U.S. patent application number 16/290107 was filed with the patent office on 2019-06-27 for enhanced beacon frames in wireless communications.
The applicant listed for this patent is Stanislav Gens, Ido Ouzieli, Emily Qi, Robert Stacey, Izoslav Tchigevsky. Invention is credited to Stanislav Gens, Ido Ouzieli, Emily Qi, Robert Stacey, Izoslav Tchigevsky.
Application Number | 20190200278 16/290107 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 66950943 |
Filed Date | 2019-06-27 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190200278 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ouzieli; Ido ; et
al. |
June 27, 2019 |
ENHANCED BEACON FRAMES IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
Abstract
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related
to using protected beacon frames in wireless communications. A
device may determine a beacon management element of a beacon frame
body and may determine an integrity group key identifier of the
beacon management element, wherein the integrity group key
identifier is associated with a basic service set (BSS). The device
may determine, based on the integrity group key identifier, a
management integrity check (MIC) field of the beacon management
element. The device may generate a beacon frame including the
beacon frame body. The device may send the beacon frame.
Inventors: |
Ouzieli; Ido; (Tel Aviv,
IL) ; Qi; Emily; (Gig Harbor, WA) ; Gens;
Stanislav; (Nazareth Illit, IL) ; Stacey; Robert;
(Portland, OR) ; Tchigevsky; Izoslav; (Haifa,
IL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Ouzieli; Ido
Qi; Emily
Gens; Stanislav
Stacey; Robert
Tchigevsky; Izoslav |
Tel Aviv
Gig Harbor
Nazareth Illit
Portland
Haifa |
WA
OR |
IL
US
IL
US
IL |
|
|
Family ID: |
66950943 |
Appl. No.: |
16/290107 |
Filed: |
March 1, 2019 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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62637537 |
Mar 2, 2018 |
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62646473 |
Mar 22, 2018 |
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62658078 |
Apr 16, 2018 |
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62662444 |
Apr 25, 2018 |
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62691860 |
Jun 29, 2018 |
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62724742 |
Aug 30, 2018 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 84/12 20130101;
H04W 40/244 20130101; H04W 12/1008 20190101; H04L 63/1466 20130101;
H04W 12/1202 20190101; H04W 12/1204 20190101; H04W 12/1006
20190101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 40/24 20060101
H04W040/24; H04W 12/10 20060101 H04W012/10; H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06; H04W 12/12 20060101 H04W012/12 |
Claims
1. A device, the device comprising storage coupled to processing
circuitry, the processing circuitry configured to: determine a
beacon management element (BME) of a beacon frame body; determine
an integrity group key identifier of the BME, wherein the integrity
group key identifier is associated with a basic service set (BSS);
determine, based on the integrity group key identifier, a
management integrity check (MIC) field of the BME; generate a
beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame comprises the beacon frame
body; and cause to send the beacon frame.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is
further configured to determine one or more additional fields of
the BME, and wherein to determine the MIC field is further based on
the one or more additional fields.
3. The device of claim 2, wherein the one or more additional fields
comprise an element identifier field, a length field, and an
integrity beacon number field.
4. The device of claim 1, wherein the beacon frame is a first
beacon frame, wherein the MIC field is a first MIC field, wherein
the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a
second beacon frame, and wherein the second beacon frame comprises
a second MIC field different than the first MIC field.
5. The device of claim 4, wherein the first beacon frame comprises
a first beacon number field, wherein the first MIC field is further
based on the first beacon number field, wherein the second beacon
frame further comprises a second beacon number field and a second
MIC field based on the second beacon number field, wherein the
second beacon number is greater than the first beacon number, and
wherein the first MIC field is different than the second MIC
field.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein the BSS is one of multiple BSSs
in a multiple basic service set identification (BSSID) set, and
wherein the integrity group key identifier is associated with the
multiple BSSs.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein to determine the BME comprises to
determine the BME without determining a time synchronization factor
(TSF).
8. The device of claim 1, further comprising: a transceiver
configured to transmit and receive wireless signals, wherein the
wireless signals comprise the beacon frame; and an antenna coupled
to the transceiver.
9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing
computer-executable instructions which when executed by one or more
processors result in performing operations comprising: identifying,
at a station device of a basic service set (BSS), a beacon frame
received from an access point; determining a beacon management
entity (BME) of the beacon frame, wherein a beacon body of the
beacon frame comprises the BME, and wherein the BME comprises an
integrity group key identifier associated with the BSS;
determining, based on the integrity group key identifier, an
expected management integrity check (MIC); determining a MIC field
of the BME; and comparing the expected MIC to the MIC field of the
BME.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, the
operations further comprising: determining, based on the
comparison, that the expected MIC does not match the MIC field; and
discarding the beacon frame.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein
the beacon frame is a first beacon frame, the operations further
comprising: determining a first integrity beacon number (IBN) of
the first beacon frame; identifying a second beacon frame received
from the access point; determining a second IBN of the second
beacon frame; determining that the second IBN is less than or equal
to the first IBN; and discarding the second beacon frame.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein
determining the MIC is based on the integrity group key
identifier.
13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein
the beacon frame is a first beacon frame, and wherein determining
the expected MIC is based on a beacon timestamp of a second beacon
frame, the operations further comprising identifying the second
beacon frame before identifying the first beacon frame.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein
determining the MIC field is based on one or more additional fields
of the BME, and wherein the one or more additional fields comprise
at least one of an element identifier field, a length field, or an
integrity beacon number field.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein
the BSS is one of multiple BSSs in a multiple basic service set
identification (BSSID) set, and wherein the integrity group key
identifier is associated with the multiple BSSs.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein
the MIC is not based on a time synchronization factor (TSF).
17. A method comprising: determining, by processing circuitry of an
access point, a beacon management element (BME) of a beacon frame
body; determining, by the processing circuitry, an integrity group
key identifier of the BME, wherein the integrity group key
identifier is associated with a basic service set (BSS);
determining, by the processing circuitry and based on the integrity
group key identifier, a management integrity check (MIC) field of
the BME; generating, by the processing circuitry, a beacon frame,
wherein the beacon frame comprises the beacon frame body; and
causing to send, by the processing circuitry, the beacon frame.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining one or
more additional fields of the BME, and wherein determining the MIC
field is further based on the one or more additional fields.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more additional
fields comprise an element identifier field, a length field, and an
integrity beacon number field.
20. The method of claim 17, wherein the beacon frame is a first
beacon frame, wherein the MIC field is a first MIC field, further
comprising determining a second beacon frame, and wherein the
second beacon frame comprises a second MIC field different than the
first MIC field.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/637,537, filed Mar. 2, 2018, U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/646,473, filed Mar. 22, 2018, U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/658,078, filed Apr. 16, 2018, U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/662,444, filed Apr. 25, 2018, U.S. Provisional
Application No. 62/691,860, filed Jun. 29, 2018, and U.S.
Provisional Application No. 62/724,742, filed Aug. 30, 2018, the
disclosures of which are incorporated by reference as if set forth
in full.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for
wireless communication, and more particularly to beacon frame
protection.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are
increasingly communicating with other wireless devices. Protocols
and standards are needed to protect wireless communication. The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) continues
to develop standards to define wireless communications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network
environment, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0005] FIG. 2A depicts an illustrative portion of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0006] FIG. 2B depicts an illustrative portion of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 2C depicts an illustrative portion of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative portion of a protected beacon
frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of an illustrative process
for using a protected beacon frame, in accordance with one or more
example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary
communication station that may be suitable for use as a user
device, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine
upon which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be
performed, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in
accordance with some examples.
[0013] FIG. 8 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for
use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or
more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0014] FIG. 9 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in
the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more
example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 10 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry
for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one
or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0016] The following description and the drawings sufficiently
illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art
to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural,
logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes.
Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or
substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth
in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those
claims.
[0017] Wireless local area networks (WLAN) may be implemented using
Wi-Fi protocols defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of technical
standards. WLANs may include multiple devices such as access points
(AP) and stations (STA), which may send a variety of frames to one
another. The frames may include management frames, control frames,
data frames, and other types of frames. Management frames may
include authentication request/response frames, association
request/response frames, beacon frames, deauthentication frames,
disassociation frames, probe request/response frames, reassociation
request/response frames, and action frames.
