Method for group change issues in MTC

• US 9,071,501 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Zhang, Xiaowei, Prasad, Anand Raghawa
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US13/809,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20130138817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,483 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0075 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A gateway (GW) is optimized for security management, when a group member of MTC device changes group. The gateway performs access control to determine if MTC device can move to the target group. When the change is successfully completed, the gateway allocates group key of the target group to MTC devices.

Claims

1. A gateway being capable of relaying traffic between a plurality of communication devices and a network, the communication devices being grouped into at least two groups for communicating with the network, the gateway comprising:

a first unit that receives from one communication device a request to change a group to which said one communication device belongs from one group to another group, the request including features of said one communication device;

a second unit that determines whether or not the request is acceptable, by comparing the features with features to be supported by said another group; and

a third unit that allocates, when it is determined that the request is acceptable, to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the gateway.

2. The gateway according to claim 1, wherein the third unit further allocates to said one communication device a temporary identifier for identifying said one communication device within said another group.

3. The gateway according to claim 2, further comprising:

a unit that notifies the network that said one communication device moves to said another group, upon the allocation.

4. The gateway according to claim 2, further comprising:

a unit that receives the request from the network,

wherein the second unit transfers, when the request is received from the network, the request to said one communication device,

wherein the third unit performs the allocation, when the request is accepted by said one communication device.

5. The gateway according to claim 2,

wherein the second unit transfer, when said another group is under a different gateway, the request to the network,

wherein the third unit requests, when the request is accepted by the network, the different gateway to allocate to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the different gateway.

6. The gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit that notifies the network that said one communication device moves to said another group, upon the allocation.

7. The gateway according to claim 6, further comprising:

a unit that receives the request from the network,

wherein the second unit transfers, when the request is received from the network, the request to said one communication device,

wherein the third unit performs the allocation, when the request is accepted by said one communication device.

8. The gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit that receives the request from the network,

wherein the second unit transfers, when the request is received from the network, the request to said one communication device,

wherein the third unit performs the allocation, when the request is accepted by said one communication device.

9. The gateway according to claim 1,

wherein the second unit transfer, when said another group is under a different gateway, the request to the network,

wherein the third unit requests, when the request is accepted by the network, the different gateway to allocate to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the different gateway.

10. The gateway according to claim 9, wherein the third unit further requests the different gateway to allocate to said one communication device a temporary identifier for identifying said one communication device within said another group.

11. The gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

a unit that receives the request from the network,

wherein the second unit transfer, when the request is received from the network, the request to said one communication device,

wherein the third unit requests, when said another group is under a different gateway and the request is accepted by said one communication device, the different gateway to allocate to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the different gateway.

12. A method of controlling a gateway that can relay traffic between a plurality of communication devices and a network, the communication devices being grouped into at least two groups for communicating with the network, the method comprising:

receiving from one communication device a request to change a group to which said one communication device belongs from one group to another group, the request including features of said one communication device;

determining whether or not the request is acceptable, by comparing the features with features to be supported by said another group; and

allocating, when it is determined that the request is acceptable, to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the gateway.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

allocating to said one communication device a temporary identifier for identifying said one communication device within said another group.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

notifying the network that said one communication device moves to said another group, upon the allocation.

15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving the request from the network,

wherein when the request is received from the network, the request is transferred to said one communication device,

wherein the allocation is performed, when the request is accepted by said one communication device.

16. The method according to claim 12,

wherein when said another group is under a different gateway, the request is transferred to the network,

wherein when the request is accepted by the network, the different gateway is requested to allocate to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the different gateway.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the different gateway is further requested to allocate to said one communication device a temporary identifier for identifying said one communication device within said another group.

18. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving the request from the network,

wherein when the request is received from the network, the request is transferred to said one communication device,

wherein when said another group is under a different gateway and the request is accepted by said one communication device, the different gateway is requested to allocate to said one communication device a group key of said another group for securely communicating with the different gateway.