Healthcare Network Slice Authentication for Secure Patient Data Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The healthcare industry faces challenges in securing and efficiently routing highly sensitive patient data between junior and senior healthcare workers due to inadequate data security and inefficient use of network resources, particularly in communication systems involving private and cellular networks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing healthcare-dedicated network slices with security mechanisms, authenticating devices, and encrypting/decrypting data using device identifiers to ensure secure, prioritized, and efficient transmission of healthcare data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional communication networks are used for healthcare data transmission, then network resource utilization is inefficient and data security is inadequate, but implementing dedicated network slices increases device complexity and authentication requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the communication network into multiple network slices, with dedicated slices for healthcare data transmission. This segmentation isolates healthcare traffic from other network traffic, enhancing security and reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through structured division of network resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an authentication system as an intermediary component that manages device verification and network slice assignment. This intermediary handles the complexity of security protocols centrally, allowing individual devices to benefit from enhanced security without each device bearing the full burden of complex authentication mechanisms.
2Productivity
If network slices are implemented for healthcare communications, then data transmission security and prioritization are improved, but network infrastructure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The network is segmented into multiple virtual slices, each optimized for specific healthcare communication needs. This allows prioritized transmission of critical patient data while maintaining efficient resource utilization, as each slice can be configured with appropriate quality of service parameters without affecting other network functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The network slice infrastructure is designed to serve multiple healthcare applications simultaneously through a unified platform. The same slice management system handles various types of healthcare traffic (patient monitoring, telemedicine, data transmission), reducing overall infrastructure complexity compared to implementing separate dedicated networks for each function.
3Reliability
If encryption and decryption processes are implemented for every data transmission, then data security is enhanced, but communication latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
Encryption keys and authentication credentials are established in advance before actual data transmission occurs. The authentication system pre-verifies devices and assigns appropriate encryption parameters, so that when data transmission begins, the security protocols are already in place and can operate with minimal additional latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs different encryption parameters and algorithms based on the specific data type and transmission requirements. Not all healthcare data requires the same level of encryption overhead - critical patient information receives stronger encryption while less sensitive data uses lighter protocols, optimizing the balance between security and transmission speed.
Data Source
AI summary
A method comprises determining, by an authentication application, whether a first device is permitted to communicate with a second device using one or more healthcare-dedicated network slices based on at least one of a first device identifier identifying the first device or a second device identifier identifying the second device, and determining, by the authentication application, a network slice of the one or more healthcare-dedicated network slices in the communication network based on one or more network attributes associated with the network slice and the medical data when the first device is permitted to communicate with the second device using the one or more healthcare-dedicated network slices.