[0018] Beacon frames are sent periodically from an AP and may
announce the presence of a network provided by the AP. Beacon
frames may provide information to STAs in a basic service set
(BSS), which may include one or more STAs connected to a wireless
network hosted by an AP. The information in a beacon frame may
include BSS capability, supported rates and operating channel
information, network information, traffic indication map (TIM), and
a Time Synchronization Factor (TSF), among other information.
Beacon frames are typically sent at fixed intervals (e.g., a beacon
interval may refer to a time between respective beacons sent by an
AP to a BSS). Beacon frames typically include a header, a body, and
a frame check sequence (FCS) (e.g., for error detection). A beacon
frame also may include additional information described in greater
detail below.
[0019] An AP may transmit beacons to associated STAs (i.e., STAs
that are already members of the BSS). The beacons contain
information including AP capabilities and different modes of
operation (e.g., transmit (TX) and receive (RX) rates). The Beacon
may notify the STAs of planned changes (e.g., when the AP plans to
switch a BSS to another channel).
[0020] The beacon frame may be received by associated STAs (e.g.,
STAs which already negotiated security keys with the AP after
association) and also may be received by non-associated STAs (e.g.,
STAs which have not associated with a BSS of the AP and therefore
have no security keys are set with the AP). Accordingly, beacons
may be transmitted over the air in a non-protected mode, (i.e. they
are not encrypted and thus lack integrity check mechanisms). The
lack of beacon encryption may allow non-associated STAs to identify
beacons from APs and determine available networks to which the STAs
may associate. For example, if beacons were encrypted and included
an encryption key, a non-associated STA who is unaware of the
encryption key used by the AP sending the beacon may not be able to
process the beacon.
[0021] Due to the lack of beacon security protection, devices may
be exposed to attacks such as man-in-the-middle (MIM) attacks in
which an imposter device may transmit beacon frames to the STAs as
if they were coming from the real AP. For example, a MIM attacker
may generate a beacon which mimics beacons sent from an AP because
the MIM attacker may have access to the information in a beacon
frame sent by the AP. An MIM attacker may send a beacon frame to an
STA and cause the STA to change behavior (e.g., to change channels)
when the AP is not actually implementing that behavior. Some Wi-Fi
communications do not protect the beacon frame from such MIM
attacks. While a robust security network element (RSNE) may be
included in messages between the AP and STA during authentication
and association, for example, beacon frame protection against
forgery may not be prevented after association. While a
broadcast/multicast integrity protocol (BIP) may provide protection
for group-addressed management frames, beacon frames may not
include such protection. As such, an attacker may impersonate the
AP and transmit imposter beacon frames that cause the STA to change
its behavior in such a manner that may result in disconnections and
channel switching, for example. A forged TIM may result in STAs
failing to wake up to receive frames sent by an AP or to wake up
and waste battery life when the AP does not intend to send anything
to the STAs. Similarly, forged TSF may result in STAs unable to
receive group addressed frames.
[0022] In multiple BSS environments, APs may use multiple virtual
APs (e.g., logical APs which behave as separate APs, but are part
of the same physical AP) to facilitate multiple BSSs. Because any
BSS may use one or more identifiers (e.g., for encrypted
transmissions), when an AP intends to send frames (e.g., management
frames) to multiple BSSs, the virtual APs may have to send separate
management frames for the respective BSSs.
[0023] Therefore, wireless devices may benefit from a protected
beacon frame which does not prevent non-associated STAs from
processing information in the beacon and which may reduce the
number of transmissions needed in multiple BSS environments.
[0024] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to
systems, methods, and devices for protected beacons.
[0025] In one or more embodiments, an AP may generate a protected
beacon frame to avoid MIM attacks while allowing both associated
and non-associated STAs to receive and process the protected beacon
frame. The AP may determine a beacon management element of a beacon
frame body. For example, a beacon frame may include a beacon frame
body. An enhanced beacon frame with security protection may be
backwards compatible with legacy devices by including a beacon
management element or another type of element in the beacon body,
thereby including the new element in the structure of a beacon
frame known to legacy devices. The AP may determine a security key
such as an integrity group key (IGK), and may include the security
key in the beacon management element. The security key may be
specific to and associated with a BSS. For example, any BSS may
have a respective security key included in the beacon body of a
beacon frame. The AP my determine a management integrity check
(MIC) of the beacon management element based on the security key
and/or other information included in the new element added to the
beacon frame body. The AP may generate a beacon frame including the
beacon frame body and may send the beacon frame.
[0026] In one or more embodiments, the beacon frame may be received
by one or more STAs, which may process and use information
contained in the beacon frame to determine whether the beacon was
sent by the real AP or a MIM imposter AP. If the STA determines
that the received beacon frame is received from the real AP, the
STA may continue processing the beacon and may behave according to
the information in the beacon frame. However, if the STA determines
that the beacon frame is received from an imposter AP (e.g., a MIM
attack), the STA may discard the beacon frame and may send an
indication to the AP that the STA received an invalid beacon frame.
To determine whether the beacon frame is valid, the STA may
determine an expected management integrity check (MIC) value based
on information in the beacon management element in the beacon frame
body. If the expected MIC value matches the information in the MIC
field of the beacon management element, the STA may determine that
the beacon frame is valid. If the expected MIC value does not match
the information in the MIC field of the beacon management element,
the STA may determine that the beacon frame is not valid.
[0027] In one or more embodiments, a protected beacon frame may
utilize cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC) and Galois
message authentication code (GMAC) cipher suites with the IGK to
form the MIC field of the beacon management element. The MIC may be
added at the end of the beacon management element and before the
FCS of a beacon frame. The MIC may allow the STAs to verify that
the beacon was transmitted by the AP and was not manipulated in a
MIM attack.
[0028] In one or more embodiments, the STA may use a wireless
network management (WNM) Notification Request frame to report a
detected forged or bad beacon to the AP. The AP may take responsive
action to mitigate the MIM attack.
[0029] In one or more embodiments, the protected beacon system may
facilitate backward compatibility for legacy APs and legacy STAs.
APs may signal their capabilities using a beacon protection bit in
a robust security network (RSN) capabilities field of a RSN element
(RSNE) of a management frame. For example, the AP may use a simple
activated/not-activated bit in the RSN capabilities field. Legacy
APs may indicate "not-activated" while non-legacy APs can indicate
"activated."
[0030] STAs supporting beacon protection in a BSS may include
beacon MIC protection. Associated legacy STAs that lack support for
the protected beacon system may still receive and utilize the
protected beacon despite any inability to utilize all of the
protective features provided thereby. In an embodiment, a protected
beacon frame may include the MIC through a dedicated information
element (IE). STAs that do not support the dedicated IE may skip
the IE while processing the beacon frame.
[0031] In one or more embodiments, a BSS may be one of multiple
BSSs in a multiple BSS identifier (BSSID) set associated with a
single physical AP. For example, some AP devices support multiple
virtual APs (VAPs) that may transmit a single beacon frame to
multiple BSSs of the VAPs. The multiple BSSID beacon frame may be
received and processed by any STAs associated with any one or more
of the VAPs in the multiple BSSID set. For example, STAs associated
with VAP1 and STAs associated with VAP2 may receive and process the
same multiple BSSID beacon. However, respective BSSs may use their
own IGKs, the MIC may be universally verified by all STAs if using
an IGK specific to the transmitted BSSID (e.g., the BSSID
associated with the VAP which has sent a frame to multiple BSSs).
Accordingly, in an embodiment, a protected beacon frame may include
a multiple basic service set integrity group key (MultiBssIGK)
shared by any VAPs of the multiple BSSID set. The MultiBssIGK may
be a key that is additional to the respective key used by a BSS,
and may be provided by an AP to any BSSs of the AP. STAs associated
with VAP1 and STAs associated with VAP2 may receive and use the
MultiBssIGK to verify the MIC, thereby avoiding the need to send
separate beacon frames to multiple BSSs of an AP.
[0032] Beacon frames may include a timestamp. However, inclusion of
the beacon timestamp in the MIC calculation may require hardware
changes, thereby resulting in delaying the implementation of beacon
protection. Without such hardware changes, the beacon timestamp may
either be excluded from the MIC altogether, leaving the beacon
timestamp unprotected, potentially resulting in a forged timestamp,
or partially included in the MIC calculation.
[0033] The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and
are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples,
configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of
which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments
will now be described with reference to the accompanying
figures.
