PROTECTION OF ACCESS INFORMATION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20080125043A1
• Filed: 07/02/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Fischer, Patrick, Karmanenko, Sergey
• Granted Patent: US 8,042,033 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices

Abstract

Protection of access information in wireless communications is achieved by transmitting access information related to configuration to a terminal, receiving a result of a countermeasure procedure performed by the terminal, deciding whether the configuration is correct or not based on the received result, and if not correct, allowing the terminal to receive access information, or if correct, performing the configuration.

Claims

1. A method of protecting access information, the method comprising:

receiving access information related to configuration, the access information being broadcast from a network;

performing a countermeasure procedure using the received access information; and

transmitting a result of the performed countermeasure procedure to the network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access information is predefined between the network and mobile terminals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the access information includes system information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the access information includes information regarding at least one of downlink and uplink mapping (DL/UL-MAP).

5. The method of claim 1, the countermeasure procedure involves the use of a checksum calculation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a result of the checksum calculation is a hash value.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the checksum calculation employs a cyclic redundancy check/code (CRC) or a hash function.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the result is included in a RRC connection request message or another type of access request message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing configuration according to the result of the performed countermeasure procedure.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein configuration is performed upon receiving access information from the network or receiving an instruction from the network to re-read access information.

11. The method of claim 1, the performing and transmitting steps comprise:

generating a terminal-computed configuration based on the received access information;

sending a first access request message to the network together with the terminal-computed configuration; and

operating a timer to provide a time period during which reception of an access rejection message is possible.

12. The method of claim 11, after the operating step, further comprising:

receiving an access reject message from the network together with a network-computed configuration;

comparing the received network-computed configuration with the terminal-computed configuration;

storing the received network-computed configuration according to the comparing;

ignoring subsequently received access information, if any; and

sending a second access request message to the network upon applying the stored network-computed configuration to perform configuration with the network.

13. The method of claim 11, after the operating step, further comprising:

receiving a first access reject message from a first network together with a first network-computed configuration;

receiving a second access reject message from a second network together with a second network-computed configuration;

comparing the received first and second network-computed configurations with the terminal-computed configuration;

storing one received network-computed configuration determined to be correct according to the comparing, and erasing the other received network-computed configuration determined to be incorrect according to the comparing; and

sending a second access request message to the network upon applying the stored network-computed configuration to perform configuration with the network.

14. The method of claim 11, after the operating step, further comprising:

receiving two or more access reject messages from two or more networks together with two or more network-computed configurations;

comparing the received two or more network-computed configurations with the terminal-computed configuration;

storing two or more received network-computed configurations determined to be correct according to the comparing, and erasing any received network-computed configurations determined to be incorrect according to the comparing;

sending another access request message to the network upon applying one of the stored network-computed configurations to perform configuration with the network; and

if the performed configuration fails, sending an additional access request message to the network upon applying another one of the stored network-computed configurations to perform configuration with the network.

15. A method of protecting access information, the method comprising:

broadcasting access information related to configuration to a terminal;

receiving a result of a countermeasure procedure performed by the terminal;

deciding whether the configuration is correct or incorrect based on the received result; and

if the configuration is incorrect, allowing the terminal to receive access information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

if the configuration is correct, performing the configuration.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the configuration is performed by transmitting a RRC connection set-up message or another type of connection set-up message.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the access information includes system information.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the result is included in a RRC connection request message or another type of access request message.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the allowing step refers to sending access information to the terminal or instructing the terminal to re-read access information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein information related to the sending system information or instructing the terminal to re-read system information is included in a RRC connection reject message or another type of access reject message.

22. A mobile terminal that performs a method of protecting access information, the terminal comprising:

means to receive access information related to configuration, the access information being broadcast from a network;

means to perform a countermeasure procedure using the received access information; and

means to transmit a result of the performed countermeasure procedure to the network.

23. A network for performing method of protecting access information, the network comprising:

means to broadcast access information related to configuration to a terminal;

means to receive a result of a countermeasure procedure performed by the terminal; and

means to decide whether the configuration is correct or incorrect based on the received result, and if the configuration is incorrect, allowing the terminal to receive access information.