Patent ID: 7945053

Claim:
A method comprising: providing, by a first access point (AP) of an extended service set (ESS) of a wireless network to a mobile station (STA), a service controller identification of a service controller of the ESS, said providing to occur when associating the STA with the ESS, wherein the service controller comprises a paging or location service controller; receiving, by the first AP from the STA, a service configuration request that includes a requested service type and a first random number generated by the STA in response to receipt of the service controller identification; forwarding, by the first AP to the service controller, the service configuration request on behalf of the STA, for the service controller to symmetrically generate a temporal integrity pairwise key (TIPK), the TIPK to facilitate secured control communication between the service controller and the STA using a second access point (AP), the TIPK comprising the first random number and a second random number to be generated by the service controller in response to receipt of the first random number, the TIPK being generated using a service pairwise key (SPK) derived, by at least the service controller, from a distributed key or a pre-shared key (PSK); receiving from the service controller, by the first AP over a network communication link, a service configuration response that includes the second random number generated by the service controller; and forwarding to the STA on behalf of the service controller, by the first AP, the service configuration response for the STA to symmetrically generate the TIPK for said secured control communication with the service controller.