WLAN STA/AP Information Updates Using Shared Secrets for OTA MAC Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless local area networks (WLANs), changing the over-the-air (OTA) medium access control (MAC) address of a station (STA) device to prevent privacy leakage results in excessive signaling resource usage due to the need for an access point (AP) to allocate new association IDs, MAC frame sequence numbers, and encryption/decryption packet numbers each time the STA changes its MAC address.
Innovation Solution
The STA and AP devices use predetermined secret information to determine new information, such as OTA-TID, MAC frame SN, MAC frame PN, and PPDU scrambler seed, during data transmission, reducing the need for additional signaling interactions by ensuring consistency in information updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the AP device transmits signaling indicating AID, SN, PN each time the STA device changes its OTA MAC address, then the STA device can be prevented from being tracked and privacy leakage is prevented, but excessive signaling resources are occupied
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing a correspondence relationship between OTA MAC addresses and first information (AID, SN, PN) before the STA device changes its MAC address. When the MAC address changes, the AP device can directly retrieve the corresponding first information from the pre-established relationship without needing to transmit new signaling, thus preventing tracking while conserving signaling resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by reusing the same first information (AID, SN, PN) for the new OTA MAC address that was originally associated with the old MAC address. Instead of generating and transmitting entirely new information through signaling, the system copies the existing first information from the correspondence relationship, maintaining privacy protection while avoiding additional signaling overhead.
2Reliability
If the AP device allocates new AID, SN, PN through signaling each time STA changes MAC address, then tracking prevention is achieved, but the complexity of the information update process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces process complexity by pre-establishing the correspondence relationship between OTA MAC addresses and first information. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for complex real-time allocation and signaling procedures when MAC address changes occur, as the AP device can simply retrieve pre-prepared information from the established relationships.
3Stability of the object's composition
If additional signaling interactions are used to update information when OTA MAC address changes, then consistent information can be maintained between STA and AP, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains information consistency without additional signaling by copying the first information from the pre-established correspondence relationship. When the STA device changes its OTA MAC address, both the STA and AP use the same copied first information (AID, SN, PN) that was previously associated with the old MAC address, ensuring consistency while avoiding signaling overhead.
Data Source
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AI summary
An information update method and apparatus, and a device and a storage medium, which belong to the technical field of wireless local area networks. The method comprises: when an over-the-air (OTA) media access control (MAC) address of a station device changes, updating new first information of the station device according to first secret information, wherein the first information is information used when transmission is performed between the station device and an access point device, and the first secret information is information pre-determined by the station device and the access point device. The present solution can save on signaling resources.