Method and apparatus for authentication in a communication system
First Claim
1. A method of authenticating a subscriber unit in a wireless communication system comprsing the steps of:
- receiving a request for authentication of the subscriber unit from a first communication system;
determining that the first communication system uses a first system authentication protocol different from a second system authentication protocol used in the subscriber unit; and
generating authentication information in the first system authentication protocol by generating a challenge and a response and by converting the challenge and response from the second system authentication protocol into a challenge and response in the first system authentication protocol.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for authenticating a roaming subscriber. In a preferred embodiment, a subscriber receives a challenge that is in a format of a local authentication protocol, and determines whether the local authentication protocol is the subseriber'"'"'s home system authentication protocol. If it is not, the subscriber converts the challenge into a format (e.g., bit length) compatible with its home system authentication protocol, and processes the converted challenge with the subscriber'"'"'s secret key and authentication algorithm into an authentication response. The authentication response is converted to be compatible with the local authentication protocol, and transmitted to a local system communication unit. The challenge and response is then forwarded to the subscriber'"'"'s home system for similar conversion and processing, and subscriber'"'"'s response is compared against a home system generated response.
114 Citations
6 Claims
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1. A method of authenticating a subscriber unit in a wireless communication system comprsing the steps of:
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receiving a request for authentication of the subscriber unit from a first communication system; determining that the first communication system uses a first system authentication protocol different from a second system authentication protocol used in the subscriber unit; and generating authentication information in the first system authentication protocol by generating a challenge and a response and by converting the challenge and response from the second system authentication protocol into a challenge and response in the first system authentication protocol.
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2. A method of generating authentication information for use in autheticating a subscriber unit of a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a request for service from the subscriber unit; generating a first authentication challenge based on a first authentication protocol; and converting the first authentication challenge into a second authentication challenge in a second authentication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6)
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Specification