Wireless service points having unique identifiers for secure communication

• US 20040228490A1
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc., FireTide Incorporated (UNICOM Global, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Landmark Networks, Inc. (UNICOM Global, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nassi, Isaac Robert, Cornejo, David Neil, Rosenthal, Lawrence Alan, Klemba, Keith Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 7,522,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks

Abstract

System, apparatus, and methods are disclosed wherewith a group of independent wireless routing devices known as Service Points work cooperatively to form an ad hoc mesh communication network. The resulting Service Point Network is used to provide reliable address-directed communication services between devices attached by conventional means (wired or wireless) to respective Service Ports on any of the Service Points. Attached Utilizing Devices are not considered a part of the Service Point Network and need not contain any custom software or hardware related to the operations of the Service Point Network. Consequently, the networking technology used to form the Service Point Network is independent of the technology used for connecting devices to Service Points. Services for Utilizing Devices include both point-to-point as well as point-to-multi-point communication. To protect the security of network communications and the integrity of the network, the Service Points are assigned internal IP addresses and unique identifiers that need not be disclosed to the Utilizing Devices. The unique identifiers in turn are used to derive public and private encryption key pairs for each Service Point.

Claims

1. A method for providing access to resources via a secure wireless communication network, comprising:

providing a Service Point Network (SPN) comprising a plurality of Service Points;

as each of the Service Points joins the SPN, dynamically assigning an SPN-unique identifier to the Service Point;

connecting each of a plurality of Utilizing Devices to a corresponding one or more of the Service Points;

providing first and second Utilizing Devices with access to each other via secure communication through the SPN between the corresponding Service Points, said secure communication based at least partly on the unique identifiers of the first and second Utilizing Devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Service Point'"'"'s assigned identifier is used to generate an encryption key for secure communication within the SPN.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the encryption key comprises a public and private key pair, and wherein providing first and second of the Utilizing Devices with access to each other via secure communication through the SPN further includes encrypting the secure communication at the Service Point connected to the first Utilizing Device using the public key of the Service Point connected to the second Utilizing Device.

4. The method of claim 2, further including encrypting, using the encryption key of a recipient one of the Service Points, one or more management directives sent to the recipient, each of the management directives incorporating an embedded second key for purposes of authentication.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the management directives include one or more of the following message types:

{hello, welcome, join, accept, leave, goodbye}.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the embedded second key has a fresh value.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the recipient Service Point is associated with multiple values of the encryption key, and wherein different ones of those key values are utilized corresponding to different classes of management directives.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically assigning an SPN-unique identifier to the Service Point comprises assigning a distinct SPN-unique identifier for each port of the Service Point.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the Service Point identifier is used to generate an internal IP address for use within the SPN.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the SPN is an ad hoc network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the SPN is a mesh network.

12. A method for providing access to resources via a secure wireless communication network, comprising:

providing a Service Point Network (SPN) comprising a plurality of Service Points;

assigning an internal SPN-unique identifier to the Service Point;

connecting each of a plurality of Utilizing Devices to a corresponding one or more of the Service Points, without revealing the internal identifiers of the Service Points to the Utilizing Devices;

providing first and second Utilizing Devices with access to each other via secure communication through the SPN between the corresponding Service Points, said secure communication based at least partly on the unique identifiers of the first and second Utilizing Devices.

13. A method for providing access to resources via a secure wireless communication network, comprising:

providing a Service Point Network (SPN) comprising a plurality of Service Points;

connecting each of a plurality of Utilizing Devices to a corresponding one or more of the Service Points;

providing first and second of the Utilizing Devices with access to each other via secure communication through the SPN between an Entry Service Point connected to the first Utilizing Device and a Terminal Service Point connected to the second Utilizing Device; and

encrypting said secure communication at the Entry Service Point, in such a manner that the communication can only be decrypted by the Terminal Service Point.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the Service Points has an assigned identifier, and said encryption is based at least partly on the assigned identifier of the Terminal Service Point.