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EP1178644A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Key management methods for wireless lans

Assignee: Nokia Inc
•
Filing: 2001-02-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2021-02-06
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Abstract

Abstract The security keys in the mobile terminals and access points of a wireless local area network (WLAN) are created, utilized and managed for a communication session between a mobile terminal and access point. Both the WLAN link level security protection and IP security functions of the network use the same Internet Key Exchange (IKE) key management protocol and use certificates in the same certificate hierarchy. When the mobile terminals associates with the network, it uses the IKE protocol with private keys and certificates to generate WLAN link level keys with the access point and provide mutual authentication. <IMAGE>

Inventors

  • 👤 Jorma Stenman
  • 👤 Juha Salvela
  • 👤 Harri Hansen

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-05 13:26
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L63/00; H04L63/08; H04L63/0823; H04L41/00; H04L63/0869; H04W; H04W12/00; H04W12/03; H04W12/033; H04W12/04; H04W12/06; H04L63/16; H04L63/162; H04L63/164; H04W84/00; H04W84/02; H04W84/10; H04W84/12; H04W88/00; H04W88/02; H04W88/08; H04W88/14

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim 116 words
A method of managing security keys in a wireless local area network having a mobile terminal, an access point and a server, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining first and second certificates from a certificate authority; associating the mobile terminal with the access point; using a certificate authority certificate, first certificate and private key with Internet Key Exchange (IKE) to generate a a WLAN link level key and mutually authenticating the mobile terminal and the access point using the IKE; and using a certificate authority certificate, second certificate and private key with Internet Key Exchange (IKE) to generate IPsec authentication, encryption and decryption keys for data packets transferred between the mobile terminal and the server.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 25 words
The method recited in claim 1, wherein the certificate authority certificate, private key, and the first and second certificates are stored in the mobile terminal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 34 words
The method recited in claim 2, wherein the certificate authority certificate, private key, and the first and second certificates are stored in the mobile terminal at the time of manufacture of the mobile terminal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 23 words
The method recited in claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal generates an authentication header for transferred data packets utilizing the IPsec encryption key.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 26 words
The method recited in claim 1, wherein the server authenticates and decrypts data packets transferred from the mobile terminal utilizing the IPsec authentication and decryption keys.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 31 words
The method recited in claim 5, wherein the data packets are transferred from the mobile terminal to the access point using WLAN link level encryption in addition to the IPsec encryption.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 18 words
The method recited in claim 6, wherein the WLAn link level encryption comprises Wired Equivalent Pricay (WEP) encryption.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 26 words
The method recited in claim 1, wherein the data packets are transferred from the mobile terminal to the access point without using WLAN link level encryption.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 19 words
The method recited in claim 8, wherein the mobile terminal forwards the IPsec authentication key to the access point.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 27 words
The method recited in claim 9, wherein the access point authenticates data packets from the mobile terminal using the IPsec authentication key forwarded from the mobile terminal.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 31 words
The method recited in claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal sends an IPsec authenticated message to an access point as part of a MAC-level message of the wireless local area network.

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