[0034] FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an exemplary
network environment, according to some example embodiments of the
present disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more
user devices 120 and one or more access points(s) (AP) 102, which
may communicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication
standards. The user device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are
non-stationary (e.g., not having fixed locations) or may be
stationary devices.
[0035] In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may
include one or more computer systems similar to that of the
functional diagram of FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of
FIG. 6.
[0036] One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102
may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that
any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on
multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its
function. For example, a single addressable unit might
simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of-service (QoS) STA, a
dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The one or more illustrative user
device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs. The one or more
illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may operate as a
personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point
(PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or
AP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device
including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile
(e.g., a static) device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or
AP(s) 102 may include, a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an
access point (AP), a software enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal
computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch,
glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a
laptop computer, an Ultrabook.TM. computer, a notebook computer, a
tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld
device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, a PDA
device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board
device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone
functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer
device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or
portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile
phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA device which
incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable
GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a
non-desktop computer, a "carry small live large" (CSLL) device, an
ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile
internet device (MID), an "origami" device or computing device, a
device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), a
context-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V
device, a set-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD
recorder, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD)
DVD player, a DVD recorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video
recorder (PVR), a broadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio
source, a video sink, an audio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast
radio receiver, a flat panel display, a personal media player
(PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), a digital audio player, a
speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier, a gaming device, a
data source, a data sink, a digital still camera (DSC), a media
player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, or the like.
Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate
control, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may
also be included in this list.
[0037] As used herein, the term "Internet of Things (IoT) device"
is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.)
that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP)
address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication
(NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other
devices over a wired or wireless connection. An IoT device may have
a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR)
code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or
the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a
transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can
have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or
status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or
closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and
so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring
or recording function, a light-emitting function, a sound-emitting
function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored
by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the
like, and configured for connection to an IoT network such as a
local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, IoT devices may
include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens,
microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes
washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats,
televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers,
electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are
equipped with an addressable communications interface for
communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include
cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers,
personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT
network may be comprised of a combination of "legacy"
Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers,
cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically
have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).
[0038] The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include
mesh stations in, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with
one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.
[0039] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126,
128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each
other via one or more communications networks 130 and/or 135
wirelessly or wired. The user device(s) 120 may also communicate
peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the AP(s)
102. Any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include,
but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of
suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting
networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet),
private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any
other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, any of the
communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable
communication range associated therewith and may include, for
example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area
networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks
(LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, any of the
communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of
medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not
limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a
hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial
transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space
communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums,
satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.
[0040] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126,
128) and AP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas.
The one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of
antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the
user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s)
102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas
include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compatible antennas,
directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas,
folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas,
quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or more
communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio
component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as
communications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or
AP(s) 102.
[0041] Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126,
128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional
transmission and/or directional reception in conjunction with
wirelessly communicating in a wireless network. Any of the user
device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may
be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or
reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna
arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be
used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective
direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s) 120
(e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured
to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more
defined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user
devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform
any given directional reception from one or more defined receive
sectors.
[0042] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished
using RF beamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some
embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user devices
120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be configured to use all or a subset of
its one or more communications antennas to perform MIMO
beamforming.
[0043] Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126,
128), and AP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or
transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF)
signals in the bandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the
communications protocols utilized by any of the user device(s) 120
and AP(s) 102 to communicate with each other. The radio components
may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/or demodulate
communications signals according to pre-established transmission
protocols. The radio components may further have hardware and/or
software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or
Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In
certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation
with the communications antennas, may be configured to communicate
via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), 5
GHz channels (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ
channels (e.g., 802.11ad, 802.11ay). 800 MHz channels (e.g.,
802.11ah). The communications antennas may operate at 28 GHz and 40
GHz. It should be understood that this list of communication
channels in accordance with certain 802.11 standards is only a
partial list and that other 802.11 standards may be used (e.g.,
Next Generation Wi-Fi, or other standards). In some embodiments,
non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications between devices,
such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC),
Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22),
white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized
radio communications. The radio component may include any known
receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the
communications protocols. The radio component may further include a
low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an
analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digital
baseband.
[0044] In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, AP 102 may
communicate with one or more user devices 120. The AP 102 and the
one or more user devices 120 may exchange one or more frames 142.
The one or more frames may include management frames, such as
beacon frames or other management frames, other downlink frames,
uplink frames, or other types of frames.
[0045] It is understood that the above descriptions are for
purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.
[0046] FIG. 2A depicts an illustrative portion 200 of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0047] Referring to FIG. 2A, the portion 200 of the protected
beacon frame may include one or more fields, such as a header 204,
a beacon body 206, and a frame check sequence (FCS) 208. The beacon
body 206 may include a beacon management element (BME) 210, which
may include a key ID field 212 having two octets, a management
integrity check (MIC) field 214 having a variable length (e.g., 8
or 16 octets), an element identifier (element ID) field 216 having
one octet, a length field 218 having one octet, and an integrity
beacon number (IBN) field 220 having six octets.
[0048] The IEEE 802.11w technical standard defines a mechanism for
protecting group-addressed management frames (e.g., management
frames addressed to multiple devices/BSSs). In one or more
embodiments, an AP (e.g., AP 102 of FIG. 1) may utilize
cipher-based message authentication code (CMAC) and/or Galois
message authentication code (GMAC) cipher suites with the key ID
field 212 to determine the MIC field 214. The key ID field may be
assigned to STAs by an AP following association, and may be updated
by the AP using a GTK/IGK rekeying process.
[0049] The key ID field 212 may include information pertaining to
an integrity group key (IGK) provided to STAs of a BSS to protect
communications between the STAs and an AP. The information may
include a value associated with a specific IGK. For instance, the
key ID field 212 may include information about two sets of IGK
values, each with its own key ID (e.g., key ID 1 and key ID 2). At
any given time, only one of the IGK values (e.g., key ID 1) may be
actively used by the AP to calculate the MIC field 214. The key ID
field 212 may indicate the current active IGK value (e.g., key ID
1) used by the AP to determine the MIC field 214. The indicated
active IGK value may be used by the STA to verify that a beacon
frame is from the AP and not from a man-in-the-middle (MIM) attack
or another device, for example. Specifically, the STA may use the
key ID value indicated by the key ID field 212 and/or any other
fields of the BME 210 to determine an expected MIC. The STA may
then compare the expected MIC to the MIC field 214. If the expected
MIC is the same as the MIC field 214 included in the beacon frame,
the STA may validate the beacon frame as having been sent by the AP
(e.g., a valid beacon frame).
[0050] In an embodiment, the IBN field 220 may increase (e.g.,
increment a count) with any beacon sent by an AP. For instance, a
first beacon can have a first IBN field 220 value of X and a second
beacon can have a second IBN field 220 of X+1, X+2, X+3, and so on.
In certain instances, the value of the IBN field 220 may be
utilized to determine whether the BSS is subject to a MIM attack.
For example, if an STA receives a BME 210 with an IBN value the
same or lower than the previously received IBN value, the STA may
reject the beacon having determined that the IBN field 220 failed
to increase between successive beacons. Rejection of the beacon for
failure to have an increasing IBN field 220 may occur regardless of
the MIC. That is, for instance, in embodiments utilizing
successively increasing IBN values, determination of an incorrect
IBN field 220 (i.e., the same or lower than the previously received
IBN value) may result in the STA discarding the beacon frame
without having to continue processing the remainder of the beacon
frame. When an STA determines that the IBN field 220 has properly
incremented from a previous beacon, the STA may continue to
determine an expected MIC and compare the expected MIC to the MIC
field 214.
[0051] In an embodiment, the IBN field 220 may be replaced or
supplemented with an integrity group transient key packet number
(IPN) field (not shown) defined and used for protected
group-addressed management frames. Because the IPN field may be
protected by the MIC, the IPN field may not be manipulated without
causing MIC failure. The IPN value may be shared by the protected
beacons and by other protected group-addressed management frames.
The IPN value may increase with every successive protected beacon
and protected group addressed management frame. If the STA
identifies a BME 210 with an IPN value the same or lower than the
previous received value, the STA may discard the beacon frame with
the BME 210. Inclusion of the IPN field in a beacon frame may
result in the addition of the management message integrity code
information element (MMIE) (not shown) within a beacon frame.
