Method and apparatus for authentication in a communication system
First Claim
1. A method of performing authentication in a communication system comprising the steps of:
- detecting an unexpected authentication message, said unexpected authentication message including but not limited to at least one of the following;
an unsolicited base station challenge message; and
an unsolicited unique challenge response message;
updating a counter value;
comparing the counter value to a threshold value; and
performing an encryption key update operation in response to the comparison between the counter value and the threshold value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing authentication in a communication system. The method includes the steps of detecting an unexpected authentication message, updating a counter value, comparing the counter value to a threshold value, and performing an encryption key update operation in response to the comparison between the counter value and the threshold value. The apparatus includes a base station (152), a switching center (128) coupled to the base station (152), and an authentication center (149) responsive to the switching center (128). The switching center (128) detects an unexpected authentication message received by the base station (152). The authentication center (149) updates a counter when the switching center (128) detects the unexpected authentication message and compares the updated counter with a threshold value. The authentication center (149) initiates an encryption key update operation when the updated counter value exceeds the threshold value.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of performing authentication in a communication system comprising the steps of:
detecting an unexpected authentication message, said unexpected authentication message including but not limited to at least one of the following; an unsolicited base station challenge message; and
an unsolicited unique challenge response message;updating a counter value; comparing the counter value to a threshold value; and performing an encryption key update operation in response to the comparison between the counter value and the threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for performing authentication in a communication system comprising:
a base station receiving an unexpected authentication message, said unexpected authentication message including but not limited to at least one of the following; an unsolicited base station challenge message; and
an unsolicited unique challenge response message;a switching center coupled to the base station; a counter that is updated in response to the received unexpected authentication message; and an authentication center responsive to the switching center, said authentication center initiating an encryption key update operation when the counter exceeds a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of performing authentication in a communication system comprising the steps of:
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receiving a base station challenge message at a base station; determining whether the received base station challenge message is an unexpected authentication message by determining whether a prior shared secret data (SSD) update order was sent by the base station; incrementing a first counter if the received base challenge message is an unexpected authentication message; comparing the first counter to a first threshold value; performing an SSD key update and incrementing a second counter if the first counter exceeds the first threshold value; comparing the second counter with a second threshold value; and performing an A-key update if the second counter exceeds the second threshold value.
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Specification