| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080267160 | Systems and Methods for Managing Timing Functions in Multiple Timing Protocols - One embodiment of the present invention includes a system for managing timing functions associating with at least one timing protocol. The system comprises a controller configured to implement a plurality of functions at each of a respective plurality of scheduled times. The system also comprises a time protocol converter configured to convert each of the plurality of scheduled times to a respective plurality of time values associated with a master timing protocol. The system further comprises a master timer controller configured to generate a plurality of control signals associated with the plurality of functions based on an accumulated value of a master timer associated with the master timing protocol relative to the plurality of time values. | 10-30-2008 |
| 20090092155 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING ACCESS TO A COMMUNICATION CHANNEL - A method and an apparatus provide for controlled access to a shared communication medium. Time slots on a forward channel include information regarding status useful for remote units to determine whether a reverse channel is available for seizure. Additionally, information along the forward channel provides guidance to the remote units to control attempts to seize the reverse channel. In one embodiment a remote unit divides a data package into a plurality of portions and attempts to seize the reverse channel using a single portion of the data package which corresponds to one time slot on the reverse channel. It then waits until it receives notification along the forward channel that the first data portion was successfully received before it attempts to send any of the remainder of its data in consecutive time slots on the reverse channel. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090141737 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRIORITIZED CHANNEL ACCESS HARDWARE ASSISTANCE DESIGN - Systems, networks and methods are provided that are operable for network communication among devices that have a medium access control (MAC) sublayer operable to build and forward at least a frame for network communication, a physical (PHY) layer operable to transmit at least a frame received from the MAC sublayer, and a prioritized, contention-based channel access mechanism (PCA) coupled to the MAC sublayer and having contention access logic for assessing whether a frame transmission may commence and an interrupt service routine for initiating transmission by the PCA of the at least a frame. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090303975 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR WIRELESS COEXISTENCE - A system and method for reducing wireless local area network (WLAN) interference with a different wireless network (non-WLAN). A wireless device includes a WLAN transceiver and a non-WLAN transceiver. The WLAN transceiver is configured to operate in a WLAN, and configured to operate selectively using one of a greater bandwidth and a lesser bandwidth in a frequency band. The wireless communication of the non-WLAN is incompatible with the WLAN. The non-WLAN transceiver is configured to request the WLAN transceiver operate using the lesser bandwidth. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20100034164 | MAC EXTENSIONS FOR SMART ANTENNA SUPPORT - Apparatus and methods implement aggregation frames and allocation frames. The aggregation frames include a plurality of MSDUs or fragments thereof aggregated or otherwise combined together. An aggregation frame makes more efficient use of the wireless communication resources. The allocation frame defines a plurality of time intervals. The allocation frame specifies a pair of stations that are permitted to communicate with each other during each time interval as well as the antenna configuration to be used for the communication. This permits stations to know ahead of time when they are to communicate, with which other stations and the antenna configuration that should be used. A buffered traffic field can also be added to the frames to specify how much data remains to be transmitted following the current frame. This enables network traffic to be scheduled more effectively. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100042838 | Public Key Out-of-Band Transfer for Mutual Authentication - Methods for key exchange and mutual authentication are provided that allow for inherent authentication and secret key derivation of parties communicating through an unsecured medium. These methods allow for greater security than existing key exchange and authentication methods while requiring little or no additional energy or time compared with a basic Diffie-Hellman key exchange. These methods allow for secure communication with small, low-power devices and greater security for any devices communicating through an unsecured medium. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100042839 | REDUCED COMPUTATION FOR BIT-BY-BIT PASSWORD VERIFICATION IN MUTUAL AUTHENTICATION - Authentication methods are provided that allow for superior security, power consumption, and resource utilization over existing authentication methods. By computing only two hashes of a shared secret password for each protocol run, the methods described in this disclosure dramatically reduce the computational power needed to perform authentication. Similarly, by exchanging these hashes bitwise or piecewise for verification, rather than performing new hashes including each bit of the password separately, the methods described in this disclosure reveal less information about the password being authenticated than existing methods. The methods described in this disclosure also allow for authentication using fewer messages and with lower latency, reducing the amount of operational power used in the authentication process. