Address randomization schemes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12401992-B2
Application number	US-202217896750-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2022
Priority date	Sep 13, 2021
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed for address changing schemes in a wireless communications system. Some embodiments include an access point (AP) that can establish two or more address profiles with a station (STA), establish a schedule for switching from a first address profile to a second address profile, where the first and second address profiles are of the two or more address profiles, and transmit a first data transmission using the first address profile. Some embodiments include switching from the first address profile to the second address profile based on the schedule, and transmitting a second data transmission using the second address profile. The schedule can be based on a randomized time synchronization function (TSF). The AP can establish a joint algorithm with the STA, and use the joint algorithm determine the first and the second address profiles as well as transition times for the schedule.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An access point (AP), comprising:
a transceiver; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver, configured to:
establish two or more address profiles with a station (STA);
establish a schedule for switching from a first address profile to a second address profile, wherein the first and second address profiles are of the two or more address profiles;
encrypt an aggregated MAC Service Data Unit (A-MSDU);
after the encryption, create an over-the-air (OTA) packet number (PN OTA ) that is different than a packet number (PN) corresponding to the A-MSDU; and
transmit, via the transceiver, a first data transmission using the first address profile, wherein the first data transmission comprises the PN OTA , wherein the first address profile comprises an offset PN (PN Offset ), and wherein the PN OTA =PN+PN Offset .

2. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
switch from the first address profile to the second address profile based on the schedule; and
transmit, via the transceiver, a second data transmission using the second address profile.

3. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the schedule for switching from the first address profile to the second address profile is based on a randomized time synchronization function (TSF) parameter.

4. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
establish new address profiles with the STA;
establish a first time when the new address profiles are available for use;
establish a second time when the AP begins operating on a different channel; and
transmit on the different channel, via the transceiver, a second data transmission using a third address profile of the new address profiles, after the first and second times.

5. The AP of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine an end time for the new address profiles, wherein the third address profile is randomly selected from the new address profiles before the end time.

6. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
after the encryption, create an over-the-air (OTA) sequence number (SN OTA ) that is different than a sequence number (SN) corresponding to the A-MSDU, wherein the first data transmission comprises the SN OTA , wherein the first address profile comprises an offset SN (SN Offset ), and wherein the SN OTA =SN+SN Offset .

7. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
after the encryption, apply an AP identifier of the first address profile, wherein the first data transmission comprises the AP identifier.

8. The AP of claim 1 , wherein to establish the two or more address profiles, the processor is configured to:
establish a joint algorithm with the STA; and
use the joint algorithm to determine the first and the second address profiles as well as transition times for the schedule.

9. The AP of claim 8 , wherein to establish the joint algorithm, the processor is further configured to:
receive, via the transceiver, an individual address set algorithm, a MAC address seed, and a proposed address set average duration; and
transmit in response to the reception, via the transceiver, an individual address set start time seed, an individual address set end time seed, a group address algorithm, and an AP MAC address seed.

10. The AP of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive from the STA, via the transceiver, a notification of a colliding MAC address, wherein the notification comprises: the colliding MAC address, a proposed new MAC address for the STA, a time when the proposed new MAC address for the STA is in use, or a proposed new MAC address for the AP; and
transmit to the STA, via the transceiver, a confirmation message corresponding to the notification.

11. A station (STA), comprising:
a transceiver; and
a processor coupled to the transceiver, configured to:
establish two or more address profiles with an access point (AP);
establish a schedule for switching from a first address profile to a second address profile, wherein the first and second address profiles are of the two or more address profiles;
receive, via the transceiver, a first data transmission comprising a first receiving address (RA) corresponding to the first address profile; and
determine a packet number (PN) using an over-the-air (OTA) packet number (PN OTA ) of the first data transmission and an offset PN (PN Offset ) of the first address profile, wherein the PN corresponds to an encrypted aggregated MAC Service Data Unit (A-MSDU) of the first data transmission, wherein the PN=PN OTA −PN Offset .

12. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit, via the transceiver, a block acknowledgement (BA) corresponding to the first data transmission.

13. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
switch from the first address profile to the second address profile based on the schedule; and
receive, via the transceiver, a second data transmission comprising a second RA corresponding to the second address profile, wherein the first RA and the second RA are different.

14. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
establish new address profiles with the AP;
establish a first time when the new address profiles are available for use;
establish a second time when the AP begins operating on a different channel; and
transmit on the different channel, via the transceiver, a second data transmission using a third address profile of the new address profiles, after the first and second times.

15. The STA of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine an end time for the new address profiles, wherein the third address profile is randomly selected from the new address profiles before the end time.

16. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a sequence number (SN) using an over-the-air (OTA) sequence number (SN OTA ) of the first data transmission and an offset SN (SN Offset ) of the first address profile, wherein the SN corresponds to the encrypted A-MSDU of the first data transmission.

17. The STA of claim 16 , wherein SN=SN OTA −SN Offset .

18. The STA of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
order frames of the first data transmission according to the SN; and
decrypt the encrypted A-MSDU.

19. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to: establish a joint algorithm with the AP, wherein the joint algorithm is used to establish the first and the second address profiles as well as transition times for the schedule.

20. A method for an access point (AP), comprising:
establishing two or more address profiles with a station (STA);
establishing a schedule for switching from a first address profile to a second address profile, wherein the first and second address profiles are of the two or more address profiles;
encrypting an aggregated MAC Service Data Unit (A-MSDU);
after the encryption, creating an over-the-air (OTA) packet number (PN OTA ) that is different than a packet number (PN) corresponding to the A-MSDU; and
transmitting a first data transmission using the first address profile, wherein the first data transmission comprises the PN OTA , wherein the first address profile comprises an offset PN (PN Offset ), and wherein the PN OTA =PN+PN Offset .

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kneckt Jarkko L
• Diwan Aniruddha S
• Dominguez Charles F
• Dash Debashis
• Briggs Elliot S
• Semersky Matthew L
• Ginsburg Noam
• Thakur Sidharth R
• Boodannavar Veerendra
• Kasten Welly
• Kralian Nathan A
• Borges Daniel R
• Shani Oren
• Yong Su Khiong
• Yu Yang
• Boger Yoel
• Liu Yong

Classifications

• H04W12/037

  of the control plane, e.g. signalling traffic · CPC title

• H04L61/5038

  for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN] · CPC title

• H04W12/088

  using filters or firewalls · CPC title

• H04W12/50

  Secure pairing of devices · CPC title

• H04W12/61

  Time-dependent · CPC title