Secure Association Termination Pending State

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Solution Overview

Problem

When devices attempt to terminate a secure association, issues arise if they are out of communication range, leading to unnecessary processing, power drain, and bandwidth utilization, as the device being terminated may not be informed, causing repeated attempts to re-establish communication and memory waste.

Innovation Solution

A method where the device initiating the termination checks if it can communicate with the other device; if not, it saves a pending indication and only terminates the association once communication is re-established, allowing notification and secure disassociation.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If device A immediately deletes the secure association upon determining termination is desired, then device A's memory space is freed, but device B remains unaware of the termination and continues to attempt communication, causing unnecessary processing and power drain

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvememory space on device AVSAvoidpower drain from device B's repeated communication attempts

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

Device A performs a preliminary check to determine whether device B is within communication range before immediately deleting the secure association. If device B is out of range, device A delays deletion until device B can be notified, preventing energy waste from unsuccessful reconnection attempts while still freeing memory eventually.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of energy

If device A waits to delete the secure association until device B is notified, then device B is informed and stops unnecessary communication attempts, but device A's memory space is occupied longer

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepower drain from device B's repeated communication attemptsVSAvoidmemory space on device A

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

Device A checks in advance whether device B is within communication range before proceeding with deletion. This preliminary assessment allows device A to balance between notifying device B (conserving energy) and freeing memory (releasing resources), making an informed decision based on current communication conditions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Loss of energy

If device A checks communication range before terminating the secure association, then unnecessary processing and power drain are prevented, but the termination process becomes more complex

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepower drain and unnecessary processingVSAvoidtermination process complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Device A uses its own existing communication range detection capability (already part of normal device operation) to determine whether device B is reachable. This self-service approach avoids adding complex external notification systems while still achieving the goal of preventing unnecessary communication attempts.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS7650406B2Termination of a security association between devices

Publication Date: 2010.01.19 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A secure association may be established between a first device and a second device for providing secure communication. When the secure association is to be terminated, a first device may save an indication that termination of the secure association is pending, if it is unable to communicate with the second device at that time. At a later time, the first device may communicate with the second device to notify it that the secure association is to be terminated. After the second device has been notified, the secure association may be terminated by the first device.