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100100740 | System and Method for Security Association Between Communication Devices Within a Wireless Home Network - Embodiments of the application describe a method and system for discovering and authenticating communication devices and establishing a secure communication link within a wireless home network without requiring a secure channel. According to an embodiment, communication devices exchange public keys using multiple messages each including at least a portion of the public key of the sending device. The devices authenticate the receipt of the public key and establish a shared master key. The shared master key is used to further derive a session key for securing the application data between the communicating devices for a current session. | 04-22-2010 |
| 20100195552 | Access and Power Management for Centralized Networks - A system and method for managing power in a subnet having a hub in communication with one or more nodes is disclosed. The hub and nodes communicate using one or more non-contention access methods, such as scheduled, polled or posted access. The node may enter a sleep or hibernation state while no scheduled, polled or posted allocation interval is pending. The hibernation state allows the node to hibernate through one or more entire beacon periods. In the sleep state, the node may be asleep between any scheduled, polled and posted allocation intervals for the node or during another node's scheduled allocation interval in a current beacon period. By selecting which access scheme is in use, the node and hub can increase the node's chances to be in hibernation or sleep state and minimize power consumption. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100195603 | Mitigation of Interference Between Wireless Networks - A system and method for minimizing or preventing interference between wireless networks is disclosed. A network hub broadcasts a beacon signal within repeating beacon periods. The position of the beacon signal shifts within each beacon period based upon a predetermined pseudo-random sequence. The beacon signal includes data identifying the current beacon shift sequence and the current phase of the sequence. Neighboring hubs independently or jointly determine and broadcast their own beacon shift sequences and phases for their respective networks from a predetermined list. Nodes connected with the network hubs are assigned allocation intervals having a start time that is set relative to the beacon signal. The start time and duration of the allocation interval wraps around the beacon period if the allocation-interval would otherwise start or continue in a next beacon period. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100195664 | Smart Adjustment of Backoff Counter and Contention Window for Improved Random Access - A method and system for random access control is disclosed. A backoff counter is used to determine the start time of a contended allocation for a device. The backoff counter is set to an integer randomly drawn from the interval [1, CW], where CW is a contention window value selected based upon the priority of the traffic to be transmitted. The backoff counter is decremented for each idle contention slot detected. When the backoff counter reaches zero, the device attempts to transmit in the next contention slot. If the device receives no acknowledgement or an incorrect acknowledgment, then the transmission has failed. After a failed transmission, CW is set by alternately doubling the CW value up to a CWmax value for the user priority. CW is unchanged, if it was doubled in the last setting; and CW is doubled, if it was unchanged in the last setting. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100199091 | Authentication and Encryption for Secure Data Transmission - A system and method for authenticating and encrypting messages for secure transmission is disclosed. A frame to be transmitted between devices comprises a frame header and a frame body. The frame body includes a security sequence number (SSN), frame payload, and message integrity code (MIC). The SSN is incremented by one for each frame transmitted using a same pairwise temporal key (PTK). A nonce is formed using the frame header and the SSN. Counter blocks Ctr | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100199094 | Pairwise Temporal Key Creation for Secure Networks - A system and method for establishing a pairwise temporal key (PTK) between two devices based on a shared master key and using a single message authentication codes (MAC) algorithm is disclosed. The devices use the shared master key to independently compute four MACs representing the desired PTK, a KCK, and a first and a second KMAC. The Responder sends its first KMAC to the Initiator, which retains the computed PTK only if it verifies that the received first KMAC equals its computed first KMAC and hence that the Responder indeed possesses the purportedly shared master key. The Initiator sends a third message including the second KMAC to the Responder. The Responder retains the computed PTK only if it has verified that the received second KMAC equals its computed second KMAC and hence that the Initiator indeed possesses the purportedly shared master key. