a configuration state associated therewith. In either the onboarding mode or the connected mode, the device may wait for other peer devices to connect to the device and provide network configuration credentials and configuration information. Furthermore, in the onboarding mode, the device may become a Wi-Fi access point (AP) and await Wi-Fi clients to connect thereto. For example, in an embodiment, the device in the onboarding mode may enter a Software-enabled Access Point (SoftAP) mode in which a wireless client antenna may work as both the access point and the client (e.g., software on the device may create a wireless or portable hotspot that other wireless devices in the vicinity can use, whereby cellular telephones or other devices with a client antenna and a data connection can act as an access point to serve other wireless devices in the vicinity that may otherwise lack a data connection). Alternatively, in the connected mode, the device may connect to a wireless network for which the device has already been configured. In either the onboarding mode or the connected mode, the device may generally wait for other peer devices to connect thereto and provide appropriate network configuration and credential information. 
     Accordingly, as will be described in further detail herein,  FIG. 9A  illustrates an exemplary message sequence  900 A in which discoverable P2P services may be used to allow remote onboarding of headless devices over a Wi-Fi network. For example, in one embodiment, the message sequence  900 A shown in  FIG. 9A  may occur between an onboardee device  910  attempting to join a personal Wi-Fi network and an onboarder device  920  that may remotely onboard the onboardee device  910  to the personal Wi-Fi network. In particular, the onboardee device  910  and/or the onboarder device  920  may correspond to smart devices that may execute applications running P2P clients, wherein the onboardee device  910  may startup in the SoftAP (or “onboarding” mode) and perform a broadcast search for a core daemon associated with the discoverable P2P services. If available, the onboarder device  920  may scan a quick response (QR) code to obtain information associated with the SoftAP that corresponds to the onboardee device  910 . Alternatively, the onboarder device  920  may scan for devices in the SoftAP (or onboarding) mode and prompt an end user  925  to select a SoftAP Service Set Identifier (SSID) from a list that includes any devices that were found in the scan. For example, the SoftAP SSID associated with the onboardee device  910  may be found in response to discovering the broadcast search transmitted by the onboardee device  910 . In the latter case, where the QR code was unavailable or the SoftAP information otherwise could not be obtained therefrom, the message sequence  900 A may further include receiving a SoftAP selection from the end user  925 , wherein the application running on the onboarder device  920  may then prompt the end user  925  to provide a passphrase associated with the SoftAP corresponding to the onboardee device  910 . The onboarder device  920  may then connect to the SoftAP corresponding to the onboardee device  910  and the onboardee device  910  may in turn connect to the core P2P daemon running on the onboarder device  920 . 
     The onboardee device  910  may then transmit a public announcement signal, which may be detected at the onboarder device  920 . In one embodiment, if the onboarder device  920  has an appropriate onboarding interface, the onboarder device  920  may establish a session with the onboardee device  910  and engage with the services associated therewith. During the engagement, a secured connection may be established based on a key exchange algorithm in which a shared symmetric key may be generated using shared evidence. For example, the first time that the onboardee device  910  and the onboarder device  920  attempt to engage with one another, the shared evidence may correspond to well-known evidence (e.g., a default passcode for the onboarding interface, which may be configured as part of factory settings during an original equipment manufacturing process). Subsequently, an appropriate service method may be called to immediately alter the well-known or default evidence to a shared secret (e.g., a custom password established by the end user  925 ). In response to suitably establishing the secured connection, the onboarder device  920  may then call an appropriate service method to transfer configuration information associated with the personal Wi-Fi network to the onboardee device  910 . For example, in one embodiment, the configuration information transferred from the onboarder device  920  to the onboardee device  910  may comprise an SSID, a passphrase or other authentication credentials, and/or an authentication type associated with a personal access point (AP) on the personal Wi-Fi network. In one embodiment, the onboardee device  910  may then return a status signal to the onboarder device  920  to indicate whether the personal AP configuration information has been received and appropriately set, and the onboarder device  920  may then instruct the onboardee device  910  to connect to the personal AP. In one embodiment, in response to the onboardee device  910  successfully joining the personal AP, the onboardee device  910  may then call an appropriate service method to leave the onboarding mode. Furthermore, the same mechanisms can be used when the onboardee device  910  operates in the connected mode (i.e., has already been “onboarded”). For example, the onboardee device  910  may be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the onboarder device  920  and discover and engage with the P2P services running thereon, whereby the onboarder device  920  may remotely modify the network configuration associated with the onboardee device  910  and thereby cause the onboardee device  910  to shift to a different network. Further still, if the onboardee device  910  supports fast channel switching, the onboarder device  920  may receive a connection result signal when the onboardee device  910  completes the connection attempt against the personal AP, wherein the connection result signal may be sent over the SoftAP link and include an appropriate value to indicate the result from the connection attempt (e.g., validated, unreachable, unsupported protocol, unauthorized, error, etc.). 