Patent ID: 11895229
Assignee: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method, implemented by a network node of a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
operating a Session Management Function (SMF) in a control plane of a core network of the wireless communication network in support of wireless communication;
authenticating a User Equipment (UE) with an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) server in a secondary authentication process that uses the SMF as an EAP authenticator, the EAP server being comprised in an external network outside of the core network and the UE being separately authenticated with a further network node in the control plane of the core network via a primary authentication process, wherein authenticating the UE in the secondary authentication process comprises exchanging EAP messages between the SMF and the UE and between the SMF and the EAP server;
authorizing, by the SMF, a data session between the UE and the external network through a user plane of the core network based on the UE having successfully authenticated via both the primary authentication process and the secondary authentication process.