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100199095 | Password-Authenticated Association Based on Public Key Scrambling - A system and method for establishing a mutual entity authentication and a shared secret between two devices using a password without giving any useful information for finding the password is disclosed. Unique first private keys and first public keys are assigned to both devices. A shared password is provided to both devices. The public keys are scrambled using the shared password and then exchanged between the two devices. Both devices descramble their respectively received scrambled public keys using the shared password to recover the public keys. Both devices compute a shared secret from their own private keys and the recovered public keys. Both devices compute, exchange, and verify their hashes of the shared secret. If verification is successful, both devices use the shared secret to generate a shared master key, which is used either directly or via a later-generated session key for securing message communications between the two devices. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100202354 | Frame Structure for Medium Access in Body Area Networks (BAN) - A system and method for providing a variety of medium access and power management methods are disclosed. A defined frame structure allows a hub and a node to use said methods for secured or unsecured communications with each other. Contended access is available during a random access phase. The node uses an alternate doubling of a backoff counter to reduce interference and resolve collisions with other nodes attempting to communicate with the hub in the random access phase. Non-contended access is also available, and the hub may schedule reoccurring or one-time allocation intervals for the node. The hub and the node may also establish polled and posted allocation intervals on an as needed basis. The node manages power usage by being at active mode at times during the beacon period when the node is expected to transmit or receive frames. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20110019750 | MAC EXTENSIONS FOR SMART ANTENNA SUPPORT - Apparatus and methods implement aggregation frames and allocation frames. The aggregation frames include a plurality of MSDUs or fragments thereof aggregated or otherwise combined together. An aggregation frame makes more efficient use of the wireless communication resources. The allocation frame defines a plurality of time intervals. The allocation frame specifies a pair of stations that are permitted to communicate with each other during each time interval as well as the antenna configuration to be used for the communication. This permits stations to know ahead of time when they are to communicate, with which other stations and the antenna configuration that should be used. A buffered traffic field can also be added to the frames to specify how much data remains to be transmitted following the current frame. This enables network traffic to be scheduled more effectively. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110038360 | Implant Access in the Medical Implant Communications Service Band - A system and method for providing communications between a hub (medical controller) and a node (an implant) are disclosed. The hub selects an operating channel within a channel group in accordance with applicable regulations, and transmits signals to facilitate communications with nodes. A node sequentially tunes to individual channels within the group, monitoring each channel for a hub transmission during a monitoring period. If a hub transmission is detected, the node stays on the current channel. Otherwise, the node tunes to a next channel in the channel group. The hub transmission may be directed to unconnected nodes, to a single connected node, or to a group of connected nodes. The node transmits a first frame to the hub at a designated transmission time and receives a response. The node reports an emergency by sequentially transmitting emergency frames on each of the channels until receiving an acknowledgment from the hub. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110087884 | Methods and Systems for Improving the Security of Password-Based Authentication Protocols for IEEE 802.11 Networks - A password element is generated for a station running an Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) or a Finite Field Cryptography (FFC) group based password authenticated protocol. A password element is multiplied by a cofactor to generate a modified password element for the ECC group. The station verifies that the modified password element is not equal to a point at infinity for the ECC group. A password element is generated by exponentiating a password value to a power t, where t=(p−1)/r, p and r are primes, and r has a bit length of at least 160 bits for the FFC group. A commit-element parameter is generated using a temporary secret value and the ECC modified password element or the FFC password element, and is then transmitted to another station in a commit message. The receiving station checks if the received commit-element parameter has desired properties before continuing with the protocol. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110134842 | Address Space Partitioning and Filtering for Discretionary Wireless Connection Response - A system and method for providing wireless communications between a medical controller hub and an implant node are disclosed. The hub transmits signals to facilitate communication connections with the node. The signals include connection invitation polls with identification parameters. A node monitors the hub's transmissions for the connection invitation polls. When a poll is detected, the node compares the identification parameters to a list of preferred identification values. If the received identification parameter is on the preferred list, and the node and hub are not already connected, then the node responds to the connection invitation poll. If the received identification parameter is not on the preferred list, then the node continues to monitor hub transmissions for other connection invitation polls that include identification parameters that are on the preferred list. | 06-09-2011 |
