Method and apparatus for rf proximity authentication

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for modulating and coding a signal such that a signal quality at or above a predetermined threshold is required for correct decoding of the signal with high probability;
• means for providing the modulated and coded signal to a terminal using a transmitter;
• and
• means for determining strength of a channel from the terminal to the transmitter based on an extent to which the terminal successfully decodes the modulated and coded signal.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer-readable medium, comprising:
• code for causing a computer to identify authorization information;
• code for causing a computer to modulate and code the identified authorization information using modulation and coding parameters selected such that the authorization information can be successfully decoded only if an observed signal quality is at least a threshold value;
• code for receiving a request to set aside resources from a requesting device;
• code for communicating the modulated and coded authorization information to the requesting device;
• and
• code for causing a computer to set aside requested resources upon identifying that the requesting device has correctly decoded the authorization information.

An integrated circuit that executes computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:

• modulating and coding at least one signal such that a received signal quality at or above a predetermined threshold is required for correct decoding of the at least one signal;
• identifying a request to vacate communication resources;
• and
• vacating communication resources in response to the request only upon determining that an entity that provided the request to vacate communication resources has correctly decoded the at least one signal.

A method, comprising:

• submitting a request to a first base station to set aside communication resources in order to enable communication with a second base station;
• receiving at least one proximity authentication signal from the first base station;
• decoding the at least one proximity authentication signal;
• and
• reporting at least a portion of the at least one decoded proximity authentication signal to the first base station.

An apparatus, comprising:

• means for submitting a request to a base station to set aside transmission resources;
• means for receiving an encoded proximity verification signal from the base station;
• and
• means for reporting successful decoding of the proximity verification signal to the base station.

A computer program product, comprising:

• a computer-readable medium, comprising:
• code for causing a computer to identify a jamming base station;
• code for causing a computer to request reservation of communication resources by the jamming base station;
• code for causing a computer to receive a proximity authentication challenge from the jamming base station;
• and
• code for causing a computer to submit a response to the proximity authentication challenge to the jamming base station.

An integrated circuit that executes computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:

• submitting a request to a network cell to set aside transmission resources;
• receiving at least one encoded authorization signal from the network cell;
• decoding at least a portion of the at least one encoded authorization signal;
• and
• communicating one or more decoded portions of the at least one encoded authorization signal to the network cell.