Mobility Domain Pairwise Transient Key for Roaming Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication systems, particularly in mobility domains like Wi-Fi 7, face limitations in creating multiple pairwise transient keys (PTKs) for association with multiple access points (APs), leading to increased signaling overhead and delayed association or roaming due to the need for separate PTK generation and four-way handshakes for each AP.
Innovation Solution
A station generates a pairwise transient key (PTK) once and synchronizes it with all access points in a mobility domain, allowing multiple communication links to be established using a single association signaling process, reducing the need for additional PTKs and four-way handshakes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate PTK generation and four-way handshakes are performed for each access point, then security is maintained for each individual association, but signaling overhead increases and association/roaming time is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary authentication and PTK generation with a selected access point before the station needs to associate with other access points in the mobility domain. The generated PTK is then cached and reused for subsequent associations, eliminating the need to repeat the time-consuming four-way handshake process for each new access point while maintaining security through the pre-established cryptographic key.
2Reliability
If separate PTKs are generated for each access point association, then individual security is ensured, but the complexity of key management increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the generated PTK universal across multiple access points within the same mobility domain. Instead of creating separate PTKs for each access point association, a single PTK generated during preliminary authentication can be reused for associations with multiple different access points, simplifying key management while maintaining security through the mobility domain's architecture.
3Reliability
If multiple PTKs are created for multiple access points, then security is maintained for each link, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the authentication and PTK generation process into a single preliminary action that serves multiple access points. Instead of performing separate four-way handshakes with each access point (which would generate multiple PTKs), the system performs one authentication sequence and reuses the resulting PTK across multiple associations, reducing signaling overhead while maintaining link security through the shared cryptographic key.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer-readable medium to perform operations including encrypting association data, by a station in a mobility domain of a wireless communication network, wherein the encrypting is performed using a pairwise transient key (PTK) and transmitting the encrypted association data to an AP to establish a wireless communication link.