UE Capability Proxy for Secure Wireless Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless networks face challenges in managing access control based on varying user equipment capabilities, particularly in securing communications and providing enhanced services, as UEs with different cryptographic capabilities require tailored network slices and dynamic updates.
Innovation Solution
A UE Capability Proxy Function (UCPF) maintains and updates UE capability information, enabling network access policies that grant or restrict access based on cryptographic techniques, allowing UEs to comply with network requirements through library and certificate provisioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the network implements strict access control based on UE capability parameters, then network security is improved, but access denial increases for UEs lacking required capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a UE Capability Proxy Function (UCPF) as an intermediary between UEs and the network access control system. The UCPF receives capability information from UEs, evaluates it against network policies, and provides capability-enhanced access decisions. This mediator allows the network to maintain strict security policies while helping UEs that lack certain capabilities to still access the network through capability enhancement or redirection, thus resolving the contradiction between security and access availability.
2Productivity
If the network provides enhanced services to UEs with strong cryptographic capabilities, then service quality is improved, but device complexity increases due to capability evaluation and management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the capability evaluation and management functions from the UE and network access control system and places them in a dedicated UCPF. This extraction reduces the complexity burden on both UEs and the core network by centralizing capability handling in a specialized function that processes capability information, evaluates it against policies, and provides appropriate access decisions, thereby improving service quality without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the network dynamically updates UE capabilities through library and certificate provisioning, then UE capability compliance is improved, but network overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the UCPF proactively receive and evaluate UE capability information before access decisions are made. The system pre-processes capability data, maintains updated capability information in a database, and prepares capability enhancement responses in advance. This preliminary handling of capability management reduces the overhead during actual access control operations, as the heavy lifting of capability evaluation and matching is performed beforehand, thereby improving capability compliance while minimizing network overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A system described herein may receive a UE capability policy associated with a wireless network. The UE capability policy may include criteria indicating a particular set of UE capabilities. The system may receive a request for a UE access the wireless network; determine UE capability information associated with the UE; and compare the UE capability information to the criteria included in the UE capability policy to determine whether the UE implements the particular set of UE capabilities. The system may selectively grant or deny access to the UE in response to the request, wherein selectively granting or denying the access includes denying access to the UE when determining that the UE does not implement the particular set of UE capabilities, and granting access to the UE when determining that the UE implements the particular set of UE capabilities.