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 9B  illustrates another exemplary message sequence  900 B in which discoverable P2P services may be used to allow remote onboarding of headless devices over a Wi-Fi network. In particular, certain devices may run operating systems or other platforms that lack support to initiate Wi-Fi scans programmatically via an application program interface (API), in which case certain operations shown in  FIG. 9A  may not be supported. For example, an appropriately configured API can be used to programmatically initiate a Wi-Fi scan on the Android operating system, whereas programmatically initiating a Wi-Fi scan may be unsupported on other operating systems such as iOS. As such, in one exemplary use case, an onboarder device  920  running the Android operating system may use the message sequence shown in  FIG. 9A , while an onboarder device  920  running the iOS operating system may use the message sequence shown in  FIG. 9B . In general, the message sequences  900 A and  900 B may be substantially similar. However, rather than prompting the end user  925  to select the SoftAP SSID from a scan list and supply the SoftAP passphrase, message sequence  900 B may prepare a dialog regarding a Wi-Fi settings screen or other user interface that the onboarder device  920  employs to choose a Wi-Fi network (e.g., because the appropriate SoftAP SSID cannot be obtained through a programmatically initiated Wi-Fi scan). Additionally, the onboarder device  920  may include a facility to suggest a name prefix and passphrase associated with the SoftAP and guide the end user  925  to select the SoftAP from the appropriate Wi-Fi settings screen. The end user  925  may then make the selection, which may be provided to the application on the onboarder device  920 . In one embodiment, the message sequence  900 B may then have the onboarder device  920  and the onboardee device  910  communicate in a similar manner as described above with respect to message sequence  900 A until the onboarder device  920  establishes the session with the onboardee device  910  and engages with the services associated therewith if the appropriate onboarding interface is available. 
     In one embodiment, at the point that message sequence  900 A would prompt the end user  925  to select the personal AP from a Wi-Fi scan list, which cannot be obtained through a programmatically-initiated Wi-Fi scan on the onboarder device  920 , message sequence  900 B may include additional communication flows in which the onboarder device  920  may use an onboardee-assisted Wi-Fi scan to obtain the Wi-Fi scan list. For example, in one embodiment, the onboarder device  920  may invoke an appropriate service method that instructs the onboardee device  910  to scan all Wi-Fi access points in proximity thereto, and the onboardee device  910  may subsequently return a Wi-Fi scan list that includes an array of SSIDs and any associated authentication types to the onboarder device  920 , thereby completing the onboardee-assisted Wi-Fi scan. In one embodiment, message sequence  900 B may then prompt the end user  925  to select the personal AP in the same manner as message sequence  900 A and include subsequent communication flows that are substantially the same as those described above with respect to  FIG. 9A . 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 10  illustrates an exemplary method  1000  that the onboarder device may perform to use the discoverable P2P services to remotely onboard the onboardee device over the Wi-Fi network, wherein the onboardee device may correspond to a headless device. In particular, the onboarder device may initially obtain SoftAP information corresponding to the onboardee device attempting to join the personal Wi-Fi network at block  1005 . For example, in one embodiment, block  1005  may include scanning a QR code with a camera on the onboarder device, in which case the SoftAP information may be obtained from the scanned QR code, or block  1005  may alternatively prompt the user to enter the SoftAP information, in which case the SoftAP information may be obtained from the user. In either case, in response to obtaining the SoftAP information, the onboarder device may then attempt to connect to the SoftAP that corresponds to the onboardee device (e.g., as a client) at block  1010 . The onboarder device may then determine whether the attempted connection was successful at block  1015 , wherein an error message may be generated at block  1060  in response to the onboarder device failing to connect to the SoftAP that corresponds to the onboardee device. Otherwise, in response to determining that the attempted connection was successful, the onboarder device may then search for and connect to the onboarding service at block  1020 . Furthermore, in one embodiment, the onboarder device may configure the onboardee device with the personal AP information at block  1020  in response to successfully connecting to the SoftAP and the onboarding service. For example, in one embodiment, the onboarder device may transfer an SSID, authentication credentials (e.g., a passphrase), and/or an authentication type associated with the personal AP to the onboardee device to configure the onboardee device at block  1020 , and the onboarder device may then instruct the onboardee device to connect to the personal AP at block  1030 . 
