Apparatus, system and method of fine timing measurement (FTM)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10009430-B2
Application number	US-201615086108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2016
Priority date	Aug 27, 2015
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, systems and/or methods of Fine Timing Measurement (FTM). For example, an apparatus may include circuitry and logic configured to cause an initiator station to process an FTM message received from a responder station, the first FTM message comprising a first field comprising a first Message Authentication Code (MAC); to process a second FTM message comprising the first field, a second field, and an FTM time value corresponding to the first FTM message, the first field comprising a second MAC, and the second field comprising the first MAC; and to determine whether or not to use the FTM time value for an FTM measurement, based on an authentication of the responder station according to the second MAC.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising circuitry and logic configured to cause an initiator station to:
transmit a Fine Timing measurement (FTM) request to request to perform an FTM procedure with a responder station;
process a token field in a first FTM message received from the responder station, the token field in the first FTM message comprising a first Message Authentication Code (MAC);
process a token field and a follow-up token field in a second FTM message received from the responder station, the second FTM message comprising an FTM time value corresponding to a Time of Departure (ToD) of said first FTM message, the token field in the second FTM message comprising a second MAC, the follow-up token field in the second FTM message comprising said first MAC; and
determine whether or not to use the FTM time value for an FTM measurement, based on an authentication of said responder station according to said second MAC.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to determine whether or not to use location based information in the first FTM message, based on an authentication of said responder station according to said first MAC.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the location based information comprises at least one report selected from a group consisting of a location configuration information (LCI) report, and a CIVIC location report.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to determine whether or not to perform said FTM measurement, based on an authentication of said responder station according to said first MAC.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to use the FTM time value for the FTM measurement only if the authentication of said responder station according to said second MAC is successful.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to select not to use the FTM time value for the FTM measurement if the authentication of said responder station according to said second MAC is not successful.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first MAC is based on a key and a first time value, and the second MAC is based on the key and a second time value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first and second time values are based on a Time Synchronization Function (TSF).

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the key comprises a pre-shared key shared between the initiator station and the responder station.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second MAC is based on an address of said responder station.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to determine, based on the first MAC in the follow-up token field of the second FTM message, that said second FTM message follows said first FTM message.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said second MAC is based on an address of said initiator station.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first MAC and the second MAC are based on a hash function.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 configured to cause the initiator station to determine a range between said initiator station and said responder station, based on said FTM measurement.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a radio to receive the first and second FTM messages.

16. A product including one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to cause an initiator station to:
transmit a Fine Timing measurement (FTM) request to request to perform an FTM procedure with a responder station;
process a token field in a first FTM message received from the responder station, the token field in the first FTM message comprising a first Message Authentication Code (MAC);
process a token field and a follow-up token field in a second FTM message received from the responder station, the second FTM message comprising an FTM time value corresponding to a Time of Departure (ToD) of said first FTM message, the token field in the second FTM message comprising a second MAC, the follow-up token field in the second FTM message comprising said first MAC; and
determine whether or not to use the FTM time value for an FTM measurement, based on an authentication of said responder station according to said second MAC.

17. The product of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the initiator station to determine whether or not to use location based information in the first FTM message, based on an authentication of said responder station according to said first MAC.

18. An apparatus comprising circuitry and logic configured to cause a responder station to:
receive from an initiator station a Fine Timing measurement (FTM) request to request to perform an FTM procedure with the responder station;
transmit a first FTM message to the initiator station, the first FTM message comprising a token field comprising a first Message Authentication Code (MAC); and
transmit to said initiator station a second FTM message comprising an FTM time value corresponding to a Time of Departure (ToD) of said first FTM message, a token field in the second FTM message comprising a second MAC, a follow-up token field in the second FTM message comprising said first MAC, the second MAC configured for authentication of the responder station for an FTM measurement based on the FTM time value.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 configured to cause the responder station to determine the first MAC based on a key and a first time value, and to determine the second MAC based on the key and a second time value.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the key is a pre-shared key shared between the responder station and the initiator station.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the first and second time values are based on a Time Synchronization Function (TSF).

22. The apparatus of claim 18 configured to cause the responder station to determine the second MAC based on an address of said responder station.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 comprising one or more antennas, a memory, and a processor.

24. A product including one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one processor, enable the at least one processor to cause a responder station to:
receive from an initiator station a Fine Timing measurement (FTM) request to request to perform an FTM procedure with the responder station;
transmit a first FTM message to the initiator station, the first FTM message comprising a token field comprising a first Message Authentication Code (MAC); and
transmit to said initiator station a second FTM message comprising an FTM time value corresponding to a Time of Departure (ToD) of said first FTM message, a token field in the second FTM message comprising a second MAC, a follow-up token field in the second FTM message comprising said first MAC, the second MAC configured for authentication of the responder station for an FTM measurement based on the FTM time value.

25. The product of claim 24 , wherein the first MAC is based on a key and a first time value, and the second MAC is based on the key and a second time value.

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Eyal Elad
• Segev Jonathan
• Steiner Itai

Classifications

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04L43/0864

  Round trip delays · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• G06F21/44

  Program or device authentication · CPC title

• G01S11/08

  using synchronised clocks · CPC title