Terminal identity masking in a wireless network
AssigneeArrayComm, Inc.
InventorsBranislav Meandzija, Mithat Dogan, Marc Goldburg
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Abstract
The certificate issued by a certificate authority used in authenticating a user terminal can be scrambled prior to being set to an access point. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a user terminal having a memory in which a user terminal certificate is stored. The user terminal also has a processor coupled to the memory to scramble the user terminal certificate using a shared secret to be known only by the user terminal and an access point of the wireless access network, and a transmitter coupled to the processor to send a message to the access point, the message including the scrambled user terminal certificate.
Claims33
A method performed by a user terminal of a wireless access network, the method comprising:
- scrambling a user terminal certificate using a shared secret to be known only by the user terminal and an access point of the wireless access network;
- and
- sending a message to the access point, the message including the scrambled user terminal certificate.
A user terminal comprising:
- a memory to store a user terminal certificate;
- a processor coupled to the memory to scramble the user terminal certificate using a shared secret to be known only by the user terminal and an access point of the wireless access network;
- and
- a transmitter coupled to the processor to send a message to the access point, the message including the scrambled user terminal certificate.
A method performed by an access point of a wireless access network, the method comprising:
- receiving a message from a user terminal of the wireless access network, the message containing a shared secret encrypted with an access point public key, and a user terminal certificate scrambled using the shared secret;
- decrypting the shared secret using an access point private key;
- and
- unscrambling the user terminal certificate using the decrypted shared secret.
An access point comprising:
- a receiver to receive a message from a user terminal, the message containing a shared secret encrypted with an access point public key and a user terminal certificate scrambled using the shared secret;
- and
- a processor coupled to the receiver to decrypt the shared secret using an access point private key, and unscramble the user terminal certificate using the decrypted shared secret.
A machine-readable medium storing data representing instructions that, when performed by a processor of a user terminal, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
- scrambling a user terminal certificate using a shared secret to be known only by the user terminal and an access point of the wireless access network;
- and
- sending a message to the access point, the message including the scrambled user terminal certificate.
A machine-readable medium storing data representing instructions that, when performed by a processor of an access point, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:
- receiving a message from a user terminal of the wireless access network, the message containing a shared secret encrypted with an access point public key, and a user terminal certificate scrambled using the shared secret;
- decrypting the shared secret using an access point private key;
- and
- unscrambling the user terminal certificate using the decrypted shared secret.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.