[0052] Beacon frames may be sent in rapid succession (e.g., every
1024 .mu.seconds). Some fields of a beacon frame may be relatively
fixed or constant between respective beacon frames (e.g., an AP
capabilities field or specific static working modes), while other
fields may change more quickly (e.g., a time synchronization
factor, a traffic indication map, and other fields). In an
embodiment, some fields of a beacon frame may be protected by the
MIC field 214 (e.g., some fields of the BME 210 may be used to
determine the contents of the MIC field 214). For example, the
fields of a beacon frame which remain relatively fixed or constant
between beacons may be included in the MIC calculation, which other
more variable fields may not be used to determine the contents of
the MIC field 214.
[0053] The element ID field 216 may include a service set
identifier (SSID), BSS membership selectors, parameter sets, a TIM,
and other information. A TIM may include a DTIM count, a DTIM
period, and bitmap details. The DTIM count may indicate how many
beacon frames, including a beacon frame which includes the TIM, may
appear before the next DTIM. The DTIM period may indicate the
number of beacon intervals between successive DTIMs. Bits of the
bitmap details may correspond to buffered traffic for a STA in a
BSS. When a STA receives a beacon or probe response frame with the
portion 200, the STA may determine when traffic is buffered at an
AP for the STA, and when to expect another DTIM. The length field
218 field may indicate the length of the portion 200. The FCS field
208 may be used for error checking.
[0054] FIG. 2B depicts an illustrative portion 250 of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0055] The portion 250 may include the header 204, the body 206,
the FCS field 208, and the BME 210 of the portion 200 of FIG. 2A.
The body 206 also may include a beacon content change information
element (IE) 222, which may indicate whether content of a beacon
frame has changed respective to the content of a previously sent
beacon. In an embodiment, the beacon content change IE field 222
may precede the BME 210 while maintaining the structure of the
beacon frame (e.g., by including the beacon content change IE field
222 in the beacon body 206). The BME 210 may include an element ID
field 228, a length field 238, a key ID field 230, an IBN field
224, and a MIC field 226. The IBN field 224 may indicate an element
ID, a length of the IBN field 224, and multiple octets indicating
an IBN which may increase for any beacon frame in a sequence of
beacon frames.
[0056] In an embodiment, the beacon content change IE field 222 may
include one or more fields, such an element ID field 252, a length
field 254, a key ID field 256, a beacon content change counter
field 258, and a MIC field 260. The beacon content change counter
field 258 may indicate a counter increased per beacon change, and a
counter reset following IGK rekeying. After IGK rekeying, an AP may
reset the beacon content change counter field 258. The beacon
content change IE field 222 may indicate whether the content of the
beacon is changed or unchanged as compared to the content of a
previously received beacon. When the content change counter field
258 increases, the beacon content may be different from the content
of the previously received beacon. When the content change counter
field 258 remains the same (e.g., was not incremented), the beacon
content may be the same as the content from the previously received
beacon and may be ignored. The beacon content change IE field 222
may include a beacon change key ID field 238, which may operate
similarly to the key ID field 212 of FIG. 2A. An AP may generate an
integrity beacon content transient key (IBCTK) described in the
beacon change key ID field 238 and used to determine the beacon
content change MIC 226 of the beacon content change IE 222. The
IBCTK may be used with respect to the beacon content change MIC
field 260 and may not affect the MIC 226 for the entire body 206 of
a beacon frame. In an instance, the IBCTK may be set by the AP and
provided to an STA as part of the association process.
[0057] In an embodiment, the beacon change MIC 260 may use CMAC and
GMAC cipher suites and the beacon change key ID field 256 to
protect the beacon content change IE 222 and the beacon content
change counter field 258. In some embodiments, the beacon change
MIC field 260 may be 8 or 16 bytes, or another length.
[0058] In one or more embodiments, to detect for unchanged beacons,
the STA may analyze the beacon content change IE 222. When the
beacon content change counter 258 decreases from a prior beacon,
the STA may reject the beacon frame. If the beacon content change
MIC 260 is wrong (e.g., does not match an expected MIC determined
by the STA based on one or more fields of the beacon content change
IE 222), the STA may reject the beacon frame. If the beacon content
change counter 258 increases and the beacon content change MIC 260
is valid (e.g., matches an expected MIC), the STA may process
remaining fields of a beacon frame.
[0059] In one or more embodiments, the beacon content change IE 222
may include an element ID 252 and an element length 254. The
element ID 252 and element length 254 may be used in the beacon
frame to determine the MIC 260.
[0060] Use of a beacon content change IE 222 can reduce CPU load,
particularly for software implementations, by decreasing the number
of beacon frames parsed by the CPU per given time. For example,
unchanged beacon frames may be ignored without requiring complete
parsing therethrough. For hardware implementations, a receiving STA
may determine a MIC over an entire beacon frame body for any
received beacon using a CMAC and GMAC algorithm. The use of a
beacon content change IE 222 may not be required for hardware
implementations of protected beacon frames in accordance with one
or more embodiments described herein.
[0061] In one or more embodiments, a beacon frame may include a
timestamp field (not shown). Timestamp field may be omitted from
the MIC calculation (e.g., because any beacon frame may have a
different timestamp, resulting in significant processing
requirements for any received beacon to account for a new
timestamp). However, excluding the timestamp from the MIC may
result in the timestamp field being unprotected, permitting a MIM
attack to create a forged timestamp potentially resulting in the
STA being unable to receive group addressed frames. The timestamp
may be included partially in the MIC calculation. For example, the
first X number of bits (e.g., over 16 .mu.seconds) of the timestamp
field may be set to 0 (e.g., masked out). Because beacon frames may
be transmitted at fixed intervals, such as every 100 time units
(e.g., where each time unit is 1024 .mu.seconds), even if one
beacon transmission becomes delayed, the following beacon's planned
transmission time may remain on the fixed 100 time unit interval of
the originally planned transmission time (e.g., not the actual
transmission time). Thus, the MIC may be determined in advance
(i.e., prior to insertion of the timestamp field into the beacon
frame) and compared to the actual timestamp received. For beacons
transmitted at the correct planned time, the timestamp's lowest X
bits (.mu.seconds) may be 0. Unless a beacon is delayed by more
than Y .mu.seconds, the timestamp may not change. In such a manner,
the partial timestamp may be included in the MIC calculations.
[0062] FIG. 2C depicts an illustrative portion 270 of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0063] Referring to FIG. 2C, a previous beacon timestamp field 242
of a previously received beacon frame may be included in the MIC
calculation. The portion 270 may include an element ID field 232, a
length field 234, an element ID extension field 236, and the
previous beacon timestamp field 242. The previous beacon timestamp
field 242 may be inserted into a beacon frame and included in the
MIC calculation of the next beacon received. The current timestamp
may remain excluded from the current MIC calculation. In such a
manner, the STA may determine whether the timestamp field is forged
in a later occurring beacon frame. The STA may reject beacon frames
that are determined to be forged through the previous beacon
timestamp field 242.
[0064] Referring to FIGS. 2A-2C, an AP may support multiple virtual
APs/BSSIDs (i.e., VAPs). An AP (e.g., AP 102 of FIG. 1) may
transmit a single beacon shared across the VAPs with a new key
(MultiBssIGK) shared by the VAPs of the multiple BSSID. The shared
MultiBssIGK may be shared by multiple BSSs associated with a common
physical AP, and the MultiBssIGK may be in addition to any keys
specific to a BSS of the AP. The multiple BSSID beacon may be
received and processed by all of the STAs associated with any of
the VAPs in the multiple BSSID set. In such a manner, one VAP
(e.g., a transmitted BSSID) may transmit a single beacon frame
intended to communicate information to multiple BSSs by using a
common key for protecting the beacon frame. For example, referring
to FIG. 2A, the MultiBssIGK may use the BME 210 including the key
ID field 212. The MultiBssIGK may be determined from among a
plurality of possible MultiBssIGKs by correlating the key ID field
212 to the correct MultiBssIGK. The MultiBssIGK may be assigned by
an AP to an STA using a 4-way handshake mechanism, for example. A
transmission from AP to STA may include a specific AP IGK and GTK
key ID, and may indicate multiple BSSID sets, a MultiBssIGK, and a
MultiBssIGK key ID. The MultiBssIGTK may be updated using the IGK
rekeying mechanism. A Group Key Updated message may be transmitted
from the AP to an STA and may include a specific AP IGK and the IGK
key ID, as well as multiple BSSID sets MultiBssIGK and the
MultiBssIGK key ID.
