Dynamic temporary MAC address generation in wireless networks
AssigneesToshiba America Research, Inc., Telcordia Technologies, Inc.
InventorFarooq M. Anjum
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Unique temporary MAC addresses are calculated by mobile devices connected to wireless networks, using access point advertising information in combination with the permanent MAC address of the mobile device. The mobile devices use a hash function to construct a bit sequence from which a temporary MAC address can be extracted. The MAC address is unique over the entire region in which the mobile device can operate, without necessity of any coordination or negotiation between various access points of the region.
Claims26
A method of creating a temporary identifier that is used to identify a mobile device on a wireless network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving information from a network access point to which said mobile device connects to said wireless network;
- combining said received information with a permanent identifier assigned to said mobile device;
- performing a predetermined mathematical calculation on the combination of said received information and permanent identifier;
- and
- using the result of said calculation to provide a temporary identifier of said mobile device in communications over said wireless network.
In a mobile device that is connectable for communication over a wireless network, the improvement wherein said mobile device uses information received from a network access point to calculate a temporary identifier based in part on said information, wherein said temporary identifier is used to identify said mobile device on said network, and wherein said temporary identifier is a temporary Media Access Control (MAC) address whereby said mobile device receives a unique temporary MAC address for the particular region served by said network access point, further including:
- said mobile device being configured to receive information from the network access point to which said mobile device connects to the wireless network;
- said mobile device being configured to combine said received information with a permanent identifier assigned to said mobile device;
- said mobile device being configured to perform a predetermined mathematical calculation on the combination of said received information and permanent identifier;
- and
- said mobile device being configured to use the result of said calculation to provide a temporary identifier of said mobile device in communications over the wireless network.
A wireless network, comprising:
- a plurality of network access points, each network access point transmitting advertising information in a region covered by that access point, said advertising information including information specifying a parameter for calculation by a mobile device connectable to said network of a temporary identifier to be used by said mobile device in communications over said network, and wherein said temporary identifier is a temporary Media Access Control (MAC) address, and further including:
- at least one of said network access points being configured to transmit to the mobile device information from the network access point to which the mobile device connects to the wireless network, for use by the mobile device to combine said received information with a permanent identifier assigned to the mobile device and to perform a predetermined mathematical calculation on the combination of the received information and the permanent identifier;
- and
- said at least one of said network access points being configured to receive the permanent identifier assigned to the mobile device and to perform a predetermined mathematical calculation on the combination of the information to be used by the mobile device and the permanent identifier to verify an authenticity of a temporary identifier of said mobile device for communications over the wireless network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.