Logical boundaries in communications networks

• US 20040203862A1
• Filed: 06/24/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Rogers, Christopher B., Wood, Stephen R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,346,358 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A network may determine the location of network nodes and tracked assets and make location-based decisions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a network authentication request from a node;

determining if a location of the node satisfies a criteria; and

providing authentication if the location of the node satisfies the criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a network authentication request comprises receiving a wireless signal from the node.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving the wireless signal comprises receiving a series of electromagnetic pulses.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the location of the node.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the location of the node comprises:

receiving time-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices; and

resolving the location of the node from the time-of-arrival information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein receiving a network authentication request comprises receiving a network authentication request from one of the plurality of network access point devices.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein determining the location of the node comprises:

receiving angle-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices; and

resolving the location of the node from the angle-of-arrival information.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein receiving a network authentication request comprises receiving a network authentication request from one of the plurality of network access point devices.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the location of the node satisfies a criteria comprises comparing the location of the node to a logical network boundary.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining the location of the node using time-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining the location of the node using angle-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices.

12. A method comprising:

receiving time-of-arrival information describing a pulse-based wireless signal originating from a node;

receiving a network location-based authentication request originating from the node;

determining if the node is within a logical network boundary; and

refusing location-based authentication if the node is not within the logical network boundary.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving time-of-arrival information comprises receiving time-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising receiving angle-of-arrival information from the plurality of network access point devices.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein receiving a network authentication request comprises receiving the network location-based authentication request from one of the plurality of network access point devices.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving time-of-arrival information describing a pulse-based wireless signal originating from an asset tag;

determining if the asset tag is within a logical asset boundary; and

raising an alert if the asset tag is not within the logical asset boundary.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising receiving angle-of-arrival information describing the pulse-based wireless signal originating from the asset tag.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein receiving time-of-arrival information describing a pulse-based wireless signal originating from an asset tag comprises receiving time-of-arrival information from a plurality of network access point devices.

19. An article comprising a machine-accessible media having associated data, wherein the data, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

receiving an electromagnetic pulse transmitted from a transmitter in a network;

determining a location of the transmitter from an attribute describing the electromagnetic pulse; and

comparing the location of the transmitter to a logical boundary.

20. The article of claim 19 wherein receiving an electromagnetic pulse comprises receiving an electromagnetic pulse from an asset tag associated with a tracked asset.

21. The article of claim 20 further comprising accessing a database that includes information relating to the tracked asset.

22. The article of claim 21 further comprising raising an alert when the tracked asset is outside the logical boundary.

23. The article of claim 20 further comprising raising an alert when the tracked asset is outside the logical boundary.

24. The article of claim 19 wherein receiving an electromagnetic pulse comprises receiving an electromagnetic pulse from a network node.

25. The article of claim 24 further comprising conditionally authenticating the network node based on the location of the network node relative to the logical boundary.

26. A network comprising:

a plurality of network access point devices, each of the plurality of network access point devices including a receiver to receive wireless signals from a network node, and including a transmitter to transmit attributes of the wireless signals; and

a server coupled to the plurality of network access point devices to receive the attributes of the wireless signals, to determine a location of the network node, and to provide location-based authentication the network node based on the location relative to one or more logical boundaries.

27. The network of claim 26 wherein each of the plurality of network access point devices is configured to receive pulsed wireless signals from the network node.

28. The network of claim 27 wherein each of the plurality of network access point devices further include time-of-arrival detection circuitry to detect time-of-arrival of pulses as one of the attributes of the wireless signals.

29. The network of claim 28 wherein each of the plurality of network access point devices further include angle-of-arrival detection circuitry to detect angle-of-arrival of pulses as another of the attributes of the wireless signals.

30. The network of claim 26 wherein each of the plurality of network access point devices is configured to receive an authentication request comprising a series of electromagnetic pulses, and to measure a time-of-arrival of the electromagnetic pulses as one of the attributes of the wireless signals.

31. The network of claim 30 wherein each of the plurality of network access point devices is further configured to measure an angle-of-arrival of the electromagnetic pulses as another of the attributes of the wireless signals.

32. The network of claim 30 wherein the server is configured to receive the time-of-arrival from each of the plurality of network access point devices and resolve the location of the network node.

33. A network server comprising at least one port to couple the network server to a plurality of wireless network access point devices, the network server being configured to receive wireless signal attributes from the plurality of wireless network access point devices, to determine a location of a transmitter from the wireless signal attributes, and to conditionally perform an action based on the location of the transmitter.

34. The network server of claim 33 wherein the network server is further configured to receive time-of-arrival information from the wireless network access point devices.

35. The network server of claim 34 wherein the network server is further configured to receive angle-of-arrival information from the wireless network access point devices.

36. The network server of claim 34 wherein the network server is configured to provide a location-based authentication service to network nodes based on the location of the transmitter.

37. The network server of claim 33 wherein the network server is configured to determine if the transmitter is associated with a tracked asset, and to raise an alert if the asset is outside a logical boundary.