[0065] In one or more embodiments, a MultiBss Beacon number (MBN)
can act as a counter shared by the VAPs of a multiple BSSID set.
The MBN may be increased per transmitted MultiBss beacon frame. The
MBN may replace or supplement the IBN field 220 of FIG. 2A. When
the MBN does not increase between successive beacon frames, the
STA(s) associated with the multiple BSSID set may ignore the latest
beacon frame. Such a beacon frame may have been sent by an imposter
AP, subjecting the BSSID set to a MIM attack, for example.
[0066] In one or more embodiments, group-addressed management
frames may be configured to include a protected beacon. The
transmitting AP may use CMAC and GMAC cipher suites and the IGK to
calculate the MIC over the group-addressed management frame. The AP
may add the MIC to a group-addressed management frame body. The AP
may use a management MIC IE (MMIE) for beacon frame protection. A
receiving STA may calculate the expected MIC on the received
group-addressed management frame and may compare the result to the
MIC field within the MMIE. The STA may not calculate the expected
MIC using the MIC field within the MMIE. When the expected MIC
matches the MIC field within the MMIE, the frame is valid. When the
expected MIC differs from the MIC field within the MMIE, the STA
may ignore the beacon as having been manipulated by a MIM attack,
for example.
[0067] FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative portion 300 of a protected
beacon frame, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of
the present disclosure.
[0068] Referring to FIG. 3, the portion 300 may include a header
302, a body 304, and an FCS 306. The body 304 may include a beacon
integrity number IE 308, a beacon content change IE 310, and a
beacon static content MIC IE 312. The beacon static content MIC IE
312 may include an element ID field 320, a length field 322, a key
ID field 324, and a MIC field 326. The beacon integrity number IE
308 may indicate a beacon count, and the beacon content change IE
310 may indicate whether a beacon includes any content different
from a previous beacon sent by the same AP. When the beacon content
change IE 310 is protected by the MIC field 326 (e.g., is included
in the determination of the MIC field 326), an STA may determine if
a beacon is valid by determining if a beacon count increased and/or
if an expected MIC matches the MIC field 326 based on the beacon
content change IE 310.
[0069] In one or more embodiments, an AP (e.g., AP 102 of FIG. 1)
may use CMAC and/or GMAC cipher suites and an IGTK key (e.g., as
indicated by the key ID field 324) to determine a value for the MIC
field 326 over static fields (e.g., the fields which did not change
from a previous beacon frame). A receiving STA may determine an
expected MIC based on the static fields, and may compare the
expected result to the MIC field 326 in the beacon static content
MIC IE 312. When the expected MIC matches the MIC field 326, the
beacon may be valid. When the expected MIC does not match the MIC
field 326, the STA may ignore the beacon frame.
[0070] Referring to FIGS. 2A-2C and FIG. 3, an AP may indicate
whether a protected beacon mechanism is supported. When an AP
indicates that a protected beacon mechanism is supported, but the
STA receiving a beacon fails to identify a corresponding element or
field used to protect the beacon according to an indicated mode,
the STA may discard the beacon. To indicate a protected beacon
mode, an AP may include a robust secure network (RSN) element (not
shown) in a management frame (e.g., an association response frame).
The RSN element may include one or more fields of a management
frame. For example, bits 14 and 15 of an RSN capabilities field
(not shown) of an association response sent by an AP may be used to
indicate a protected beacon mechanism, and which one. For example,
bit 14 (e.g., a full beacon protection enable field) may indicate
that full beacon protection is supported and activated by an AP.
Bit 15 (e.g., a static beacon protection enable field) may indicate
that beacon protection is enabled using static IEs. When bit 14 is
1 and bit 15 is 0 in an association response, an integrity beacon
number IE may be included, a beacon content change IE may be
optional, a beacon static content MIC IE may not be included, and a
beacon MIC IE may be included. When bit 14 is 0 and bit 15 is 1, an
integrity beacon number IE may be included, a beacon content change
IE may be included, a beacon static content MIC IE may be included,
and a beacon MIC IE may not be included. If bits 14 and 15 are a 1,
an integrity beacon number IE may be included, a beacon content
change IE may be included, a beacon static content MIC IE may be
included, and a beacon MIC IE may be included.
[0071] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process
400 for using a protected beacon frame, in accordance with one or
more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0072] At block 402, processing circuitry of a device (e.g., the
user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102 of FIG. 1) may determine a
beacon management element (BME) of a beacon frame body (e.g., the
BME 210 of the body 206 of FIG. 2A). The AP may set the BME of a
beacon frame. The BME may include one or more fields, any of which
may be used to determine a MIC field (e.g., the MIC field 214 of
FIG. 2A). The fields of the BME may include an integrity group key
identifier, an element identifier field, a length field, and an
integrity beacon number field used to identify the number of a
beacon frame in a sequence of beacon frames. The device may
increment the integrity beacon number field in a subsequent beacon,
and a receiving STA may determine whether a beacon frame is valid
based on whether the integrity beacon number field of a beacon has
a value greater than the value of a prior beacon frame. Depending
on which fields of the BME or any other portions of the beacon
frame are used to determine the value of the MIC field, a receiving
STA may determine an expected MIC value and compare the expected
MIC value to the value of the MIC field in a received beacon frame
to determine whether the expected MIC and the actual MIC match.
[0073] At block 404, the processing circuitry may determine an
integrity group key (IGK) identifier of the BME of a beacon body of
a beacon frame (e.g., the key ID field 212 of FIG. 2A). The IGK may
be associated with a basic service set (BSS). The IGK may be one of
multiple IGKs available for a BSS, and the IGK identifier may
indicate which IGK is active. In a multi-BSSID set, the device may
use one IGK for multiple VAPs associated with the device, thereby
avoiding the need to send multiple beacon frames to multiple BSSs.
The device may include one or more indications in a beacon frame
indicating whether any fields of the beacon frame have changed from
a prior beacon frame, and may include one or more indications of
which fields in a beacon frame an STA may use to determine an
expected MIC value.
[0074] At block 406, the processing circuitry may determine, based
on the IGK, a MIC field of the beacon management element (e.g., the
MIC field 214). The MIC field may be determined based on the IGK
and/or any other fields in the BME or in the beacon frame. For
example, the MIC field may be based on a beacon number included in
the BME or elsewhere in a beacon frame. The MIC field may be used
to protect a beacon frame and may be based on one or more IEs such
as an integrity beacon number element, a beacon content change
element, and a beacon static content MIC element. Depending on
which information in a beacon frame the device uses to determine
the MIC field, the device may reduce the likelihood of a successful
MIM attack on a receiving device. For example, if the MIC field has
a value that is determined based on a combination of multiple
fields of a beacon frame, then another device posing as the device
(e.g., for a MIM attack) may not manipulate the values of such
fields without the resulting MIC field failing to match the
expected MIC field as determined by a receiving STA.
[0075] At block 408, processing circuitry (e.g., of an AP) may
generate a beacon frame including the beacon body with the MIC
field. Generating the beacon frame may include generating a header,
a beacon body with the BME or other IEs used to determine the MIC
field or another MIC field, and generating a FCS field. The beacon
frame may include information for a single BSS or for multiple
BSSs, and may include information regarding device/network
capabilities which may be received and processed by devices not
associated with a network provided by the device.
[0076] At block 410, the processing circuitry (e.g., of an AP) may
cause to send the beacon frame. An STA may determine an expected
MIC based on the information in the BME (e.g., the IGK), and may
compare the expected MIC to the actual value included in the MIC
field to determine whether the beacon is valid or not. If the
expected MIC and actual MIC field value of a beacon frame do not
match, and STA may discard the beacon frame and send a notification
to the device that an attack may have been attempted. The beacon
may include information for one or multiple BSSs.
[0077] It is understood that the above descriptions are for
purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.
[0078] FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary
communication station 500 in accordance with some embodiments. In
one embodiment, FIG. 5 illustrates a functional block diagram of a
communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP 102
(FIG. 1) or user device 120 (FIG. 1) in accordance with some
embodiments. The communication station 500 may also be suitable for
use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, a
smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop
computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate
(HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or
other personal communication system (PCS) device.