     In one embodiment, the onboarder device may then determine whether the onboardee device attempting to connect to the personal AP was successfully validated at block  1035 . For example, the onboardee device may generally perform a validation process in response to suitably receiving the personal AP configuration and validation information transferred at block  1025 . As such, in response to determining at block  1035  that the onboardee device failed to successfully validate (e.g., because the onboardee device provided invalid authentication credentials or otherwise failed to provide valid configuration information), an error message may be returned at block  1060 . Alternatively, if the onboardee device was successfully validated, the onboarder device may then attempt to locate the onboardee device on the personal AP at block  1040  and then determine whether the onboardee device was found on the personal AP at block  1045 . In response to determining that the onboardee device could not be found on the personal AP, an error message to that effect may be generated at block  1060 . Otherwise, in response to determining that the onboardee device was found on the personal AP at block  1045 , the onboarder device may determine that the onboardee device was successfully onboarded to the Wi-Fi network and the onboarding process may end at block  1060 . 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 11  illustrates an exemplary method  1100  that the onboardee device may perform to use the discoverable P2P services to remotely onboard to the Wi-Fi network. For example, in one embodiment, the method  1100  may generally be performed during and/or in connection with the method  1000  shown in  FIG. 10  where the onboarder device attempts to provision the onboardee device with configuration and credential information that the onboardee device can use to join the personal Wi-Fi network, which may occur when the onboardee device enters an onboarding mode at block  1105  (e.g., while in an offboarded mode, after being reset to factory settings, after losing connecting to the Wi-Fi network, etc.). Furthermore, the method  1100  may be performed while the SoftAP is available, which may depend on the configuration state associated with the onboardee device. For example, in one embodiment, the SoftAP may be available when the onboardee device has a configuration state in which the personal AP is not configured, the personal AP is configured but not validated, the personal AP is configured but an error has occurred, and/or the personal AP is configured and the onboardee device is retrying to connect to the personal AP (e.g., if the onboardee device has configured and been validated to the personal AP but fails to connect after a configurable number of delayed attempts, the onboardee device may transition to the retry state in which the SoftAP is enabled to allow the onboardee device to be reconfigured, and the onboardee device may then return to the configured and validated state and retry to connect with the personal AP after a timer expires). 
     In one embodiment, the personal AP may generally not be configured when the method  1100  begins, whereby the onboardee device may initially receive the personal AP configuration information at block  1110 . For example, in one embodiment, block  1110  may include the onboardee device receiving a name (e.g., an SSID), authentication credentials (e.g., a passphrase), and/or an authentication type associated with the personal AP from the onboarder device. When the authentication type equals “any,” the onboardee device may attempt one or more possible authentication types supported thereon to connect to the personal AP. In any case, the onboardee device may then attempt to connect to the personal AP using the received personal AP information at block  1115  and determine whether the attempted connection was successful at block  1120 . In response to failing to connect to the personal AP, an error message may be generated at block  1140 . Otherwise, in response to successfully connecting to the personal AP, the onboardee device may attempt to validate with the personal AP at block  1125  using mechanisms similar to those described in further detail above. In response to determining that the attempted validation failed at block  1130 , the onboardee device may then attempt to retry the validating process a particular number of times at block  1125  before declaring that the passphrase and/or authentication type used at block  1125  is not valid. For example, the validating process may be retried at block  1125  a maximum number of times N, or the onboardee device may alternatively not perform the maximum number of retries if the reason for the failure is known. In any case, in response to failing to successfully validate, an appropriate error message may be generated at block  1140 , or the onboarding process may be appropriately completed at block  1135  in response to successfully validating to the personal AP. 
