Group Epoch WLAN Anonymization for Low-Overhead Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication technologies face challenges in providing appropriate levels of privacy and security, particularly in balancing complexity, overhead, and power consumption, especially in wireless local area networks (WLANs).
Innovation Solution
Implementing group epoch operation in wireless devices to anonymize communications by masking device identities and periodically changing obfuscation parameters, along with techniques to prevent tracking across address changes, such as frame retransmission and address continuity, to enhance privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If wireless communication systems implement traditional privacy protection methods, then device identity can be protected, but system complexity and overhead increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple privacy protection functions into a unified group epoch mechanism. Devices in the same group share the same epoch identifier, and the system merges identity masking, timing synchronization, and group management into a single coordinated framework. This consolidation reduces overall system complexity while maintaining privacy protection effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The epoch mechanism serves multiple functions simultaneously: it masks device identities, provides timing synchronization for coordinated transmissions, enables group-based resource allocation, and reduces signaling overhead. By making the epoch system multi-functional, the patent avoids adding separate mechanisms for each privacy and coordination requirement, thereby reducing overall complexity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If wireless devices perform frequent address changes to prevent tracking, then privacy is improved, but power consumption increases due to additional transmissions and retransmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic address changes synchronized to epoch boundaries rather than continuous or random changes. Devices maintain their masked addresses throughout each epoch period, reducing the frequency of address updates. This periodic approach balances privacy protection with power conservation by limiting retransmissions to only when epochs change, rather than requiring constant address updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary address masking at epoch boundaries before transmissions occur. By pre-coordinating address changes with epoch transitions and notifying relevant devices in advance, the system minimizes unexpected retransmissions and the power consumption associated with handling retransmission protocols.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If wireless devices use individual epoch operation for privacy protection, then identity masking is achieved, but system overhead and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges individual device identifiers with group epoch identifiers to create a unified masking mechanism. Instead of managing completely separate individual and group epoch systems, the invention combines them so that the group epoch identifier itself provides the masking effect, eliminating the need for complex individual epoch management while maintaining identity protection.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If wireless communication systems implement comprehensive privacy protection mechanisms, then security is improved, but transmission overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The epoch-based periodic mechanism reduces latency by establishing predetermined address change intervals. Devices know in advance when addresses will change and can synchronize their transmissions accordingly, eliminating the need for continuous negotiation and reducing the time lost to privacy protection operations.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to methods for configuring and using an epoch for anonymized communication in a wireless local area network. A wireless device may receive an indication that multiple group epochs are supported by an access point. The wireless device may provide an epoch request to the access point. The wireless device may receive epoch configuration information in response to the epoch request. The wireless device and the AP may perform communication with wireless device identification obfuscation using the epoch configuration information.