[0079] The communication station 500 may include communications
circuitry 502 and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving
signals to and from other communication stations using one or more
antennas 501. The communications circuitry 502 may include
circuitry that can operate the physical layer (PHY) communications
and/or media access control (MAC) communications for controlling
access to the wireless medium, and/or any other communications
layers for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication
station 500 may also include processing circuitry 506 and memory
508 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some
embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 and the processing
circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operations detailed in
FIGS. 1, 2A-2C, 3, and 4.
[0080] In accordance with some embodiments, the communications
circuitry 502 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and
configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless
medium. The communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to
transmit and receive signals. The communications circuitry 502 may
also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation,
upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some
embodiments, the processing circuitry 506 of the communication
station 500 may include one or more processors. In other
embodiments, two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to the
communications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving
signals. The memory 508 may store information for configuring the
processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and
transmitting message frames and performing the various operations
described herein. The memory 508 may include any type of memory,
including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, the memory
508 may include a computer-readable storage device, read-only
memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage
media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices and other
storage devices and media.
[0081] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may be
part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a
personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer
with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless
telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant
messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television,
a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure
monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that
may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.
[0082] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may
include one or more antennas 501. The antennas 501 may include one
or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for
example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop
antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable
for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two
or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be
used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a
separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial
diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result
between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting
station.
[0083] In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may
include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory
port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application
processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display
may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.
[0084] Although the communication station 500 is illustrated as
having several separate functional elements, two or more of the
functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by
combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing
elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other
hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or
more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency
integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware
and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described
herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the
communication station 500 may refer to one or more processes
operating on one or more processing elements.
[0085] Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a
combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments
may also be implemented as instructions stored on a
computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by
at least one processor to perform the operations described herein.
A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory
memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a
machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable
storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access
memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media,
flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some
embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more
processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a
computer-readable storage device memory.
[0086] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a
machine 600 or system upon which any one or more of the techniques
(e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other
embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or
may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a
networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity
of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client
network environments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a
peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network
environments. The machine 600 may be a personal computer (PC), a
tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA),
a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a web appliance, a
network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of
executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify
actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station.
Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term
"machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines
that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of
instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies
discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service
(SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.
[0087] Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on
logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules
are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing
specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In
an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to carry
out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the
hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g.,
transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium
containing instructions where the instructions configure the
execution units to carry out a specific operation when in
operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the
executions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution
units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium
when the device is operating. In this example, the execution units
may be a member of more than one module. For example, under
operation, the execution units may be configured by a first set of
instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and
reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second
module at a second point in time.
[0088] The machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a
hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a
graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any
combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606,
some or all of which may communicate with each other via an
interlink (e.g., bus) 608. The machine 600 may further include a
power management device 632, a graphics display device 610, an
alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user
interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an
example, the graphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device
612, and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display.
The machine 600 may additionally include a storage device (i.e.,
drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker),
a beacon protection device 619, a network interface
device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630, and one or more
sensors 628, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a
compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may
include an output controller 634, such as a serial (e.g., universal
serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g.,
infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to
communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a
printer, a card reader, etc.)). The operations in accordance with
one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be
carried out by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be
configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband
processor may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium
access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface
with the hardware processor 602 for generation and processing of
the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the main
memory 604, the storage device 616, and/or the beacon protection
device 619. The baseband processor may be provided on a single
radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).
[0089] The storage device 616 may include a machine readable medium
622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or
instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one
or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The
instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially,
within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within
the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine
600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware
processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the
storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.
[0090] The beacon protection device 619 may carry out or perform
any of the operations and processes (e.g., process 400) described
and shown above.
[0091] It is understood that the above are only a subset of what
the beacon protection device 619 may be configured to perform and
that other functions included throughout this disclosure may also
be performed by the beacon protection device 619.
[0092] In an embodiment, the beacon protection device 619 may be
configured to perform operations to validate a received beacon
frame. The operations can include identifying, at a STA of a (BSS,
a beacon frame received from an AP; determining a BME for the
beacon frame, the BME including an integrity group key (IGK)
associated with the BSS; determining, based on the IGK, an expected
MIC; determining a MIC field of the BME; determining whether the
expected MIC field matches the MIC field of the BME; and
determining one or more additional fields of the beacon frame
subsequent to the BME.
[0093] The beacon protection device 619 may be configured to
further reject, at the station device, the beacon frame when the
expected MIC does not match the MIC field of the BME.
Alternatively, the computer-readable medium can be configured to
further validate the beacon frame when the expected MIC matches the
MIC field of the BME.
[0094] In an embodiment, the beacon protection device 619 may be
configured to determine a first IBN from a first beacon frame and a
second IBN from a second beacon frame. The beacon protection device
619 may be configured to determine whether the second IBN is
greater than the first IBN. The beacon protection device 619 may
reject the second beacon when the second IBN is determined to be
less than the first IBN. The beacon protection device 619 may
validate the second beacon frame when the second IBN is determined
to be greater than the first IBN. Validating the IBN can be
performed prior to calculating the expected MIC. In such a manner,
the beacon protection device 619 may proceed to calculate the
expected MIC after the IBN is validated.
[0095] In certain instances, the beacon protection device 619 may
be further configured to notify the AP when there is an issue with
the beacon, such as an incorrect IBN or MIC, so as to alert the AP
of a man-in-the-middle (MIM) attack. The AP may be able to take
responsive action to address the MIM imposter.
[0096] When implemented on an AP, the beacon protection device 619
may indicate a protected beacon capability, generate a beacon frame
with a MIC, and send the beacon frame. The MIC may be included in a
BME within a beacon frame body using an existing beacon frame
structure.
[0097] While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a
single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a
single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store
the one or more instructions 624.
[0098] Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in
software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take
the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory
computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be
read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance
of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any
suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled
code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code,
and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any
tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form
readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read
only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk
storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.
[0099] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium
that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for
execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to
perform any one or more of the techniques of the present
disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying
data structures used by or associated with such instructions.
Non-limiting machine-readable medium examples may include
solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In an example,
a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium
with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specific
examples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatile
memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically
programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;
magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;
magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.
[0100] The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received
over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via
the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a
number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol
(IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol
(UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example
communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a
wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the
Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks),
plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g.,
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11
family of standards known as Wi-Fi.RTM., IEEE 802.16 family of
standards known as WiMax.RTM.), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,
and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the
network interface device/transceiver 620 may include one or more
physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or
more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an
example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a
plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one
of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO)
techniques. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to
include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding,
or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and
includes digital or analog communications signals or other
intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. The
operations and processes described and shown above may be carried
out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various
implementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least
a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel.
Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or more than the
operations described may be performed.
[0101] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an
example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described
herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as
preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms
"computing device," "user device," "communication station,"
"station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device"
and "user equipment" (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless
communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a
tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a
femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access
point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or
other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be
either mobile or stationary.
[0102] As used within this document, the term "communicate" is
intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both
transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in
claims when describing the organization of data that is being
transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the
functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the
claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two
devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may
be described as "communicating," when only the functionality of one
of those devices is being claimed. The term "communicating" as used
herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes
transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the
wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless
communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless
communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to
transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other
wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication
receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least
one other wireless communication unit.
[0103] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the
ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc., to describe a
common object, merely indicates that different instances of like
objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that
the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either
temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
[0104] The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed
station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node,
a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar
terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called
a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication
device, or some other similar terminology known in the art.
Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless
networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that
operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.
[0105] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various
devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a
desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook
computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld
computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA)
device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board
device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular
device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a
non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication
station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point
(AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a
video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired
or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area
network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN),
a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the
like.
[0106] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way
and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular
radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular
telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system
(PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless
communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning
system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or
transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or
chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or
device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or
device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or
device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or
external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or
systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or
wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless
application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
[0107] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more
types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following
one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio
frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing
(FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM),
time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA),
general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division
multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000,
single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation
(MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth.RTM., global
positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband
(UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G,
3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long term
evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in
various other devices, systems, and/or networks.
[0108] Example 1 may be a device comprising memory and processing
circuitry configured to: determine a beacon management element
(BME) of a beacon frame body; determine an integrity group key
identifier of the BME, wherein the integrity group key identifier
is associated with a basic service set (BSS); determine, based on
the integrity group key identifier, a management integrity check
(MIC) field of the BME; generate a beacon frame, wherein the beacon
frame comprises the beacon frame body; and cause to send the beacon
frame.