     In an IoT situation, there may be a number of headless IoT devices that are configured to communicate over a given local wireless network, such as a user&#39;s home network. An issue may arise when the user wishes to change the network configuration, such as the logon credentials and/or the SSID, for the local wireless network. Simply changing the network configuration would cause the headless devices to lose their connection to the local wireless network, and there is currently no way to push new network configuration parameters to headless devices when they are not connected to a local wireless network. Rather, the headless devices must revert to their soft AP mode and be re-onboarded on an individual basis. 
     To streamline this re-onboarding process, it would be desirable to automatically and on mass re-onboard previously configured headless devices with a new network configuration. To accomplish this, an onboarder device can broadcast, to the headless devices on the local wireless network, the new network configuration parameters and a time parameter indicating when the new network configuration will be valid. The headless devices can then reconnect to the local wireless network using the new network configuration parameters at the time indicated by the time parameter. 
     The time parameter may indicate an absolute time at which the new network configuration will be valid, such as 10:15 am. Alternatively, the time parameter may indicate a delay interval from the time of the broadcast to the time the new network configuration will be valid, such as five minutes. Either way, the time parameter should be set far enough in advance of the time of the broadcast to allow for the current network configuration to be altered before the headless devices attempt to reconnect using the new network configuration parameters. 
     Before actually changing the network configuration, the user may launch the onboarding application on the onboarder device and enter the new network configuration parameters and the time parameter. The onboarder device can then broadcast this information to the headless devices, after which the user can change the network configuration before the time indicated by the time parameter. Alternatively, the user may be able to simply enter the new network configuration on the onboarder device, depending on the network configuration parameters being changed. In response, the onboarder device can determine the time parameter, broadcast the new network configuration parameters and the time parameter, and then change the network configuration before the time indicated by the time parameter. 
     To reduce congestion, the onboarder device may stagger the time at which the headless devices should attempt to reconnect to the local wireless network. For example, the onboarder device may send one time parameter to one headless device or group of headless devices and a different time parameter to a different headless device or group of headless devices. The order in which the headless devices are instructed to reconnect to the local wireless network may be based on, for example, the priority or importance of the headless devices, the frequency or importance of the headless devices being able to access the local wireless network, or an order set by the user. 
     Upon receiving the broadcast including the new network configuration parameters and the time parameter, a headless device may proactively disconnect from the local wireless network or wait until it loses its connection to the local wireless network. Either way, the headless device should not attempt to reconnect to the local wireless network using the new network configuration parameters until the time indicated by the received time parameter. 
     The onboarder device can utilize a remote network configuration API to send the new network configuration parameters and the time parameter to the headless devices on the local wireless network. A delay flag, indicating that the new network configuration will not be immediately valid, and the time parameter, indicating the time at which the new network configuration will be valid, can be added to the configuration submission method of the remote network configuration API. Such a remote network configuration API message will cause the receiving headless device to reconnect to the local wireless network using the new network configuration parameters after the given delay. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates an exemplary flow for allowing mass re-onboarding of headless devices according to at least one aspect of the disclosure. The flow of  FIG. 12  may be performed by the remote onboarding manager  819  on the onboarder device  820  depicted in  FIG. 8 . 
     At  1210 , the onboarder device receives updated network configuration parameters for a local wireless network, such as the user&#39;s home network. The updated network configuration parameters may be updated logon credentials and/or an updated SSID for the local wireless network. The updated network configuration parameters may be received from a user. 
     At  1220 , the onboarder device sends the updated network configuration parameters and a delay parameter to one or more user devices. The delay parameter may be a time at which the updated network configuration parameters will be valid. The one or more user devices may be one or more IoT devices. The one or more user devices may be one or more headless devices. 
     The sending may include sending a message via a remote network configuration API. The message may include the updated network configuration parameters and the delay parameter. The message may also include a flag indicating that the updated network configuration parameters will not be valid immediately. 
     At  1230 , the onboarder device may be able to update the current network configuration parameters with the updated network configuration parameters. Alternatively, the user may have to update the current network configuration parameters manually at the access point. The one or more user devices can reconnect to the local wireless network using the updated network configuration parameters at the time indicated by the delay parameter. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates an exemplary flow for allowing mass re-onboarding of headless devices according to at least one aspect of the disclosure. The flow of  FIG. 13  may be performed by the onboarding manager  818  on the onboardee device  810  in  FIG. 8 . The onboardee device may be an IoT device and/or a headless device. 
     At  1310 , the onboardee device receives updated network configuration parameters for a local wireless network. The updated network configuration parameters may be updated logon credentials and/or an updated SSID for the local wireless network. 
