Patent ID: 8848916
Filing Date: 2014-09-30
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for transitioning a remote station from a current serving network node having a first security context to a new serving network node, comprising: providing, by the remote station, at least one legacy key associated with a second security context, wherein the first security context includes a security property that is not supported by the second security context; generating, by the remote station, at least one session key, in accordance with the first security context, using an information element associated with the first security context; forwarding, by the remote station, a first message to the new serving network node, wherein the first message includes the information element associated with the first security context; receiving, by the remote station in response to the first message, a second message from the new serving network node, wherein the second message has a response based on either the at least one legacy key or the at least one session key; determining, by the remote station, that the new serving network node does not support the first security context if the response of the second message is based on the at least one legacy key; and protecting, by the remote station, communications based on the at least one legacy key upon determining that the new serving network node does not support the first security context, wherein the information element comprises a count value and the count value is updated for a session.