[0109] Example 2 may include the device of example 1 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further
configured to determine one or more additional fields of the BME,
and wherein to determine the MIC field is further based on the one
or more additional fields.
[0110] Example 3 may include the device of example 2 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the one or more additional fields
comprise an element identifier field, a length field, and an
integrity beacon number field.
[0111] Example 4 may include the device of example 1 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the beacon frame is a first beacon
frame, wherein the MIC field is a first MIC field, wherein the
processing circuitry is further configured to determine a second
beacon frame, and wherein the second beacon frame comprises a
second MIC field different than the first MIC field.
[0112] Example 5 may include the device of example 4 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the first beacon frame comprises a
first beacon number field, wherein the first MIC field is further
based on the first beacon number field, wherein the second beacon
frame further comprises a second beacon number field and a second
MIC field based on the second beacon number field, wherein the
second beacon number is greater than the first beacon number, and
wherein the first MIC field is different than the second MIC
field.
[0113] Example 6 may include the device of example 1 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the BSS is one of multiple BSSs in a
multiple basic service set identification (BSSID) set, and wherein
the integrity group key identifier is associated with the multiple
BSSs.
[0114] Example 7 may include the device of example 1 and/or some
other example herein, wherein to determine the BME comprises to
determine the BME without determining a time synchronization factor
(TSF).
[0115] Example 8 may include the device of example 1 and/or some
other example herein, further comprising: a transceiver configured
to transmit and receive wireless signals, wherein the wireless
signals comprise the beacon frame; and an antenna coupled to the
transceiver.
[0116] Example 9 may include a non-transitory computer-readable
medium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed
by one or more processors result in performing operations
comprising: identifying, at a station device of a basic service set
(BSS), a beacon frame received from an access point; determining a
beacon management entity (BME) of the beacon frame, wherein a
beacon body of the beacon frame comprises the BME, and wherein the
BME comprises an integrity group key identifier associated with the
BSS; determining, based on the integrity group key identifier, an
expected management integrity check (MIC); determining a MIC field
of the BME; and comparing the expected MIC to the MIC field of the
BME.
[0117] Example 10 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, the
operations further comprising: determining, based on the
comparison, that the expected MIC does not match the MIC field; and
discarding the beacon frame.
[0118] Example 11 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the
beacon frame is a first beacon frame, the operations further
comprising: determining a first integrity beacon number (IBN) of
the first beacon frame; identifying a second beacon frame received
from the access point; determining a second IBN of the second
beacon frame; determining that the second IBN is less than or equal
to the first IBN; and discarding the second beacon frame.
[0119] Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein
determining the MIC is based on the integrity group key
identifier.
[0120] Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the
beacon frame is a first beacon frame, and wherein determining the
expected MIC is based on a beacon timestamp of a second beacon
frame, the operations further comprising identifying the second
beacon frame before identifying the first beacon frame.
[0121] Example 14 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein
determining the MIC field is based on one or more additional fields
of the BME, and wherein the one or more additional fields comprise
at least one of an element identifier field, a length field, or an
integrity beacon number field.
[0122] Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the
BSS is one of multiple BSSs in a multiple basic service set
identification (BSSID) set, and wherein the integrity group key
identifier is associated with the multiple BSSs.
[0123] Example 16 may include the non-transitory computer-readable
medium of example 9 and/or some other example herein, wherein the
MIC is not based on a time synchronization factor (TSF).
[0124] Example 17 may include a method comprising: determining, by
processing circuitry of an access point, a beacon management
element (BME) of a beacon frame body; determining, by the
processing circuitry, an integrity group key identifier of the BME,
wherein the integrity group key identifier is associated with a
basic service set (BSS); determining, by the processing circuitry
and based on the integrity group key identifier, a management
integrity check (MIC) field of the BME; generating, by the
processing circuitry, a beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame
comprises the beacon frame body; and causing to send, by the
processing circuitry, the beacon frame.
[0125] Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or some
other example herein, further comprising determining one or more
additional fields of the BME, and wherein determining the MIC field
is further based on the one or more additional fields.
[0126] Example 19 may include the method of example 18 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the one or more additional fields
comprise an element identifier field, a length field, and an
integrity beacon number field.
[0127] Example, 20 may include the method of example 17 and/or some
other example herein, wherein the beacon frame is a first beacon
frame, wherein the MIC field is a first MIC field, further
comprising determining a second beacon frame, and wherein the
second beacon frame comprises a second MIC field different than the
first MIC field.
[0128] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for:
determining a beacon management element (BME) of a beacon frame
body; determining an integrity group key identifier of the BME,
wherein the integrity group key identifier is associated with a
basic service set (BSS); determining, based on the integrity group
key identifier, a management integrity check (MIC) field of the
BME; generating a beacon frame, wherein the beacon frame comprises
the beacon frame body; and causing to send the beacon frame.
[0129] Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory
computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an
electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or
more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more
elements of a method described in or related to any of examples
1-21, or any other method or process described herein.
[0130] Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic,
modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a
method described in or related to any of examples 1-21, or any
other method or process described herein.
[0131] Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process as
described in or related to any of examples 1-21 or portions or
parts thereof.
[0132] Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more
processors and one or more computer readable media comprising
instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors,
cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques,
or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-21, or
portions thereof.
[0133] Example 26 may include a method of communicating in a
wireless network as shown and described herein.
[0134] Example 27 may include a system for providing wireless
communication as shown and described herein.
[0135] Example 28 may include a device for providing wireless
communication as shown and described herein.
[0136] Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular
disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage
medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any
feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be
claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The
dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen
for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from
a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular
multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any
combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and
can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the
attached claims. The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises
not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached
claims but also any other combination of features in the claims,
wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with
any other feature or combination of other features in the claims.
Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or
depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any
combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted
herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.
[0137] The foregoing description of one or more implementations
provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be
exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form
disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of
the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various
embodiments.
[0138] Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with
reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods,
apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various
implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of
the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in
the block diagrams and the flow diagrams, respectively, may be
implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise,
some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not
necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not
necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some
implementations.
[0139] These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded
onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a
processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to
produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that
execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data
processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more
functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These
computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a
computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to
function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored
in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of
manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more
functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an
example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program
product, comprising a computer-readable storage medium having a
computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented
therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed
to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram
block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be
loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing
apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be
performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to
produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions
that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus
provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified
in the flow diagram block or blocks.
[0140] Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams
support combinations of means for performing the specified
functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the
specified functions and program instruction means for performing
the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block
of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks
in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by
special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the
specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of
special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.
[0141] Conditional language, such as, among others, "can," "could,"
"might," or "may," unless specifically stated otherwise, or
otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally
intended to convey that certain implementations could include,
while other implementations do not include, certain features,
elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not
generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or
operations are in any way required for one or more implementations
or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for
deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these
features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be
performed in any particular implementation.
[0142] Many modifications and other implementations of the
disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of
the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the
associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the
disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations
disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are
intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a
generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of
limitation.
[0143] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B
in accordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any
one of the example AP 102 and/or the example user device(s) 120 of
FIG. 1. Radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end
module (FEM) circuitry 704a-b, radio IC circuitry 706a-b and
baseband processing circuitry 708a-b. Radio architecture 105A, 105B
as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments
are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used
interchangeably.
[0144] FEM circuitry 704a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM
circuitry 704a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 704b. The WLAN
FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path comprising
circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from
one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to
provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN
radio IC circuitry 706a for further processing. The BT FEM
circuitry 704b may include a receive signal path which may include
circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one
or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to
provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT
radio IC circuitry 706b for further processing. FEM circuitry 704a
may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry
configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC
circuitry 706a for wireless transmission by one or more of the
antennas 701. In addition, FEM circuitry 704b may also include a
transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to
amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706b for
wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the
embodiment of FIG. 7, although FEM 704a and FEM 704b are shown as
being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited,
and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that
includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT
signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least
some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal
paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
[0145] Radio IC circuitry 706a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC
circuitry 706a and BT radio IC circuitry 706b. The WLAN radio IC
circuitry 706a may include a receive signal path which may include
circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM
circuitry 704a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband
processing circuitry 708a. BT radio IC circuitry 706b may in turn
include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to
down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704b and
provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 708b.
WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a may also include a transmit signal
path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband
signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a and
provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704a for
subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701.
BT radio IC circuitry 706b may also include a transmit signal path
which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals
provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 708b and provide
BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704b for subsequent
wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. In the
embodiment of FIG. 7, although radio IC circuitries 706a and 706b
are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not
so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC
circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a
receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one
or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC
circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both
WLAN and BT signals.
[0146] Baseband processing circuitry 708a-b may include a WLAN
baseband processing circuitry 708a and a BT baseband processing
circuitry 708b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a may
include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a
Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not
shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a. Each of the
WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and the BT baseband circuitry 708b may
further include one or more processors and control logic to process
the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive
signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and to also generate
corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal
path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b. Each of the baseband
processing circuitries 708a and 708b may further include physical
layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and
may further interface with a device for generation and processing
of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio
IC circuitry 706a-b.
[0147] Referring still to FIG. 7, according to the shown
embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 713 may include logic
providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and
the BT baseband circuitry 708b to enable use cases requiring WLAN
and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 703 may be provided
between the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b
to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to
application needs. In addition, although the antennas 701 are
depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry
704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b, embodiments include within
their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN
and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to
each of FEM 704a or 704b.
[0148] In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 704a-b,
the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and baseband processing circuitry
708a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless
radio card 702. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas
701, the FEM circuitry 704a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706a-b may
be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the
radio IC circuitry 706a-b and the baseband processing circuitry
708a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC),
such as IC 712.
[0149] In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 702 may include
a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications,
although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this
respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A,
105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency
division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division
multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier
communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a
plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.
[0150] In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio
architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication
station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station
or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these
embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to
transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific
communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards
including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016,
802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or
802.11ax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs,
although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.
Radio architecture 105A, 105B may also be suitable to transmit
and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques
and standards.
[0151] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may
be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in
accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments,
the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate
in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the
embodiments is not limited in this respect.
[0152] In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B
may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using
one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum
modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access
(DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access
(FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or
frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the
scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
[0153] In some embodiments, the BT baseband circuitry 708b may be
compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as
Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration
of the Bluetooth Standard.
[0154] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may
include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured
for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 7G
communications).
[0155] In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture
105A, 105B may be configured for communication over various channel
bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about
900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5
MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with
contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous
bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may
be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect
to the above center frequencies however.
[0156] FIG. 8 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 704a in accordance
with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 8 is described
in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a, the example of
FIG. 8 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM
circuitry 704b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations
may also be suitable.
[0157] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 704a may include a
TX/RX switch 802 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode
operation. The FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path
and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM
circuitry 704a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 806 to
amplify received RF signals 803 and provide the amplified received
RF signals 807 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 706a-b
(FIG. 7)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 704a may
include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 809
(e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a-b), and one or more
filters 812, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters
(LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 815 for
subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 701
(FIG. 7)) via an example duplexer 814.
[0158] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the
FEM circuitry 704a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4
GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these
embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may
include a receive signal path duplexer 804 to separate the signals
from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 806 for each
spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path
of the FEM circuitry 704a may also include a power amplifier 810
and a filter 812, such as a BPF, an LPF or another type of filter
for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 804
to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a
single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more
of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7). In some embodiments, BT
communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize
the same FEM circuitry 704a as the one used for WLAN
communications.
[0159] FIG. 9 illustrates radio IC circuitry 706a in accordance
with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 706a is one example
of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio
IC circuitry 706a/706b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry
configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of
FIG. 9 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC
circuitry 706b.
[0160] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706a may include
a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive
signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at least
mixer circuitry 902, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer
circuitry, amplifier circuitry 906 and filter circuitry 908. The
transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at
least filter circuitry 912 and mixer circuitry 914, such as, for
example, up-conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 706a may
also include synthesizer circuitry 904 for synthesizing a frequency
905 for use by the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914.
The mixer circuitry 902 and/or 914 may each, according to some
embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion
functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler
architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer
circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be
alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 9
illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and
may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the
depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For
instance, mixer circuitry 914 may each include one or more mixers,
and filter circuitries 908 and/or 912 may each include one or more
filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to
application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the
direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more
mixers.
[0161] In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may be configured
to down-convert RF signals 807 received from the FEM circuitry
704a-b (FIG. 7) based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by
synthesizer circuitry 904. The amplifier circuitry 906 may be
configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter
circuitry 908 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted
signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband
signals 907. Output baseband signals 907 may be provided to the
baseband processing circuitry 708a-b (FIG. 7) for further
processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907
may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a
requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may comprise
passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not
limited in this respect.
[0162] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 914 may be
configured to up-convert input baseband signals 911 based on the
synthesized frequency 905 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 904
to generate RF output signals 809 for the FEM circuitry 704a-b. The
baseband signals 911 may be provided by the baseband processing
circuitry 708a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 912. The
filter circuitry 912 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the
scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
[0163] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer
circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers and may be
arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion
respectively with the help of synthesizer 904. In some embodiments,
the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each
include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection
(e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer
circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be arranged for
direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively.
In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer
circuitry 914 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation,
although this is not a requirement.
[0164] Mixer circuitry 902 may comprise, according to one
embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I)
and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input
signal 807 from FIG. 9 may be down-converted to provide I and Q
baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor
[0165] Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and
ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a
quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO
frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as
LO frequency 905 of synthesizer 904 (FIG. 9). In some embodiments,
the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other
embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier
frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the
carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree
time-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer,
although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this
respect.
[0166] In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle
(the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high)
and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period).
In some embodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and
an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer
circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path)
may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant
reduction is power consumption.
[0167] The RF input signal 807 (FIG. 8) may comprise a balanced
signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in
this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided
to low-noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 906 (FIG. 9) or
to filter circuitry 908 (FIG. 9).
[0168] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the
input baseband signals 911 may be analog baseband signals, although
the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In
some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the
input baseband signals 911 may be digital baseband signals. In
these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter
(DAC) circuitry.
[0169] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry
may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for
other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the
embodiments is not limited in this respect.
[0170] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a
fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer,
although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this
respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable.
For example, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a delta-sigma
synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a
phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some
embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may include digital
synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer
circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog
components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the
footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments,
frequency input into synthesizer circuitry 904 may be provided by a
voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a
requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by
either the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b (FIG. 7) depending
on the desired output frequency 905. In some embodiments, a divider
control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table
(e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel
center frequency as determined or indicated by the example
application processor 710. The application processor 710 may
include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example secure
signal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103
(e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is
implemented in).
[0171] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be
configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency
905, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a
fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier
frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments,
the output frequency 905 may be a LO frequency (fLO).
[0172] FIG. 10 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband
processing circuitry 708a in accordance with some embodiments. The
baseband processing circuitry 708a is one example of circuitry that
may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 708a
(FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be
suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be used to
implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry 708b of FIG.
7.
[0173] The baseband processing circuitry 708a may include a receive
baseband processor (RX BBP) 1002 for processing receive baseband
signals 909 provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a-b (FIG. 7) and
a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1004 for generating transmit
baseband signals 911 for the radio IC circuitry 706a-b. The
baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include control logic
1006 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing
circuitry 708a.
[0174] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are
exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b and the
radio IC circuitry 706a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 708a
may include ADC 1010 to convert analog baseband signals 1009
received from the radio IC circuitry 706a-b to digital baseband
signals for processing by the RX BBP 1002. In these embodiments,
the baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include DAC 1012 to
convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1004 to analog
baseband signals 1011.
[0175] In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA
signals, such as through baseband processor 708a, the transmit
baseband processor 1004 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA
signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse
fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1002
may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals
by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband
processor 1002 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM
signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect
a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a
cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be
part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi
communication.
[0176] Referring back to FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the antennas
701 (FIG. 7) may each comprise one or more directional or
omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,
monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip
antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF
signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments,
the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of
spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that
may result. Antennas 701 may each include a set of phased-array
antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.
[0177] Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as
having several separate functional elements, one or more of the
functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by
combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing
elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other
hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or
more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency
integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware
and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described
herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to
one or more processes operating on one or more processing
elements.
* * * * *