Zone switching method in a broadband wireless access system having regard to security association and device for same

• US 8,948,130 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jung, In Uk, Ryu, Ki Seon
• Primary Examiner(s): Phunkulh, Bob
• Application Number:
  US13/634,211
• Publication Number:
  US 20130010762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0038 of security context information

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method for supporting security during a handover performance through a zone switch and to a device performing same. According to one embodiment of the present invention, switching a zone by a terminal in a broadband wireless access system comprises the following steps: creating at least one service flow in a first zone that supports the legacy mode of a base station; receiving at the base station a first message, which indicates a zone switch to a second zone that supports an advanced mode; and performing the zone switch, wherein performing the zone switch may further comprise a step for receiving from the second zone a second message, which includes security association information that indicates the security association applied to at least one service flow in the second zone.

Claims

1. A method of performing zone switch at a mobile station (MS) in a broadband radio access system, the method comprising:

performing the zone switch from a first zone supporting a legacy mode of a base station (BS) to a second zone supporting an advanced mode of the BS,

wherein the performing the zone switch includes receiving, from the second zone, a second message including security association (SA) information, the SA information indicating at least one second zone service flow that is mapped to at least one second zone SA, and

wherein the at least one second zone SA that is mapped to the at least one second zone service flow is selected from a plurality of available second zone SAs based on a type of a first zone connection identifier corresponding to the second zone service flow, the first zone connection identifier being used in the first zone before performing the zone switch.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein a plurality of available first zone SAs corresponds to any one of an SAID 0 with null SA and an SAID 1 for protecting confidentiality and integrity, and

wherein the plurality of available second zone SAs corresponds to any one of the SAID 0, the SAID 1 and an SAID 2 for protecting confidentiality.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the SA information includes a bitmap indicating that an identifier of the second zone service flow is mapped to an identifier of the second zone SA.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

mapping the selected at least one second zone SA to the first zone connection identifier according to a predetermined SA mapping rule,

wherein the type of the first zone connection identifier is one of a management connection, a broadcast connection, a multicast connection or a unicast connection.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first zone, a first message including zone switch information required for the zone switch,

wherein the first zone is an LZone and the second zone is an MZone, the first message is a unsolicited ranging response (RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the LZone, and the second message is a ranging response (AAI-RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the MZone.

6. A method of supporting zone switch of a mobile station (MS) at an advanced base station (ABS) supporting a legacy mode through a first zone in a broadband radio access system, the method comprising:

transmitting, to the MS through a second zone supporting an advanced mode of the ABS, a second message including security association (SA) information, the SA information indicating at least one second zone service flow that is mapped to at least one second zone SA,

wherein the at least one second zone SA that is mapped to the at least one second zone service flow is selected from a plurality of available second zone SAs based on a type of a first zone connection identifier corresponding to the second zone service flow, the first zone connection identifier being used in the first zone before the zone switch is performed.

7. The method according to claim 6,

wherein a plurality of available first zone SAs corresponds to any one of an SAID 0 with null SA and an SAID 1 for protecting confidentiality and integrity, and

wherein the plurality of available second zone SAs corresponds to any one of the SAID 0, the SAID 1 and an SAID 2 for protecting confidentiality.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the SA information includes a bitmap indicating that an identifier of the second zone service flow is mapped to an identifier of the second zone SA.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

mapping the selected at least one second zone SA to the first zone connection identifier according to a predetermined SA mapping rule,

wherein the type of the first zone connection identifier is one of a management connection, a broadcast connection, a multicast connection or a unicast connection.

10. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting, to the MS through the first zone supporting, a first message including zone switch information required for the zone switch of the MS from the first zone to the second zone,

wherein the first zone is an LZone and the second zone is an MZone, the first message is a unsolicited ranging response (RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the LZone, and the second message is a ranging response (AAI-RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the MZone.

11. A mobile station (MS) for performing zone switch in a broadband radio access system, the MS comprising:

a processor configured to perform the zone switch from a first zone supporting a legacy mode of a base station (BS) to a second zone supporting an advanced mode of the BS; and

a radio frequency (RF) module configured to transmit and receive an RF signal to and from an external device under control of the processor,

wherein the processor controls the RF module to receive from the second zone, a second message including security association (SA) information, the SA information indicating at least one second zone service flow that is mapped to at least one second zone SA, and

wherein the at least one second zone SA that is mapped to the at least one second zone service flow is selected from a plurality of available second zone SAs based on a type of a first zone connection identifier corresponding to the second zone service flow, the first zone connection identifier being used in the first zone before performing the zone switch.

12. The MS according to claim 11,

wherein a plurality of available first zone SAs corresponds to any one of an SAID 0 with null SA and an SAID 1 for protecting confidentiality and integrity, and

wherein the plurality of available second zone SAs corresponds to any one of the SAID 0, the SAID 1 and an SAID 2 for protecting confidentiality.

13. The MS according to claim 11, wherein the SA information includes a bitmap indicating that an identifier of the second zone service flow is mapped to an identifier of the second zone SA.

14. The MS according to claim 11,

wherein the processor is further configured to map the selected at least one second zone SA to the first zone connection identifier according to a predetermined SA mapping rule, and

wherein the type of a first zone connection identifier is one of a management connection, a broadcast connection, a multicast connection or a unicast connection.

15. The MS according to claim 11,

wherein the processor controls the RF unit to receive, from the first zone, a first message including zone switch information required for the zone switch, and

wherein the first zone is an LZone and the second zone is an MZone, the first message is a unsolicited ranging response (RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the LZone, and the second message is a ranging response (AAI-RNG-RSP) message transmitted from the MZone.