Generating multiple independent networks on shared access points

• US 20040078566A1
• Filed: 05/05/2003
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Devicescape Software, Inc. (Pareteum Corp.)
• Inventors: Barber, Simon, Petruschka, Roy, de Castro, Edward Rodriguez
• Application Number:
  US10/430,699
• Publication Number:
  US 20040078566A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/161
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

A system and method for generating multiple independent networks using one or more access points of a wireless network are disclosed herein. An access point can serve multiple independent networks by partitioning broadcast messages such that less than all of the network devices able to receive data from the access point do receive and further process that data. In one embodiment, the partitioning is done by having different sets of one or more shared keys for different independent networks and encrypting frames. In that approach, broadcast frames for one network are received by network devices in the other networks, but are not decoded properly as the devices in the other network do not have access to the shared key needed to decode the broadcast frames. As a result, network devices in one network will discard broadcast frames of other networks. In another embodiment, one network is configured to operate on encrypted broadcast frames and ignore unencrypted broadcast frames and another network is configured to operate on unencrypted broadcast frames and network devices of that network will drop encrypted frames. In this manner, access points can be partitioned into a plurality of interfaces.

Claims

1. A system for generating multiple independent networks using at least one access point of a wireless network:

at least one access point associated with the wireless network, wherein the at access point is partitioned into a plurality of interfaces respectively connected to a plurality of telecommunications networks; and

a plurality of clients associated with the wireless network, wherein the plurality of clients is separated into at least one client group thereof, such that the at least one client group possesses a shared key for accessing a predetermined telecommunications through at least one interface partitioned from the at least one access point.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of interfaces comprises:

at least one first interface connected to a first telecommunications network; and

at least one second interface connected to a second telecommunications network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of interfaces partitioned from the at least one access point comprises:

at least one first wireless station for sending and receiving encrypted radio communications traffic; and

at least one second wireless station for sending and receiving unencrypted radio communications traffic, thereby providing users of the wireless network with an experience of being connected to a variety of wireless networks through the at least one access point.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a frame encrypted with a key, which is transmittable to the at least one access point.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one first wireless station provides a plurality of wireless stations differing keys with which to receive and broadcast frames associated with the wireless network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein at least one wireless station of the plurality of wireless stations, which receives a frame encrypted with a key silently drops the broadcast frame, in response to receiving the key if the key is unexpected, thereby permitting the at least one wireless station to be partitioned into the at least one first wireless station and the at least one second wireless station.

7. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

at least one group of encrypted users who can access the wireless network through the at least one access point.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless network comprises an IEEE 802.11 wireless network.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one access point comprises at least one MAC address in association with at least one interface partitioned from the at least one access point.

10. A method of operating a plurality of independent networks using a set of one or more shared access points, the method comprising:

grouping network devices that are to use a wireless medium into the plurality of independent networks;

for each network device in one of the independent networks, providing a set of one or more keys usable to decode at least a portion of a received frame, wherein at least one network device is configured to drop broadcast packets that are not encrypted using one or more key from the set of one or more keys;

encrypting a frame using the one or more key for a current network, thereby forming an encrypted frame;

encrypting a frame using the one or more key for a current network, thereby forming an encrypted frame;

encrypting a frame using the one or more key for a current network, thereby forming an encrypted frame;

at a network device in the current network, receiving the encrypted frame and decrypting the received encrypted frame; and

at a network device not in the current network, receiving the encrypted frame and discarding the encrypted frame.