Automatic generation of private authentication key for wireless communication systems
First Claim
1. Apparatus for use in a cellular mobile telephone system wherein data signals are communicated between a mobile station and a base station, said mobile station having stored therein mobile station identification data, a global random number periodically received from said base station and a unique random number received from said base station, said apparatus comprising:
- unique random number receiving means for receiving said unique random number transmitted by said base station; and
authentication key generating means at said mobile station responsive to at least the stored mobile station identification data and unique random number for automatically generating said authentication key, said authentication key being an A-key, and said authentication key generating means being operable to automatically generate said authentication key during an initial installation operation of said mobile station, said authentication key being maintained in semi-permanent memory in a non-transitory, non-transmissible state within said mobile station.
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for automatically generating an authentication key (A-Key) in a mobile station wherein the mobile station periodically receives random numbers from a base station, and automatically generates the authentication key from a received random number and from mobile station identification data stored in the mobile station. The mobile station identification data may include the electronic serial number of the mobile station, a user selected value, and a cellular system selected value. In addition, mixing registers may be utilized by an encoding algorithm, such as the CAVE algorithm, for encoding the random numbers and the identification data to automatically generate the mobile station authentication key.
104 Citations
31 Claims
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1. Apparatus for use in a cellular mobile telephone system wherein data signals are communicated between a mobile station and a base station, said mobile station having stored therein mobile station identification data, a global random number periodically received from said base station and a unique random number received from said base station, said apparatus comprising:
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unique random number receiving means for receiving said unique random number transmitted by said base station; and authentication key generating means at said mobile station responsive to at least the stored mobile station identification data and unique random number for automatically generating said authentication key, said authentication key being an A-key, and said authentication key generating means being operable to automatically generate said authentication key during an initial installation operation of said mobile station, said authentication key being maintained in semi-permanent memory in a non-transitory, non-transmissible state within said mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 30)
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15. In a cellular mobile telephone system wherein a mobile station communicates with a base station, and wherein said mobile station has stored therein mobile station identification data, a global random number periodically received from said base station, and a unique random number received from said base station, the method of automatically generating an authentication key comprising the steps of:
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receiving at said mobile station said unique random number from said base station; and automatically generating during an initial installation operation of said mobile station said authentication key in response to said unique random number, said authentication key being an A-key, said authentication key being maintained in semi-permanent memory in a non-transitory, non-transmissible state within said mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31)
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Specification