Patent ID: 8904177

Claim:
A method comprising: discovering a wireless home mesh network in response to activation of a wireless node; and authenticating the wireless node before permitting the wireless node to join the wireless home mesh network by: (1) transmitting a first message, the first message including (i) an encrypted pass-phrase being a pass-phrase encrypted with a public key of the wireless node of the wireless home mesh network, (ii) a checksum of the encrypted pass-phrase, (iii) the a public key of the wireless node, and (iv) a checksum of the public key of the wireless node; and (2) receiving a second message, the second message including a code to indicate whether the wireless node has been successfully authenticated; transmitting a third message, the third message including a first challenge text including a secret value combined with an extended service set identification (ESSID) of the wireless home mesh network; and receiving a fourth message from a node of the wireless home mesh network, the fourth message including a second challenge text including the secret value combined with a media access control (MAC) value of the wireless node.