Residential Wireless Roaming Via VPN Connectivity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing residential wireless networks do not provide seamless and automatic remote access to in-home networks when users move out of their home network, requiring cumbersome remote connectivity methods like dynamic DNS or VPN.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an automated and auto-configured network-level VPN using a digital certificate issued by a service provider's certificate authority, allowing user devices to negotiate a connection back to their home network through public WiFi services without manual activation, using probe request and response messages to establish a virtual private network connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If existing residential wireless networks are used without automated roaming, then network security is maintained through traditional methods, but users experience cumbersome remote connectivity requiring manual configuration of dynamic DNS or VPN
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables user devices to automatically obtain digital certificates and establish VPN connections to home networks without manual configuration. The certificate authority automatically issues certificates to roaming devices, and the VPN connection is established through automated probe request/response messages, eliminating the need for users to manually configure dynamic DNS or VPN settings.
Solution Approach 2:
Digital certificates are pre-issued by the certificate authority to user devices before roaming occurs. When a device needs to connect to its home network remotely, the certificate is already available in the device, enabling immediate automated authentication and connection establishment without requiring prior manual setup by the user.
2Extent of automation
If automated VPN connection is implemented using digital certificates, then seamless remote access is achieved, but network security protocols and certificate verification must be strictly enforced
Solution Approach 1:
A trusted certificate authority acts as an intermediary between user devices and home networks. The certificate authority issues digital certificates to devices and verifies them during the probe request/response process, ensuring that automated connections maintain security through trusted third-party verification rather than direct peer-to-peer trust relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements bidirectional certificate verification through the probe request and response messages. The user device presents its certificate to the home network, and the home network verifies it against the certificate authority's public key. This feedback mechanism ensures that only authenticated devices can establish VPN connections, maintaining security while enabling automation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If digital certificate-based roaming is implemented, then protection against man-in-the-middle attacks is achieved through trusted certificate chains, but the system requires integration with public WiFi service provider networks
Solution Approach 1:
The trusted certificate authority serves as an intermediary that issues certificates to both user devices and public WiFi access points. This creates a chain of trust that protects against man-in-the-middle attacks while enabling the system to operate across diverse public WiFi networks from different service providers, as long as they participate in the certificate-based authentication framework.
Data Source
AI summary
Example embodiments include a method for receiving, at a user device from a home access point, a first digital certificate for a residential wireless roaming mode, wherein the residential wireless roaming mode provides the user device remote access to a wireless local area network corresponding to the home access point, and wherein the first digital certificate is issued by a certificate authority of a service provider associated with the home access point; transmitting at least one probe request message to at least one public access point, wherein the probe request message includes at least the first digital certificate; receiving from the at least one public access point a probe response message including information for remotely accessing the wireless local area network via a virtual private network connection established between the public access point and the home access point.