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US 2006/0133614 A1Published application
Key synchronization mechanism for wireless lan (wlan)
AssigneeThomson Licensing
InventorsJunbiao Zhang, Saurabh Mathur
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A key synchronization mechanism for wireless LANs is provided where the access point (AP) does not start using a new encryption key until the first data frame correctly encrypted with the new key is received from the station (STA). The new key is used from this point on, until the expiration of a key refresh interval.
Claims14
A key synchronization method for a wireless network comprising:
- setting a current encryption key and an old encryption key at an access point in the wireless network;
- generating a new encryption key at the access point;
- resetting the current encryption key to equal the newly generated encryption key;
- resetting the old encryption key to equal an encryption key being used by a station in communication with the access point;
- communicating the new encryption key to the station in an encrypted form using the old encryption key;
- and
- indicating a decryption failure for a data frame received from the station when the encryption key used by the station does not match the current encryption key, wherein a data frame that failed to decrypt using the current encryption key is decrypted using the old encryption key.
4 more elements
(canceled)
A key synchronization mechanism for a wireless network comprising:
- at least one station in the wireless network;
- and
- at least one access point in the wireless network maintaining an old encryption key and a new encryption key through a key rotation interval for each of said at least one station, said access point using said new encryption key when a first data frame correctly encrypted with said new key is received from said at least one station and using said old encryption key when decryption of a data frame received from said at least one station fails due to mismatched keys.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.