Methods, devices, and computer programs for determining when to change values of privacy enhancement parameters of a multi link wireless station in a BSS

Abstract

In a network comprising an access point (AP) 105 and plural non-AP stations (STA) 110a-110c, a STA periodically changes its privacy parameters for security purposes. The parameters may be part of the

Claims

1. A method for changing a value of at least one privacy parameter of at least one station of a group of stations, the method comprising:obtaining a reference time, the reference time being obtained directly or indirectly from an initial reference time and a time interval to be applied iteratively;obtaining a pseudo-random number; anddetermining a time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified, the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified being determined as a function of the obtained reference time and of the obtained pseudo-random number.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an iteration number of a current iteration, the iteration number being obtained from the initial reference time, the time interval and a current time, the reference time being further obtained as a function of the iteration number.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the initial reference time and the time interval are obtained from another station of the group of stations, as a group initial reference time and a group time interval, respectively, the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified being a group time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified, the method further comprisingobtaining an individual initial reference time and an individual time interval;obtaining an individual reference time, the individual reference time being obtained directly or indirectly from the individual initial reference time and the individual time interval;obtaining an individual pseudo-random number; anddetermining an individual time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified, the individual time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified being determined as a function of the obtained reference time and of the obtained individual pseudo-random number.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the determined individual time with at least one determined group time, wherein, if a difference between the determined individual time and the at least one determined group time is below a threshold, only oneof the determined individual time and the at least one determined group time is selected for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter.

5. The method of claim 3 or claim 4, further comprisingtransmitting a request, to the other station, for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter of the at least one station, the request comprising at least the individual initial reference time and the individual time interval,wherein obtaining the individual reference time and determining the individual time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified are carried out upon receiving a response to the request.

6. The method of claim 3 or claim 4, further comprisingtransmitting a request, to the other station, for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter of the at least one non-access point,wherein obtaining the individual reference time and determining the individual time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified are carried out upon receiving a response to the request, the response to the request comprising at least the individual initial reference time and the individual time interval.

7. The method of any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein a policy is received from the other station along with the initial reference time and the time interval, wherein selecting the individual time and / or the group time for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter is based on the received policy.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting a request, to another station of the group of stations, for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter of the at least one station, the request comprising at least the initial reference time and the time interval,wherein obtaining the reference time and determining the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified are carried out upon receiving a response to the request.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting a request, to another station of the group of stations, for changing the value of the at least one privacy parameter of the at least one station,wherein obtaining the reference time and determining the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified are carried out upon receiving aresponse to the request, the response to the request comprising at least the initial reference time and the time interval.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising starting a timer, the timer expiring at the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising computing and storing the value of the at least one privacy parameter for a previous, a current, and / or a next iteration.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a same pseudo-random function is used once for obtaining the pseudo-random number and for computing the value of the at least one privacy parameter.

13. The method of claim 11 or claim 12, depending on claim 10, wherein the stored value of the at least one privacy parameter is recovered and applied upon expiry of the timer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the recovered and applied value of the at least one privacy parameter is a value for a current iteration, the method further comprising recovering and applying, for a given time period, a value of the at least one privacy parameter for an iteration immediately preceding the current iteration.

15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising obtaining a time range, the obtained pseudo-random number belonging to the obtained time range.

16. The method of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein the at least one station is at least one non-access, non-AP, station, the group of stations comprising an access-point, AP, station and the at least one non-AP station being associated with the AP station.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the non-AP station and the AP station are multi-link devices, MLDs, and wherein the time at which the value of the at least one privacy parameter is to be modified is further determined as a function of a time offset depending on a reference link.

18. The method of any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the at least one privacy parameter is at least one Client Privacy Enhancement, CPE, parameter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one CPE parameter comprises a public identifier, the public identifier being a MAC address or an Association Identifier, AID.

20. A computer program product for a programmable apparatus, the computer program product comprising a sequence of instructions for implementing each of the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19 when loaded into and executed by the programmable apparatus.5 21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions of acomputer program for implementing each of the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.

22. A communication device comprising a processing unit configured for carrying out each of the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.10

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