     At  1320 , the onboardee device receives a delay parameter indicating a time at which the updated network configuration parameters will be valid. The updated network configuration parameters and the delay parameter may be received in a message via a remote network configuration API. The message may also include a flag indicating that the updated network configuration parameters will not be valid immediately. 
     At  1330 , the onboardee device connects to the local wireless network at the time indicated by the delay parameter using the updated network configuration parameters. 
     According to one aspect of the disclosure,  FIG. 14  illustrates an exemplary communications device  1400  that may correspond to one or more devices that may use discoverable P2P services to communicate over a proximity-based distributed bus, as described in further detail above (e.g., an onboarder device, an onboardee device, an onboarded device, etc.). In particular, as shown in  FIG. 14 , communications device  1400  may comprise a receiver  1402  that may receive a signal from, for instance, a receive antenna (not shown), perform typical actions on the received signal (e.g., filtering, amplifying, downconverting, etc.), and digitize the conditioned signal to obtain samples. The receiver  1402  can comprise a demodulator  1404  that can demodulate received symbols and provide them to a processor  1406  for channel estimation. The processor  1406  can be a processor dedicated to analyzing information received by the receiver  1402  and/or generating information for transmission by a transmitter  1420 , a processor that controls one or more components of communications device  1400 , and/or a processor that both analyzes information received by receiver  1402 , generates information for transmission by transmitter  1420 , and controls one or more components of communications device  1400 . 
     Communications device  1400  can additionally comprise a memory  1408  that is operatively coupled to processor  1406  and that can store data to be transmitted, received data, information related to available channels, data associated with analyzed signal and/or interference strength, information related to an assigned channel, power, rate, or the like, and any other suitable information for estimating a channel and communicating via the channel. In one aspect, the memory  1408  can include local endpoint applications  1410 , which may seek to communicate with endpoint applications, services etc., on communications device  1400  and/or other communications devices  1400  associated through distributed bus module  1430 . Memory  1408  can additionally store protocols and/or algorithms associated with estimating and/or utilizing a channel (e.g., performance based, capacity based, etc.). 
     It will be appreciated that data store (e.g., memory  1408 ) described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). Memory  1408  of the subject systems and methods may comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory. 
     Communications device  1400  can further include distributed bus module  1430  to facilitate establishing connections with other devices, such as communications device  1400 . Distributed bus module  1430  may further comprise bus node module  1432  to assist distributed bus module  1430  managing communications between multiple devices. In one aspect, a bus node module  1432  may further include object naming module  1434  to assist bus node module  1432  in communicating with endpoint applications  1410  associated with other devices. Still further, distributed bus module  1430  may include endpoint module  1436  to assist local endpoints in communicating with other local endpoints and/or endpoints accessible on other devices through an established distributed bus. In another aspect, distributed bus module  1430  may facilitate inter-device and/or intra-device communications over multiple available transports (e.g., Bluetooth, UNIX domain-sockets, TCP/IP, Wi-Fi, etc.). 
     Additionally, in one embodiment, communications device  1400  may include a user interface  1440 , which may include one or more input mechanisms  1442  for generating inputs into communications device  1400 , and one or more output mechanisms  1444  for generating information for consumption by the user of the communications device  1400 . For example, input mechanism  1442  may include a mechanism such as a key or keyboard, a mouse, a touch-screen display, a microphone, etc. Further, for example, output mechanism  1444  may include a display, an audio speaker, a haptic feedback mechanism, a Personal Area Network (PAN) transceiver etc. In the illustrated aspects, the output mechanism  1444  may include an audio speaker operable to render media content in an audio form, a display operable to render media content in an image or video format and/or timed metadata in a textual or visual form, or other suitable output mechanisms. However, in one embodiment, a headless communications device  1400  may not include certain input mechanisms  1442  and/or output mechanisms  1444  because headless devices generally refer to computer systems or device that have been configured to operate without a monitor, keyboard, and/or mouse. 
     Additional details that relate to the aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are described and illustrated in the Appendices attached hereto, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as part of this disclosure. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof. 
     Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted to depart from the scope of the present disclosure. 
     The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration). 
     The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in an IoT device. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal. 
     In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes CD, laser disc, optical disc, DVD, floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically and/or optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. 
     While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.