Security Token Resource Reservation in Communication Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication networks lack effective authorization checks at the reservation protocol level, allowing unauthorized entities to reserve resources, potentially excluding authorized entities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method where communication units register with policy data points to obtain security tokens, which are used in signaling messages to authenticate and authorize resource reservations within the network, ensuring only authorized entities can reserve resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If authorization checks are not implemented at the reservation protocol level, then resource reservation is simple and fast, but unauthorized entities can reserve resources, compromising network integrity and fairness
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary authentication by issuing security tokens to authorized entities before they attempt resource reservation. These tokens are validated at the reservation protocol level, ensuring authorization checks are completed in advance rather than during the reservation process itself, thus maintaining reliability without adding operational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Security tokens act as intermediaries between the authentication system and the resource reservation system. The tokens carry authorization information that enables the reservation protocol to verify entitlements without implementing complex authorization logic directly, resolving the contradiction between reliability and complexity
2Reliability
If security tokens are validated at every reservation request, then unauthorized reservations are prevented, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Authentication and token issuance are performed preliminarily before resource reservation attempts. The security tokens are issued once during authentication, and subsequent reservation requests only require validating the pre-issued token rather than performing full authentication, significantly reducing processing time while maintaining authorization accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The security token serves as a copy or representation of the entity's authorization credentials. Instead of verifying the original authentication data at each reservation request, the system validates the token copy that was issued during preliminary authentication, reducing processing time while maintaining reliability
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for reserving resources in a communication network for an entity. Communication units in the network register with policy data points (PDPs) to attain authorization to establish and receive calls in a communication network. The PDPs supply the communication units with security tokens that the communication units use to assert that they are authorized to establish sessions and reserve resources in the communication network. Communication units associated with a call include their tokens in signaling messages that are used to establish the call. Nodes along the path between a communication unit associated with a calling party in the call and a communication unit associated with a called party in the call use the tokens to authenticate the source of the signaling messages and determine whether they have permission to reserve resources in the communication network.